productivity

The Secret Sauce To Getting More Done

December 16, 2015 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

If you do something every day for about 66 days, it becomes a habit. Something that you couldn’t imagine doing at all suddenly becomes common in your life a little over two months later. When 2015 began, one of my family’s goals for the year was to sell the piano in our garage.

In mid-August we made a sale, but by a stroke of luck, it was that moment when I wanted to play the piano every day. I hadn’t even touched it for a few years. Now I wanted to play it every day. Sale canceled.

My decision shocked us all. I knew at that point I was automatically committed to playing the piano every day. However, I had to build the commitment. A few months later and now I’m playing the piano every day.

On some days, I am playing the piano for more time than I spend on my business. How did that happen? The first reason is because I quickly fell in love with it. The second reason is that I set forth a plan to get me from Day 0 to Day 66. I knew that once I was playing the piano on the 66th day, it would be effortless for me to play the piano every day.

As a productivity expert, I knew many tricks of the trade. The best way to perform a task every day is to give yourself a productivity spreadsheet. For the piano, I would identify what songs I had to play and what exercises I had to perform to allow my fingers to cover a greater range of the keyboard.

Before I turn this blog into a musical blog, I’ll shift back to business. You don’t have to play the piano to utilize this method. In fact, I use productivity spreadsheets do create videos for my training courses every day. Productivity spreadsheets are the main reason why I can create numerous videos every day but still have time for the piano.

Productivity spreadsheets work like this:

#1: Have A Physical Calendar

Yes, a physical one. I am what some people would call a digital native. Just as people describe this current generation as Generation Z, many people refer to the people in this generation as the digital natives.

However, this is something that you can’t do on a device. There is something about writing down your dreams and goals on a piece of paper that you don’t get by typing them on the screen.

I tend to take a piece of paper and fill in the boxes and form my calendar. All of the boxes and numbers are drawn on the paper with a marker. That’s how seriously I take the idea of having a physical, non-digital calendar. And I’m a digital native. Let that sink in.

#2: Apply The Seinfeld Method

The Seinfeld Method is one of the best ways known to mankind to stay accountable. You simply put an “X” on all of the days that you complete the task. Then, keep the streak of “X’s” going. I used to have a calendar of “X’s” for playing the piano every day. Each time I could write another “X” on the calendar, I felt more accomplished.

I no longer have a calendar for “X’s” for playing the piano because it’s habitual. I don’t even think about it. I just do it.

That’s all a productivity spreadsheet is (fine, you can call them calendars but I personally think spreadsheet sounds cooler). However, how do we fully utilize those productivity spreadsheets so they allow us to be more productive? These are two power tips:

#1: Identify What You Will Do The Night Before

The best time to plan your day is the night before. At nighttime, we aren’t in the rigorous workflow state of the mind. At night, we tend to be more creative since there are fewer boundaries. Think about what your schedule looks like at 1 pm. You could be doing so many different things at 1 pm.

So, as an extreme example, what are you doing at 1 am. Chances are you aren’t working. You are either sleeping or are absolutely fried.

The longer we stay up, the less productive we become. It is at this time, just before going to bed, when we need to identify what we will do on the following day. That way, we can wake up knowing what we must accomplish.

You don’t want to think about what your day will comprise of in the morning because at that point, you are losing too much valuable time. Your first hour dictates how the rest of your day goes. Have a productive first hour, and you will probably have a more productive day.

#2: Take The Path Of Least Resistance

Let’s say you want to create video every day and turn that into a habit. You have done some videos here and there but are still not super comfortable with the whole process. I give you two options:

You must complete at least one five-minute video per day
You must complete at least 10 five-minute videos per day

It would be more incredible to do the 10 videos. However, that’s not how we become productive. We are creatures of habit who hate dramatic changes. We can achieve dramatic changes by taking one step at a time.

Most people like to view dramatic change as a colossal leap. That colossal leap is simply the combined total of a series of smaller leaps taken in advance.

To turn a task into a habit, you must perform that task every day for 66 days. It is easier in the beginning to turn one video per day into a habit than it is to turn 10 videos per day into a habit. Focusing on completing a minimum of one video per day allows you to build a strong foundation. That strong foundation results in habit formation.

Finally, once you have the strong foundation, and you choose to strengthen it, you can eventually get to the point of completing at least 10 five-minute videos per day.

In the beginning, you aren’t going for workload. You are going for consecutive days of completion. Only pay attention to the workload after the 66th day.

In Conclusion

If you want to turn your newest tasks into effortless habits, then you need to create productivity spreadsheets for those tasks. The key to becoming productive is to do a little bit each day. Once you have a solid foundation, you can begin to expand upon that foundation.

What are your thoughts about the productivity spreadsheet method? Which of these methods did you like the most? What are your tips for boosting productivity? Sound off in the comments section below.

How To Get Better Results From Less Work

September 25, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Do you have a philosophy that goes along the lines of the more work you put in, the better your results will be? It’s a conventional way to view work that is reinforced by wages.

If you make $10 per hour, and you work for 10 extra hours every week, you make an extra $100 every week. That’s an extra $5,200 every year just by working 10 additional hours every week.

An extra $5,200 isn’t something to laugh at. But what if you were making $20 every hour. You would make the same amount of money by putting in half of the work.

Entrepreneurs don’t get paid a wage. In the beginning, most entrepreneurs get paid well below minimum wage. Some of these people make less than $1 per hour. Some of those same people eventually became millionaires.

Entrepreneurship is a journey and true test of patience. However, it’s different from the workplace. You don’t make more money by putting in more hours. You don’t make the extra $5,200 every year by working an extra 10 hours per week. As an entrepreneur, you may actually lose money (and your sanity) by working those extra 10 hours every week.

How then does an entrepreneur make that extra $5,200? How do entrepreneurs like Bill Gates make astronomical incomes (Gates makes over $25 every second)? The answer isn’t in the working hours. The answer is in the working efficiency.

It is possible to live the Tim Ferris lifestyle and only work four hours every week while making a few million dollars every year. It is also possible to work 80 hours every week and end up with no extra money on the table. Two different extremes with very different lifestyles.

The goals most people share are to work less and earn more. We want that balance with our lives so we can spend more time with family and friends. It’s a matter of saving time and getting better results. Here’s how you find time and get better results:

Examine Every Opportunity

Don’t be a yes-man/woman. Saying no more often than you say yes keeps your time and resources more open to the people and opportunities you say yes to. I don’t say yes to every joint venture proposal. But when I do say yes, I can spend more time on my end of the joint venture.

I am not crushing it on every social network because I know that would take too much time. I’d have to acquire a certain amount of knowledge and put in a lot of work for each of those social networks.

If you want to see successful no-men/women in action, then look no further than Shark Tank. Maybe you’ve seen some of the episodes. If you have never seen an episode, watch one of them to understand.

Most of the deals on Shark Tank get turned down. Even when one of the sharks agrees on a deal, there are several sharks who shoot it down first.

They rarely say yes, and that’s what makes them successful. Just because you get an opportunity does not mean it will have a big impact on your success.

In the beginning, take almost any opportunity you can get. However, as more opportunities—and in particular, the time-consuming ones—come your way, you must make choices.

Outsource The Maintenance Work

Ever wonder if everything you do is important? For most people, the answer is no (sorry to disappoint). Some of the work we do on a daily basis is maintenance work. Maintenance work is the (possibly tedious) work that any other person can do for you.

The list is big. These are some of my maintenance activities:

Follow people on Twitter
Unfollow people on Twitter
Send pins
Create pictures for my blog posts

If I stop growing my Twitter audience, it spells disaster for my social media strategy. Something I considered so important was actually maintenance work. So I got that work off my back by outsourcing it to someone else.

Now someone else follows and unfollows people for my Twitter accounts. I also have people who send pins on my account and create pictures for my blog posts. No wonder the pictures for my blog posts have been better lately 🙂

Create Time Efficient Processes For What You Do

One thing I will never outsource to anyone is the content that goes on my blog. However, I am always looking for ways to write the typical 2,000 word blog post in 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes.

In other words, I am always looking for ways to write the same amount of content quicker.

Now I have a time efficient process that lets me write blog posts quicker. Here’s a basic summary:

Write a bunch of blog post titles (I’ll usually write 20-50 at a time depending on how I feel)
Outline those blog posts
Identify which five blog posts I will write first
Repeat

This process allows me to save more time when writing content. Typing faster also allows me to save more time.

To create time efficient processes, you must specifically focus on the work that doesn’t fall under the maintenance category. Then search on the web and think of ideas on your own that can help you save time. Create your time efficient processes so you can allocate your time to other tasks.

Some methods you come across for creating time efficient processes may involve an investment. You may have to upgrade one of your social media tools to get access to certain time saving features.

The only reason I went from HootSuite to HootSuite Pro was so I could get access to the bulk scheduler. The bulk scheduler allows me to schedule over 100 tweets in six clicks. If I manually scheduled that many tweets, it would take me over four hours every day.

Spend More Time Marketing Than Creating

Walk into a library or bookstore, and it won’t take long for you to find a New York Times bestseller. Libraries and bookstores like to put the most successful books and new releases where we can see them.

So what makes a book a New York Times bestseller? The answer isn’t the content. The answer is the marketing. If Freakonomics got zero sales, it wouldn’t have been a New York Times bestseller (even though it is a fascinating book). It ended up getting over four million sales, all because of marketing.

It’s great to create numerous products, but you must spend time marketing them so they thrive. If you create a product but keep it a secret, you won’t get many sales (if any at all). It could be the most valuable product in your niche, but if you don’t market it, people won’t know to buy it.

Spending more time marketing than creating will allow you to get better results from your overall strategy. The best part is that as you accumulate more revenue, you can put that revenue into other areas of your business such as advertising and outsourcing.

In Conclusion

The amount of time you spend working is irrelevant with getting results. The way you utilize your time ultimately determines the results that you get. Understanding this fact will inspire you to utilize your time more effectively and focus on efficiency over hours worked.

What are your thoughts about working less? Do you think working less can lead to a bigger profit? Do you find yourself working too much? Have any insights for us? Sound off in the comments section now!

5 Lessons I Learned From Overwhelming Myself With Work

August 17, 2015 by Marc Guberti 4 Comments

Productivity

Ever feel the workload get too tough? Whether you are productive or unproductive, it doesn’t make a difference for this example—some of the workload becomes too tough. I wanted to finish writing a book before July and then finish a training course before August.

I could have easily accomplished those two goals—if I did a Twitter hibernation, had this blog fend for itself, and said no to socializing. Basically, I could only get it all done if I ate food, worked, and slept. I quickly got overwhelmed and tried to push through for as long as I could.

I made the mistake of setting an impossible goal for myself. It’s one thing to write a book or create a training course. It is something else to create a high-value book along with a high-value training course. I aimed to write the best book I ever wrote and have my training course exceed 10 hours.

I’ll let you know when they come out. That’s right. I didn’t even finish them yet, and I am happy it is that way. I changed my schedule because I saw summer slip away just as quickly as it began—one of the worst feeling for a teen to have getting out of junior year in high school.

I changed my schedule so I could say yes to socializing, not go on a Twitter hiatus, and continue growing this blog. I also got to expand in new horizons that I never thought were possible for a 17 year old. While I became more successful by making the change, I learned five important lessons along the way.

If you get stressed out because you overwork yourself, these five lessons apply to you too.

#1: Go On A Journey That You Would Enjoy

Why do something if you know you won’t have any fun. Right now, I am having fun writing this blog post. I have fun when I write books and create training courses. I don’t have fun when I try to do all three of those things at the same time on a tight schedule.

If you do not have fun doing the work that you do, then your lack of enthusiasm will be reflected in the quality of your work. More mistakes get made, errors don’t get detected, and worst of all, you aren’t having any fun.

Some people insist that it is okay to not have fun at the workplace because that’s how you get the paycheck. Remember that if you live like most people, you will spend at least 33% of your life working. That is a huge amount of your life, and it is your choice to be happy or miserable during that span of your life.

I know some people are quick to point out they have 67% of their time to be happy, but it doesn’t work that way. First off, you will spend another third of your life sleeping. Only one-third of your life left—to not think about your work while with your family, to be happy, and not let negative emotions from the workplace make it into the rest of your life.

You can do a lot of work in your lifetime, but you only have one life, so do the work that matters and makes you happy.

#2: Don’t Launch Multiple Products So Quickly

Each time you want to launch a successful product, you must have a lengthy prelaunch first. The prelaunch and launch phases of your product should both take up more time than it did for you to actually create the product.

That is why I don’t publish one book every month anymore. I want to have a powerful prelaunch that leads into a powerful launch. If I create multiple products at the same time, it becomes more difficult (and stressful) for me to do the prelaunch and the launch on my own.

That is why I decided to write the book first, then create the training courses, and then do the prelaunch and launch of the products afterwards (I can do the prelaunch and launch at the same time for two products if I don’t have to worry about creating them).

Now, it is possible to use a training course to promote a book. However, if you don’t have experience with creating multiple products, get better at the prelaunch and launch before you promote multiple products in short time intervals between each other.

#3: Focus Most Of Your Time On Your Marketing

Some marketers believe we should focus as much as 80% of our time on marketing, and I don’t blame them. My original plan had a strong focus on creating the products in a time effective manner but no focus on marketing. That’s a big no-no in business.

Consider this. If you could focus 100% of your time creating products or 100% of your time promoting yourself, where would your time be better spent? The answer is promoting yourself because when you finally create your own product, you have a large audience. If you spent 100% of your time creating products and finally start promoting yourself, it will take a long time for those products to get enough sales to generate a full-time income.

Now I spend most of my time creating podcast episodes and connecting with key influencers. When I do launch a product, I know it has a greater chance of succeeding than my past products.

#4: Make Your Work More Manageable

In order to finish writing my entire book before July, I had to write 3,000 words every day for two weeks. I already wrote 24,000 words for the book. I wanted it to surpass 60,000 words.

Writing 3,000 words every day isn’t a challenge for me. Some of my blog posts are over 3,000 words long. However, hibernating from all of the other parts of my business wasn’t an option. I write anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 words every day, but those words are spread out across blog posts, tweets, emails, and of course, my book.

I also faced complications with my plan because I run 1-2 hours every day (something that will never change unless I intentionally take a day off), read books to learn more about my niche, and need some downtime (Super Smash Bros, anyone).

Deciding to finish the book in July and wait a little longer to start the training course opened up more time for me to promote myself. I optimized my tweeting schedule to get more traffic and better serve my followers. I started my own podcast. Most importantly, I spent more time having fun with my family.

It is necessary to grind to get some tasks done. However, don’t just grind for the sake of grinding.

#5: It’s Better To Get One Big Project Done Than Stress About Two That Go Nowhere

In this particular example, my book was actually going somewhere. I wrote over 24,000 words for it before the stress piled up. However, I have assigned myself multiple big projects in the past and never started them.

One day, I remember writing a list of potential eBook titles. The list exceeded 50 potential eBook ideas, and I thought about all of the money the books would bring me (another big mistake). I hide the list from myself and now focus on one big product at a time. While it is great to think about possibilities, overthinking and overworking will put too much stress in your life.

In Conclusion

We have to put in work every day, but the amount of work we give ourselves can sometimes create stress. The next time you find yourself stressed out, ask yourself why you are stressed. It may be that the workload has gotten too tough or (even worse) that you are not passionate about your work.

Do you find yourself stressing out when you work? How do you respond when you overwork yourself? What are your thoughts about work? Sound off in the comment section below!

Case Study: How I Get My Daily Goals Accomplished

July 3, 2015 by Marc Guberti Leave a Comment

Get Daily Goals Accomplished

In our busy worlds of goal setting and getting things done are many distractions that impact the amount of work we accomplish. Not only are there more distractions than ever, but not all of the work we do gets us closer to our dreams. To some, being productive seems impossible while other people do it effortlessly.

Since I am a high school student, I am technically considered a part-time writer and entrepreneur even though I have committed myself to those two areas. My productivity is one of the biggest factors of my success because it allows me to properly juggle being a high school student with being a writer and entrepreneur. In the summer, when I get more control over how long I can work on my brand, my productivity skyrockets primarily because of all of the extra time available. Right now, I will provide a case study on how I get my daily goals accomplished. Accomplishing the daily goals allows me to accomplish my goals for the week, month, and year. How am I this productive? Find out now.

Always Have Significant Things To Do Throughout The Day

If you are not taking the time to build your brand throughout the day, then you need to put in more work. I can’t remember a time I got to bed before 11 pm because I always do work for my brand throughout the day. Even during the summer, I am putting in the work for my brand past 11 pm. Of course, if I see the value of my work suffer as the day continues, I stop putting in the work. When I am not working, I am doing research or reading a book to learn more about my niche. If you don’t give yourself many goals, you may find yourself surfing the web or your television. Surfing the web and your television are two methods of escaping boredom.

Many people see procrastination as a temporary way to escape work and boredom. For many people, watching television is more entertaining and less boring than putting in the work. However, if you appreciate your work and give yourself enough work for yourself to do throughout the day, you’ll find less time to procrastinate.

Do I Really Get Everything Accomplished?

I get many goals accomplished in a given month, but in reality, I don’t get everything accomplished. However, the reason I don’t get everything accomplished is different from most reasons. When I don’t get a series of goals accomplished, that is because I give myself so much to do in a given week that even if I work non-stop for long periods of time, I would only get some of my goals accomplished.

I tend to give myself challenging goals to complete in one week that most people would give themselves an entire month to complete. For instance, I gave myself one week to publish a training course that I didn’t even start (I didn’t even have notes), proofread and publish a book, write five blog posts, outline my next course, complete five YouTube videos, and do a few other things. Right now, I am aiming to launch one new training course every week. I may launch three training courses in a month. I may launch five. By raising the bar so high and sincerely believing in my ability to accomplish everything on that raised bar, I get close or even exceed my expectations and do in one week what most people would do in one month.

Wake Up Early

Not only is it challenging for me to remember a time I got to bed before 11 pm, but it is also challenging for me to remember a time I woke up after 8:30 am. I like to sleep for 7.5 hours every day because 7.5 hours is my optimal sleeping time for productivity and high performance. Waking up early is very important because we have more willpower in the beginning of the day to get our goals accomplished. If you sleep too long, try waking up an hour earlier. Then try waking up two hours earlier. If you wake up an hour earlier and go to sleep at the normal time you go to sleep at, then you gain an extra hour that can be used to get your work done. Of course, sleep is important and not getting enough sleep will negatively impact your work, but getting too much sleep isn’t good for your health either.

Attack The Work Right Away

One of the worst things to do is to know that you have work but not do anything about it. People are fearful of starting their work partly because they don’t want to do the work and partly because the work may be complicated. This fear is caused by the uncertainty of not knowing the amplitude of the work being put in. The only way to attack this fear is to start the work NOW so the cloud of uncertainty slowly clears up until the sun of certainty shines through it and eliminates that particular cloud of uncertainty for good.

Small Achievements Lead To The Big One

When I give myself daily goals, I typically give myself 1-2 big goals and a wide range of smaller goals. I tend to get the smaller (easier but still impactful) goals accomplished first so I have the right mindset for that day. Getting the smaller goals accomplished are the equivalent of small wins, and a string of small wins put together will give you the mindset firepower to accomplish all of the more challenging goals for the day. Giving yourself a series of smaller goals and getting them accomplished will boost your self-esteem which is important to being more productive and producing valuable work.

In Conclusion

We all want to be more productive, but going through the same motions we went through yesterday and the day before won’t make us more productive. Being more productive requires a gradual shift that impacts the way we view our work, and possibly, our lives. Investing the time now to be more productive later will allow you to get your goals accomplished in record-breaking time.

What were your thoughts on the case study? Do you have any tips to be more productive? Please share your thoughts and advice below.

The One Simple Way For Entrepreneurs To Get What They Want In Life

January 12, 2015 by Marc Guberti 6 Comments

The One Thing

Who wants to be successful by doing what they love? I’m sure everyone’s hand would go up. It is a shame that we are not properly trained to be successful by doing what we love to do. We are trained to get a job and work in the status quo, but for most people, the status quo does not offer a lovable job. There is a distinct feeling of dignity and happiness to make your own success instead of working for someone else.

Every entrepreneur takes a bold step by getting out of the status quo (or never being a part of it), but not all of these entrepreneurs are successful. Many entrepreneurs are rising stars who are not household names quite yet.

If you are like most entrepreneurs, you have an array of tasks to complete. If someone asks you how many tasks you have to complete today, you may say dozens. You may have the sticky notes, the score cards, the plan, and everything else all laid out so you can easily accomplish the tasks in front of you.

It is a shame that few or even none of the tasks most entrepreneurs perform line up with what they truly want in life. The primary reason most entrepreneurs do not reach their high standards is because most of their time gets split up until only the crumbs are left. These crumbs of time are all entrepreneurs allocate to the one thing they want at that moment. Maybe you want to be a millionaire, see your training course get twice as many sales this month, triple your blog traffic in the next quarter, or something else.

The one thing you want, the most important thing, is the one thing you need to spend the majority of your time on. If your one goal is to become a millionaire, you need to carve out 50% of your time towards that goal. You need to grow your email list, create the products, find partners, and make your products wildly successful. If you are focusing on anything that derails you from your one main goal, then it is a distraction. As New York Times bestselling author Gary Keller puts it, “until your ONE Thing gets accomplished, everything else is a distraction.”

[tweetthis url=”http://bit.ly/1xck0wi”]The one thing you want, the most important thing, is the one thing you need to spend the majority of your time on.[/tweetthis]

Of course, events outside of our businesses will call for our attention. Attending the kid’s soccer games, seeing loved ones, and having dinner with your family are three of the many events that are more important than goals and business. Entrepreneurs work on their own schedules which means they control how long they work, but they also control when they take breaks. You don’t want to work on your business at the dinner table when you should be talking with your family members instead. Business is important, but it should not consume your life.

The reason many of us feel consumed is because our tasks do not line up with the one thing we want. If your one goal is to grow your Twitter audience, then don’t focus on growing a Facebook audience. Sure, if your Facebook audience becomes big, you can promote your Twitter account to that audience. However, growing a Facebook audience takes time, and now you have less time to grow your Twitter audience. Then you may give Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube a try all in the effort to grow your Twitter audience. Creating accounts on all of those social networks and updating them with new content takes up time that you could have used to learn and implement powerful techniques that could have grown your Twitter audience.

This is why social media experts encourage users to focus on one social network at a time. If we split our time amongst different social networks, we will have many small audiences instead of one large audience. I would rather have 5,000 followers on one social network than 500 followers on 10 social networks.

The days of your one thing in life constantly getting the crumbs of your time are coming to an end. In order to truly move forward in your industry and get what you want as an entrepreneur, you need to make your one thing your top priority. In fact, you should allocate 50% of your time towards your one thing. If you want to be a millionaire, 50% of your time should be spent implementing the most important parts of that plan. The other 50% of your time can be carved out to various tasks that are not as important, but those tasks should only be completed after you complete the important tasks that move you closer to the seven figure income.

In Conclusion

Logically speaking, the one thing you want to do in life should be the one thing that you spend most of your time on. Although the logic is simple to follow, the actually implementation of this logic is almost never done. We need to identify the one thing we want to do in our lives and then take the bold steps needed to make that one thing happen. Then, everything else that is needed will fall into place. It is better to be good at one thing than it is to be mediocre at 10 things.

Why The 10,000 Hour Rule Is Legit And How To Make It Happen

December 26, 2014 by Marc Guberti 2 Comments

Why The 10,000 Hour Rule Is Legit And How To Make It Happen

Patience is a virtue for a reason, but unfortunately, patience is also rare to come across. There are many people who are frustrated with where they are and wondering why they are not at where they want to be. They want the vision to be accomplished now, not later.

There were times when I was this person, and I believe it is fair to say that we have all had this kind of experience at some point in our lives. It is the feeling of impatience and a desire to move up. It is the feeling where we realize that putting in an immense amount of work does not result in an overnight change. Instead, these changes are gradual, and I would argue that it takes 10,000 hours to go from unsuccessful to successful in any area.

Where and when I first heard of this rule, I don’t quite remember. There are many people who reference the 10,000 hour rule. If I had to take a guess, I would say that Buffer was probably the blog where I first learned about the 10,000 hour rule.

When I first heard of the rule, I was skeptical. How can we possibly know that it takes 10,000 hours to become successful in any field? Why can’t it just take 5,000 hours instead? Why is it an exact number?

This is where patience becomes important. The people who think, “Why not 5,000 hours?” may eventually come to think, “Why not 1,000 hours?” Many people have a desperate desire to get the journey over with that forget to enjoy every second of the journey.

In this journey, it is entirely possible for you to invest 10,000 hours of time into one area, and it is in this area where you will become the established expert of your niche. If you ask numerous professional athletes whether they practiced for 10,000 hours or not, I am sure that most of those athletes would say they have practiced for over 10,000 hours within their lifetimes.

Many of the successful bloggers have been at it for several years. Some of these people have been blogging for multiple years while others have been blogging for more than a decade. Within that time period, it is easy to assume that these people worked in those areas for 10,000 hours within their lifetimes.

Benefits To Putting In The 10,000 Hours

There are many benefits to putting in 10,000 hours of your time into one area. Although some of these benefits are obvious, others are not as obvious.

Including these benefits in an article about the legitimacy of the 10,000 hour rule serves as motivation for everyone who aspires to become a leader of their niche, do something really well, and be known for something remarkable by putting in the time.

The most obvious benefit is that you achieve your goal. If your goal was to be a blogger with a full-time income, putting in the 10,000 hours will most likely result in you becoming the blogger with the full-time income.

Another benefit that exists that some people know about is the ability to raise the bar higher. You can aspire to make double the income you are making within a certain amount of time. Then, you can dream bigger for your next 10,000 hours.

One of the benefits depends on what you pursue, but it is a benefit that few people know about. Each time you implement the 10,000 hour rule and become successful in an area, it is easier to become successful in another area in a shorter amount of time.

Neil Patel is a successful blogger who has multiple blogs that get hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors. It took his blog Quick Sprout 4 years and 9 months to get 100,000 monthly visitors. For his next blog, KISSMetrics, it took 1 year and 10 months to achieve the same goal. After KISSMetrics was Crazy Egg which reached the same milestone in 1 year and 6 months. The reason why Neil was able to get each blog passed the milestone faster than the previous one was because be knew more about blog traffic each time he started a new blog.

It is easy to imagine that Neil learned a lot about SEO, blogging, social media when he created Quick Sprout. Quick Sprout took the longest to grow because Neil had to start from square one. By the time he created KISSMetrics, Neil already know a lot about blogging.

After KISSMetrics’ success, he learned more information about blogging. This resulted in Crazy Egg quickly reaching 100,000 visitors per month. It got easier for Neil each time just as it will get easier for you to achieve the same goal once you accomplish it the first time.

In Conclusion

The 10,000 hour rule is one of the most powerful rules ever invented. This rule emphasizes the need to be patient and put in the time and effort to accomplish your biggest goals. Goals do not get accomplished just by thinking about them.

In the end, it is how you utilize these 10,000 hours that will determine how quickly you become successful as well as how you become successful. Showing up is not good enough. You need to be effective when you show up to get better results. The more you work on your goals, the quicker they will be accomplished.

According to the 10,000 hour rule, working for one hour every day on becoming a key player in your industry will result in this status becoming a reality in 27 years. Putting in four hours every day will result in the same goal getting accomplished in seven years.

Putting in 8 hours of work every day (which is possible if you are not in the 9-to-5 status quo) will result in you getting this goal accomplished in a little under three and a half years. These numbers indicate that the more work you put in (as long as it is productive work), the earlier you will be a key player in your industry.

What is your opinion on the 10,000 hour rule?