How to be more productive.
This is a tough thing to level up.
And it has always been especially challenging for me.
One of my favorite books of all time was written by Arnold Schwarzenegger. The book is titled Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder… and I think that everyone who is interested in leveling-up their life should read it!
There is a quote in this book that I really love.
“When I was young I suffered from the same insecurity every kid has. But as I transformed myself into something strong and unique, discovering I could do one thing well, confidence came to me naturally. And that gave me a great deal of security.”
Arnold Schwarzenegger : Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder
In my life, I have spent a lot of time doing the bare minimum it took to get by.
It wasn’t a very good experience.
I never really accomplished anything meaningful when this was my primary mode of operation.
It also really hurt my self-esteem.
I was also depressed, anxious, and full of self-pity.
I was just a weak beta. I was a victim, crying about how bad my life was.
What a waste!
I used to spend 3 or 4 hours a day playing video games!!!
Sure, it was fun… but it was also such a waste of my valuable time!
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with video games.
But for me, it was just an escape… an escape from the real world that I spent way too much time on, when I should have been leveling up my ability to win in the real world… not in a virtual world!
I knew that I was capable of doing more. I had hopes and dreams that I wanted to accomplish.
But I never actually did the work. I didn’t know how to be productive!
Well, when I started the alpha male journey, and started learning about what it took to be a true, powerful alpha male, that all changed.
I started prioritizing and putting more effort into all the different, important areas of my life.
And as a result, awesome things started happening.
Over time, I developed my own personal alpha-male code, called the Oath of Kings.
These rules gave me clarity in what I wanted for myself.
I started making more money. I leveled up my skills. I started hitting the gym. I started growing my business. I started winning with women.
My relationships with friends, family, and even my own children started improving. Drama all but disappeared from my life. I stopped complaining, and starting living life with an attitude of power and gratitude.
All of these amazing things started happening.
Why?
Because I was showing up for myself and putting in the work.
And this inspired me to just keep working harder, and pushing my own limits.
Not too long ago, I started writing down some of my new goals for the coming new year… and I decided that I would share my methods for how I push myself to get more done.
For me, it is all about paying daily attention to everything I care the most about.
Let’s dive in.
Discipline And Structure Are The Keys To Being More Productive
Discipline is difficult. And really, it all comes down to growing better habits.
For me, this means putting time into everything I care about every day, if that is at all possible.
Nearly all 7 days of the week look the same to me. I have slightly different weekends than weekdays… but I try to keep them as similar as possible.
I work 7 days a week growing my freelance writing business and other side-hustles. I strive to go to the gym every day. I strive to read every day.
Here is a basic look at my new daily schedule. It can be a challenge to stick to… but in adopting this schedule, I have started to get a lot more accomplished for myself.
8:00 AM – Wake Up, Have Breakfast, Get Pumped Up For The Day
9:30 AM – Start Work
1:00 PM – Lunch Break
1:30 PM – Back To Work
2:15 PM – Go To The Gym
3:30 PM – Pick Up My Kids From School
4:30 PM – Back To Work
6:30 PM – Dinner
After 6:30 before bed – Spend 1 hour working on my website, and 20 minutes reading. I also try to find at least 20 minutes to an hour to spend with my girlfriend… and at least once every week, I make it a point to spend time with my guy friends.
Bonus: I try to get some housework in as well. Doing laundry, cleaning the car, washing some dishes, taking out the trash, etc.
That is it. It’s super simple.
But it contains pretty much everything that is really important in my life.
- My work
- My business
- My kids
- My self-development
- My gym-time
- My relationships
- My environment
Obviously there are fluctuations. I struggle with keeping a rigid schedule, just like most people.
But the key is to keep trying, and to keep striving to get as much done every day as possible.
One thing that I find to be 100% true is that the earlier I wake up, and the sooner I get to work… the more I get accomplished for the day.
This is a struggle for me, because I have always tended to be a night owl.
But I also know that I want to level up and break through to develop new powers of focus and willpower.
I want to pursue my purpose and succeed at my goals.
But to do that, I have to be willing to stick through the tough times.
I must constantly learn how to be more productive, and apply this mindset to my life… every single day.
How To Be More Productive: 3 Keys To Fighting Distraction
Many times every day I am tempted to succumb to distraction.
I want to take a break, play a video game, mess around, waste time, rest my brain, take a nap, etc.
But these are the things that waste the most time!
If I give in and I deviate from the things I know that I need to get done, I start to destroy my own productivity.
Before I know it, I’ve wasted two or three hours of my time… and that is a HUGE chunk of the day that I can’t get back!
So here are my three biggest tips for increasing productivity, and getting more done every day.
#1 – Put At Least 20 Minutes Into Every Important Thing In Your Life, Every Day
Figure out what the most important things in your life are… and make sure you invest in them every day.
This is a habit-building exercise, and it also ensures that you don’t stagnate.
Far too often, we waste time doing things we don’t really care about.
Don’t give yourself the time to do this. Schedule important things for yourself every day, and keep those commitments.
The best way to keep this at the forefront of your mind is to make a list of things to accomplish every morning.
You could also do it the night before… but make sure that you look at it when you wake up, to remind yourself what needs to be done!
#2 – Be Very Sparing With Time Off
We live in a world where ‘self care’ has almost become a negative, destructive habit.
As alpha men, we must learn to find self care in our duties, priorities, responsibilities, and successes.
If I start to feel stressed, work is hands-down the best thing I can do to help myself feel better.
Why?
Because when I work, I am contributing to my future. I am helping to solve every potential problem by furthering my business, my knowledge, my station in life, my skillset, my level of wealth, etc.
That is the best self-care that exists… for me, at least.
If work starts to push me toward being stressed, I shift my focus and try to do something else productive.
Cleaning the house, for example, is a great thing to do when I am feeling stressed out by work… because it is also directly contributing to my life in a positive way.
There is a mindset here that I really want to impress upon those who might be reading this.
It might seem like rest and reslaxation are the best things in life… but in reality they just FEEL the best.
Rest can actually be one of the most stressful things in life… because unless we are actually resting as needed to regain our strength, we might just be wasting time and getting further behind.
And that isn’t going to help you feel any less stressed!
I notice that as I further my goals, work hard, and get further ahead… I get more motivated, less depressed, less anxious, and I feel more powerful and in control of my life.
And that makes me very happy.
Why?
Because I am no longer fighting for survival. I am getting ahead… and that feels really damn good.
I can see, at the end of the road, very promising results from my work. And the more I work on those results, the more assured of success I become.
And this gives me all kinds of confidence, because I am proving to myself that I am what I want to be… a true alpha male personality, capable of achieving whatever I set my mind to!
#3 – Try Not To Focus On Yourself So Much
As alpha males, we must strike a delicate balance between self awareness, and awareness of other things outside of ourselves.
If we spend too much time focusing inward, we become almost self centered… and there is very little good that comes from this.
Self-centered people tend to focus on themselves, get very little accomplished, and are usually very dependent upon their emotions.
This is a weak path.
Instead, we must focus on our priorities, what we want, and how we are working toward those things in our lives.
We must focus outward, build systems in our lives that will help to carry us to the next level, and strive to push through the barriers that are holding us back… even if they make us uncomfortable at times.
I say let’s bring back hard work culture… but let’s use it to build our own businesses and futures.
Let’s bring back rolling up our shirt sleeves and diving into our work… but let’s focus on doing meaningful work that we find purpose in.
I say let’s rediscover a healthy obsession with success, and learn to apply ourselves diligently to the things we love and care for.
But in order to do this, we need to toughen up and stop being too soft on ourselves.
We need to stay healthy… but we must also keep from coddling ourselves.
This is a great balance… and a true alpha male learns how to walk this line. He learns to keep it all together, while maintaining healthy levels of strength and controlling his levels of exertion.
If you get too tired for work and truly need a break… go out with real people and level up your social skills or attraction skills!
At The End Of The Day, It Feels Really Good To Be Making Progress
Figure out what you want.
Then, figure out what it will take to achieve that.
Then, back-engineer that, and figure out how much effort it will take every day to reach the objective you have in mind for yourself.
If you aren’t sure how much effort it will take, then just guess… or spend as much time on it as possible without burning out.
Once you figure all of this out, the hard part is sticking with it.
Most People Don’t Have What It Takes – And It Makes Them Feel Hopeless
Most people don’t have the discipline to stick with this path.
Most people write down a plan, follow it for one day, and then give up and go back to their old habits.
And they end up feeling very, very miserable as a result.
They lose hope… because they haven’t cultivated any for themselves.
How Do We Cultivate Hope?
By working hard. By being the hardest working man or woman in the room.
By leveling up, winning, and proving to ourselves that we have what it takes to hope for something better.
We hope because we have faith that we will create a better future for ourselves.
And at night, when you sit down to rest after accomplishing everything you knew that you had to get done that day, you can rest assured that if you continue to make progress like this, you will achieve the things you want in life.
While we are working hard and pushing through those boundaries, it can feel quite miserable.
You might want to nap. You might want to waste time on video games or whatever it is that qualifies as a time waster for you.
But if you stick through it, and you don’t waste time, and you actually do the work… you will feel extremely happy with yourself, and you will start to re-develop that hope within yourself.
And that, my friends, is the key to productivity, and how productivity is actually the greatest medicine for the tired, hopeless soul.
Go with grace, my friends. Work hard. Work very hard.
Make yourself proud. Do it for yourself and for your future.
Chase your purpose. Work so hard that you are impossible to beat.
And never… EVER… give up your power.
Until next time…
Joshua K. Sigafus