The Truest Form of Productivity and Why You Need to Master It
The first two are self-explanatory, but what do I mean by “chunk big things down”? In other words, don’t give yourself big, vague activities: “I’m going to go out and find cash buyers to buy houses I find.” When things are too big and vague, they’re not actionable. When you chunk big things down, you’re break- ing the actions into smaller, more doable components. For in- stance, instead say, “Post unique Facebook and Craigslist posts to find buyers.” This is something you can plan, schedule, and take immediate action on. Like we discussed earlier, you must dedicate hours during which you will do nothing but work on these tasks in their prop- er order. Using this real estate example still, you would decide you’re going to put ads on Craigslist and Facebook and you’re going to do it next Tuesday at 11 a . m . while taking a two-hour lunch. You’re going to spend an hour on each one, and you’re turning your phone off and eliminating any other distraction so you can get your most important things done in record time. This is such a huge component of being massively produc- tive. You chunk activities into bite-size tasks. As you do, you’ll start getting phone calls. You’ll get a buyer. And all of sudden, you’ll be like, “Oh my gosh. This is real. This really can change my life! What’s next?” Then you pick the next activity and fol- low the same process. Remember: setting dates and deadlines are crucial because doing so creates a sense of urgency. When do entrepreneurs and successful people work best? Under pressure. It’s not about wait- ing until the last minute. It’s about providing yourself a tight but reasonable window in which to get important stuff done. PRODUCTIVITY HABIT #4: IT’S GOOD TO BE SELFISH Now that you have a sense of what true productivity is and is not, let me share a habit that took me a while to learn. And this is going to seem completely counterintuitive, so bear with me a second. We believe that we’re being our best selves when
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