Conclusion

Pfew, many tips and examples, but you made it through. In this last chapter, let’s summarize and talk more about applying this in practice.

Step 1: you have a goal

There’s something you want to accomplish. Improve your health, stop smoking, finish that book you wanted to write, learn a new skill.

How do you get there? How do you get stuff done?

Forget motivation. Forget discipline. We have …

Step 2: find your habits

Find the good habits associated with the skill. Find the bad habits that stand in your way.

Learn the good habits, and unlearn the bad ones, by breaking it into the smallest possible step.

A step you could make every day. Habits are about repetition. So find something you can do each day, without fail, without issue.

Example

Going to the gym is too hard? Do the same exercises at home. Can’t do that? Do only one exercise. Can’t do that? Do only one repetition of one exercise.

Once the basic habit is formed, build on it, small step by small step.

Example

When I wake up, I do 10 push-ups. I didn’t suddenly start doing that overnight. I started with one or two push-ups. Only after a few months did I manage to build the habit to 10.

Step 3: design your environment

To help create the right habits, change your environment. Make good things the easiest ones to accomplish. Make bad things purposely hard to do or start.

Example

Maybe you’ve bought some dumbbells for exercise, but you just can’t force yourself to walk to your exercise room and do something.

No worries. Place those dumbbells right next to your laptop. Or next to whatever space in which you usually work or reside. If it only takes one second to lift that dumbbell a few times, during a break from work, you’ll most likely be able to build that habit.

Step 4: just do something

Forget doubt or self-doubt. Forget belief. Forget perfectionism.

Just pick one option and do it. Just keep doing things, instead of staying inside your head, weighing options or forming excuses.

It doesn’t matter if the thing you do ends up being the wrong choice. Because now you’ve already done it, and can pick the right choice with more certainty.

Step 2 and 3 should automatically lead to this. If you build habits to stay active, and an environment in which it’s easy to just do something, you will get into the flow.

You have multiple opportunities. You can improve anything, you can iterate, it doesn’t need to be perfect the first time.

Don’t worry, be crappy.

Example

Alright, you have those dumbbells for exercise. But … what exercise is the best? Am I doing it right? What weight should I use? How often should I do it?

Questions like these usually lead to not doing anything.

Instead, just pick a random exercise, and do that. Within a few days, you’ll know if the exercise does something for you, you’ll know if it’s too heavy or too easy. Now you can pick a new random exercise, more informed this time.

As you try stuff, you iterate and slowly find the best exercises for you.

Step 5: don’t fight human nature, use it

Break everything down into the smallest tasks. Do your biggest task first, always.

Use breaks to reset. Most of all, use sleep and the moments right before or after it.

Don’t try to motivate yourself with punishment or reward. Studies have shown that they decrease enjoyment and willingness to do something. They are a trick that works as long as you can actually trick yourself, but once it stops working, it turns out to be an empty idea.

Stay healthy. Good health and fitness improves everything needed to be productive: energy, stamina, memory, creativity, etcetera.

Example

Whenever I am completely stuck and frustrated, I always leave my screen. I go outside, I exercise, I try to stay away from screens and work for at least 60-90 minutes.

This break, this change of environment, is way more valuable and helpful than forcing myself to work through it. To go against my human nature, my body, my need for exercise and rest.

Step 6: it has to come from you

Don’t expect others to care. Or their support to carry you completely. Certainly don’t expect others have some magic solution to motivation or productivity issues.

It has to come from you. You need to take action and do something. Just put in the work … and community, support, success will come.

Your mind will come up with many excuses and bad reasons to not get stuff done. Be able to logically dissect these thoughts, as it will confirm that 99% of them don’t mean anything and can be ignored.

Example

Nobody can put knowledge inside your head. Nobody can put strength into your muscles. At the end of the day, you need to do the exercises. You need to read the books, practice the skill, put in the time.

There’s no way around it. No shortcut. Time is your best friend, not your enemy.

Conclusion

This is everything I know about being productive, getting stuff done, achieving anything you want. I’ve been trying to figure this out for 15 years now. Hopefully my huge portfolio is a testament to the effectiveness of what I explain.

But as always, people differ, situations differ. That’s why I kept this general.

The examples of habits I gave, aren’t necessarily the habits you want to develop. And I still have much to learn as well.

But if you know how to build good habits and remove bad habits … you’ve just received the key to doing anything in your life.

Continue with this course