If You Want to Become Elite at What You do, You Need to Consistently Get Better and Better.

The Scientific Argument For Waking Up Early

How to Become the Best in the World at What You Do

It can feel impossible to move toward your dreams. You know exactly what you want to do, but there are endless obstacles in your way.

There is so much competition — thousands or millions of people competing to do exactly what you want to do.

How do you get out of the rat race?

How do you advance quick enough to not have your dreams smashed into submission by society and imploded by “reality”?

How do you make the needed leaps to move beyond the masses vying for a similar position?

After all, you have bills to pay and tons of other responsibilities. You only have a limited amount of time each day. After work and everything else you’ve got going on, it’s easy to justify waiting until tomorrow. Even if you have the raw energy to do your work, you may feel guilty breaking from your relational obligations.

It truly can feel hopeless and overwhelming. There’s so much to learn. It can be easy to doubt our own abilities. Maybe we should just give up and accept reality for what it is?

The Truth Is…

Most of the competition are not hard to surpass. They’re dealing with the same existential and practical challenges you are. Their life isn’t structured for optimal creative expression. They are the primary obstacle in the path. Most will quit long before they ever really begin — always remaining mediocre at what they do.

With a few tweaks, you’ll quickly drop through a wormhole placing you in the top 5–10 percent in your field. The challenge then becomes to move from there to the top — which movement is the real contest. Getting to the top 5–10 percent merely requires a change in lifestyle. Getting to the top one percent requires a fundamental change in your being.

This post is a framework to quickly get you into the top 5–10 percent of your field so you can begin the real quest of becoming the best at what you do.

Phase One will get you to the top 5–10 percent of your field. Once you’re at this level, you are getting paid enough for your art to live on. This is key, as Paul Graham has said, “Once you cross the threshold of profitability, however low, your runway becomes infinite.” He calls the lowest tier of profitability, “Ramen Profitable,” which means a startup (or business of any sort) makes just enough to pay the founders’ living expenses.

Infinite runway means you can now dedicate all your “work” time to your work. You are no longer moonlighting or squeezing time in the margins of your life. You can pay your bills and eat Ramen. This is where Phase Two begins, and is really the beginning of your artistic journey — becoming the best in the world at what you do.

Let’s begin:

Phase One: Getting To Ramen Profitable (Or Sustainable)

1. Start As An Amateur

Kenzie and Harris were recently married. They had both dropped out of Brigham Young University and were working at the Apple store in downtown Salt Lake City. On the side, they were recording music covers and posting them on YouTube and Vine.

They had enough money in savings to live on a year, so they quit at Apple to make a run at becoming professional musicians. Every day, they would post Vines. For several months, their work went mostly unnoticed. They had a few thousand followers tops.

Then, everything changed. They posted a Vine that immediately went viral.The next day, they were contacted by some of the top Viners as well as agents who gave them contracts. They were now Ramen Profitable, had amazing connections, and on their way to making an amazing career as musicians.

Kenzie and Harris wouldn’t have had their breakthrough if they didn’t start as amateurs. They had some raw talent. But more than anything, they were willing to put themselves out there over and over and over. Quantity became quality. And then they put something out that people loved.

Very few people have the humility to start as amateurs. They procrastinate doing the work they want in the name of perfectionism. You know these people. The one’s who have been saying for years that they’re going to do something but never do. Yet inwardly, they’re terrified of what other people will think of them.

They’re caught in a state of paralysis by analysis — too busy calculating and never reaching a state of flow. Rather than doing work their own way, they do what they think will be well-received — being merely imitators of what is already popular.

2. Get Coaching/Education

Take your dreams seriously. Most people don’t. Take them serious enough to become amazing and move beyond mediocre. Get education and coaching.

“When the student is ready the teacher will appear.” — Buddha

Ever since returning from a two-year mission trip, I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer. However, my dream remained a figment of my imagination until I became serious enough to get a mentor.

I’ve had two mentors that have changed how I write. One of my mentors was a young professor who taught me more in three months than I had learned in the previous four years.

Actually, he taught me more about academic writing and research in three months than most people learn through an entire PhD. With his help, I was easily able to get into the graduate school of my choice.

I started blogging about 21 months ago. Knowing this is something I’m serious about, I decided to get coaching. However, this time, I did it in the form of a virtual online course.

Within a month of taking the course, I wrote a blog post that was read over five million times across multiple outlets and in several languages. This online course was not the reason for my success; but it was an important part of the progression I would inevitably get one way or another.

You’ll know when you’re ready for the next level, because you’ll make the proper investments in the teachers to help you get there. You’re level of commitment can directly be measured to how invested you are. Once, committed, you’ll be willing to make whatever changes are needed to upgrade into the person you desire to become.

3. Stop Living The Broken Rules Everyone Else Is Living

If it’s popular it’s wrong. Most people are mediocre at what they do for a reason. They’re playing by rules that halt optimal performance. They are climbing traditional ladders intended to slow them down and keep them average.

When everyone else is zigging, that’s when you zag. Darren Hardy says you should run “toward the thing everyone else is running from” in order to stand out from the crowd.

As Peter Diamandis says, “The day before something is a breakthrough, it’s a crazy idea.” If what you’re doing doesn’t seem slightly crazy to you, and very crazy to other people, you’re probably following the safe path.

Instead of following the rules set by society, create your own rules.Restructure the game to automate your success. Dismiss the haters, convention, and conformity. Follow your heart and the voice inside you encouraging faith and forward movement. In order to be happy, you must build a lifestyle around being true to yourself. If you’re true to yourself, good things will follow.

4. Be Consistent Until You Have A Break Through

Patience.

If you haven’t had your big break yet, keep going. Consistency is the most fundamental virtue to becoming the person you want to be. Almost everyone can sprint for a while. But most burn-out and quit. Everything meaningful in life is a marathon — meant to test your commitment and will.

If this is what you love doing, you’ll do it regardless of the outcome. In fact, obsession with a particular outcome will keep you from attaining your desired results. Your work will be forced rather than organically lived.

There is a natural law known as the compound effect. If you invest a small amount of money consistently, eventually compound interest takes over and growth becomes exponential. The same holds true for any habit, whether good or bad. If you do something long enough, compounding will take effect, momentum will surge, and you’ll begin to experience exponential results.

If you want it bad enough, you will do whatever it takes to make it happen. If you don’t, you won’t. You’ll be willing to reduce time with friends and hobbies, make big asks, take risks, find a mentor, get educated, and look foolish. You’ll be surprised how quickly you become Ramen Profitable when you take your work seriously.

Phase Two: Becoming The Best In The World At What You Do

The person who succumbs to temptation knows far less about its power than the person who resists it. Experience is key. Knowledge only becomes wisdom when it’s properly and consistently applied. Thus, the importance of learning from people who have actually been there, as opposed to sideline spectators. Never take advice from someone you wouldn’t want to switch places with.

Getting to the top 5–10 percent in your field can be done by following principles taught by other people. However, in order to become the best at what you do, at some point you leave it all behind. You become an innovator.A pioneer. An artist.

In order to get to the top 1 percent of performers, you must come up to the razor’s edge — the brink of disaster — where probability of failure is high. At this point, everything you’ve been taught is opposed by what you feel you should do. But your intuition is operating at a higher level.

5. Structure Your Entire Life To Optimize Your Performance

Entering the realm of the best in the world requires becoming holistic about your art. Everything you do matters. Every moment of your life either contributes to or takes away from what you’re trying to accomplish — the food you eat — activities you do — people you spend time with — and how you spend your mornings and evenings.

Most people’s lives are structured in a reactive way. The first thing they do in the morning is check their email or social media. They may even read a good book. But all of these things are highly addictive inputs.

In order to become a creative master, you must focus your efforts on outputs by leveraging your subconscious mind. While you’re away from your work, like sleeping, spending time with friends, or other activities, your subconscious is working through and mulling over the problems you’re trying to solve.

The first thing to do when you wake up is output. This may be in the form of writing in a journal to capture all the work your subconscious has been doing while you were sleeping.

Or immediately getting to the project you’re working on. When you get out of a meeting or finish any form of activity, rather than going directly to your email or other input, maximize your subconscious by going directly to output — your work. Creative and insightful eruptions of intellectual inspiration will flow.

Being healthy and free from physical pain is also crucial for enhanced performance. In his book, The Great Pain Deception, Stephen Ozanich wrote:

“Pain and other chronic symptoms are physical manifestations of unresolved internal conflict. Symptoms surface as the instinctual mechanism for self-survival. They are messages from the inner self wanting to be heard, but ego takes center-stage, and hides the truth within the shadows of the unconscious mind: which is the body.”

In the 1990’s neuroscientist Candice Pert, Ph.D., shared her discovery that the body, not the brain, is the subconscious mind which communicates via neuropeptides. Indeed, human beings are holistic. Our body and mind work in unison.

When we have unresolved tension in our lives, this tension is generally manifest in physical illness. When we clear ourselves of this tension, we allow our body to naturally and organically heal. When our bodies are healthy, we’re far more prone to inspiration.

6. Allow Time For Recovery

Less is more. When you focus on results, rather than being busy, you’re 100 percent ON when you’re working and 100 percent OFF when you’re not. This not only allows you to be present in the moment, but allows you the needed time to rest and recover.

The science is very compelling. Psychological-detachment from work is essential for being engaged while you’re working! Here are other benefits of psychological detachment from work:

If you don’t detach from work, you’re more likely to procrastinate and get fatigued on the job.

Although this is obvious, if you don’t detach from work, you’re less likely to have marital satisfaction. Your ability to work at a high level is like fitness. If you never took a break between sets, you wouldn’t be able to build strength, stamina, and endurance. However, not all “rest” produces recovery. Certain things are more soothing than others.

Recovering from my work generally consists of writing in my journal, listening to music, spending time with my wife and kids, preparing and eating delicious food, or serving other people. These things rejuvenate me. They make my work possible, but also meaningful.

How do you recover?

Do you have a regular environment optimized for resetting and recovery?

7. Have A Pre-Performance Routine That Gets You In Flow

Josh Waitzkin is a genius when it comes to learning and optimal human performance. He was a Chess prodigy as a child — he won five National Championship titles in Tai Chi Chuan — and is now focusing on becoming world-class at Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He takes the fundamental principles of learning from the ground up and applies them laterally to different disciplines.

In order to “get in the zone,” Josh recommends a Pre-Performance routine.The goal is to reduce stress and anxiety so you can be present. These routines often take 20–60 minutes to put you in the zone. However, Josh recommends incrementally reducing the routine time to the point where simply thinking about it clicks you into the zone.

The purpose of the pre-performance routine is to alter your emotional state. Most people experience emotional resistance before engaging in a task, like say, writing.

That resistance could be a number of negative and suppressed emotions such as fear, uncertainty, and feelings of inadequacy. You don’t want these emotions to influence you while you work. They will negatively influence how you perform.

The pre-performance routine is intended to alter your emotional state to one of courage, peace, acceptance, and love. From these emotional states, your work will be far superior. Without question, how you feel in the moment you do you work determines how well you do.

8. Embrace Fear And Suffering

“The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.” — Cus D’Amato

The idea of fearlessness is a false concept that is imposed by spectators. True performers feel fear and experience suffering. However, they learned to settle-into it like a yoga stretch.

Cycling is a sport notorious for the amount of suffering required. As Tyler Hamilton has said, “I discovered when I went all out, when I put 100 percent of my energy into some intense, impossible task — when my heart was jack-hammering, when lactic acid was sizzling through my muscles — that’s when I felt good, normal, balanced.”

Cyclists often refer to “the pain cave,” which is a mental place they go deeper and deeper into as they’re competing. “I went deeper than I thought I would.” “I was at the limit.” “I was totally pinned.” You often hear phrases like these in interviews after a cycling race.

“Mental resilience is arguably the most critical trait of a world-class performer, and it should be nurtured continuously. Left to my own devices, I am always looking for ways to become more and more psychologically impregnable. When uncomfortable, my instinct is not to avoid the discomfort but to become at peace with it. My instinct is always to seek out challenges as opposed to avoiding them.” — Josh Waitzkin When you begin feeling uncomfortable, that’s when you start feeling good. That’s when you’re growing. No pain no gain. That’s your happy place. That’s where most people stop. But not you.

9. Do It Because Of Love

In the end, there’s nothing more important than deep connection with humanity. The love you feel for other people is an experience that eclipses all others in life.

Your level of success is based on your level of contribution. It’s not about what you can get, it’s about what you can give. The world gives to the givers and takes from the takers. You don’t need to worry about what you’ll get, because you know your contribution is huge.

So much of training and personal progress is introspective — focused on the self. However, moving outward and focusing on the needs of others provides new meaning for your work. Become the best at what you do, not because of the legacy you’ll leave, but because of the lives you’ll bless.

There is a four stage hierarchy of motivations in psychology.

At stage one, you are motivated by fear. Everything you do is to avoid punishment or negative outcomes. You only do what you think others want you to do, being completely dependent on them. According to decision theory, this form of motivation is prevention focused.

At stage two, you are motivated by reward. Everything you do is to get what you want. If you are in business, you do only that which you believe will get you ahead. Thus, you are promotion focused and although highly independent, you can’t see outside of your own limited worldview. You’re too fixated on what you want, so much so that you’re unable to truly collaborate or get genuine feedback.

Both stage one and stage two demonstrate extrinsic motivation, which is far less powerful than intrinsic motivation.

At stage three, you are motivated by duty. You’re going to do what you believe you should whether you receive a reward or not. You have no fear of punishment. You are intrinsically motivated. You’re willing to do whatever it takes to get the result, even if that means changing your initial mindset, ideas, or strategies. Even still, there’s a lack of something truly magical when you do something only out of duty.

At stage four, you are motivated by love. You have moved beyond worry for your own needs. Your aim is to bring as much joy to each individual as you possibly can. Your love transcends human reasoning. It drives you to do things most would consider crazy. You no longer live by conventional rules or wisdom. You have a plan, yet that plan is continually upgraded through connecting new dots via collaborations and inspiration. You’re no longer tied to a specific outcome but you have conviction and faith that the best outcome will occur.

Conclusion

You can quickly get to the point where you do what you love for a living. This will require hard work, sacrifice, and consistency. However, what got you here won’t get you there. Becoming the best involves transcending guidelines and following your instinct.

You get to decide the level of impact or quality of the work you do. You can become the best in the world. It begins with elevated thinking.

Are YOU going to get to the top 1 percent?

If you want to become elite at what you do, you need to consistently get better.

High performance is all about putting in more and “reps.”

Doing the same workout every day won’t make you stronger or faster. Just showing up to work every day and doing your job won’t make you better at your job.

It’s been shown that most doctors become worse at their job over their career. They are at their height when they come out of medical school and slowly get worse over time, some become complacent.

Why?

Because they stop learning.

Experience enough isn’t how you get better.

Continually improving your experience and process is how you get better — this is what psychologists call “deliberate practice.”

Another word for Deliberate Practice is what Cal Newport calls, “Deep Work,” a result of "Deep Thinking,"  and "Deep Learning" which is rare in our distracted world. In order to engage in Deep Work, you need to design your life for the "Deep Recovery " Movement— which means you’re totally disconnected from work, most likely by dosonance and distraction.

"Deep Work" is rare because "Deep Recovery" is even rarer. Hence, high performance is rare and most people remain mediocre despite putting in LOTS of hours every day and a best effort.

Most People’s Days Are Not “Deliberate” Or Designed For High Performance

Every single day could be looked at like a “rep.” Like another workout. Like another opportunity to get better and better day in, day out.

But very few people look at their days like that.

Most people are simply doing the mudane routine -  doing the same thing over and over, again and expecting different results.

They are gaining more experience, but that experience isn’t actually making them better. In most cases, their experience is actually making them worse over time and more complacent overall.

In this article, I’m going to make several scientific arguments about how to optimize your day and your life. I’m going to provide a simple framework for designing your life around "DEEP WORK" and "DEEP RECOVERY."

Here is a brief overview of the core arguments and principles:

    * People who wake up earlier are more confident
    * Waking up early is the first decision that dominoes into other better decisions
    * Waking up early creates positive and optimistic emotions
    * From an evolutionary perspective, waking up early gives you a competitive-edge (Darwin would be proud)
    * Waking up early and focusing on “Important” rather than “Urgent” activities — such as learning, planning, fitness, and creative projects — allows you to make progress daily, which compounds over time
    * Waking up early, working in a flow-state, and then completing your work early gives you a longer recovery period in your afternoon and evening
    "The quality and duration of your recovery determines your creative and productive potential the next day
    "The quality and duration of your recovery determines your level of presence in the other areas of your life — most notably your family and other close relationships
    * Time spent away from work and away from screens is your greatest super-power
    * Having a life and focusing your energy on your highest priorities allows you to be 10X or 100X more productive with your time when you’re actually working

Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

    * You wake up early, ideally between 4–6
    * You have a morning routine that gets you into a peak-state (this generally involves visualization, meditation, journaling, fitness, and IMPORTANT work)
    * You leave your cellphone in another room and on airplane mode for several hours
    * You focus your work on results, rather than the amount of time spent doing it
    * You use your cellphone, social media, and internet sparingly and intentionally (ideally no more than 3–4 hours per day and during the early afternoon hours)
    * You stop working earlier in your day than usual (ideally between noon-3PM)
    * You put your phone back on airplane mode and you engage in your life and relationships

Why Does This Process Make Scientific Sense?

In order to become a high performer at anything, you need to optimize your life for "DEEP RECOVERY."

Working long hours is not rare. Most people work long hours. And people are actually working more and more — despite the fact that technologies have been developed so we could be working less and living more.

Being present with loved ones is rare. Engaging in physical and relational activities without technology is rare. Being away from screen-time is rare. Getting a good night sleep at a reasonable hour is rare.

Designing your life is rare. As T.S. Eliot once wrote, “Where is the Life, we have lost in living?”

Most people are too caught up living and have no clue how to actually design a life. A life is something you build and create, not something you do. I life is something you have.

There are Two Key Concepts Required For High Performance — Both Of Which Are Rare

The two key concepts for high performance and radical productivity are:

    * Deep Work, as described by author and scientist, Cal Newport
    * Psychological Detachment From Work, a new and emerging line of research

In Deep Work, Cal Newport distinguishes “deep work” from “shallow work.” Here’s the difference:

* Deep work is:

    rare;
    high value; and
    non-replicable (i.e., not easy to copy/outsource)

Shallow work is:

    common;
    mundane
    low value; and
    replicable (i.e., anyone can do it)

Deep work requires deep focus. Very few people can focus deeply for long periods of time anymore. Most people’s lives have been optimized for distraction. People’s bodies have become addicted to quick-hit neurochemicals — such as dopamine and even cortisol.

Deep work doesn’t just happen. It has to be designed for. According to Stanford Psychologist, Bj Fogg, willpower is not how you build good habits. Instead, you need to design your environment and life for them. You need to get small wins every single day, which stack on top of each other.

Thus, one reason to wake up early is that it is an immediate small win that ripples into other wins. Another reason is that your brain is far more creative and rested first thing in the morning, especially if you’ve adequately worked and recovered the day before.

You cannot be satisfied as a person if you’re not doing good, creative, and important work.

If you’re not doing deep work, you won’t become successful in today’s fast-paced, information, and technology driven world.

As Cal Newport said:

    “The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.”

In order to regularly do DEEP WORK, you need to set your life up so that it can happen. This is where RECOVERY is key. The important concept here is just as rare as deep work, and is one of the primary reasons deep work doesn’t happen.

This concept is known as Psychological Detachment From Work — which can only occur when you completely refrain from work-related activities and thoughts during non-work time.

The non-stop and highly competitive world we live in makes very difficult to psychologically detach from work.

Our technologies have been designed to be habit-forming, which means that if we are not intentional — we will regularly and subconsciously check-email, respond to texts, and check social media.

Even if we are not working, we will regularly be thinking about work because we are not absorbed in the other areas of our life. Research shows that it’s very difficult for most people to psychologically detach from work.

Yet, research also shows that proper detachment/recovery from work is essential for physical and psychological health, in addition to engaged and productive work.

Research has further found that people who psychologically detach from work experience:

    * Less work-related fatigue and procrastination

   *  Far greater engagement at work, which is defined as vigor, dedication, and absorption (i.e., “flow”)

    * Greater work-life balance, which directly relates to quality of life

    * Greater marital satisfaction

    * Greater mental health

Put simply — if you want to be AMAZING at what you do, you need to do less of it. Well, not exactly less, but you need to be far more focused and deep while you’re doing your work. And when you’re not working, you need to be absorbed and engaged in the other areas of your life.

The Length And Quality Of Your Recovery Matters (Which Is Another Reason To Wake Up Early)

If you wake up early, let’s say between 4–6AM and immediately get to work, you will get a lot of work done. Especially if you leave your cellphone away from your body, and especially if proactively avoid things like social media and email during the first few hours of your day.

The earlier and better you work, the sooner you can and should finish for the day.

One of the primary reasons to finish fast is so you can RECOVER longer. If you stop working sometime around 1–3PM, and completely psychologically detach from work, you will experience the opposite of deep work — you will experience "DEEP RECOVERY."

"Deep Recovery," is essential for deep work.

In fitness, you can only push your body to the extent you’ve given it proper rest and nutrition. It’s actually during recovery that your muscles grow and strengthen. And if you push yourself to the max, then you need more rest.

It’s an incredible feedback loop. The better and harder you push yourself, the deeper you’ll need to recover — which will not only make you stronger, but will enable better and harder performance in your future work.

This is how you get better overtime.

It’s also how you build a life.

Most people are living day-by-day. They aren’t actually making their days progressively better.

The longer and deeper your recovery, the better rested you will be and the better you’ll sleep, because your mind will be at ease.

If, for example, you stop working around 1–3PM, and just live completely presently with loved ones and engage in other hobbies, your relationships will be deeper. Your life will be more meaningful. You’ll be able to make incredible progress on things like learning a language, or developing relationships, or reading books, or traveling, or doing community service.

You’ll be focused on the things which matter most, and you won’t need more time for work, because the time you spend at work will be well-spent, and the time away from work will also be well-spent.

You will be building a life.

You’ll be building memories.

You’ll have more to draw from and more meaning to forge into the work you do. You’ll have experience and perspective, which will make your work more mature and contextual.

As you get better at recovering, you will find that your creativity and clarity spike dramatically.

Research shows that time away from work is where clarity and creativity actually happen. Only 16% of creative insights happen while at the work environment. Tim Ferriss explains in The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9–5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich, how regular “mini-retirements” can improve your life and productivity.

Every 30–60 days, you absolutely should take 2–5 days off, as Ferriss recommends. That recovery is essential.

However, you can and absolutely should be RECOVERING daily for 6–8 hours as well, and this isn’t sleep. The more continuous and intentional that recovery is on a daily basis, the better your life will be. The better your sleep will be. And the better and deeper you work will be when you do it.

FAQ: But What If I Work For Someone Else And Can’t Control My Schedule?

Whether you work for yourself or someone else — the goal is the same. Get the best results you can in the most effective manner.

Results are the name of the game — and if you’re effective, you can get those results faster than most people because most people are living in a distracted state. Very few people do deep work. Very few people have organized their life to recover.

Instead, most people are living in a subconscious-lull, rarely if ever truly present where they are. Very few people know what true productivity means. Very few people experience deep creativity and growth on a daily basis.

Again, most people’s days are a repeat of the day before. They aren’t being deliberate like an Olympic Athlete is with their workouts.

If you’re not deliberate with your days, then you’re not getting better, but instead, you’re probably getting worse.

In the book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, author Greg McKeown explains that, as an employee, you can usually negotiate your work hours and even work activities. All you need to do is be candid about what matters to both you and your boss. If you can prove that you can get better results doing things a certain way, you can often get what you want.

In this way, you can say “no” to non-essential tasks and non-essential work routines.

Put simply, with many if not most jobs, you can work when you want, where you want, and how you want. But only if you can actually execute and produce results. The best way to produce results is by doing deep work on only the most essential things — and by removing all of the non-essential stuff from your life and day.
Break-Down Of How To Become Elite, Day-By-Day

According to Stephen Covey, most people focus all of their energy on Urgent activities — such as email, deadlines, etc.

We all have urgent things going on in our lives. But how much have we designed our lives to focus on the Important and Non-Urgent things, such as planning, fitness, learning, long-term projects, and creating memories with loved ones?

The most successful people in the world learn how to focus their time and days on the most important things. They learn how to delete, delegate, outsource, or automate most of the urgent stuff.

How much of your time do you spend on Important Stuff ?

How much of your time do you spend on Urgent Stuff?

How much DEEP WORK have you done in the past 30 days?

How many incredible and fun memories have you had with your loved ones?

Are you merely living, or have you built a life?

When you wake up early and get right to work, you’ll have more time in your afternoon and evening to enjoy the other areas of your life.

The deeper your recovery, the deep will be your work AND your relationships. The more creative, clear, and successful you’ll be.

Happiness and success are not rocket science. They simply need to be designed for. They require that you live presently and intentionally, every single day.
Ready to Upgrade?

I’ve created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.

Regardless of your job or industry, there aren't always enough hours in the day to get everything done. As a result, you constantly feel like you're always behind. And that's just not good for your productivity or your health.

So, what's the answer? Work more hours?

Not necessarily. As Bob Sullivan explained on CNBC.com, "Research that attempts to quantify the relationship between hours worked and productivity found that employee output falls sharply after a 50-hour work-week, and falls off a cliff after 55 hours -- so much so that someone who puts in 70 hours produces nothing more with those extra 15 hours, according to a study published last year by John Pencavel of Stanford University."

Instead of putting in those extra hours, you can become more effective at work by focusing on what really matters. And you can get started with that ASAP by following these ten simple tips.

1. Trim the fat.

You've just been assigned a major project. Naturally your mind is racing with a million different thoughts on where to start and what you'll need to get the job done on time. As a result, you start creating a to-do-list that is massively bulky.

The problem with these out-of-control to-do-lists is that they're overwhelming and prevent you from being productive. That's because you're multitasking and directing your energy to unimportant tasks and activities.

Instead, keep your to-to-lists lean and mean by only focusing on your 3 to 5 most urgent, important, and challenging tasks for the day, aka your Most Important Task (MIT). Focus on one task at a time before moving on to less critical tasks. When you do, you'll feel more productive and less anxious.

Lou Babauta of ZenHabits suggests that at least one of your MITs should be related to your goals and you should work on them in the AM Whether if it's at home or in the office, tackle your MIT first thing in morning.

According to Lou, "If you put them off to later, you will get busy and run out of time to do them. Get them out of the way, and the rest of the day is gravy!"

2. Measure your results, not your time.

When it comes to productivity we often focus on how long something takes to complete; as opposed to what we actually accomplished in a day. For example, you just spent four hours writing a 1,000-word blog post. You may be be a bit bummed since that took a nice chunk out of your day.

But, what if you focused on the smaller parts of the blog post? For example, you broke into five 200-word sections, formatted it properly, added headings, ran a spellcheck and added images. Suddenly you realize you actually completed a lot in that timeframe.

In fact, research from the Behance team found "that placing importance on hours and physical presence over action and results leads to a culture of inefficiency (and anxiety)."

"The pressure of being required to sit at your desk until a certain time creates a factory-like culture that ignores a few basic laws of idea generation and human nature: (1) When the brain is tired, it doesn't work well,

(2) Idea generation happens on its own terms, (3) When you feel forced to execute beyond your capacity, you begin to hate what you are doing."

One way to assist you with measuring results instead of time is by generating done lists. This is simply an ongoing log of everything you completed in a day. By keeping this list you'll feel more motivated and focused since you can actually see what you accomplished.

Additionally, according to Buffer co-founder Leo Widrich, done lists allow "you to review your day, gives you a chance to celebrate your accomplishments, and helps you plan more effectively."

3. Have an attitude adjustment.

The team over at Mind Tools state that we're more effective at work when we have a "positive attitude."

"People with a good attitude take the initiative whenever they can. They willingly help a colleague in need, they pick up the slack when someone is off sick, and they make sure that their work is done to the highest standards."

And, you'll never hear them say that their work is "Good enough." That's because they go above and beyond.

Furthermore, a good attitude at work will help you set standards for your work, ensure that you're taking responsibility for yourself, and make decisions easier since they're based on your intuition. "This admirable trait is hard to find in many organizations. But demonstrating ethical decision-making and integrity could open many doors for you in the future."

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate.

Regardless if you're freelancer, entrepreneur, or employee, there will be times when you will have to work with others. As such, you should strengthen your communication and collaboration skills. When you do, you'll eliminate unnecessary rework and wasted time from straightening out any misunderstandings and miscommunications.

You can start by enhancing your active listening skills and staying on one topic when communicating. For example, when composing an email, keep it short and to point. Don't throw too much information in the message since it will only confuse the recipient.

5. Create and stick to a routine.

"We are creatures of habit, and so are our brains. When we establish routines, we can carry out tasks faster since we don't have to 'think' about the task - or prepare for it - as much, and can work on autopilot," says Hallie Crawford, a certified career coach, speaker, and author.

For me, I use an online calendar management tool to create and stick to the following routine:

6. Automate more tasks.

Want to the secret of getting more done? Reduce the amount of decisions you have to make throughout the day. That's why Mark Zuckerberg wore that same outfit for years. Most days he still does. It prevented fatigue. I will say though, I tried this and it was hard on my relationship with my wife. Make sure you find your balance.

"The counterintuitive secret to getting things done is to make them more automatic, so they require less energy," wrote Tony Schwartz, president and CEO of The Energy Project, in the Harvard Business Review.

"It turns out we each have one reservoir of will and discipline, and it gets progressively depleted by any act of conscious self-regulation. In other words, if you spend energy trying to resist a fragrant chocolate chip cookie, you'll have less energy left over to solve a difficult problem. Will and discipline decline inexorably as the day wears on."

In other words, build routines and habits so that you're not deciding. You're just doing. Hence why Zuck wore the same clothes everyday. By eliminating those silly or frivolous, he could focus all of his energy on more important work decisions.

7. Stop multitasking.

We all believe that we're multitaskers. In fact, humans just aren't capable of doing multiple things at once.

"People can't multitask very well, and when people say they can, they're deluding themselves," said neuroscientist Earl Miller. "The brain is very good at deluding itself."

Instead, we're simply shifting our attention from one task to another very quickly.

"Switching from task to task, you think you're actually paying attention to everything around you at the same time. But you're actually not," Miller said.

"You're not paying attention to one or two things simultaneously, but switching between them very rapidly."

In fact, researchers have found that they can actually see the brain struggling when multitasking.

So the next time you have the urge to multitask, stop. Take a breather and then go back to focus on the one thing that needs to get done right now. Once that's done, then you can move on to something else.

8. Take advantage of your procrastination.

This may sound counterproductive. But, there's actually a method to the madness here.

According to Parkinson's Law, which was named after after historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson, "If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute to do."

Think about it. You've had a deadline at work looming over your head for a month, but you just cranked it during the final week.

This doesn't give you permission to wait until the 11th hour. It does, according to Thai Nguyen of the TheUtopianLife.com, provide "great leverage for efficiency: imposing shorter deadlines for a task, or scheduling an earlier meeting."

9. Relieve stress.

Since stress can cause physical, emotional, and behavioral problems - which can impact your health, energy, well-being, and mental alertness - it's no surprise that stress hinders your work performance.

The good news is that you may be able to relieve that workplace stress.

According to the American Psychological Association, "the most effective stress-relief strategies are exercising or playing sports, praying or attending a religious service, reading, listening to music, spending time with friends or family, getting a massage, going outside for a walk, meditating or doing yoga, and spending time with a creative hobby."

The least effective strategies, however "are gambling, shopping, smoking, drinking, eating, playing video games, surfing the Internet, and watching TV or movies for more than two hours."

Another effective stress management technique is to increase your control of a situation in advance. You can start by planning tomorrow the night before and sticking to your routine. This way you know what to expect in the morning.

10. Do more of the work you enjoy.

Not everyone is privileged enough to do what you love for a living. Even if you are chasing your dreams and following your passions, there will still be tasks you're not fond of doing. In either case, focus more on the work that you actually enjoy doing.

For example, if you're a chef, then you obviously have a love for cooking. Instead of spending your days doing administrative tasks, outsource or delegate those tasks so that you can spend more time in the kitchen or at the market finding fresh ingredients.

When you do, you'll feel more fulfilled, inspired, challenged, and productive.