How to Be So Productive it Feels Illegal

0:07Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another podcast episode. And if you're out there and you love this podcast and you live in the United States or Canada, text me, 512-580-9305. Once again, 512-580-9305. I'll send you some tips and tricks on your mindset and motivation to help you improve your life sporadically throughout the week. Today, we're going to be talking about how to be so productive it actually feels illegal because you're not lazy or unmotivated or broken. Your brain has just been wired for survival and it doesn't give a damn about your success.

0:49But once you learn how to use your brain correctly and learn how to flip that switch in your brain, your productivity is actually gonna start to feel easy. So let's make it easy for you to take productive action. No more dragging yourself through the day, white knuckling to force yourself to do something or endless to-do list that you never finish. Just focused, unstoppable energy that actually sticks. So if you've ever felt like you were meant for more, but you self-sabotage and you just can't figure out how to be more productive, this is the episode that you've been waiting for. So the first thing, which is kind of counterintuitive based off of what I just said a second ago, is this.

1:29The first thing you need to do, stop trying to be productive and start trying to become clear. Most people think productivity means doing more, adding more to your plate, more on your to-do list, working more hours. But real productivity, like the most productive people that I know do less, but they do it with like ruthless clarity. And so it's deciding in your life what matters the most and then just forgetting about everything else. That's the difference. Instead of just adding more to your plate, you're going to be doing less, but you're going to be doing less better than you ever have. And so it's clarity first, output second.

2:08You have to realize that your brain, it's not really a productivity machine. Like it is a pattern creating survival tool. That's what it is. And so if you don't give it real and especially clear direction, a lot of times your brain will just default to distracting itself, which is why you'll find yourself on your phone or sitting around watching Netflix or scrolling and shopping. So you have to get really, really clear on what the most important things are. You know, if you're trying to plan for this quarter, say like, what are my top three priorities this quarter? Or if you're just trying to plan for today, what's the three most important things that need to be done today?

2:45What actions will move the needle in my life or what actions will move the needle in my business? In figuring out the Pareto principle, the 80-20 rule, because 20 % of what you do will bring in 80 % of the results. So why don't I spend the majority of my time focusing on that 20 % that brings in the most results? And then you start asking yourself, what am I doing out of routine or autopilot? When I just find myself, oh yeah, you know what? I go to the kitchen and I end up getting something to eat and I scroll on my phone for 20 minutes. I just lost 20 minutes right there. You have to understand you can't be insanely productive if you're not crystal clear on what your highest priorities are.

3:26And I know many, many people that are busy and you probably know many people that are busy. You might be a person that is busy, but it seems like even the busy people rarely get anything done. And it's not because they're not checking stuff off their to-do list. It's because they don't get really, like they don't get the really, really important things done. They just check off the small, easy tasks versus the needle moving tasks in their life. And so each morning, it's important for you to wake up and to think about your day and say, what is the one thing that would make today a win? and write that thing down and become laser focused on getting that thing done.

4:02If you can, get it done first. If you do that every day for the next 365 days, for one year, you will have crossed off the 365 most important things that need to be done for the year. That will make you insanely productive. So it's not about doing more. It's about doing less, but with much more clarity. Okay, that's the first thing. The next thing is you actually need to start talking differently to yourself. You need to rewire your identity from the inside out. If you still see yourself as someone who procrastinates or someone who is lazy or somebody who burns out or somebody who can't focus, no to-do list or productivity tool is really going to save you.

4:43Productivity begins with your identity. So many people are lazy because they just keep saying that they're lazy. They procrastinate because they always say that they procrastinate. They're poor because they always talk about how hard it is to make money. You get what you focus on and you will always take actions that align with who you think you are. And so if you keep saying, I'm lazy, I'm not productive, I'm somebody where, you know, gets screwed over all the time, I don't have any good luck. That's what your life is going to be. Your words and your thoughts are going to create everything in your life.

5:20So you need to change the way that you see yourself, the way that you talk to yourself, and the way that you talk to other people about yourself. You need to start saying things like, I'm becoming the type of person who... So instead of saying I'm lazy or I procrastinate, I'm becoming the type of person who finishes everything that I start. I'm becoming the type of person who plans ahead. I'm becoming the type of person who protects my time like it's the most important thing in the world. I'm the type of person who is building a million dollar business. This isn't about faking it. It's about training your nervous system and your subconscious to actually expect success and to take the right actions.

6:03So that's step number two. Step number three is that you need to use the dopamine in your brain like it is in an internal drug dealer, right? So let's get neurological for a second. Dopamine is your brain's chemical of motivation. It is your brain's, oh my God, I want to do that again chemical. Right? That's what you want to think. The most addictive drugs in the world are the high dopaminergic drugs. The most addictive drugs are the ones where your brain gets the most dopamine from it. And so your dopamine in your brain is your brain's, oh my God, I want to do that thing again. So it's not just for pleasure.

6:35It's for motivation. I want to do that again. That was great. I want to do that again. But here's the thing you have to understand. And we will be right back. And now back to the show. Most people chase cheap dopamine. And that cheap dopamine comes from scrolling on your phone, sugar, checking your inbox over and over again, checking your Slack messages, which means that when you get dopamine from doing those things, your brain wants more dopamine the same way that you got it before, which in turn oddly kind of makes you addicted to the thing that you don't want to do. So productive people create earned dopamine, like earned dopamine on real wins in their life, on deep work, on growth, on checking off the highest priority on their to-do list.

7:22Like checking off that highest priority task, that is the thing that needs to give you dopamine. And your brain's going to go, you know what? That was pretty amazing. I want to do that again. And so what you kind of want to do is hijack your dopamine circuit. So you want to break your larger tasks into smaller micro wins. And for each checkpoint, it's basically like a mini reward. So let's say, for instance, you need to plan out and present a presentation the next couple days. And that could mean that in the next couple days, you're going to get no dopamine off of this task until it's finished.

7:58What I would rather do is take this entire thing and split it up into smaller tasks so that my brain keeps getting all of these little micro wins and these micro awards of dopamine. And so let's say that part of it is, you know what I need to do? I need to do research on the competition. Okay, that's going to be one of my micro tasks. I need to pull stats from previous quarters. That's going to be one of my micro tasks. I need to put it into visible graphs. That's going to be one of mine. I need to create part one of the presentation. That's going to be one. So instead of getting dopamine three days from now, when it's actually finished, I get dopamine five times a day going, this is great.

8:35I want to keep going. This is great. I want to keep going. Each micro win gets you excited, gains momentum, and releases dopamine for you. And that makes you want to keep going. And so that's one thing that you could do. Another thing that would really help with this as well is to use something like the Pomodoro technique where you work for 25 minutes and that 25 minute sprint, whenever you get it done, you're like, oh my God, I was actually pretty focused. I'm pretty proud of myself for how much I got done those 25 minutes. Boom, you get dopamine, do another Pomodoro. And so basically what you're doing is you're setting up these checkpoints throughout your day, which is getting you kind of addicted to taking the action you need to.

9:13You can also pair it with things like music that you like because the music releases dopamine. You get excited and you listen to music that you like as you're doing it. And you can sit there. And when you get done with the actual task, you celebrate yourself. You celebrate yourself. You're like, boom, done. Nailed it. That was awesome. I'm so proud of myself, which all I get that. That sounds ridiculous. us, celebrating yourself sounds corny. It's not corny. It's neuroscience. Every time that you acknowledge a win, something that you just did, no matter how small it is, your brain releases dopamine, which then reinforces the behavior that you just took and wires in motivation to want to do it again.

9:51And it turns into a progress reward loop, helping you build momentum and keep going towards what it is you need to do. And so rewire that reward loop, like get the lots of micro wins, as many as you possibly can. Make the wins feel amazing. So that's number three. Step number four is to get really clear and design your environment to be as productive as possible. If you want to guarantee that your future self won't flake out, set up as much friction as you possibly can in your environment for you to not go to your phone. So much friction to get to your phone, not go to your notifications or your email, whatever it might be.

10:29The most consistent people, They don't have the best willpower in the world, but they have created an environment that will not test their willpower. So it's not about being hard on yourself. It's about making success and taking action easier than failure. And so one thing that you can do is you can do what I call temptation bundling, right? You pair something that you love with something that you need to do that you're resisting. So like something that you love could be like your favorite podcast or like iced coffee or something like that with something that you resist like admin tasks or working out.

11:03So like an example would be, I only listen to true crime podcasts when I'm cleaning the kitchen. Now you're doing the thing that you need to get done with something that you love. I only watch TV when I'm running on the treadmill. I can only have another coffee if I do 100 push-ups and 100 squats. So you're pairing something that you resist with something that you love to make sure that you actually get it done. Another thing that you can do in your environment to make sure you take more action is to set up these traps or blockers. So like put your phone in a different room. I don't know how many times I've said that on this podcast.

11:37Like the other day, two days ago, I needed to be really productive. I had a lot that I had to get done. I kept my phone downstairs for 10 hours because I was like, I'm just not gonna have time to look at it. And if it's not next to me, I'm not gonna be reaching for it. If you need to be really productive and you've spent too much time on social media and you need to get your business running, delete social media Monday through Friday. You can re-download it on Saturday and Sunday if you want to. If you spend too much time watching Netflix, remove your TV from the wall during the week so you can't watch it.

12:05If you browse and do too much shopping, use browser blockers like Freedom or Cold Turkey. You can schedule coworking sessions with people that work in your area so that you build accountability. If your environment doesn't support productivity, no amount of ambition will. And so here's the thing. You have to learn in this situation to protect your focus. like it's a million dollar asset because it really is. Like imagine if you were paid$10 ,000 every time that you protected your deep focus and you had to pay out$1 ,000 every time you broke your focus when you were doing something important. You'd stop letting everything and everyone hijack your attention, right?

12:49You would build a system to never be distracted again if it was that high of stakes. Do it. Figure out a way to create productivity boundaries in your life. Put your phone in another room. Not just face down, but in a completely different room. Use noise-canceling headphones. Tell people, hey, I'm heads down from 9 to 12. I will respond after that. Don't message me. It's not rude. It's really self-respect in making sure that you are productive in the time that you have set up. So that's number four. Number five is to master your energy, not just your time. Most people are obsessed with time management, but they don't think about their energy throughout the day.

13:27Without energy, your time management is absolutely useless. And so you've got to ask yourself, like, what drains me that I don't want to do anymore? Who drains me that I don't want to be around anymore? What fills me? What gives me energy? What time of day is my brain the sharpest? When do I crash throughout the day? Like productivity isn't just about what you do, it's how well your brain is able to show up in the time that you can. And so that's why rest and hydration and movement enjoy our fuel to getting things done. And so what you really got to think about is like, when is my energy the best throughout the day?

13:59And that's when you should schedule your most important things. And then the last thing that I want to talk about is to start getting really good at auditing yourself every single week, right? Like audit yourself every single week. Every Sunday, you need to treat yourself as if your life, you're the CEO of your life and you're having a CEO meeting with yourself. every Sunday, 30 minutes, you sit down and you look back on last week and you said, hey, what did I do? Well, what did I not do well? And what do I need to stop doing? What do I need to start doing? And what do I need to continue doing?

14:30Stop, start, continue. And then you, after looking back on last week, you look back on this next week and start making those adjustments and putting it into your schedule. And you audit your life as if it's something that is extremely important to you because it should be extremely important to you. So many people put more time into their job working for somebody else than they do their own damn life. And so when you sit down and you actually start making moves on how to be more productive with every action that you take every single day and then you audit yourself every single week, you start becoming more productive and you become way more productive than you ever have in your entire life.

15:07So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it on your Instagram stories. tag me in at Rob Dial Jr. R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. And if you love this podcast, you want to learn more about coaching with me outside the podcast, go to coachwithrob.com. Once again, coachwithrob.com. And with that, I'm going to leave you the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission to make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day.