Hello,
Greetings from š«š· La RĆ©union – a little piece of France in the Indian Ocean. Iām here — and in neighboring Mauritius (Country #120 :D) — for a whole week of hiking, beaches and relaxation.
I havenāt taken a whole week off since Easter (!) and the āswitch offā canāt come at a better time. Denmarkās warmest, sunniest and longest summer is now giving way to cold, wind and rain. Time to get moving.
ā If you also would like to travel as much as I do,Ā my new bookĀ can help you. In the book, I go through how you too can have the time and money to travel a lot more than you do now šŖ
Updated Thoughts on High Performance / Productivity
This month, I want to loop back to high performance / productivity. Iāve a bunch of new material to share.
If youāre new in the list, Iāve a lot of people asking me questions such as:
- How do you manage to write books, travel so much, launch your own business, and more while you still work and progress on a ānormalā job?
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How can you actually follow through on your projects — be it learning all Japanese Kanji in fourĀ months, or work out every morning for a year?
I donāt think Iām special, nor that Iām āthat goodā, or anything like that. I do have, though, a very structured system of routines and habits that Iāve followed consistently for around a decade now.
I wrote about the whole thing inĀ my first book. I you havenāt seen it, go check it out.
This time, I want to build on that model with some new material:
1) TrackingĀ Habits — the āLightsā System.
In 2018, I started tracking my habits and routines usingĀ Sebastian Marshallās āLightsā Spreadsheet.
This has been an absolute winner. I love that simple spreadsheet, and have, via Lights, — for the first time in years of trying — managed to get habit ācompliance trackingā to stick.
The sheetĀ looks like this:
What I Like:
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List All Habits.Ā In one sheet, you can see all your daily habits (mine above, for reference)Ā — this, on the left. They all carry the same weight.
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Simple Yes/No.Ā For each habit and each day, you mark them as Yes (complete) or No (incomplete). Youāve the option for āHalfā — but itās just symbolical, as it counts as a ānoā.
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Day Score.Ā You get a āscoreā in percentage for the day — 70%+ is strong, under that is weak.
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Super Easy. You can use the (speedy) Google Sheets app on your phone to keep track on the go.
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I can notice the uptick in my habit consistency because of Lights — and was pretty consistent already (!). It really works.
My Angle:
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25Ā Habits Tops. I donāt have more, and no less. Iāve, though, bundled some — e.g. doing my morning journal and affirmation lists counts as just one habit.
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It Should Be Hard.Ā I average 70-80% for most days, and with peaks of 90% and (grasp) days as low as 40%. I havenāt managed — not even once — to get to 100%.
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Updated Every Month.Ā Iāve kept the ācoreā of the Lights the same for the whole year, but made many changes throughout. This by setting project-specific Lights (e.g. write my book for two hours), or by making some experiments (e.g. creating 5 new Anki cards in Danish).
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Weekends Off.Ā (Itās good to relax, especially once youāve habit consistency ;))
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Last — Because Iām a selfish nut, Iāve tried to come up with my own and a ābetterā sheet and system for months, but couldnāt (at least, not yet!). I dig this one.
Morning Routines – Update #721
Iām still in love with my Morning Routine (– thank youĀ Eben Pagan.) I read more books, try new experiments, and add new tools as Lights, but the one cornerstone of my productivity is still my humble morning routine. This is it right now:
If thereās any one positive change I would recommend anyone, it would be to startĀ a morning routine — and use it to make you stronger physically, emotionally and mentally. This is my lifeās biggest lever. Note:
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Consistency Is King.Ā I do all of the above every weekday morning. Iāve been consistent with this for around ten years, but especially so in 2018. Compliments to Lights.
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Put the Things That Otherwise You Wouldnāt Do. If I add something to the morning routine, I all but guarantee I get it done — e.g. I ātriedā to add some specific (very boring, too) knee exercises to my gym routine for months, but only became consistent when the exercises got āpromotedā to a full independent item in the Lights list. I do them every single day now.
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Extend to Midday.Ā In 2018, Iāve āextendedā the momentum of the morning routine all the way to lunch time. Now, at work, I almost never fail to do a full 60-60-30 for my most important task, for example.
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Defend The Time.Ā I know the morning is my āpeak timeā and I protect it religiously. I reject most morning meetings — and itās not a hard argument if you can show your manager the quantity and quality of your āpeak timeā output.
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Take Breaks and Disconnect. I donāt use internet (in any way) or watch TV until 8.30am. This helps me avoid getting ātriggeredā and helps me stay focused in the moment. Then, for the rest of the morning I only check social media, etc. at the breaks outlined in the 60-60-30 plan.
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Do What Matters.Ā In the morning, I work on the tasks — be it personal or work-related — that will matter most. This is, not the most urgent, nor flashy points — the most important. The ālead dominosā and major levers.
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If you donāt have a morning routine yet, do start with one. Iāve more detailed explanations, guidelines and ideas in my first book.
Productivity – Future Ideas & What Iām Looking Into
For October through December, Iām taking a break from big, ambitious projects. Instead, I’m looking into:
– Artificial Constraints. Ā I had a busy last couple of months at work, and feel I couldāve been more effective. So, I thought, what if I — for any arbitrary reason — couldnāt work at all after 4pm — no exceptions. How could I keep my performance, yet work roughly 1-2 hours less every day?
This is just a thought. But Iāll be experimenting with:
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- Narrowing my focus
- Learning to delegate better
- Simplifying the way I work
Iām not talking about lowering quality here. I want the same (or better) quality output, just in less time — and maybe with less steps in between.
In the same way that I cut a lot of words and pages when editing a book, I would like to do the same with the way I work — both for my personal projects and in my corporate career. Letās seeĀ š¤
– If I Get The Extra Time – What For
As noted above, Iāve decided not to take any āseriousā new project for the next three months. I wonāt write new books, create new online products, nor get involved in any new language learning marathon. Instead, I would like to:
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Be More Social.Ā Iāve been lousy on this front for more than a year — so Iāll ramp up my coffee-meetings and Skype calls. No agenda/objectives.
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āPassionate Learningā. I would like to block a couple of hours each day to spend time learning things I want to because Iām passionate about (or randomly interested), and not because it would be āusefulā. Perhaps, then, I take a couple of weeks to get the basics of Latin, and another week reading everything about steppe complex recurve bows. Letās see.
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Last on Productivity –– If youāre wondering, to write this email, I took:
- ~30 mins in the afternoon, to sketch topics/thoughts.
- One 60-60-30 — so, literally under two hours of writing, in a cold (but sunny) morning in Minsk.
Last Words & Ā Out of Social Media
Iāve been a bit off social media lately — thatās why no Instagram or Facebook posts of Minsk, Reunion, etc. I might post something soon, but donāt know. If you donāt follow me yet, you can do soĀ hereĀ andĀ here.
Travel-wise, Iām still investigating about Kuwait and Algeria. If I add both, then I can end the year with #125 countries visited. Not sure yet.
If you liked this email, or have any feedback/ideas, reach out to me — just reply to this email.
Do forward the email to friends you think might enjoy it as wellĀ š
Best,
Mario