“So what do you wish to do together with your life?”
Tim Ferriss sat throughout from me, at a boutique lodge by a brackish seaside in Lamu Island, Kenya.
It was July, 2011. I used to be simply shy of 26 years outdated.
It was an enormous query, and greater than something on the planet at that second, I wished to impress him.
He had been my hero for years, I had learn his first ebook 7 instances, and his skill to seemingly bend actuality to his will round him was already gaining legendary standing.
We had run into one another and had a pleasant alternate, simply two Lengthy Island boys on the fitness center in Cooper Sq., NYC a couple of years earlier, and when the chance to spend 10 days collectively touring arose together with his newest ebook launch, I jumped throughout it.
I informed him a bit about my burgeoning profession in equities buying and selling, my targets and desires. I had misplaced my dad unexpectedly the 12 months earlier than, and I used to be clearly nonetheless spinning a bit.
He thought for a minute, and at last stated: “Do you wish to go to North Korea?”
I couldn’t course of the query – “Why?” was all I might muster.
Tim: I believe it might be good for you, my good friend is working a mastermind group there.
Me: Who’s your good friend?
Tim: I can’t inform you that, he’s a personal however well-known individual.
Me: Are YOU going to North Korea?
Tim: No.
Me: {File not discovered}
Suffice to say, I didn’t go to North Korea, however once I bought dwelling and recovered from the malaria I contracted that very night time on the journey (mosquito nets, folks) I bought an e mail from Neil Strauss, who had simply gotten again with a small group to North Korea for a brand new mastermind group he had began, to assist males evolve into their finest selves.
Not prepared to tempt destiny by ‘refusing the decision’ a second time, I rang his workforce up, and joined right away.
Little did I do know, I’d lastly enter my entrepreneurial incubation interval, surrounded by individuals who I’d study invaluable classes with, touring the world, and at last turning into a extra productive, efficient and aligned model of myself.
Now I’m simply shy of 40, and for a few years I’ve been constructing, main, becoming a member of, and serving to folks launch and scale numerous mastermind teams, all of the whereas assembly and studying from all varieties of profitable folks.
Masterminds are nonetheless my primary hack, the one factor I’d give attention to if I might solely give attention to one factor. Completed proper, they’re the most important drive multiplier in my life.
3 of the companies I’ve began have hit the 7 determine mark, and I’m nonetheless in love with the sport, studying, rising and sharing what I study as I am going.
One factor I imagine holds numerous entrepreneurs again is a failure to persistently prioritize and keep on monitor towards their targets.
All of us need what we do to matter, as an alternative of attending to the tip of the day and feeling such as you ‘did numerous stuff’ however nothing necessary bought performed.
It additionally sucks when there’s extra ‘month’ on the finish of the cash.
Each entrepreneur has additionally confronted that overwhelming feeling of staring down an extended checklist of duties, unclear on the place to begin. It’s straightforward to get misplaced within the swirl of to-dos, conferences, emails, and messages that demand our consideration.
Nonetheless, with out clear priorities, progress stalls, and because the good ebook says: “And not using a imaginative and prescient, folks perish.”
Or binge watch Netflix and doom scroll on Insta.
The power to hone in on what issues most is usually what separates the people who find themselves thriving from simply surviving or worse, giving up solely.
On this article, we’ll discover a couple of key productiveness hacks and mindset shifts to assist entrepreneurs (such as you!) prioritize successfully, preserve circulate, and obtain outcomes that really matter.
Tony Robbins RPM
Probably the most impactful ideas I realized from Tony Robbins is the RPM technique—Outcomes, Goal, Large Motion.
Merely put, it’s about getting clear on what you need (outcomes), understanding why it issues (goal), after which aligning your vitality and actions to attain it (huge motion).
Many individuals have infinite to-do lists, checking off small duties that hold them busy however not essentially productive. They haven’t outlined what success appears to be like like or why it’s necessary to them. If you outline your outcomes, you get readability. If you perceive your goal, you construct drive.
And if you decide to huge motion, you create momentum. 1% higher per day doesn’t seem to be a lot, but it surely compounds, 3778% higher in a 12 months, actually.
The three×5 Word Card Approach
One of many easiest, best hacks I’ve adopted for prioritization comes from, you guessed it, Mr. Tim Ferriss: the three×5 word card approach.
Each night, I write down 3-5 high-priority duties that should be accomplished earlier than the rest the next morning. You’re pressured to be clear, exact and transient, and you’ll’t match an excessive amount of crap on the cardboard.
For me, the very best time to sort out this checklist is true after I get up, throughout my best hours.
Earlier than checking my telephone, emails, or social media, I dive straight into this prioritized work. This has the twin profit of making a transparent path for the day and profiting from my peak psychological readability.
Issues which can be priorities for the long run, are placed on the calendar to be positioned on one other card for one more day, or discarded if they’re not related once we get there.
I work on priorities and train within the morning, and talk and take calls within the afternoon.
I try and eradicate, automate, or delegate something and the whole lot that’s not a thousand greenback an hour activity or extra.
That’s it.
What makes this technique highly effective is its simplicity. It forces you to confront what really issues and can transfer the ball ahead every day. When your duties are restricted to solely a handful, the impetus to execute on these particular gadgets will increase, and the probability of attaining them turns into larger.
Attaining circulate, that state of full immersion and heightened productiveness, is essential for tackling high-priority duties successfully.
Steven Kotler, a world main circulate knowledgeable I had the pleasure of getting dinner with not way back in Scottsdale AZ, shared a easy hack that has helped him write 14 books and counting, lots of them bestsellers:
Edit your writing from the day before today.
This technique eases you into circulate since you’re revisiting present content material, which naturally engages your thoughts and eliminates the friction that always comes with beginning contemporary.
In my very own routine, I mix this idea with one other productiveness hack—listening to the identical songs on repeat.
I do know it would sound odd, however taking part in tracks like “Animals” by Martin Garrix and “Tsunami” on loop gives a rhythmic background that helps me keep targeted for hours. No lyrics, no distractions, and also you prepare your mind to comprehend it’s ‘go’ time when that exact tune comes on.
With that form of sustained focus, I can simply knock out 2,000-3,000 phrases in a sitting. Lately, I used to be in a position to end up a 42,000 phrase manuscript for my 4th ebook in 21 days.
The secret is beginning instantly within the morning. Don’t wait, don’t hesitate. Bounce straight into it, and circulate will comply with. Begin the place you might be, and hold going. You bought this.
When to Shift Priorities: Well being, Household, Enterprise
The problem of priorities isn’t simply realizing what to give attention to; it’s realizing when these priorities ought to shift. For entrepreneurs, priorities ought to fall right into a hierarchy: well being, household, and enterprise.
- Well being First: In the event you’re not wholesome, you possibly can’t assist anybody else. Bodily and psychological well-being is the inspiration upon which all different achievements are constructed.
- Household Subsequent: These are the relationships that make life value dwelling. Success with out somebody to share it with is the last word failure. An absence of household focus can result in attaining outcomes that really feel empty. This contains not simply your default household, however your loved ones of selection, your experience or die folks, your sisters from different misters, your brothers from different moms.
- Then Enterprise: Your profession is important for offering the sources to help your life, but it surely mustn’t come on the expense of your well being or household.
Nonetheless, life is unpredictable, and there are occasions when imminent hazard, sudden alternatives, or private emergencies necessitate a short lived shift in priorities.
The secret is to acknowledge when to regulate with out shedding sight of your final imaginative and prescient and targets. And getting again on monitor as shortly as potential.
Understanding the R&R Matrix (Outcomes & Relationships)
One essential idea I realized from Scott Whitaker is the Outcomes & Relationships (R&R) matrix. This device helps you stability the necessity to drive outcomes with the significance of constructing and sustaining relationships.
Right here’s a fast overview of how the matrix works:
- Low Outcomes / Low Relationships: Folks received’t be part of or keep in your group (e.g., mastermind, workforce) in the event that they don’t see outcomes or really feel linked.
- Low Outcomes / Excessive Relationships: If individuals are solely in your group for the relationships, they’ll ultimately really feel like they’re simply paying to hang around with associates, resulting in dissatisfaction.
- Excessive Outcomes / Low Relationships: Folks get the outcomes they need however go away shortly as a result of there’s no sense of household or connection conserving them engaged.
- Excessive Outcomes / Excessive Relationships: The candy spot. Folks keep, obtain their targets, construct significant relationships, and assist unfold your message to others, making a cycle of progress and success, together with that recurring income all of us have to thrive.
The purpose for any entrepreneur, chief, or group builder is to attempt for this high-results, high-relationships quadrant. This stability creates sustained success, whether or not in enterprise masterminds or different ventures.
I imagine that relationships are to be prioritized larger than money- they will and do develop into infinitely extra priceless as time goes on, and the appropriate relationship on the proper time can create infinite cash.
Steve and Steve at Apple, Invoice and Steve at Microsoft, Larry and Sergei at Google, Mark and Sheryl at Meta, and so forth.
Taking good care of folks, including worth to their lives, and persistently constructing over time implies that you had been there earlier than they ‘blew up’ when everybody now desires a bit of their success for their very own causes.
All of the ‘Johnny come latelies” have to face in line whilst you can proceed to be a priceless and trusted good friend, confidant and accomplice, rising and profitable collectively.
Individuals are at all times shocked at who I do know, and I might write an entire ebook simply on that one slender matter, however I’ll go away you with a pair inquiries to ponder for now: ‘Do you want to know the whole lot if all people? How will you dig the nicely earlier than you want it so you might be by no means thirsty for the remainder of your life?”
It’s not exhausting, per se, but it surely does require self-discipline, consistency and giving a rattling. Your values aren’t your values except you possibly can select them when selecting is tough. When selecting them means it’s possible you’ll lose one thing else you worth, no less than within the quick time period, to win the lengthy sport.
The Tony Hawk Story: Realigning Priorities
After getting readability in your priorities, the subsequent step is to speak them successfully. Whether or not it’s inside your loved ones, workforce, or broader group, clear communication is essential to make sure everyone seems to be on the identical web page and understands the explanations behind your choices.
Transparency fosters belief and eliminates pointless friction. By aligning your priorities together with your actions and phrases, you create an setting the place these round what to anticipate and learn how to help you.
Take, for instance, the legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk, as associated on the “Blocks” podcast with Neal Brennan.
For years, Hawk would make his household depressing if he missed a trick after engaged on all of it day.
The frustration he felt would spill over into his interactions, creating pressure at dwelling. They weren’t enrolled in his imaginative and prescient. He felt remoted, they felt disregarded.
Ultimately, his household helped him realign his priorities, and he adopted a more healthy perspective on his efficiency.
Remarkably, this shift didn’t make him a worse skater—actually, it made him a happier one.
This story is a strong reminder that as we undergo life, our priorities should evolve, particularly once they’re inflicting adverse externalities in {our relationships} or well being.
Development doesn’t at all times imply sacrificing what’s necessary to you; generally, it’s about reshaping your strategy to create a extra sustainable concord between your priorities.
Steadiness could also be elusive and never a terrific goal to goal for, however a terrific tune has a concord that ebbs and flows to create a phenomenal expertise.
Constructing Wealth and Sustaining Priorities
For entrepreneurs seeking to construct wealth, the trail isn’t at all times simple.
As you develop, your priorities ought to shift in a means that protects your wealth whereas fostering progress.
Consider it like this:
- Earnings First: The quickest method to wealth is to extend your earnings. Concentrate on buying expertise like management, negotiation, gross sales, and private improvement that permit you to commerce up for greater and higher property and earnings streams.
- Safety and Security: When you’ve constructed a basis, the subsequent precedence is defending that wealth by diversified investments, emergency funds, and danger administration. That is HARD as a result of what bought you right here, received’t get you the place you wish to go subsequent. You could study to play offense AND protection to win video games persistently, and know when to change gears and why. In any other case, the whole lot you constructed might go away.
- Development and Danger Buckets: With safety in place, you possibly can then search progress alternatives and take calculated dangers, whereas persevering with to maintain ‘the primary factor the primary factor’ and develop your earnings, whereas leveraging your capital successfully over the long run, creating and buying property that permit you to obtain monetary escape velocity.
Balancing these monetary priorities together with your private {and professional} targets will permit you to create a life the place success doesn’t come on the expense of well-being or success.
On a private word: I’ve gotten all of this unsuitable earlier than, and this text is simply as a lot a reminder for me as it might additionally make it easier to.
It’s my honest hope that no less than one in every of these methods make it easier to discover what you’re searching for, since you are value it and deserve the very best in life.
Wherever you might be in your journey, I see you and it will get higher. Preserve combating the nice combat.
Okay, let’s recap:
Key Takeaways: Your Information to Prioritization
- Begin Every Day with Intentional Motion: Use the 3×5 word card approach to determine 3-5 high-impact duties every night earlier than signing off.
- Discover and Shield Your Circulate: Interact in actions that make it easier to obtain a state of circulate, like enhancing work from the day earlier than or listening to a repetitive playlist.
- Outcomes and Relationships: Use the R&R matrix to make sure you’re hitting the mark in each areas, and conserving your eyes on the prize.
- Alter When Needed: Be versatile and prepared to shift your priorities briefly based mostly on well being, household, or enterprise wants.
- Lead with Transparency: Talk your priorities successfully to create alignment with these round you.
- Construct Wealth with Prioritization in Thoughts: Concentrate on rising earnings first, then transfer on to safety, progress, and calculated dangers.
By understanding and making use of these ideas, you can also make every day depend, obtain your targets extra effectively, and shock your self with how your productiveness skyrockets.
