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Introduction
Everyone loves the idea of being creative. "Creative" - even the word is
filled with possibility and wonder. After all, who doesnt want to
synthesize their thoughts, ideas, and emotions into something they
can share with the world? The truth is that high quality work comes
from volume. It takes practice and a large body of work. To do
unmistakable work, to tap into your highest potential, you need
productivity.
In this manual, you'll find my best ideas on being productive and doing
work you can be proud of. You'll find it all laid out in a
choose-your-own-adventure manner. I've kept it short so you can
spend less time consuming, and more time creating (something we'll
be touching on shortly).
Use it. Test things out. Come to your own conclusions. Share your
ideas. But most importantly, enjoy the journey.
You can turn off your distractions and start it on a high note. Or you
can start it in an anxiety ridden, distraction driven frenzy. Every day,
the first hour will set the tone for the rest of your day. This means
figuring out what your highest value activities are.
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Filter High Value vs. Low Value Activities
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eventually youll find yourself wanting to spend the second, third, and
fourth hour of the day on such activities. Youll get more done in less
time. And eventually, youll find yourself spending the entire day
exactly on your terms- doing high quality work, or out enjoying your
life.
Many entrepreneurs and writers start their companies and write their
books while working 9 to 5. Its no surprise that waking up at 4 or 5 AM
is so common among them. Think about it- if you work from 5AM to
7AM on your most important work, you can create magic in the course
of a year- over 600 hours of deep focused work.
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Eliminate & Minimize Low Value Activities
Eliminate ALL Distractions. Ruthlessly.
If youve ever spent an entire day checking email and logging into
Facebook, you know that you get to the end of it and feel like shit.
Youre exhausted, your brain is fried, and you feel like youve done a
lot, but accomplished absolutely nothing.
It's like treading water- you're going to be exhausted, but you didn't
get any closer to where you're trying to swim. It's also a very effective
way to ensure you burn out and drown.
There was a day in 2014 when I checked email using my phone over
100 times, waiting for World War 3 to start. The world didnt end. That
day I decided to delete email from my phone and realized that nobody
ever changed the world by checking email. I decided to take a ruthless
approach to minimizing my low value activities.
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These things sucked up massive amounts of precious time, so I went
about eliminating as much as I could. Some took longer to implement,
but I went for the low hanging fruit. From that simplicity came massive
leverage - precious time and clarity to focus on my most important
work.
For the most part, we do the exact opposite. From the moment we
wake up, we turn things on.
We turn on the lights in our rooms, our bathrooms, and our houses.
We turn on our phones, launch some apps, and check in
We turn on our computers.
We spend all day turning things on. But if we can get in the practice of
turning things off, well see become more prolific, more productive
and more peaceful.
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So what can we turn off?
Notifications
I have nearly all notifications turned off with the exception of those
from my personal facebook feed. Since I dont have any social apps on
my phone, I dont get those notifications. Anytime a new app gives me
the option to receive notifications I choose the dont allow option.
Joel Gascoigne has even talked about turning off notifications and he
runs Buffer. So if the guy who is the CEO of a platform designed to
help manage social media turns off notifications, its a pretty safe bet
to say most of us could manage with notifications turned off.
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-James Clear doesnt check email before 11am.
-Cal Newport is intentionally hard to reach.
Phones
One of the best ways to optimize your life for deep work is to dumb
down your phone in the way that Jake Knapp suggests.
Delete all the social media apps.
Disable safari and the ability to browse.
Dont answer calls from unrecognized numbers.
Make your home screen minimal (get rid of all the distracting stuff
from your home screen).
Put the phone in do not disturb mode for most of the day.
At minimum, just turn off the phone for a few hours.
Laptops
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increasingly digital world.
I start almost all of my writing in a Moleskine notebook.
Ryan Holidays note card system which he uses to research and write
books is all analog.
By starting our days with our laptops off and turning off our laptops in
the middle of the day, we increase the activation energy required to
give into sources of distraction. Thus, were more likely to do
something like read a book, or write in a journal.
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Both have been instrumental in my ability to tune out the world
around me and focus.And as an added bonus the headphones have
somehow caused me to workout on a regular basis.
By turning things off, youll find flow, do more deep work, and be
more prolific, more productive, and happier.
Each day, do you get the hard, most pressing things done first? Often
these are the things we want to avoid, the things we resist the most.
If not, you're sabotaging yourself. Being productive & doing great work
makes you remarkable. And being remarkable comes at the cost of
being perpetually distracted. Without a speck of doubt though, its a
very small price to pay.
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Whatever You're Working On, GO DEEP.
Its no secret that Im a massive fan of Cal Newport. Hes the guy who
is hard to get a hold of on purpose. No one can get in touch. He never
has his phone on him. Its no coincidence that hes been so prolific in
his academic and writing career. The more I spend my time immersed
in deep work, the more Im realizing why its so fulfilling.
If you look at people who have cultivated a deep work habit, youll
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notice that they have a combination of high volume and high-value
output.
Its hard to argue with the fact that deep work produces tangible
results in our lives.
Texting, e-mail and the number of likes we collect, the ding, the
buzz, and or the flash of our phones that tell us Youve got mail,
feels amazing. As it should. We have associated the dopamine
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releasing feel of ooh something for me with getting a text or email
or the like. Simon Sinek
For every website, you visit that has notifications built into it, youre
getting surges of dopamine. Every like, every message, every page
view, every email and every comment causes a surge in dopamine.
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Deep Work Creates a Lasting Sense of Fulfillment
Deep work, on the other hand, isnt dopamine-driven at all. Sure, deep
work can suck when you start. Whats amazing though, is when you
spend your time immersed in deep work, you hit flow, increase your
momentum, and you end up being incredibly prolific and productive.
If you have ever gotten so lost in your work that youve lost track of
time, you know how good that feels. You get to the end of the day and
feel like the king or queen of the world.
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makes allows average men to accomplish extraordinary things.
1. Unconscious Incompetence
"I don't know that I don't know how to do this." This is the stage of
blissful ignorance before learning begins. Theres little room for
creativity here- this is where you set your habits and show up every
day.
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2. Conscious Incompetence
"I know that I don't know how to do this, yet." This is the most difficult
stage, where learning begins, and where the most judgments against
self are formed. This is also the stage that most people give up. No
one enjoys sucking, but stick with it and breakthroughs happen. Super
nerd and all-round badass Josh Kaufman says if you set your goals
with enough clarity and specificity, you can get past the these first two
stages in around 20 hours of practice. Thats quite heartening.
3. Conscious Competence
"I know that I know how to do this." This stage of learning is much
easier than the second stage, but it is still a bit uncomfortable and
self-conscious. At this point, you can write, draw, apply a skillset, but
youre not pushing it.
4. Unconscious Competence
"What, you say I did something well?" The final stage of learning a skill
is when it has become a natural part of us; we don't have to think
about it. This is where real creativity is found. In writing, dance,
marketing, sales- any skill- once youre able to do the basics without
thinking, you have room to play with all the variables and create work
with your own unique signature.
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Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks,
breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun Mary Lou Cook
To Recap:
The world needs your voice. Whatever it is that you wish to put out in
the world, dont wait.
Eliminate distractions.
Guard your state of mind- get rid of the bad influences.
Figure out what matters most to you.
Dedicate the first hours of your day to this cause, & then add
hours.
Continue to carve out more time to work on the things that
matter to you.
Soon youll find that all you need is a few hours a day to create and
accomplish more than you thought you ever could.
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How Can We Make You More Successful?
Creating the habits that allow for consistent productivity and creativity
isnt easy, and we want you to succeed.
What was the most valuable thing you learned from this ebook?
Let us know by filling out this short survey and well respond.
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