**, - Adam Up - How to be More Productive: 10 Keys To Increased Productivity

Published: Thu, 10/15/15

Oct #3

Edition #517

Hello - and Welcome to Adam Up

The notion of being productive is something I seem to mention a lot in my classrooms, to my clients, to friends and colleagues.

Most people tend to go through periods of life where they feel that they do not have enough hours in the day to get everything done that they wish.

We have busy lives and we also have all kinds of other things we’d like to achieve and do. Being productive can be difficult for some when we are open to so much stimulus and distraction. Many people waste so much time in ways that are fruitless and do not contribute effectively to the goals they have for themselves.

Throughout my own explorations, these are the tips I have learned from highly productive people:

1. Do Less, Not More:

So many people I encounter tell me that their vision of success requires them to do much more, to add a great many new strings to their bow. When I coach and mentor hypnotherapists for example, they often give me a long list of all the things they need to do in order to have a successful career; they need to see more clients, they need to produce a range of audio products, they need to run some seminars, they need to be speaking at events and they start adding more and more things that they ‘need’ to do.

This often spreads people far too thin. Warren Buffet, one of the world’s richest men says the most important key to his business is learning to say no to more things. My own coach advises that the best way to start being productive and creating more business success is to subtract. That is, to take more things out of your daily routine. Just work on the things that are most important, most rewarding, and decide upon what is going to be most valuable to you in terms of your goals that you have for yourself.

Stop overwhelm, work on the key projects and tasks only, and even then, limit the projects to a very manageable number. What is your number one project? Work on that! Read the book ‘Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less’ by Greg Mckeown as it is the best book I have read on this particular subject of learning to do less to be more effective and productive.

2. Have an Effective Morning Routine:

The vast majority of productive people who I follow online, whose books I read, and who I consider to be majorly productive, all start their day early. It may well not appeal to everyone to get up while it is still dark outside and the only signs of action are taxis bring home youngsters from a night of revelling, but a lot of the most productive people get started with their day very early.

For me, I am up at 5am, have charged my brain with positive thoughts, and am listening to audiobooks while out running the 80 miles a week that form my training schedule. For Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbucks, he states:

“I get up around 4:30, and naturally the first thing I do is make some coffee.”

Of course.

How you get up is another thing. Rather than using an alarm that makes you dread the day ahead or shrink under the covers with apprehension, anxiety and stress, use music that uplifts you, and have motivational quotes by your bedside to get you feeling vibrant. Consider your preparation for bed the night before too; go to bed early enough to ensure you can get up in this fashion, and tell yourself the time you aim to get up before you go to sleep.

Here are a couple of very good ways to start your day and get your brain feeling wonderful and creating a foundation of positivity for you to build your productive day upon:

Wake Up and Be Awesome:

Self-Hypnosis To Start Your Day Energised:

Tim Ferriss, author of ‘The 4-Hour Workweek‘ uses a very particular strategy in the mornings that helps him be more productive. He ignores his email in the mornings.

According to Ferriss:

“You might need to get into your email to finish 100% of your most important to-dos. But can you get 80 or 90% done before you go into Gmail and have your rat brain explode with freak-out, dopamine excitement and cortisol panic? - YES.”

If you have goals and a daily plan, you’d be wonderfully well advised to take on the biggest tasks and challenges first thing each day instead of emailing. You are at your most productive first thing in the morning, before your day has started to fatigue you. Therefore, do the stuff that helps you move towards your productivity goals and desired outcomes first.

There is a famous quote by Mark Twain;

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

I tend to think of my most important tasks as the eating of the live frog before I get on with the lesser things later on in the day.

3. The Pomodoro Technique:

The Pomodoro technique is whereby you set a timer for 25 minutes (or longer when practiced) and switch off all other stimuli while you work non-stop on your most important tasks or projects.

I have a stainless steel kitchen timer on my desk and work in 45 minute bursts.

At the end of each session of high productivity, you take a break.

For me that includes stretching, lifting weights, doing brain training exercises, or engaging in silent mindful meditation.

4. Overcome the Drain of Decision Fatigue:

Decision fatigue has been of great interest to neuroscientists.

In a recent study (Danziger, Levav & Avnaim-Pesso, 2011) the researchers showed that in criminal cases, the rulings made by judges were influenced by a number of things, including the time of day.

Judges gave a favourable ruling 65% of the time when made in the morning and as the judge became drained from ongoing decision making, the chances of the criminal getting a favourable ruling dropped dramatically.

Everybody’s willpower gets effected as a result of making decisions all day every day, and we tire as a result. Your brain gets tired of making so many decisions.

Therefore, plan each day as much as you can the night before, so you have less and less to think about when you begin your day – it is laid out and planned for you.

Major productivity heroes like Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein famously chose to wear the same outfit each day so they could devote their mental energy to being creative, productive and worthwhile.

5. Prioritise Your Tasks:

At times, you will benefit from dealing with a number of simpler, smaller tasks in one go. As the philosopher William James says:

“Nothing is so fatiguing as the hanging on of uncompleted tasks.”

Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook agrees:

“I think a simple rule of business is, if you do the things that are easier first, then you can actually make a lot of progress.”

Therefore, if there are tasks that are not necessarily part of a major project, that Professor Pozen of Harvard University refers to as OHIO tasks – only handle it once, then plough through them in an allocated slot in your day and you’ll feel relieved to have cleared it all rather than it hanging on and being at the back of your mind.

This also then keeps tasks that are easily completed off your to-do list and you have been productive. You can then get to work on your important projects with a clearer mind.

6. Learn To Sleep Well:

Good quality sleep recharges, restores and fortifies your brain and as a result will enhance your ability to be productive.

Therefore, work out how to sleep better. Think of your sleep hygiene; that is, do not have any electronic light fizzing your brain for an hour before bed, make sure your bedroom is the right temperature, your bed is comfortable, do not eat or exercise too close to sleep time, cut down on caffeine and alcohol etc.

So much restorative, energising, replenishing, repairing work occurs within us while we sleep. If we are not getting enough sleep or if our sleep is of a poor quality, then it is going to effect our energy levels in the day.

Consider going to bed earlier. You’ll get more sleep and will wake up more refreshed. It sound obvious and simple, but so may people ignore this and get caught up with late work regimens, drawn into TV shows and stay up so late that it effects them badly the next day.

If having a power nap as mentioned earlier is just not doable for you, then consider going to bed 30 minutes earlier each night and it’ll help you greatly.

7. De-clutter:

You do not have to wait until Spring for a tidy up and de-clutter session. Having a purge of the space you spend time in can really uplift and energise as well as feeling like it is clearing the mind.

Just a single cupboard or set of drawers works wonders and leaves many feeling great afterwards. Stepping into a work space that has been de-cluttered can make us feel very productive and energised.

Likewise, as mentioned in point number 5, the de-clutter process is not reserved exclusively for physical spaces, but our own internal space too.

With the amount of stimuli everyone is bombarded with all day every day (app notifications, news, emails, texts, updates etc) that require us to immediately respond and that we often end up associating with instant gratification as a result of responding, we can be distracted and end up procrastinating greatly.

Therefore, understand what your procrastination activities are and remove them during periods of time you are wanting quality productivity.

Consider going unplugged.

8. Stay Healthy:

Eating foods with healthy fats in help us to be energised for longer and science suggests are good for cognitive functioning, better focus and clarity, for example.

Do your own research as well as working out how you stay energised for longest – ideally avoiding processed foods and short term quick fixes like sugar if encountering a lull in energy. The ensuing crash will impair your productivity greatly.

Exercise too.

Get at least 20 minutes intense exercise a day to increase the intake of oxygen to the brain. A fit body often leads to a fit brain that ensures you can be productive for longer.

The vast majority of highly productive people incorporate fitness and well-being into their daily regimen and it really pays.

9. Do What You Love – It Motivates.

When you set yourself goals, don’t include things that you feel you ‘should’ be doing or ’should’ be achieving. Make it about the things that you ‘want’ or even better, engage with things that ‘excite’ you.

As Tim Ferris says:

“The question you should be asking isn’t, “What do I want?” or “What are my goals?” but “What would excite me?”

Doing work that excites you – that is some way to live, no?

Creating work that you are proud of, and being productive is so much easier when you enjoy it. Work out how to have fun each day with your productivity tasks. Do things you enjoy, but also things which fulfil a real sense of purpose for you. You want to value what you do and that value will fuel your productivity levels greatly.

With all of your goals and projects that you commit to, consider writing up a motivation review and/or an annoyance review.

What will happen when you achieve this outcome?
What will happen if you don’t achieve this outcome?
Remind yourself of these motivations and potential annoyances and keep yourself focused and motivated that way too.

Productivity is easy when it is being driven by known outcomes and consequences.

10. Take Time Out:

Do step away from your desk, do step put of your work environment at regular intervals.

A good way that we all know to be more productive is to have a holiday, relax, unwind, unplug, let go and rejuvenate while your mind is free of the day-to-day concerns and routine of work.

Additionally though, each day needs some mini-holidays…..

Punctuate each hour with a small break at least, and ensure your day has plenty of breaks in it.

Move your body: Stroll, walk, stretch, shake and get your body moving differently.

Listen to music: Something that fills you with energy. Many find instrumental music without a message or lyrics to distract works best, others prefer something to zone in on. Sing, hum, join in and even consider moving to the music (go on, have a little “dance like nobody’s watching” moment).

Music has the ability to lift us up out of a slump and energise us when we need it. You may prefer dance music, rock music, heavy metal or pop, however, research has suggested that those who workers who listened to classical music such as Bach and Mozart in particular increased productivity levels, were better at problem solving and more creative. Without a major central melody to distract you, an orchestra of varying instruments relaxes the mind.

Have a power nap: Some city based companies have sleeping pods and facilities for employees to have a power nap as they know it improves energy levels and productivity. When we take a nap we get to have a reboot.

A nap ranging from 5-30 minutes can be incredibly healthy. Too much longer can leave us feeling groggy. The power nap helps reduce stress, increases alertness, it is good for the heart (research in Greece on over 20,000 people showed that a 30 minute nap 3 times a week reduced risk of heart related illness by 37%), it aids cognitive functioning (NASA researchers showed that a 20 minute power nap increased cognitive faculties by 40%), and has restorative benefits to those whose night sleep is disturbed or not long enough

Where possible, productive individuals are creatures of habit – that is, they make productivity habitual; being productive is what they do.

This often comes from having effective routines. Not routines that leave an individual brain dead, but routines that enable us to grow, develop and make the most out of the time we have each day. Adopt a routine of effective productivity for yourself.

Most importantly, don’t just apply what everyone else does verbatim.

Explore.

Use trial and error learning for a while and then do what is right for you. Do what helps you to be most productive. Study productivity, read books on it, follow blogs and learn how you can best go about being productive according to you and your life in the same way many others do.

If you are a hypnotherapist and you want to learn how to be incredibly productive, then please do consider having a look at the hypnotherapist Business Development Academy I am running next year, or do consider getting in touch with me and scheduling a time for you and I to have a conversation about my one-to-one mentoring.

All my mentoring clients are vastly more productive as a result of the time we spend together.

Write A Book Webinar Series

Over the years, I have written a number of forewords for books and as an aside from the content and learning each book gives the world, I love to see people I know get their work out into the world and become a published author. Getting book written is like completing a marathon; it requires a lot of sustained effort and you need to know how to best go about it.

Recently, at a hypnotherapy peer support group I ran here in Bournemouth, graduate of this college Mark Green came and gave us some readings of his book “Hypnotherapy Poems of Peace” which was innovative, heartfelt and valuable. I wrote the foreword to that book and was honoured to do so. Mark’s project meant that he got to offer up something very different and wonderful to the world and add credibility to his ongoing hypnotherapy career.

Another of our former graduates also wrote a book recently that I think many hypnotherapists will enjoy and benefit from. Peter French wrote a book about how to use wordpress. That is, it explains how hypnotherapists can set up a website and guides them through the entire process instead of having to pay someone else to do it. It is excellent, and Peter is equally excellent, have a look for yourself - The therapist Website Book

Just this very week, the paperback print edition of Patricia Worby’s book was released also. I wrote a glowing review for ‘The Scar That Won’t Heal’ and think everyone will find it illuminating, provoking, enjoyable and highly informative and that is from me, someone who rarely, rarely believes in the value of some of the central tenets of this book. It is a triumph, the book is brilliant and Patricia has written something truly remarkable that she has worked incredibly hard to put together. Go grab a copy of her book from Amazon, you’ll be pleased you did: The Scar That Won't Heal

I remember talking to Patricia about it a long time ago; she had the knowledge, was doing the research and just needed to take action. She attended my book writing course and as a result mentions me in her acknowledgements for helping her get into print. That was at the beginning of this year. Early next year, I’ll be running it again, and now is your chance to do as Patricia and several others from that group have done. Let me explain….

Are you a therapist?

Have you ever wanted to become a published author?

Have you thought about how to really advance your career with the kudos of being a published author?

Ever thought about how nice it will be to have passive income generated from your book sales?

This is an opportunity for you to cease this coming New Year.

Starting on Tuesday January the 12th, for 8 weeks, we’ll be hosting a series of webinars to ensure you make 2016 your most successful ever. If you are unable to make any of the calls, you’ll get access to the recordings to listen to straight after.

This is limited to just 15 people as it was last year, and I’m certain it will fill up just as it did last year. We’ll work with each of the 15 people as part of the group but also individually to help you get laser beam advice specific to you and your book project.

This set of live online classes delivered by myself and Keith Watson will run you through everything you need to know about writing your book, editing it, getting it published and how to market it effectively in order to get it into the hands of your target audience.

This is only ever going to be run a single time in 2016 and we cannot guarantee we’ll run it again.

It is an investment of just £149.00 plus Vat.

There are many, MANY people out there who want to write a book, but don’t.
There are many, MANY, people out there who write a book and do not get published.
There are many, MANY people out there who get a book published and who make very few sales indeed.
There are many, MANY therapists out there who deserve to be doing better than they are!

If you follow the guidance and instructions as well as invest the right amount of effort, you’ll have a book written, edited, published and selling well much sooner than you might think.

For the 8 weeks that this course runs, you’ll be required to work very hard, making sure you complete the homework given to you each week within set deadlines – this will make sure you have made major progress by the end of this course and have a foundation to go and become a published author whose book sells and whose book has a positive effect upon your business.

We are going to pack each webinar with a LOT of information for you to digest and then use effectively.

The first few modules will guide you through how to actually write your book – seems simple, but it is not. You want to write a book that publishers will be sold on and enthusiastic about. You also want to write a book that readers will invest in, will talk to others about and a book that represents you well. These are things that require consideration and balance. We’ll even run through the processes of having the best title (and a subtitle that will deliver success), knowing the right tone, being able to express yourself with clarity and also be considered credible and respected due to your content.

I’ll show you how to choose your subject matter, how to research it, how to be subsequently considered the expert of this subject as a result. What qualifies me to advise you on that? Today, I am sought out by professional peers, world champions, world record holders, media representatives, magazines, conferences and members of the public from countries all around the world due to being considered a world renowned expert when it comes to self-hypnosis and when it comes to using hypnosis for advancing running performance. This was built upon having books that sold well in these niches. Your book will open doors for you and add dimension to your career.

With the latter part of this course, you’ll be guided through the process of how to get a publisher to publish your book, what they look for in a book proposal and advise of the benefits of taking the route of being backed by professionals in this field. We’ll also show you how to self-publish if you want a higher cut of the sales and how to be absolutely in charge of the entire process yourself. We have direct experience in both of these areas and both has it’s own fair share of advantages and annoyances.

Either way, you’ll also need to know how to market your book, we’ll show you how to make online book retailers love your book. We’ll show you how to launch your book in style, how to get a great Amazon ranking, how to get your book featured in all the right places and how to ensure the book becomes a tool that will indeed jettison your career. Importantly as well, we’ll show you how to make money from your book.

This is a one-off opportunity – we will work you hard, coach you and set you up with all you need to know.

Is This For You?

We are primarily aiming this at therapists, so you should be a therapist. This is our area of expertise, we do not know about publishing fiction. You need to be able to invest time and effort in this process. We do not want people to sign up and take places on this course, but then not implement what we show you to do. We want you to be a successful author with a successful career as a result. Your progress and level of achievement will reflect upon us.

It will be run on 8 Tuesdays 4pm-5pm UK time as from January the 12th, 2016.

You will get spoon fed with all the instructions of how to join in each webinar and we’ll send each of you a recording of the call as soon as it has finished. Each call will be led by Keith or myself in the first instance, then there’ll be ample opportunity for you to ask questions and directly consult with us. You’ll have ongoing access to us throughout the rest of the week for us to help you work on your book until the course ends.

Is 2016 the year that you decide to finally become a successful, published author and become a recognised authority in your specialist area? Then seize this opportunity. I think it’ll be the best investment of £149.00 (plus Vat) you ever made. I know what we are going to be teaching and what we are going to be including and you are going to be blown away with the depth of information. We are going to ave the way for you to become the published author you wish to become. No more dreaming, no more pining, but making it happen and taking positive action.

Simply get in touch with us today

If you’re reading this, you have a head start on everyone else – we’ll be announcing it and promoting it heavily elsewhere in coming weeks, so expect the places to get taken quite soon after that.

Hypnosis Weekly

Joke Of The Week

A collection of high brow guffaws for you this week, as sent in by Farhad Gupta, thanks to all of you who send me in the jokes, I love getting them each week.

What’s the difference between an etymologist, and an entomologist? An etymologist knows the difference.
A biochemist walks into a student bar and says to the barman: “I’d like a pint of adenosine triphosphate, please.” “Certainly,” says the barman, “that’ll be ATP.”
How many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change.
Why do Marx and Engels drink herbal tea? Because proper tea is theft.
What did the proton say to the ever-grumpy electron? “Why do you have to be so negative all the time?”
Why are quantum physicists terrible in bed? Because when they find the position, they can’t find the momentum, and when they have the momentum, they can’t find the position.
Two behaviourists meet in the street. One says to the other: “You’re OK. How am I?”
The masochist said to the sadist “hit me” and the sadist said “no”
.
What did the Nihilist Borg Say? “Existence is Futile.”
A woman comes home to find her string theorist husband in bed with another woman. “But honey,” he says, “I can explain everything!”

Why is it so difficult to explain bad puns to kleptomaniacs? Because they always take things so literally.