MARK STRUCZEWSKI

Time is the great equalizer.

It doesn’t care who you are, what color your skin, gender, education level is, whether you’re rich or poor or anything else.

Everyone gets 24 hours to spend every day however they choose.

So it’s on you to spend your time wisely.

Here are FIVE ways to do that.

Determine what you need to do.

Set aside time either at the end of your day, before you go to sleep or, at the very latest, in the morning before you begin your day to think about your day.

Don’t rush this. But do be very intentional about it.

What needs to be done? Do you even know?

I highly encourage you to do your initial planning by writing in a planner or in a notebook.

Determine how long each task will take you.

As you are jotting down what needs to be done, estimate how long each task you have/want to do will take you. Don’t keep this in your head…actually write it down.

Now, begin to plan your day.

It may seem odd but the actually planning...

Do you happen to your time...or do you let others happen to your time for you?

If you answered the former, then you are operating in REactive mode. In this article, I am going to tell you why it is critical you begin to operate in PROactive mode and how you can start.

WHY REACTIVE MODE IS BAD FOR YOUR PRODUCTIVITY

When you operate in REactive mode, you spend your precious 24 hours by reacting to other people, things or events.

This means you have next to no control of your time.

At home, your spouse or kids (!) are very demanding of you and you just do whatever they ask. Why? Maybe to keep the peace. Or perhaps it's just easier that way.

At work, your boss(es) or co-workers are pulling you in a multitude of directions. You help them do what they should be doing while your work suffers and you pay the consequences (arriving to work early, working through lunch, staying late, bringing your work home with you - taking away time from your loved ones - or, eventually, you are written up...

There is a lot to becoming more productive. So much so that you may be paralyzed by the thought of learning how to do what you need to do in order to get more things done.

In this article, I am going to go back to the very beginning. I believe that without a solid foundation, your chances of succeeding at being more productive are greatly reduced.

STEP 1: Where are you now?

If you were going to take a road trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, you would put the address of the hotel you were going to stay at into your smart phone.

However, if you do not enable GPS on your phone (like some people do for whatever reason), your phone could not help you get from where you are to Disney World.

Before you can improve your productivity, you have to evaluate where you are now in terms of getting things done.

Imagine a scale of zero to ten.

Zero indicates that you are the world's best procrastinator - never getting anything done, ever.

Ten indicates that you are the world's most...

I have so many tips to help you take your productivity to the next level.

To get unstuck.

But if you were to ask me what my #1 tip was, I wouldn't have to think about it.

Not even for a second.

It's such a clear choice, nothing comes close.

Curious to know what it is?

No problem! Send one million dollars in unmarked bills (no bitcoins!) to...

I'm kidding.

My biggest productivity tip

This is so simple I'm stunned at how few people do it.

Ignore this tip at your peril.

Get whatever you have to remember or do, out of your head, and into something that won't forget.

That's it.

Seriously.

Don't overcomplicate this.

You can use an app (which I personally do and recommend you do as well because who doesn't have their cell phone within reach everywhere they are?) or write it down in a notebook.

If you opt to write it down...don't write on a Post-It, the back of a receipt, or a lose sheet of paper. Use a notebook that you can easily find when you need it. Maybe invest in a nice notebook that...

What goes on your calendar and what goes on your to do list. That's the great debate that I discuss on this episode. To solve the issue, I give you my rule of thumb.

Accountability is a powerful ally to you achieving your goals. But social accountability takes it to another level. On this episode, I share some of my big, hairy, audacious goals (Jim Collins) or 10X goals (Grant Cardone). And then I encourage you to do the same.

Many productivity experts suggest that you do your most critical task first thing in the morning.

I disagree.

Instead, my answer is maybe you should…and maybe you shouldn’t.

If the morning is your optimum time to work, then yes…do your most critical task first thing in the morning. 

But if it’s not, then my answer is no. 

Let me explain. 

Let’s say your optimum time is right after lunch. Then that’s the time you should be working on your most critical task. 

Or maybe your best time is in the evening after the kids have gone to bed and the house is quiet. Do the critical work then. Yes, at the end of the day! It’s okay!

Likewise, if your optimum time is first thing in the morning, then by all means do your critical task then.

There’s a plenty of people saying that if you really want to crush it every day, then you should get up at 5, 4 or 3 o’clock in the morning. I have a problem with that advice....

As a productivity expert, I am obsessed with not only helping you become the most productive you possible...but also with staying productive myself. All day, every day.

But sometimes (oftentimes?) life happens.

Back on October 20, 2017, my wife Michelle fell at home. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I was there and saw her fall. It happened in an instant. It was painful to watch.

Do you think that my day became instantaneously unproductive, business-wise?

Of course!

After realizing this wasn't just a simple fall, that something else was wrong, we headed off to an urgent care center as we had no insurance - hoping it was just a sprain or a dislocation.

It wasn't. The picture above is of her x-ray taken after her surgery to correct the fracture on November 7th.

My productivity focus went from my business to caring for Michelle. Especially for several weeks after her October 20th fall when we were raising money to pay for her surgery.

That's not to say I...

I teach a lot about how you can improve your productivity but in this article, I'm going to flip the tables a little bit. I'm going to teach you how not to be productive.

I hope you realize this is a satirical article. If not, maybe you really don't want to be productive. Maybe you think, you know, I'm so tired of trying to be more productive. I don't want to be productive anymore. Mark, can you help a guy out? Can you help somebody out who doesn't want to be productive?

Why, yes, I can. If this is you or if you just need a laugh, I dedicate this article to you.

Let's just start right off with a really easy one: don't try.

Stop trying to be productive. If you truly want to be unproductive. Stop trying.

Suppose you're working on a task or a project and all of a sudden you find yourself accidentally becoming more productive. Well, stop! Ask yourself, "what am I trying to do here? Oh, my goodness. Am I being productive. What should I do? Mark said don't try. What does that mean? Oh,...

Sleep is a critical component of your productivity. But how do you set yourself up for sleep success? In this episode, I tell you how.