85% Perfect - Productivity For Creatives

1. 85% Perfect Is A Game Changer: [BACKGROUND] When it comes to productivity, perfection sucks. But this course, is about embracing a new way to be incredibly productive, but imperfect. It's the 85 percent perfect, productivity plan. You see the creative industry is one of the most competitive industries in the whole world. It's not easy to stay on top of your game and remain relevant. Sure you want to be good or even great at what it is that you do. But perfectionism can really be a major obstacle for creatives, because it might hinder you from finishing your work, or even getting started at all. Now, my name is Tim Tamashiro. I'm the author of How to Ikigai. It's a book about doing what you love and doing what you're good at in life. I wrote How to Ikigai in six weeks. [LAUGHTER] It's not perfect. But I'm also a musician and I've written entire scripted shows for stage and did it in an afternoon complete with music and even bad jokes for a decade. On top of that, I was also a national radio host tasked with researching, writing, and voicing 70 stories per week. My secret all along is to aim for 85 percent. Lose the idea of perfection. Embrace productivity as the measuring stick, for making a difference. When you think about it, 85 percent is still an A. This course is for creatives to get incredibly productive with a system that's 85 percent there. So in other words, even this course isn't perfect. Perfect is a fallacy, and it's also an impossibility. So this course is designed to get you out of the perfection trap, and into proving your excellence with your productivity. Now there is an assignment, and it is simply to make something that's meaningful to you, but get it until it's 85 percent great. Completed an 85 percent of the time that you'd normally take, write a story, draw something, make something out of a toilet paper, sing a song, record a video. But planet, do it and present it. Make it during your power hours. That's important as well. Craig it out and share it here and on your social media feed of your choice. Ask your followers what they think of it. Eighty-five percent of them will say, Cool, Good job, and 15 percent of them will say it is ****. But here's the thing. Nothing you could have done would have changed the minds of those 15 percent. So that's your assignment. Make something for the 85 percent. Let's get started with what productivity is and why it's so important to creatives. 2. What Is Productivity?: Productivity is what separates the amateur from the professional. It's important for creatives because it helps you avoid distractions and focuses you on your work. Productivity can be defined as the act or process of producing something. Productivity is the process of getting the right things done. But in this age of social media and smartphones, even this becomes more difficult than it has been before. It's important to note that productivity is not about doing things right, it's about doing the right things in order to produce proof of your work. It's not about being busy, it's about being productive. Your productivity is your ability to produce goods or services or to engage in some an economic activity. Productivity is at the heart of being a creative, whether you're making art, producing videos, writing articles, or creating your great novel. But productivity does have an enemy. It is of course, perfectionism. Perfectionism paralyzes you. It frustrates you, and it inhibits your creativity. It will stop you from ever accomplishing anything great because it tells you that nothing is good enough, that whatever you do will never be perfect. Handling perfectionism can be tricky. Some people are able to focus on their work and produce a masterpiece while others are paralyzed by a fear of making any mistake. Creative professionals often have this issue, but it can be overcome with some self reflection in practice. How can creatives handle perfectionism? Well, creative professionals are people who are constantly looking for ways to improve their work. But they often end up not being satisfied with what they produce. This can lead to procrastination, self-doubt, things like that when it comes to their work. Creatives though can find ways to deal with her perfectionism by balancing the need for high standards with the need for productivity and deficiency. There's the key efficiency. For example, the simple strategy of setting a deadline can focus your mind for productivity and eventually free up more time for other projects that might be more creative for you. Setting deadlines, now that is essential. The great jazz musician, Duke Ellington once said, I don't need a time, I need a deadline. In other words, don't give Duke a project to do, give them a deadline to get it done by. Nothing focuses the mind like a deadline. Casey and Ice, that is one of YouTube's most beloved and successful characters. In 2015, he decided that he would just go ahead and start making daily videos and post them on YouTube. That meant that you would have to come up with an idea, plan it, script it, capture it, and edit it and upload it every day. Casey definitely set a high standard for himself to meet every day, but he did make videos like that for a couple of years, were they perfect? No. But every video did have a deadline. Casey is widely known today as one of YouTube's greatest success stories because of his ability to crank out quality videos that were entertaining to watch. He is known for his productivity, not his perfection. What can you do to deal with your perfectionism? Well, first off, be like Casey, set deadlines. That's a no brainer. But be tough on yourself. Set deadlines that force you to make things quickly and ship at one is just 85 percent great. In addition, you can also try, number 1, practicing mindfulness, that perfection is impossible. Mindfulness is the state of being aware of one's experience from moment to moment without judging it as being good or bad. It's been a proven way to help with a variety of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. But the practice of mindfulness can also help people overcome perfectionism because it can break down the barriers between what is good enough and what is not good enough. This 85 percent perfect productivity plan will help you re-wire your brain to be mindful for when you're focusing too much on the elusiveness of perfection. You ever done that? I have, guilty. Number 2, remember that practice makes process, or maybe 86 percent perfect. Your productivity skills are like developing muscle memory. The more you produce, the more you learn, and the more you learn, the easier your productivity system gets. Increased productivity will allow you to become more skilled at your chosen field so that every time you need to start something new, your muscle memory just simply kicks in and makes it happen. You're like a baseball player who gets better with every practice and every time at bat. Now you won't ever produce something perfect, but you might get things to 86 percent perfect, which is pretty good. 3. Idea, Create, Next!: [MUSIC] The stereotype of the creative genius is someone who is just born with some natural gift and doesn't really have to work hard to be successful. However, the reality is that most of the talented creators need to be productive in order to be able to achieve their full potential. Andy Warhol, for example, was one of the most successful artists of his generation and his productivity played a big role in his success. Throughout his career, Warhol was extremely prolific. He created hundreds of paintings and films and prints, and his work was often seen as simple and repetitive, but it had a powerful effect on his viewers. Warhol's productivity allowed him to generate a large body of work that helped establish him as a major force in the art world. In addition, his refusal to conform to traditional ideas about making art set him apart from other artists of his time. Warhol's unique approach to art helped to make him one of the most influential artists of this 20th century. That requires focus, discipline, and willingness in order to be able to put in the hard work. In other words, productivity is essential for creative people who want to be successful. By being more productive, creators can generate more ideas, experiment more freely, and bring their vision to life more effectively. Anyone who has ever worked on a creative project knows that the process is often messy and unpredictable. Ideas, come and go and it can sometimes be difficult to know where to start. However, one thing that all successful creative people have in common is productivity. By setting clear goals and working systematically, they're able to make the most out of their lives and get more done. This not only allows them to produce better work but also to experiment more and take more risks. That's part of the fun of being a creative, isn't it? My friend Mandy Stovall is a painter whose productivity is made her a well-known artist around the world as well. Early in her career, Mandy became the creator of bad portraits, which are portraits of people made with paper and watercolors. But Mandy decided that the key to a bad portrait is to make them quickly and have them just capture the bare essence of the person that's sitting for the portrait. In other words, bad portrait look like the person that sent in their photo or the sitting for the photo, but it's not too exact. But Mandy's bad portraits have become an international success at the time of this class, she estimates that she's painted over 60,000 bad portraits. Now she has notoriety and income that allows her to produce new artworks. Mandy Stovall and Andy Warhol are just two artists whose productivity open up new opportunities throughout their lives. Today we can count creators like YouTuber Mr. Beast, or TikToker Charli D'Amelio or even entrepreneur Elon Musk is some of the most prolific productivity experts in the world. They have created systems that allow them to reliably make content, art, or products in reliable and meaningful ways. What are they doing that you can do too? You can start by implementing a proven secret that most productive creatives are taking advantage of every day. You can build a second brain. 4. Secret #1 - Build A Second Brain: The tools that artists use to increase their productivity are as important as the art itself. These days is essential for a productive creatives to have what's known as a second brain. The concept of a second brain was created by writer and creator Tiago Forte. Tiago realized that with the amount of information we're faced with every day, It's become impossible to use our heads as the place to store everything we need to be productive. The second brain concept is a popular way to gather and access information that you need as you need it. It helps you build a digital place that is available to you anytime on all your devices. You have access to the wisdom that you need to make smart decisions and take action. An application named notion is my preferred second brain, notion is a powerful organizational tool where users can create, store, and share ideas. You can have files and notes that can be linked to each other and organizing the sections and subsections, notion is ideal for work involving collaboration with others as well. Why is notion such a powerful tool for gathering ideas and taking action on them? Well, notion provides a single place for people like me or you, or your teams to collaborate on ideas. It also helps you see what actions are being taken care of, and you can track their process as they go along. The notion interface is really sleek. It's very easy to use so you can get started with very little training. It also offers integrations with all of the tools that you might need otherwise like Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, and many, many more. You can use notion as a tool to gather your ideas so that you can produce those ideas later. You can create notes and organize them into notebooks. You can share those notebooks with other people. You can add files from your computer or the web. You can use built-in search to find anything that you've put into your notion quickly and so much more. Best of all, you can gather and store information in the way that you personally understand. This was the game changer for me. That might mean a spreadsheet or a table or a calendar for some people, but maybe that might mean a timeline, a gallery, or my personal favorite way, a Kanban board. Now a Kanban board is a way to create a workflow that is logical in each one of their steps. It's a great way to improve your productivity because it helps you visually see your ideas and the progress that you're making in each one of those ideas in real time. It helps you focus on what needs to be done next. It's easier to manage tasks when you have a consistent place to store ideas and flesh them out a bit at a time. With a Kanban board, you can move each project forward depending on what stage you are in its progress. Eventually, each slide is going to end up in the finish column. That finish column is really what gives you a sense of accomplishment. Other tools that work in a similar way to Notion include Trello, Asana. Maybe you might want to use Evernote or good old Pinterest. There's another place that you can store your ideas as well. Creatives can use your second brain to keep track of all your projects and ensure that you're not forgetting about anything. This is going to help you be more productive so you don't have to worry about forgetting important tasks or deadlines. This will also allow you to focus on the creative aspects of your work. But a second brain isn't the only secret for becoming more productive. You can also start taking full advantage of your power hours. 5. Secret #2 - Crush Your Power Hours: Secret Number 2, power hours. Optimize your body's natural rhythm for maximum productivity. Do you ever feel like you're just not productive enough given the time of the day? That no matter how hard you try, you just can't seem to get anything done? Well, you are not alone my friend. I have times of the day that I know are just going to be a complete write-off. Mid afternoon, I'm looking at you. It turns out that there's a reason for this though. Our body has natural rhythms that affect our productivity. In this section we're going to discuss what power hours are and how you can optimize your body's natural rhythm for maximum productivity. Power hours are the times of the day when your bodies are naturally more productive. These times vary from person to person, but typically they fall in the morning and in the early evening. During these times, our bodies have more energy and focus and that makes it easier for us to get things done. How can you make sure that you're taking advantage of your power hours? Well, first, you need to identify when your power hours are. You can do this by paying attention to when you're feeling most energetic and focus throughout the day. Once you're in your power hours and you have figured out what they are trying to schedule your most important tasks to take place during those times. If you find that you're not able to work during your power hours due to other obligations from your family or other workplace, there are still other ways that you can optimize your productivity. First, try to get enough sleep. Our bodies need rest in order to be productive, so make sure that you're getting at least seven hours of sleep each night. Second, eat healthy meals and snacks throughout the day. A nutritious diet is definitely going to give you the energy that you need to power through your tasks. Finally, make sure that you're taking breaks when you need them. Our brains can only focus for so long before they start to tire. When you feel yourself losing focus, take a 5 minute break, go for a walk around the block or maybe grab a snack or drink. Then get back to work, refreshed, and ready to tackle your tasks. By identifying your power hours and scheduling your most important tasks during these times, you can make sure that you're making the most out of your time. By taking care of yourself with a healthy diet and plenty asleep, you can also ensure that your body is ready to work when you are. With a little planning and effort, you can be as productive as you want to be. 6. Secret #3 - Focus On Your Top 20%: Secret number 3, ignore 80 percent of what you're doing and get four times more done. The Parleto Principle, is also known as the 80/20 rule. It's a theory that suggests that 80 percent of the outcomes can be attributed to 20 percent of causes. In other words, for many events roughly 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the work. This principle can be applied to so many different situations, but it is especially useful for creatives who are looking to be more productive. For example, if you're a writer, you may find that 80 percent of your writing is done in 20 percent of the time that you have available. This means that you can maximize your productivity by just focusing your writing during your most productive times, like your power hours, and use the other activities to just fill in the gaps. The Parleto principle can be applied to other areas of creative work too, such as brainstorming. If you find that 80 percent of your ideas come from 20 percent of your brainstorming sessions, you can just focus on having fewer but more productive brainstorming sessions. This is going to help you be more efficient in your creative work. If you're a songwriter, 20 percent of your songs on any given album tend to generate 80 percent of your album sales. Or in the business world, 20 percent of customers tend to generate 80 percent of a company's revenue. This Parleto principle is important for creatives because it can help you to focus on the most important tasks and avoid getting logged down in unimportant details. By identifying 20 percent of your work that will generate the most results, you can ensure that you're always making the most impactful use of your time. 7. Secret #4 - Crank Out Your Work (But Have Fun): Crank out your work, but have fun. There is definitely no doubt that productivity is important for any creative. After all, the more work you can produce, the more likely you are able to find success. But what many creatives don't realize is that productivity isn't just about cranking out as much work as possible. It's also about working smarter, not harder. By streamlining your process and making sure that you're using your time efficiently, you can actually get more done in less time. That is what being productive is really all about. One more factor that is absolutely necessary for an 85 percent perfect productivity plan is to make sure that you're having fun as much as possible. You have gifts, that the world is in all of. You're going to accomplish things in a blink of an eye, that others would struggle with doing for years. Make sure that fun is a major component of your daily productivity. Your joy will be the cherry on top that your fans and supporters will see and celebrate. To wrap up, here are just a few more strategies for increasing your productivity. Number 1, get rid of distractions. There's absolutely nothing worse than when you finally get started on your work and you're interrupted by some a text or an email. Make sure you turn off your notifications and close any social media accounts that might distract you from getting your work done. Number 2, I've said it before, but set goals. It can be hard to know what to work on when there's so much going on in the world around us. But if we set goals for ourselves, it becomes easier for us to stay focused. Try by setting weekly or monthly goals for yourself and then plan out how you're going to tackle those goals. It can also be difficult to stay focused when life is so overwhelmingly chaotic, but setting up a regular routine can help you mitigate that. Wake up at the same time every day, exercise at the same time of the day, eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner in the same way, each day. This can help your life feel much more like a normal day and allow you to stay track and feel less overwhelmed. 8. Get Productive And Thrive: [MUSIC] Productivity and perfection do not complement each other. That's what we focused on this whole time. We need to let go of perfectionism so that we can flourish as creatives by putting out more work and learning how to get better from our output. Transform your audience in a raving fans by being productive, not perfect. Aim for that 85 percent, but even 75 percent is a worthwhile target. Heck, sometimes 52 percent is all you can master. But show the world that you're constantly working on new innovative projects and that you're always striving to improve. Let them see that you're organized and that you have a plan for everything that you do. Help them understand that you're always looking for ways to make things better and easier for them. If you can do all of this, your audience will soon realize that you are the authority in your field and that they can trust you to deliver results. When they see how much you care about your work and how dedicated you are to making things better, they will be transformed into raving fans will always support you in your work. As creative people, it's easy for us to get lost in our own heads thinking about what could have been done or what should have been done. We have to stop shooting on ourselves. We just put her head down we don't talk to others and we just keep on working on a project until it's perfect. But perfectionism is a dangerous thing because it prevents us from being productive. We need to just let go this whole idea of being perfect so that we can work on more projects and stay happy. I am not perfect. I make mistakes. I say stupid things. My work is imperfect. But that doesn't mean that it's bad. Take a look at your own life and try to figure out where you need to let go of perfection in exchange for added productivity and guaranteed more happiness. Here's to you and your 85 percent perfect productivity plan. Now, go do your assignment until it's 85 [MUSIC] percent there and submit it. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I bet it's going to be awesome.