Creative Productivity: 10 Big Ideas To Boost Your Ability To Take Creative Action | Derek Franklin | Skillshare
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Creative Productivity: 10 Big Ideas To Boost Your Ability To Take Creative Action

teacher avatar Derek Franklin, Teaches Crazy Good Courses You Will Love!

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Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Watch this class and thousands more

Get unlimited access to every class
Taught by industry leaders & working professionals
Topics include illustration, design, photography, and more

Lessons in This Class

    • 1.

      Why Take This Class?

      3:01

    • 2.

      How This Class Works - Your Project

      2:47

    • 3.

      Workspace - How To Create A Productive Environment

      7:50

    • 4.

      To Do List - Turn It Into A DONE List

      3:37

    • 5.

      Capture - How To Free Your Mind To Get Things Done

      7:32

    • 6.

      Systems - How To Work Smarter, Not Harder

      5:58

    • 7.

      Productivity Barriers - Eliminate The Barriers/Hurdles That Slow You Down

      9:53

    • 8.

      Distractions - Learn 4 Strategies To Eliminate Them

      15:31

    • 9.

      Projects - Start, Manage, And Finish Them In 5 Steps

      6:02

    • 10.

      Batching - Use Flow To Ramp Up Your Efficiency

      4:45

    • 11.

      Beast Mode - How To Get A Lot Done, Quickly!

      5:16

    • 12.

      Errands - Upgrade How You Handle Your Errands

      4:58

    • 13.

      Conclusion - Thank You! What To Do Next

      1:12

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About This Class

Hello, My name is Derek.

I know you have a lot to do, so let’s cut right to the chase...

In this class, you’re going to discover you how to become an action machine By using some of the most cutting edge ideas and strategies for working productivity and efficiently.

Here are 10 BIG Ideas you’re going to learn to help you do this.

  • Idea 1: Workspace - Your environment plays a significant role in your ability to get things done. In this video I’ll teach you how to create productive environment that promotes taking action!
  • Idea 2: To Do List - In this video, you’re going to discover four ways that you can ramp up the power of your to do list so you can turn it into a done list.
  • Idea 3: Capture - Your brain is built to do some amazing things… keeping track of information and ideas isn’t really one of them. In this lesson I’m gonna demonstrate the power of writing things down, and simple approach to doing it.
  • Idea 4: Systems - No matter what you’re working on, you want to learn how to work smarter, not harder. Systems enable you to do this, and I’m going to show you how to use them in this video lesson.
  • Idea 5: Productivity Barriers - Being productive not only involves doing the right things, but eliminating things that stand in your way of taking action. This entire lesson is devoted to helping you remove the barriers that stand in your way of getting things done.
  • Idea 6: Distractions - As you know, distractions are one of the biggest hurdles to working efficiently. In this video, I’m going to show you 4 strategies to help you eliminate distractions once and for all!
  • Idea 7: Projects - Getting things done not only involves taking care of individual tasks, but often times, projects, which involve a number of tasks. In this lesson you’re going to learn a 5 Step system for starting and managing projects properly.
  • Idea 8: Batching - There’s a slow and inefficient approach to getting things done, and then there’s a fast and efficient approach to getting things done, known as batching. I’m going to teach you how to batch.
  • Idea 9: Beast Mode - Somedays, no matter how hard you try to work productively, you need to get more done than you normally do. This is where beast mode can help. In this lesson I’ll explain what it is and how to use it.
  • Idea 10: Errands - Running errands as a part of every day life. In this lesson, I’m going to show you a four step process for bringing your errands list into the 21st-century.

If you want to develop the skills and mindset of an action-taking machine, you’re going to love this class!

Derek

Meet Your Teacher

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Derek Franklin

Teaches Crazy Good Courses You Will Love!

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*** Enroll in my BESTSELLING course ***
How To Create An Awesome Morning Routine: 10 Ways To Start An Amazing Day

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Derek Franklin is an instructor obsessed with not only teaching others great ideas, but also showing them how to put those great ideas into action!

He's also focused on making the entire learning process visual, simple, and fun - something that will be clear to you as you progress through his courses.

Check out all his courses where he digs into habits, productivity, happiness, motivation, learning, self-development, health, and more or visit his website at www.derekfranklin.com to grab some free courses, special offers, and a lot more!

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Productivity Time Management
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Transcripts

1. Why Take This Class?: Hey, This is Derek and I know you have a lot to do. So let's cut right to the chase. In this class you're going to discover how to become an action machine by using some of the most cutting edge ideas and strategies for working productively and efficiently. Here are 10 big ideas you're going to learn to help you to do this. Idea number one, workspace. Your environment plays a significant role in your ability to get things done. So in this video, I'm going to teach you how to create a productive environment that promotes taking action. Idea number 2, to-do list. In this video, you're going to discover four ways that you can ramp up the power of your to-do list so that you can turn it into a Dunn list. Idea number three, capture. Your brain is built to do some amazing things. Keeping track of information and ideas really isn't one of them. So in this lesson, I'm going to demonstrate the power of writing things down in a simple approach to doing an idea number four, systems. No matter what you're working on, you want to learn how to work smarter, not harder. And systems enable you to do this. And I'm going to show you how to use them in this particular lesson. Idea number 5. Productivity barriers. Being productive not only involves doing the right things, but eliminating the things that stand in your way of taking action. So this entire lesson is devoted to helping you to remove the barriers that stand in your way of getting things done. Idea number 6. Distractions. As you know, distractions are one of the biggest hurdles to working efficiently. So in this video, I'm going to show you four strategies to help you to eliminate distractions once and for all. Idea number seven, projects. Getting things done not only involves taking care of individual tasks, but oftentimes projects which involve a number of different tasks. In this lesson, you're going to learn a five-step system for starting and managing projects properly. Idea number 8, batching. So there's a slow and inefficient approach to getting things done. And then there's a fast and efficient approach to getting things done known as batching. I'm going to teach you how to batch. Idea number 9, beast mode, sundaes. No matter how hard you try to work productively, you need to get more done than you normally do. And this is where beast mode can help. In this lesson, I'm going to explain to you what it is and how to use it. Idea number 10, Aaron's, as we all know, running errands as part of our everyday lives. So in this lesson, I'm going to show you a four-step process for bringing your Aaron's list into the 21st century. So if you want to develop the skills and mindset of an action taking machine, you're going to love this class. I'll see you on the other side. 2. How This Class Works - Your Project: To get the most from this class on becoming an action machine, let me explain to you the basics of how to navigate and use it. As you review the class content, you're going to see that each video lesson focuses on a single idea, and that idea is broken down into smaller chunks. Each chunk represents a unique aspect of the bigger idea of that lesson. And this is to help make the bigger idea easier to understand and to put into action. Now speaking of action, at the end of each video lesson, I'm going to share with you some next actions. And this is where I provide you with some specific suggestions and directions for putting the essence of the idea into action in your own life. Again, you're not simply going through this class to fill your head with knowledge. You want to do something with it, and this is where I help you to do that. Now consider these suggestions carefully and focus on doing them. Now while each lesson can stand on its own as far as giving you something of value to use. The overall purpose of all these lessons is to teach you strategies for helping you to become an action machine. So to help you to achieve this bigger result, here's a simple project to work on as you go through the class. I want you to grab a piece of paper or you can start a digital document. This can be a Word document or a Google Doc, Apple note or something else. And as you go through the class, identify three key ideas that mean the most to you. It could be a new habit or behavior that you want to adopt. It could be an exercise that you want to complete or it could be a tool that you want to start using and write these down in your document as simple bullet points. You want to capture the basics of the idea, why it's valuable to you, and the basic steps for putting it into action. And this is where the next actions I share with you during each video lesson is going to really come in handy. Then after you've done all this and when you get to the end of the class, then select one of those top three ideas and focus on putting it into action over the next week. Daily, spend one minute or a little bit more if you need time to review the idea itself, to think about why it matters, the benefit of using it, and get clear on how to use it, and then go back to work and use it. And at the end of that week, select another one of your top three ideas and then repeat the process. And this simple project is going to help you to change how you think, what you say and what you do, which really should be the goal of any learning experience. And of course, I'd love to see what you come up with and what you find valuable. So share your project results. 3. Workspace - How To Create A Productive Environment: Getting Things Done is about more than just managing your time includes managing your life, including your environment, everything from the small stuff to the most important element, your desk. I'm talking about your workspace. And here's some powerful ideas to make it a productive space. Let's begin by talking about something known as the broken window theory. So in 1982, there was a study done and they found that crime was higher in areas of a city where there were broken windows, there was graffiti, and there was questionable entertainment. Basis for these results were that they found that where elements of disorder exist, such as these broken windows, graffiti, or questionable entertainment, it was essentially a declaration that the environment was uncontrolled or it was uncontrollable, that no one cared what was happening really. You can do whatever you want. Now on the flip side, they found that when these elements were removed, then it encouraged different behaviors from the people that were in that area. Behaviors based on discipline in order and structure. Now, although this theory is based on cities, the core principle still applies and that is that your environment affects your behavior. And this applies to how you manage your personal environment, your workspace. Small disorders in your workspace can affect your brain. It can signal to your brain that chaos and disorder are acceptable here, either because it's just not possible to have structure or no one cares if there is structure and order. But fixing these disorders affects your brain also. So when you fix them, It's signals to your brain that high standards in order and discipline exist here. Now the question is, what signal is your environment sending your brain isn't one of chaos and disorder? Or is it discipline and order? And is it interfering with your ability to get things done? Well, here are four broken windows to fix if these exist in your workspace. Number one, piles of things. You know what they are and we're talking piles of laundry, piles of shoes, piles of trash in the garage or basement, unsorted male old books, old magazines, disorganized piles like this, send a signal to your brain that chaos and disorder are okay in this environment. Broken window number two is disorganization of any kind. This would be an unmade bed or a dirty car, or a cluttered desk, dirty dishes, a messy yard, or maybe even a wallet or purse that's overflowing with junk. Again, that's a bad signal that your brain is receiving. Broken window. Number three is your clothing choices. Are you wearing pajamas and sweats all day? What signals is that sending to your brain? Is your clothing stained or ripped? What signals is that sending to your brain? Do your clothes reflect discipline or do they reflect sloppiness, perhaps. Broken window number four is digital clutter. This would be a disorganized. Desktop on your computer or maybe no digital file system where you're just placing files wherever you want to put them, or keeping unused apps on your phone or your tablet so that they're cluttering up things. In a nutshell, you want to maintain order and discipline in your environment, even in small ways, because these can send a signal to your brain that excellence exists here. Let's talk about this idea of Central Command. Your desk is more than just furniture. It's not a storage area, it's a mini work environment, and it's one of the most important spaces that you manage. And you can think of it like the command center of your life. You manage it properly and guess what's going to happen. Those benefits of managing it properly are going to trickle down into other areas of your life. If you manage it poorly, you're going to likely experience more stress, overwhelm and unfinished projects. So the mindset to organize it properly and to keep it organized is that everything should serve a specific purpose to help you to be more productive and get things done. And if it doesn't serve those two purposes, that it needs to be removed from your desk. So what can help you to achieve this? You want to make valuable items convenient. Because when they're convenient, you're more likely to use them. Some examples might include water. Productivity requires hydration so you want to drink it regularly. So put water someplace where it's convenient for you can get to it. Resources and tools. And this is important in order to complete important tasks. So if you have a task that you need to get done, you want to put any documents, files, reports, a checkbook, microphone, and iPad, whatever we may need to complete that task. Convenient on your desk so you can access it and get that job done. Pens and notepads. You want to have those convenience so you can capture your thoughts, information, get stuff out of your head. And of course you want to have your trash can handy so you can get rid of junk immediately instead of collecting it, keeping an eye on your desk. That's what the trash is for. The other side of this is that you want to make things that could interfere with your productivity. You want to make those inconvenient. This would include distractions. If you have distractions, then move them farther away from your desk so that they don't interfere. And here's some examples. Turn up the ringer on your phone and put it in another room so it's not distracting you. So it's inconvenient to look at and get to food and snacks. These can be a strong emotional pool when you put them on your desk and you're looking at them and you're thinking about how hungry you are and they can disrupt your focus, make them inconvenient, move them away from your desk. Other things could include stress toys and maybe fun, but there again, a distraction, maybe grooming tools for clipping your nails, clipping your hair, whatever, anything that can be distracting to you and take your attention away from getting real work done. Another thing that you can do to improve your workspace is to highlight inspiration and reminders. And this inspiration gives you motivation to help you to get things done. This means you want to make visible Your favorite quotes, some affirmations, or even pictures of people and things that you love. Those are motivating forces. But remember, less is more. You don't want to clutter up your work environment with these things, less is more. And finally, you want to commit to maintaining order. This is more than a onetime exercise. It requires a shift in your mindset and your habits and a regular review of your desk and whether or not it's supporting taking action or it's preventing it on some levels. So here's some next actions. Examine your desk environment right now. Are there broken windows that need to be taken care of? Then address those, get them off your desk, get them out of your work environment, and work on eliminating those broken windows so you have a clean and motivating work environment. Also, figure out how you can use the principle and the idea of convenience to move things that are going to help you to get things done. Move those closer to you, and move distractions and things that are going to prevent you from getting things done, moving those farther away. And finally, commit to doing a weekly or at least a monthly analysis of your workspace to make sure that you have set it up and designed it so that it is promoting productive action taking behaviors and eliminating those distractions that can get in your way. 4. To Do List - Turn It Into A DONE List: Imagine the term presentation on your to-do list. That's all it said. Now, what does that mean? Who knows? Doesn't mean that you need to watch the presentation. Give a presentation, create a presentation. Who knows? And unfortunately, this is how many people capture tasks. And if this is how you capture tasks on your to-do list, then just one suggestion. Stop it. And I mean that in a nice, nice way. So what's the problem? Why doesn't a single word work so well? Well again, it doesn't tell your brain what to do with that task. It has no idea. And as a result, that lack of clarity that your brain has creates resistance to taking that action and resistance. What does that do That leads to procrastination. So here are three ways to improve how you capture tasks so that you motivate yourself to get them done. Number one is to use verbs. And this means to begin each task that you put on your list with a verb such as create, make, Review, right, record, organize. For example, create that presentation, make a proposal, review the contract, right? A blog, things like that. Tell your brain to get to work by using these verbs. That's what they do. Number two is to include details and you want to include enough details that you can hand off that task to somebody else and they would know exactly what needed to be done with it. And details are important because uncertainty, again, creates resistance when your brain doesn't have a clear idea of what it needs to do, then it resists taking action on that. So give your brain clarity to act by including details in your to-do list items. And number three is set deadlines. This means you want to estimate how long each task is going to take. Before you do it, look at it and say, Okay, this is my best guess of how long it's going to take. For example, let's say that it's going to take you 30 minutes to complete a specific task on your list. Then write down 30 minutes next to that item on your list. Grab a timer, set the timer for 30 minutes, get it started, and work on that task until the timer hits 0. I've talked about this elsewhere. It's known as timeboxing is a very, very effective way to getting things done. And what this does is it puts your brain in a mode where it's focused and motivated to get that task done. So let's look at an example how to implement these three different hacks, if you will. So let's say that the task itself is written down as 30 minutes. Record a video about how to turn a to-do list into a list. So record describes the action that needs to be completed for that task. Record a video about, provides details about the goal of that task. And of course 30 minutes, that gives the task a mini deadline. So here's some next actions. You want to grab your list of to-dos and then using the strategies that we just talked about, you want to analyze each item on that list and improve it using one or more of these strategies. And then practice this strategy for at least the next seven days to see how it helps you to get things done. 5. Capture - How To Free Your Mind To Get Things Done: Massive action requires clarity. Why? Because your brain needs a clear path of success to follow. That's how it works without it. Guess what it does. We know this, it resists taking action and as a result of that resistance, it puts things off. And the best way to get clarity is to write things down. Get things out of your head. And I'm talking about lists, ideas, goals, plans, events, everything. Now, why is writing things down so awesome? Which it is, it is awesome here for reasons. First of all, it prioritizes your thoughts. So you have millions of thoughts going around in your head right now. And when you write things down, it brings distinction to the most valuable ideas that you have. You're almost saying that out of these millions of thoughts, this is a particular one I want to remember and put into action so you write it down, that gives you clarity. The second reason why writing things down is so awesome is that it's organized and it's easier to give order to your ideas order and structure. And when you give your ideas order and structure by writing them down, you see distinctions. You see how things work. You see patterns that you just don't see when you keep them in your head. Again, this is clarity. The third reason is that it's a record. So once you write something down, you can pass it off to others and you can let it go. Or it becomes a reference anytime you need to look at that and be reminded of what information is there by writing it down again, that gives you clarity. And finally, it's kinesthetic, which means the act of writing it down helps you to remember that item, that idea, that list, that person, that task, whatever it may be. And that again is clarity. Now there is a cry of the masses that you hear oftentimes. And that is, I don't want to write things down or I don't need to write things down. There are two main reasons I feel that people don't want to write things down. And the first one is speed. You know, it takes time to write things down and only control freaks write things down. Or there's an idea of confidence. You know, I could remember what's important. I don't need to write things down. But here's the challenge. And that challenge is that those same people are the ones who are always stressed out about their day or the week ahead and they have no goals and accomplish little of significance. And a part of that, again, is because they haven't learned to appreciate in value the importance writing things down. But is it worth it? Well, we just talked about some of the challenges that come from not writing things down. So what are some additional problems that can come from not practicing this awesome habit? Well, first of all, there's the replay. You know what the replay is. You need to recall something on a list, maybe a grocery list. And what do you need to do? You need go through the entire list. I put this on the list. We've got eggs, we've got begun, we've got tomatoes, we've got this, we've got this, we get this in your replaying that lists over and over again trying to remember what's on it. That's problem number one. Problem number two is the nagging. And that is when you have unprocessed ideas in your head. They hound you for attention until you do something with them. Either write them down on paper or take action on them and you don't want that nagging. Then of course, there's forgetfulness. There's an old saying, out of sight, out of mind. So what we don't see, we easily forget. And when we forget things, especially important things that should be written down that leads to more problems and we don't want or problems. And the last one is mental short-circuiting, which means that when you don't practice writing things down in capturing them, then thoughts, all those millions of thoughts that you have floating around up there, they become like bouncing ping-pong balls. And you're like a monkey trying to capture the one that you need when you need it and it's exhausting. Your mind becomes an environment of confusion and environment of disorder because things are just constantly bouncing all over the place without any structure. So let's not waste our valuable mental and creative energy. Write things down. Now write this down. These are the kinds of things you want to keep track of by putting them on paper or digital document. It doesn't matter. Tasks, your daily to-dos, things that you need to take care of, processes when you have a system or a multistep tasks that you do on a regular basis, whatever that may be. The steps that you take to record a video, steps that you take to write something or the steps that you take to prepare your taxes, then write that down so you have a list of it. Lists of any kind, people, numbers, songs to learn. I'm a musician, I play the guitar, so I keep track of a list of songs that I want to learn so they don't have to keep them in my head. If you have any ideas, inspirations, brainstorms, get those down. If you have any events, then use a calendar. Quit trying to manage your day in your life in your head. Use a calendar to manage those kinds of things. Things that you learn there are valuable. Don't just keep them as underlying text or saved videos. Capture those ideas for reference, write them down and they'll have a greater impact on your behavior, what you think, say and do. So how do you practice this process? What's the right things down recipe? It's very simple. Have a tool for writing things down handy. Whether that's a notebook, whether that's a digital document. Keep it simple. You don't want to write down paragraphs of information each time you need to capture something, just bullet points and keep it short and simple. And then practice this process daily. That's how you're going to get good at it. This is how you're going to get more efficient doing it. So here's some next actions, three ways to practice capturing things. Right now. Number one, try creating a list such as a grocery list and use it if you're not already doing it, if you are good for you. Number 2 is do a brain dump. And that means to take five to ten minutes and then write down everything that you need to do this week. Everything that takes 30 seconds to everything that's going to take two hours, write it down, and then take action on those items. And as you do, scratch it off, get that sense and that feeling of accomplishment. And number three is you want to write down a process. So take another five or ten minutes and think about a process or system that you use, either at work or at home on a regular basis, a multi-step process, and capture it on paper or into digital document. For example, if you have a process for again, creating a video, writing a proposal, paying your bills, what are the steps that you take to complete that process? Write those down, capture them on paper, and then use that process, reference it, review it the next time you take action on those items. And this is going to give you massive clarity to get things done. 6. Systems - How To Work Smarter, Not Harder: Life is full of multistep tasks, things that you do repeatedly. For example, creating a video that requires many different steps. Interviewing new employees, again, requires many different steps. Writing a blog post, setting your goals for the year, doing your taxes. All of these require many steps. So how do you go about handling these types of tasks? Well, the hard way is to reinvent the wheel. And each time you do the task, trying to remember the steps that you go through their order and the best way that you can do them. And it's difficult to do this, especially when it's a somewhat complex task and then often contributes to putting tasks off or doing that task or that project poorly. So there is an easier way though, thankfully, and that is to build a system which means to document your process for completing that task, similar to what a pilot does in going through a checklist. And the great thing is that once you've documented your process, it can be quickly reviewed later. So you can do that job efficiently and the best way possible. Now it's true, it takes time to document your process. It's going to take 10, 15, maybe 30 minutes. But it's a small investment of time compared to the efficiency and the results that you're going to get over the long-term. So here's how to do it. Here's how to create a system. First of all, you want to define its purpose. And that means figuring out what you wanna do with that system. Such as when I create a video, when I pay my taxes, when I put together a proposal, what's the specific outcome that you want your system to create? That's going to be the title and the purpose of your system. Number two is you want to break it down. So identify points in your process or your system renamed to shift gears either mentally or physically. And each shift that you make is a main step. For example, when creating a video, the main steps might include something like coming up with the initial idea, creating a script or an outline, setting up the camera and recording, editing the video. Those are the main steps that you're going to take. Now you want to break down each main step into sub-steps. And these could be tips that you want to remember when you're doing that particular item. Resources to look at questions to ask yourself as you're going through that process. For example, if one of the main steps of your system is creating a script or an outline. Then sub-steps for that particular main step would include tips that you've learned about how to create a script or an outline or places that you can go to find a script template that would be useful or questions that your script or your outline should answer if it's to be useful and valuable to the viewer. Now the third step in creating your system is to format it properly and you want to keep it simple, which means to make each step or sub-step a simple bullet point. Again, the bullet point should describe the action, identify a tip or a strategy, reference or resource, or simply ask a question. And while it's important to include details, each bullet point should be as concise as possible. It's a good idea to start each step with an action words such as create, review, record, organize, and so on. This is going to put your brain in a mode of taking action. And then to maximize your results, you want to use your system and improve it. So again, this is a system and like any system, it can always be improved. And there are two main ways that you're going to improve it. The first one is through use. And this means that as you use your system, you're going to intuitively discover better and more efficient ways to do the steps in that system. So it's important that you use your system on a regular basis so you can get into that flow and you can recognize these ways of improving it. And the second way to improve your system is to look for ways to make it better. So take the time to search Google, or watched YouTube videos, or maybe even read articles and books that are going to help you to improve the individual steps in your system and then tweak it as needed as time goes by. And finally, you want to keep your system handing you want to keep it close. And that's really about the only way that you going to use it on a regular basis. Your system isn't going to do you any good if you never use it, if you keep it in a notebook or if you never open it up and look at it. And you're likely never going to use the system if you can't easily access it. So keep it close. Keep all the systems that you create in a folder on your desk or next to your desk, or in a digital notebook. Or you can create a simple text document and keep those in a folder on your computer desktop. But make them convenient to use. And you'll use them when you do that process. So here's some next actions. First of all, you want to identify a process that you regularly do on a consistent basis. And then using the steps that we talked about, create a system for that process. And then when you're happy with that first system that you've created, then create another one, and then another one and then another one. I have nearly two dozen systems that I've documented and that I use on a regular basis. And I can tell you that it's a massive time-saver, enables me to be efficient, get good work done, and keep my sanity at the same time. So put this process into action, start creating your systems right away. 7. Productivity Barriers - Eliminate The Barriers/Hurdles That Slow You Down: A big part of being productive not only involves adopting new habits and you know what these are, managing your time better, organizing, better planning, better, all very important. But it also involves removing barriers to take an action. These could be barriers that are big or small, obvious, not so obvious. And both forces of change need to be implemented in order for you to become an productivity beast. So in this video, we're going to talk about those barriers and how to eliminate them. And the reason why it's so important to eliminate them is that you likely won't act on an item if you have to fix something first. So this means that you won't cook healthy meals if you had to clean your dishes first, or you probably won't exercise. If you have to find your shoes and clean your clothes first, or you likely won't pay your bills if you have to find open and organize them all first. Why? Because we talk about this all the time. Your brain takes the path of least resistance when it needs to find an answer, when it needs to fix something, when it needs to organize something, it can quickly just give up and procrastinate. So we've got to eliminate those barriers to taking action. And one of the best ways of doing this is through a process or strategy known as clear to neutron. Cleared. A neutral is a mindset that's designed to help you to knock down these barriers and these hurdles by staying ahead of them. And the way it works is very simple. When you complete a task, spend a little time making it easy to start the same task next time. Now why does this work? Why does clear neutral such a powerful tool in getting things done? It's because it creates an action oriented environment. No matter what needs to be done, you can begin an action or a task without resistance. There's nothing to find first, there's nothing to fix first, there's nothing to replace first or clean first. Productivity thrives in this kind of environment. So here's some examples. When you work at your desk, you want to clean and organize it before you leave. You want to put documents where they need to go. You want to put pins and notepads where they need to go. Put paper and ink and the printer, if the printer needs it, get rid of cups and food and wrappers and things like this. If you work on a computer, then close all the programs at the end of the day before you walk away. And you should only see your computer desktop that is clearing to neutral on your computer. When it comes to eating and cooking, then clean your mess. After you've done that, clean the counters, the dishes, put stuff in the dishwasher. If you wear something, put it away. You don't not on the floor, not over a chair, but Hachette and hang it up. If you empty something, fill it back up. Printer paper. If you empty, fill it back up, a fruit bowl. If you empty it, fill it back up. Paper towels, sugar bowl. If you sleep in it, make it, make your bed every morning. And that is one of the best examples. Again, why? Because this creates an action oriented environment, there's nothing to stand in your way from taking these actions when you need to, because you're setting up your environment to make it possible to just go and do. Let's talk about another idea. And that is that big tasks can be paralyzing. Some examples that have paralyzing tasks, so to speak, would be maybe starting a business, writing a book, planning a major event, starting a YouTube channel. All my goodness, all these things are so huge. They're like mountains almost in our minds. We don't know where to start. It's easy to get overwhelmed, so we shut down and we put it off till later. And later comes and guess what? That task is still huge as still overwhelming looking and it's still an issue. And so we put it off again for later and it's going to continue to get worse the longer we put it off. So what's the cure is to focus on one step. So change your focus instead of looking at that entire mountain and focusing on how huge and overwhelming it looks. Focus on taking one step, completing that one-step, nothing else, That's all you have to do. And when you do this, resistance to taking action melts away because it's only a single step. Now there are two main reasons why this strategy works. One is that small is doable. Your brain has no reason to resist taking action. So taking action is easier. The second reason is something called the law of inertia. And Sir Isaac Newton, once data, he said, an object in motion tends to stay in motion. And when it comes to getting things done, when you start something small, you set action into motion and there's a high chance when you do this, then you'll take another action and another action and so on. The key though is the initial spark that gets things going. That's small action by identifying that small thing that you can do and then doing it. So here's some examples of doing this. Taking this one small step. When you need to write something like a blog post or an article or a chapter in a book, and ideas aren't coming, then open your favorite writing tool that may be Microsoft Word and maybe something else, but just start typing and it could be nonsense. It doesn't even need to make sense. Engage your writer's brain by doing that typing process. And when you take that one small step, the rest is going to unfold automatically. Or if you have to give a presentation, then open your presentation software. Focus on creating one slide, even if it's a terrible slide. Add text, images, do whatever you have to create that one slide and don't worry about how it looks. Focus on getting going. That is the one-step. Or if you need to create a video, then turn on your camera. Record a few minutes telling a joke, talking about a recent trip, explaining what you need to do to start recording whatever it takes. It doesn't matter, just record something to get into that flow to get the inertia going. When it comes to paying bills, do you dread doing it? Who doesn't? So simply commit to opening one bill and pain. That one bill. That's it. If you need to clean the garage and your garage is a disaster and it looks overwhelming. It's that mountain. Then start by throwing one thing away and putting one thing where it belongs. That's it. That's your only goal. And if that's all you do, great. But there's a good chance that once you do that, you're going to want to do one other thing and then another thing and another thing. And if you need a boost to get started, even with that one small step, here's an easy way to do it, and that is to include a countdown to the process. So this means you want to identify the smallest thing that you need to do to start whatever your starting count down, 543 to one. And when you hit 0, take action, commit to taking action. And the general idea is with this, whatever task you resist doing, just start doing something ridiculously, ridiculously small related to that task and watch what happens. Let's talk about another idea, convenience. So I discussed this in another video related to building a productive work environment. But I want to highlight this overall principle, an idea again, because it has a major bearing on eliminating barriers to take an action. And the main idea here is that no matter what task you work on, you'll minimize the resistance to take an action on that task when you make it convenient to take action. This means that you want to make convenient tools that you might need. You wanna make convenient documents that you might need to reference or use, or resources that you need to access. And this is also known as the 22nd rule. And you should be able to start any task that you want to complete in 20 seconds or less. That's making it convenient to take action. That's eliminating the hurdle. And here's some examples of using convenience. If you need to create a presentation, didn't have your ideas that you're going to use in that presentation handy. Open the software, have it ready to go, get the images that you're going to use and put them someplace that you can easily access them on your computer. Or if you need to create a video, then grab your camera, keep it close to you. Get your microphone, get it ready to go and open your recording software so that it's ready to go. Or if you need to clean the garage, then get your broom and dustpan, put it next to the door where you're going to start work, get trash bags, put them in the garage so that they're there and create a plan for doing the process. Again, make it convenient to start taking action. And finally, if you want to start eating and cooking healthy, then have your recipes close and your ingredients in your kitchen tools and the appliances that you're going to use to cook, keep them all convenient so you can start taking action on eating healthier. Speaking of action, Here's some next actions. Focus on making it easier to act in your life and in your environment. Adopt this mindset. What can I do to make it easier to take action? Practice, clearing to neutral, do something small to get started, and use convenience, know your tasks and then make your tools, documents, resources convenient so you can start those tasks easily and without any barriers or hurdles. 8. Distractions - Learn 4 Strategies To Eliminate Them: So to be really successful in life, you need traction. What is traction? Traction is a force that enables you to be drawn in a specific direction. And with traction in your life, you move forward, you move quickly and you have the ability to overcome most obstacles that stand in your way. But unfortunately, there's an exact opposite force in play in most people's lives. And that is distraction. Distraction causes you to slip, to go nowhere. And when distractions are common in your life, you tend to go nowhere fast. And you tend to accomplish things, but it takes an incredible amount of time and effort to do them more so than most people. And when you're faced with obstacles and challenges in life, they tend to prevent you from doing anything of significance. So in a nutshell, identifying and eliminating distractions is a big deal. Now when it comes to distractions, there's this misconception. And that misconception is that, you know, some distractions aren't really that big of a deal. They take less than a minute to handle, such as answering a text, responding to an email, or maybe checking social media. And it's not that big of a deal to do that, right? But the reality is, all distractions are a big deal. Every single one of them. Why? It's because the impact of any distraction has less to do with the length of time of that distraction, and more to do with the way that it disrupts the flow and momentum of what you're already doing. So why are they so disruptive? While each time that you stop what you're currently doing to handle even a small distraction. There are three factors that come into play that make the distraction. So disruptive. Number 1 is the time that it takes to slow down or switch your focus from one thing to another. For example, if you're in a writing flow and the speed and the quality of the words coming out of you is awesome. A switch and focus can quickly derail that creative momentum. And this can be a huge loss of efficiency, especially if it happens many times a day. Number two is the length of the stop or the actual time it takes to handle the distraction. And this is the chunk of time that usually gets the most attention. And it's often seen as the only real time loss when handling a distraction. But that's far, far from reality. And factor number 3 is the time needed to regain your momentum or refocus on what you were working on and get back into your flow. And the reality is that the time and effort to do this is often the most devastating factor of all of them because it can take a considerable amount of time to achieve it. If you're able to achieve it at all, if you're able to get back to where you were. So as you can see, a simple 30-second distraction can create a significant loss in your productivity, especially if you allow many distractions into your day. There are no small distractions. So let's look at some ideas for minimizing the effects of distractions in life. First of all, group or collect several distractions as they hit you, then you can take care of them all at once. So they essentially become a single task that you need to handle. As distractions hit you, you want to write them down or take note of them. And then every hour what you can do is set aside five to ten minutes to take care of all of them one after the other. Go ahead and answer those two e-mails that came in or checkout and respond to that text message that you received or even check social media if you like. Again, the idea here is to schedule a time to regularly handle these distractions on their own as a bundle so that they don't disrupt your real work. Another way that you can handle your distractions is to track them. So what are your biggest distractions, or even better, what is your biggest distraction? And why is it important to know that when you don't have a clear idea where your distractions are coming from, it puts you in a weak position to do anything about them or even eliminate them. And you can't defeat an enemy that you can't see. And that's why it's so important to shine a light on your distractions so you can identify them. And once you do that, you can begin eliminating them. And here's a simple way to do that. First of all, grab an index card and list your top four to six distractions on that index card. Maybe it's answering an email, answering the phone, getting interrupted by someone being pulled into social media, surfing the web or maybe biting your nails or another bad habit. The second part of this process is that you want to track your distractions. So as you go about your day or your week, each time you're distracted from doing real work by one of those things you wrote down on your index card. Use a hash mark to note the distraction in the appropriate area. Number 3 is that you want to identify your biggest distraction. So review your tracker to pinpoint your biggest productivity killer. And then four, you want to simply eliminate your biggest distraction. And you can do this by implementing at least one specific strategy that can help you to minimize or eliminate that distraction. And you want to focus on fixing your biggest distraction because doing so will have the biggest impact on your results. So if your biggest distraction is maybe social media, then put your phone in a different room while you work. Turn up the ringer, you're still going to hear it when it rings, but it won't be distracting you. Or if your biggest distraction is biting your nails, then search Google for some simple ideas on how to stop doing that. Or if your biggest distraction as other people close your door while you're at work and put a sign on the door letting people know that you're unavailable at that time. And then the fifth step in this process is that you want to identify and fix your next biggest distraction. So once you feel that you've minimized or eliminated your biggest distraction, than simply repeat the process. Because there is always going to be another kind of distraction that you need to fix. Now, not all distractions. Our time disruptors, like we've discussed so far, some show up in your life in the form of time Steelers, which keep you away from being productive by gobbling up your precious time so that you have very little time left to spend on things that matter. So let's look at how to eliminate some of those. And the first idea here is you want to stop collecting distractions. So sometimes when it comes to distractions in your life, you are your worst enemy. And you may be actually inviting unnecessary distractions into your life deliberately. Thinking what, how am I doing that? Well, if you spend time perhaps, maybe browsing for new apps for your phone or your tablet just because they look cool, but not because you specifically need them, then you're likely collecting distractions. Or if you feel overwhelmed with everything that you need to do. But instead of spending one or two hours slowly chiseling away at doing those things. But instead, you spend the same amount of time browsing Netflix to collect new shows and movies to watch. Then maybe you're collecting distractions. Or perhaps if you spend more time collecting, bookmarking and pinning articles, ideas and other things, then you do visualizing, brainstorming and planning your goals. Then there's a good chance that you're likely collecting distraction. But before going any further, let me just be clear on this. There's nothing inherently wrong with the activities that I just mentioned. Unless, unless real work, valuable work, significant work is suffering because of those things. And you want to make sure that creating and doing is winning out over collecting by a ratio of at least 80 to 20, you must spend 80 percent of your time creating and doing, and maybe 20 percent of your time collecting and doing these other things that we mentioned. Think about it. What do you wanna do in the long run? Do you want to be a successful collector of apps, TV shows and movies, or do you want to be an expert painter on Pinterest? Or are you serious about getting things done and living a more meaningful and satisfying life? Do a regular evaluation of your habits and at the end of each day, ask yourself, did I spend more time today creating or collecting? And this idea isn't meant to get you to look at consuming as all bad because it's not, but it's designed to help you to keep it in a proper place. Another idea is to think before you click. So these days clicking on stuff online such as links, videos, pictures, comments, sections, things like that is one of the biggest rabbit holes or uses of time that has no end goal or destination. And these all have the potential to pull you away from doing real work if you're not careful. So let's do the math. If you click on 20 links a day and you spend five minutes at each link, that's a 100 minutes a day times 365 days a year. That's 36,500 minutes a year, or 76 eight hour days. Let's say that half of those clicks added something of value to you that still leaves you with 40 days a year that are lost to potential nonsense. So here are three questions that you can ask before, before you click on something, so that you can quickly focus and click with intention and purpose instead of allowing a sudden or very subtle emotional impulse to drive your behavior. And these will help you to regain most of those 40 days so that you can use them in a more productive way. Question number one is, does it directly impact my life? Is it about who's dating who and the celebrity world or feuds between people you don't even know? Or is it a person did something mean in a place you've never heard of or that you never will visit. If so, don't waste your valuable time on it. Question number two. Is it positive and does it add value? Or is it negative? Is it worthless, or is it even stupid? You want to avoid being sucked into clicking links that are designed to trigger strong emotional responses. Think about it is a story about a person who lied in court about a case. You know, nothing about something positive and value that you want to waste your time on. Or is a video that shows eyewitness footage of a tragedy or a crime really necessary to watch. Isn't knowing that it happened enough. Or is an article that discusses something mundane or obvious or even just plain stupid, worth giving your valuable time and attention to in order to read. It's so much better to focus on clicking and consuming what's positive and valuable and avoid what's not. Question number three is, am I avoiding something else? So doing things of significance and value takes work. And sometimes it's easy to click on stuff just to avoid what may feel like a difficult or an unpleasant task. So asking this question is a great way to refocus in that moment in order to make sure that what you're doing is an intentional choice. And not just a way to put off a task that you know that you should work on. Now you might be saying, Well, don't I need to be informed about Derek. Isn't that important? And the thing is being informed and being inundated or overwhelmed with negativity and other nonsense are two different things. Most headlines and images that you see provide enough information for you to have a basic understanding of what's happening in the world around you. And the goal isn't to stop clicking on links altogether or play buttons or pictures. It's to be way more selective about the ones that you do. So let's dig into one more idea about distractions and that is to create a do not do list. So Steve Jobs once said, and very wise, he said, deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do. So you have a pipeline of success, if you will. And it represents your limited time. You're limited energy and your limited resources. At the front of that pipeline are the things that you allow into your space. At the end are the results that you create. So for you to regularly create awesome results, you need a nice flow going through that pipeline of success. But here's the deal. And that is that saying yes to most things clogs up your pipeline when you allow anything to enter into your pipeline, including people's requests or demands, impulses that you may have to do something, temptations, valueless things like we talked about. What happens is that you overwhelm your pipeline, you clog it up and you diminish your ability to create awesome results. And one of the best things you can do to protect your pipeline is to create a gatekeeper, which will only allow things that matter to get through and it will refuse any nonsense or avoid that or block it from getting in. And the best way that you can do this is to create a do not do list, which has a policy of things that you refuse to allow into your life or distractions. And here are three things that you can say no to, that you can add to your own personal policy or do not do list. First one is requests with no clear direction. This would include meetings that you're invited to go to that have no agenda or collaborations that people reach out to you. Say, hey, let's collaborate, but there's no end goal, or even just calls from unknown people. Those are requests of your time and attention and energy that have no clear direction. Say no to those. The second one is tasks that can be delegated. So if there's someone with more skill than you have about doing a certain thing and they're reliable. Didn't delegate that to somebody else, say no to it if somebody else can take care of it. And three would be onetime occurrences. And what I mean by this is once is a mistake. So let's say someone forgets a report or someone is late for a meeting or someone said something wrong. And these kinds of things happen all the time. And if you're not careful, you can get into this mode where you're constantly putting out fires trying to fix these issues. But if there are onetime occurrences and it's abnormal for these things to happen, then it's best to just let it go. It's better to fix patterns to problems rather than one time issues. So look for patterns and say no to fixing those other things. So here's some next actions. You want to review the strategies for eliminating distractions, like we've talked about here, and determine which one would have the biggest impact on your life right now. And then simply spend the next seven days practicing it, implementing it, using it. And when you feel like you've achieved a certain level of success with that idea or that strategy, then move on to the next one. Focus on one change at a time. But if you do this, you'll start slowly eliminating those distractions that disrupted flow and momentum in your life. 9. Projects - Start, Manage, And Finish Them In 5 Steps: So do you have a big multi-step project that you need to start or manage. Perhaps, maybe starting a new business or a new website for your business. Maybe a proposal or a presentation you need to put together could be a home remodeling project or even a wedding. That's a huge project. And there are lots of things to organize, track, and manage with all of these projects, including actions that you need to take, ideas for that project. And maybe even reference materials such as phone numbers, names of people, online resources, and things like that. Now because there's so much to process, many projects like these can feel overwhelming because it's hard to see how all the pieces fit together. But as we've talked about many times, your brain likes clarity, it likes direction, and it wants to know how to put all these pieces together so that they fit together nicely. And without that clarity, you tend to put things off. And this includes even important things like the projects that we're talking about. So to eliminate this challenge, you've got to give projects structure. You've got to see how all the pieces go together and how to manage those pieces properly. You need a framework or a system. Otherwise, the project is this big blob of chaos. And there are all these various elements and there's no clear way of how to connect them together. Think of it this way. Imagine how difficult it would be to build a jigsaw puzzle without a box to reference, you have all these pieces that are supposed to fit together, but you can't see the big picture of how that's supposed to happen. And putting those pieces together and completing that puzzle is going to be very difficult without something to look at. Again, the same thing happens when you don't have a way to put all the elements of a project into a framework that allows you to quickly see the big picture. So here's a simple framework to use. First of all, step 1, you want to choose a project. It could be a project that you're currently working on. It could be a project that you're about to start. And again, these are things such as starting a new business, a new website for your business, proposal presentation, home remodeling project, or even a wedding. So choose a project and then step number two, create a project document. This could be either a paper document or a digital document, doesn't matter. And at the top, put the project name and the project date of completion at the very top. Step number three is you want to list your actions. And these are the to-dos that you have in relation to that project. And initially when you're creating that project document, it's good to brainstorm as many of these as you possibly can. And the goal isn't to strive for perfection here, but always have at least the next action ready to go. So that when you're ready to work on that project at anytime, you know the next thing that you need to do. Now, here are a couple of tips in this process. First of all, include action words and details when listing each ion when we've talked about this before, and where action items can be delegated. Didn't just simply indicate the name of that person that you've delegated it to next to the item itself. Step number 4 is you want to list your references. This section contains information to help you to get the project done. And this could include names of people, ideas, brainstorm strategies, maybe some links to relevant online tools that will help you to get it done. Links to relevant videos that will teach you how to get it done. Or maybe even pictures, illustrations, flowcharts, things like that. That's where you want to list your reference items right there in that section of your project document. Step number five is that you want to capture your processes. And these are the step-by-step many systems that you use to get elements of that project completed. And these are generally things that you do more than just once. So for example, if the project involves recording videos, you may have a specific step-by-step system for recording, editing, and posting. So capture a simple version of the steps that you follow to complete this process and put it in your project document. And do this for each process that you use to complete the project. Now project document may contain just one of these processes, or it could contain five or more of these processes. You want to capture each process so you can easily reference it later. And if you don't do this, then when you need to complete the process in the future, it can feel as if you need to reinvent the wheel each time. And that creates resistance to taking action and resistance. What do we know, at least to procrastination? Now keep in mind that this is a living document. So it's constantly updated and refined as you add new tasks, maybe new ideas and resources, and even processes. And it becomes the ultimate reference tool whenever you need to work on or manage that project. Now, doing this is going to take some time. It may take 20 to 30 minutes or even longer of your time to create this document initially. But it's really important that you don't see it as a loss of time. It's a gain of time because the clarity that this document is going to give you in the direction it's going to provide you, enables you to become a force of action. So instead of wasting your time wondering what to do next or how to do it or when to do it and so on. It's going to eventually save you more time than it took to create. So here's some next actions as outlined in the steps that we just talked about. Select a project, create a project document, break the project down into actions, references and processes. And then when you're ready to start working on that project, select an action from your action list, review any relevant processes that help you to get that action done and then get to work. And then finally, you want to regularly review and update this document as you work on that project. 10. Batching - Use Flow To Ramp Up Your Efficiency: So life can be very complex, right? There are a variety of tasks that you need to complete each week. Maybe you need to write a little or a plan alone. Calls. Some people, may be managed a few projects, record some videos. Now how do you take care of all these different areas of life so that everything gets a little love on a regular basis. While a common approach is called inching, which means you do a little bit here, and then you do a little bit here, and then you do a little bit here every single day. But here's the problem. And that is that inching like this destroys your flow. Each time you switch tasks, you lose time because you have to set up and take care of that new task. And you lose momentum because you have to refocus your mind on doing that new task. A better approach is something known as batching, which is where you spend two for maybe eight hours working on similar tasks. You batch them together. And this helps you to maintain that flow and that momentum that we were just talking about. And it's a much more efficient way of getting things done then ingenious. So here's batching in action. Let's say that you want to create content, then write and produce several sections of content for a project that you're working on or videos that you're working on. Let's say you want to batch writing, then write articles and blog posts for entire week or month, all at one time. Or let's say you want to do some recording, create as many videos as possible in a single day. Right now, I'm on my fourth video for the day because I'm batching. Or if you want to learn, then read and watch and think about one thing for extended period of time, two to four to eight hours. If you're coaching and consulting, then do this with as many people as possible in a single chunk of time. Or maybe you're involved in calling or sending emails to customers and clients and friends and even your mom, batch those all together into a single chunk of time. Or Finally, let's say you're managing your life. You've got errands and groceries and tasks around the house that you need to take care of. Again, batch those all together into a single chunk of time. Now here's a unique way of implementing batching and it's known as themed days and it's very easy to set up and use. So the idea is that you want to set aside days are parts of days for certain tasks. So Monday, for example, might be your follow-up section or your follow-up theme where you follow up with people by making phone calls or email. And maybe Monday afternoon is your marketing theme where you spend all your time Monday afternoon doing nothing but marketing for your business. If that's something that you do, Tuesday, maybe that is an all-day theme, day of writing. So again, you write articles, you write blog post, you write videos, scripts all on that day. Wednesday, maybe it was the afternoon. The theme is household. So you take care of running your errands and taking care of household tasks, things like that. Thursday and Friday might be content creation theme days where you spend all your time those two days focused on nothing but content creation. Now obviously this is just a suggestion on how to use theme days and it's just an example. But you want to adapt and adjust it based on your needs, your duties, but you can see how this works, how you put all your time and effort into one activity for an extended period of time using batching in theme days. Now let's talk about the benefits of batching. And the great thing about it is that you're able to get everything done that you need to take care of. But you can get it taken care of in a lot less time. All you have to do to benefit from it as being willing to adopt a new way of organizing your work days as we've discussed here. So here's some next actions. First of all, you want to make a list of tasks that you normally perform each week. And then identify which ones are similar in nature and group those together on the list. And then create a schedule based on those groups using theme days as we talked about. And then for the next week, use that schedule that you created to get things done. And then for the next week, Use the schedule that you created to get things done. And when you're working within a block or a theme, try to accomplish two to three similar tasks before moving on to the next block or the next team. And try this approach for seven days or so. And if you find that it works for you, then keep tweaking and refining your batching process until you have a system that allows you to maintain a maximum flow and momentum in getting things done. 11. Beast Mode - How To Get A Lot Done, Quickly!: Even if you manage your time properly every single day, occasionally there's going to be a time where you need to create some massive results in a short period of time. For example, maybe you have a deadline that's been moved up on a project and you know that's going to happen. Or you simply want to challenge yourself to see how much you can accomplish in a short period of time. This is one of my favorite things to do. Or it may simply be that your vacation is approaching and you need to get more done than you usually do. And this high level of productivity usually requires a unique approach to taking action. And approach that centers on preparing your environment, your mind, your physical energy for the sole purpose of achieving a specific productivity outcome as quickly as possible. And a great strategy for achieving this level of intense productivity is something that I refer to as beast mode. And here are the steps to activate and use beast mode anytime you need a powerful boost to get things done. Step number one is you want to create a simple list of the tasks that you expect to complete while in beast mode. And this could include a basic outline of the steps that you're going to take to complete what you need to do. You want to write it down, get it out of your head. And this is going to give you a clear picture of your entire beast mode project and becomes a reference tool that allows you to quickly track what's needs to be done and identify what needs to be done next. Now you don't want to spend a lot of time with this, but it's important that you have it in place before you get to work to clearly understand everything that needs done, as well as the best order in which to get those things done. Step number two is you want to gather everything that you need. This means you'll want to make convenient. Anything that you'll need to work on the tasks that you're going to be working on. Walling beast mode. And this could include pens, paper, documents, ideas, tools. You should be able to access anything that you need within 10 seconds. For example, if you're cleaning your garage, then before you start, spent a little time gathering together a written plan, trash bags, work gloves, storage containers, cleaning supplies, anything that you need to get this job done. And the advantage of doing this in advance is that it minimizes the momentum killing effects of starting work and stopping to find a resource or tool and then try and to start work again and so on. That is going to slow you down considerably. So get all these things in place before you start work. Step number three is you want to turn off distractions. This means your TV or phone notifications. Anything that has the potential to disrupt your flow and your momentum while you're in beast mode. So I've talked about this before, but put your phone in another room so you're not tempted to even look at it. And of course you want to leave the ringer on and have it turned up so that you can hear if an important call comes in, but otherwise just leave it in the other room. Step number 4 is you want to crank it up. So play some energetic music. Choose something that's gonna get you pumped up and excited, but that won't distract you from being able to focus on what you're trying to do. Step number five is boost your energy. So beast mode requires that you work in a higher than normal level of activity. And to achieve this, you need to boost your energy to keep you physically and mentally energized. And here are two ways to do it. The first way that you can do this is to move and stretch a bit. So for about 30 to 60 seconds, walk around your work area, make big movements with your arms and your hands and your hips in your legs. You want to get the blood flowing in your body. And then to breathe deeply, take three to five slow, deep breaths. And when you're done doing these two exercises, you should feel at least a slight increase in your physical energy as well as your mental clarity and your focus. Step number six, you want to grab and set a timer. So grab a time or such as an egg timer or even a timer on your phone. Set it for 30 to 60 to 90 to a 100 and 20 minutes. The duration of time that you want to spend in beast mode, at least initially, and then take action. So do one last review of your plan, especially the first part of it, start your timer and get to work. And when the timer goes off, then simply take a short break. And if you need to continue to work in beast mode, simply repeat Steps 6 and 7 until you're done with your project. It's that simple. So here's some next actions. It's really great to experience beast mode at least one time this week, even if it's only for an hour. So what you wanna do is identify at least one project that you can benefit from doing a session of beast mode. It could be a home or business project task that you've been putting off, a general cleaning or organizing of your work area. Or it could be something similar to this. And then next, with that project in mind, go through the seven steps that we discussed here. And see for yourself what you're capable of doing when you take action like a beast. 12. Errands - Upgrade How You Handle Your Errands: Now before we get too deep into this video, it's important to define and get clear about what an errand is. So simply put, I defined it as a task that needs to be taken care of outside of your normal work environment. So if you work at home, but you need to get something done at the bank. That's an errand. If you work at the bank and you need to get something done at the bank, that's work. So now that that's taken care of, Let's talk about why traditional Aaron's lists don't work. And if you've ever tried to maintain a list of Aaron's by writing it down on paper. Then, you know that there are some basic problems with this type of system. First of all, it's stationary. Have you ever tried to remember what was on your list because you left it on the fridge at home and you were too far away to do anything about it and you couldn't recall a single item that you'd put on it. That's a problem with it being stationary, that it can only exist in one place. Number 2 is that they can become cumbersome. Have you ever had a list grow so long that you needed to start another list, perhaps, so that you had two lists to manage at the same time. And three, is that these traditional Aaron's lists that you write down may can be restrictive. Again, if you ever tried to manage a list that was used by multiple people, including your spouse, maybe your kids, your roommate. And there's this constant need for it to be updated in items to be crossed out are erased. And keeping it neat and useful in general can be a real challenge. But there is a better way. Let's look at it. And these are three elements of a 21st century Aaron list that will eliminate all these challenges of it being stationary, cumbersome, and restrictive. And I'm going to share with you also four simple steps to implement this process. So element number one of a 21st century Aaron's list is that for it to be useful, you need to be able to access it anywhere, even when you're mobile, whether you're in your car, whether you're in a meeting or at the store. Element number two of the 21st century, Aaron's list is that it needs to be flexible, so it can't be restricted or limited to a single piece of paper or a post-it note. If you need to list 10 or more items, you should be able to do that without feeling constrained in any way. And element number 3 is universal access. If you're part of a family or a group that maintains a single Aaron's list, that it needs to be accessible to every person in that group so that they can add to it, they can delete from it. They can edit items. In the digital age, a system for creating and maintaining a list like this is pretty simple. Here's a quick four-step process to set it up and bring your Aaron's list into the 21st century. Step number one is you want to create an online document. So, uh, using an online service such as Google Drive, Google Keep Evernote, Office 365 or something like that. Create a document and name it Aaron's list. Step number two is that you want to capture errands and a bulleted list. So just simply start listing each individual Aaron as a bullet point in that document. And while you want to keep it simple, it's a good idea to always include a few details and specifics with each item, such as amounts of something you need, or sizes or dates or colors or brand names, things like that. And this is going to help others have a clear idea of what each Aaron involves just in case they're the ones doing it. And you're not. Now optionally, if your list contains a lot of items, then you can organize those items into sections either by location such as East and West, or by where you're going to handle them, such as bank, grocery store, or something similar to that. Step number three is you want to share your list, so share it with those who are going to use it and add some brief instructions at the top of the list that can be easily reviewed by those who are getting access to it. And remember that if you start using this process with other people, it's a new process. It's going to take some time for other people to learn it. So be patient and stick with it. Step number 4 is you want to bookmark your list and you want to make it easy to access later if it's online, that's an easy thing to do. Just create a bookmark so you can access it quickly and easily. So here's some next actions. You want to choose an online service for creating your Aaron's list, and then create your list and organize it into sections if you feel like that's necessary. And then create some simple instructions at the top of the document that talks about how to add an item to the list, details to include and other helpful tips, and then share that list and start using it. And then when you complete an item on the list, delete it. Or you can format it with a strikethrough and then put it at the bottom on the list so that you can maintain a record of what you've done. And this is how you bring your Aaron's list into the 21st century. 13. Conclusion - Thank You! What To Do Next: So this is the last video of the class. And the fact that you're watching it tells me that there's a pretty good chance that you watched the entire class. And I think that it's awesome that you stuck with it long enough to get here. And for that, I'd like to say, thank you very much. Now, hopefully you can tell that a lot of time and effort went into creating this class on becoming an action machine. And I hope that the end result is that it was valuable to you, enjoyable, memorable, unique, and that it was more than you expected. If it was any or all of those things, I'd appreciate it if you did two things. Number one, leave an honest review for others who are considering taking the class. And two, I'd appreciate it if you would share link to this class with anyone that you think would benefit from it. Like you have. If you ever have any questions or suggestions about the class itself or how to improve it, then please leave a comment and discussion area for the class. Or you can email me or visit my website at derek franklin.com. I love, love, love hearing from my students. So thanks again. And I hope you have an amazing day.