This is Optimal Living Daily Episode 316, Productivity 101, Part 1, by Steve Pavlina of Steve Pavlina.com, and I'm Justin Molick. Happy Saturday, if you're listening in real time, and welcome to Optimal Living Daily, where I read to you every single day, 365 or 366 days a year, from some of the best personal development bloggers I can find, just like an audiobook. And with over 300 episodes done, if you listen to every single episode, I'm sure it's longer than an audiobook now, but it's all free, probably the best part about it. Anyway, we're going to take it back to the basics today, and Steve Pavlina is a good guy to do that for us with some basics on productivity.
So let's get right to the post and start optimizing your life. Productivity 101, Part 1, by Steve Pavlina of Steve Pavlina.com. Last night, I shared some productivity tips with my Toastmasters Club, so I thought it'd be a good idea to share those tips with you as well. These tips are not complicated, but they've proven very effective for myself and countless others.
You've probably heard these before, so if that's the case, consider this refresher or reminder to put these ideas into practice today. 1. Work in a field you love. Do what you love is perhaps the most basic productivity tip of all.
You'll be much more productive when you do work you enjoy. Unfortunately, the tip is as obvious as it is ignored. Doing work you love is not remotely the same thing as doing work you find moderately pleasant either. When you're working in a field you love, your motivation is usually high because you feel passionate about what you're doing.
You don't have to push yourself just to get going each day. When you enjoy your work, you'll tend to enjoy a fast tempo. You'll also do better quality work, and high quality work is more efficient than low quality work. Low quality work generates inferior results, and often has to be redone.
Don't waste your time trying to become more productive in a field you don't enjoy. Such a struggle is a complete waste of your life. You deserve better than to subject yourself to such punishment. I've heard hundreds of different excuses for why people claim they can't do what they love.
Not enough money, no time, not good enough, wife won't let me, etc. They can all be condensed down to two words, I'm scared. The people who are doing what they love were also scared. They could all come up with the same excuses.
But at some point, they decided it was unacceptable to have their lives dictated by fear, so they opted to face their fear and push through it. They decided to overcome their problems instead of turning them into excuses. Those who remain stuck still allow their fear to rule them. Ultimately, it's a choice.
Either you commit to doing what you love, or you don't. Which side do you think involves the most suffering? Number two, take advantage of audio learning. Make a habit of listening to educational audio programs ideally every day.
It's so easy to fill in the gaps in your day with education time. Listen to audio programs when you're driving, shopping, exercising, preparing meals, or just walking around. Load up your iPod to capacity so you'll always have them on hand. You don't even have to pay for the audio programs.
There are tons of free educational podcasts online, including mine. Your local public library should also carry a selection of audio programs that you can check out for free. Just by adopting this simple habit, you can gain the equivalent of multiple college degrees. If you want to expand your knowledge and skills, this habit is an absolute must.
It doesn't even cost any extra time if you combine audio learning with physical activities as already suggested. The benefit of listening to educational audio programs goes far beyond the content. The simple act of feeding your mind with positive information will help you stay motivated and upbeat as well. If you feel depressed, lazy, or unmotivated, it's a safe bet you aren't taking advantage of daily audio learning opportunities.
They'll help you feel much more positive and driven. When I was in college, I used to listen to educational audio programs on cassette tape with a Walkman radio. I listened while walking to and from school and in the short breaks between classes. In a typical day, I might get through two hours of material.
I learned some good ideas from those tapes, but the habit also got me thinking positively. This practice was extremely instrumental in enabling me to graduate with two degrees in three semesters. Back then, everyone around me said I would fail. No one was very encouraging.
But I drowned out all that negative feedback by constantly plugging into positive can-do messages. Those tapes kept my mind thinking about how to achieve my goals instead of wondering if I could achieve them. So the benefit of audio learning is not just for the educational content, it's also for the attitude adjustment. Number three, eliminate interruptions.
If you do any creative or information processing work, it's imperative that you set aside blocks of time where you know you won't be interrupted. This means no external interruptions as well as no interrupting yourself. You need serious blocks of time two to three hours minimum with no email checking, no instant messaging, no web surfing, no phone calls, no drop-in visitors, etc. Just knowing that you won't be interrupted makes it so much easier to enter a flow state where you can get a lot of highly productive work done.
Every time you get interrupted for a few minutes or longer, you can expect it to take at least 15 minutes to return to the flow state. A few seemingly minor interruptions each day adds up to a huge amount of wasted time every month and for no benefit whatsoever. When I'm working on a project or writing an article, I don't check email. If the phone rings, I let it go to voicemail.
I lock my office door and put up a post-it note that says, writing troll, get back, which has a picture of a troll on it. When Aaron and the kids see the troll, they know not to disturb me unless there's a serious emergency. The troll is a warning. They know that if they bypass the troll, they'll be confronted by an ogre.
I routinely write new articles at a rate of 1,000 to 1,500 words per hour measured from the time I get inspired by an idea to the time I click publish. To write a 5,000 word article, it might take me about four hours total. If I think I might be interrupted, I can't write nearly as fast. I have to tune out the whole world and put myself in a place where nothing else exists but the topic I'm writing about.
When I enter that flow state, writing becomes effortless. I'm usually not even conscious of the fact that my fingers are typing. You set your own boundaries, so don't even think about trying to blame others for your lack of productivity. If other people don't respect your time, it's because you've trained them to behave that way, if only through the mechanism of silent approval.
Start showing more respect for time and clarify your boundaries with others. You don't have to be an ogre about it, but you do need to be firm. On the other hand, if people refuse to comply, then you have to ask yourself why you even want such disrespectful productivity vampires in your life. When you use your work time wisely, you'll have more free time to invest in your personal life.
Erin knows that when I'm done writing this article, we'll enjoy watching a movie together tonight, The Wrestler, and I also promised her a glorious foot massage. If she interrupts me and it takes me longer than expected to finish the article, we don't get to spend as much time together. 4. Hear That in Tomorrow's episode You just listened to Part 1 of the Post Titles Productivity 101 by Steve Pavlina of StevePavlina.com Local news is in decline across Canada, and this is bad news for all of us.
With less local news, noise, rumors, and misinformation fill the void, and it gets harder to separate truths from fiction. That's why CBC News is putting more journalists in more places across Canada, reporting on the ground from where you live, telling the stories that matter to all of us, because local news is big news. Choose news, not noise, CBC News. I'm constantly thinking about how to optimize my health, what supplements to take, hours of sleep, what my diet should focus on.
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It's totally free and a really nice way to show your support. If you can't search the web right now, you can text in to just text the word optimal to the number 44222, and that's a faster way to join. And that's it. I hope you're having a great weekend.
I will catch you in tomorrow's show, where we'll finish up this post, and wear your optimal life. Awaits. Hey, this is Dan from the Optimal Finance Daily Podcast, which is a lot like this show, except more focused on personal finance. Justin handpicks the best posts he can find from blogs and authors like Ramit Sadie, Mr.
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