Do you want to make more money? All you have to do is 2 things:
Increase the VALUE of your output.
Increase your output.
If you only focus on these two things, your revenue and income will grow. In this article, I will show you how to increase the VALUE of your output and how to triple your productivity.
PHASE 1: Increase The Value Of Your Output
Eliminate All The Things You Hate Off Your Plate.
Stress is the enemy of willpower and nothing is more stressful than forcing yourself to do things you don’t enjoy. You’ll never be WORLD-CLASS doing something you hate doing.
In order to become world-class, you need to have passion and apply it for a long period of time. Your excitement about work will go up BIG TIME as soon as you stop doing things you don’t enjoy.
Stop Doing Low-Value Tasks.
If you want to increase the VALUE of your output — don’t work on LOW-VALUE tasks.
This includes:
- Building websites (and technical side)
- Customer support
- Accounting (however READING the numbers is critical)
- Operations
- And much more.
Your goal should be to STOP doing any tasks that you can hire under $50/hr as fast as possible. If you don’t have the revenue yet — don’t worry. Now you’ve got a goal.
Figure Out Your Money Moves™
This is where the value of your time goes to a different level. A Money Move™ is defined as an activity that directly generates revenue.
What are the 2 or 3 activities that increase your revenue? If you’re a real estate agent, it’s showing homes. If you’re an author, it’s writing books. If you own an e-commerce store, it’s creating new products and improving the marketing.
Imagine if you spent 80% of your time on your Money Moves™. What would happen to your revenues? What would happen to your income? It would EXPLODE.
Evolve Your Money Moves™
In order to increase the value of your time, your Money Moves™ must evolve.
Here’s an example of my evolution:
Personal trainer ($75/hour) -> Copywriter (hundreds per hour) -> Low Level Entrepreneur (hundreds per hour) -> Multi-business owner (thousands per hour).
Here’s another example that’s concrete. One of the things I do that generates the MOST money is pay-for-performance optimization consulting.
This means I’ll optimize someone’s funnel (that’s already working) and increase its performance. For example, if a funnel is making $1,000,000/year and I improve it by 50%, now it’s making an extra $500,000. I usually generate over $10,000 of extra revenue for companies for every hour I spend optimizing. I get a percentage of that increased revenue and everyone is happy.
Let’s look at where the ultimate destination of the Money Move evolution is, which I believe is an investor/entrepreneur. Warren Buffett is known as an “investor”, but he’s far more of an investor/entrepreneur. He’ll often take majority control of a company and influence many key parts of the business. He’s not a PASSIVE investor.
Let’s take a look at how famous billionaire Mark Cuban’s time evolved. He went from bartender -> salesperson -> he built and sold MicroSolutions for 6 million -> built and sold Broadcast.com for billions -> Legendary Shark investor/entrepreneur. Always keep evolving as an entrepreneur.
PHASE 2: Increase Your Output
Now that you’re EFFECTIVE, increasing the value of your time and working on the right things — it’s time to ramp up the volume. The next step is to become extremely efficient.
Master Efficiency
Guthrie Govan, one of the greatest guitarist alive said, “Speed is a byproduct of GOOD, SLOW PRACTICE.” My first guitar teacher told me the same thing. He explained that if I learn bad habits, I will struggle later to unlearn them.
The key to efficiency is to learn the BEST PROCESS out of the gate. You do this by hiring mentors, coaches, experts, and consultants to show you the best path.
The next step is to learn all the shortcuts to your craft.
If you work on a computer you should:
- Learn all the critical keyboard shortcuts.
- Take typing lessons (speed is money)
- Use TextExpander (or a similar program) and load it with often used sentences.
- Use voice dictation
- Use 1password or other programs to remember your passwords.
The next key is to use the FASTEST EQUIPMENT POSSIBLE. Always, ALWAYS buy speed when you can. They say “time is money”, which is true… Thus, SPEED is money. Buy the fastest computers. Buy the best equipment for your craft.
Master Time
We all have 168 hours a week. We all need to sleep, eat and go to the bathroom. How you schedule and spend your time is critical.
The biggest mistake anyone can do with their time is multitask. Multitasking Damages Your Brain And Lowers IQ. A study done at the University of London found that participants who multitasked during cognitive tasks experienced IQ score drops of 15 points. That drop is in the same range as someone who smoked marijuana or stayed up all night.
But what if some people have a magic gift for multitasking? Stanford researchers compared groups of people who believed they were great multi-taskers to those who focus. They found that the “gifted multitaskers” — were actually worse at getting things done than those who like to focus on one thing at a time. The “gifted” multitaskers performed worse because they struggled to organize their thoughts and filter out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another.
The Cost Of Switching
If lowering your IQ isn’t enough, here’s another sobering study. Gloria Mark, a professor at the University of California, did a study and found that if you get interrupted (email, phone call, etc…) it takes an average of 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back to the task.
Focus Windows ™
The key is to do ONE THING AT A TIME and get hyper-focused on that one thing. I’ll talk more about focus in a few minutes.
You want to block off the right amount of time for each one of your Money Moves™. Ideally, start your day with your Money Moves™. If the ONLY THING YOU DO EACH DAY IS WORK 2 HOURS ON YOUR MONEY MOVES IN THE MORNING — YOU’LL BE WINNING.
A study I read found that the average CEO only does 28 minutes of actual work each day.
Operations and Miscellaneous Tasks
It’s powerful to group all your miscellaneous tasks and other infrequent missions into “operations”. Things like going out shopping for supplies, picking things up, calling people (if that’s not a money move) should all become part of your Operations Focused-Window ™.
Focused Ferocity
Now we have come to the factor that will MULTIPLY your output in the same amount of time: focused ferocity.
Focused ferocity is applying all your mental and physical energy into your focus window. It’s about being FULLY ENGAGED for that set amount of time. This means you’re 100% into what you’re doing. You’re pushing yourself. You’re SPRINTING mentally.
Intensity is the ultimate leverage factor because of its multiplicative powers.
It’s simple. If you’re 3X as intense and produce triple the normal output in 20 hours, you’ll accomplish more than most normal people do in a 40 hour week. You might be reading this and thinking, “This doesn’t sound fun, I just want to go with the flow.”
Flow State
Once you embrace focused ferocity, you will begin hitting flow states. This is where you will perform at your best. This is the maximum productivity zone.
In flow, you’re producing magic effortlessly. Your creativity is at its peak. You’re naturally intense without forcing it. Things get done quickly and efficiently. Your actions and decisions occur seamlessly.
In his book, The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance Steven Kotler, one of the top experts on flow decodes how extreme athletes get into flow. Stephen has interviewed top athletes along with top scientists to break down what these athletes are doing to consistently achieve flow.
Kotler writes, “Action and awareness merge. Our sense of being vanishes. Our sense of time distorts. And performance goes through the roof,”.
In a 10-year McKinsey study, top executives reported being five times more productive while in flow. The study's researchers said if you could increase the amount of time in flow by 20 percent, workplace productivity could double.
Everything cycles in the Universe… The Universe itself expands and contracts… the Earth spins around the sun, producing nights and days… your heart beats…
Cycling your INTENSITY is vital if you wish to MAINTAIN hyper-productivity.
PHASE 3: Treat Yourself Like A Professional Athlete
Just like athletes, we need time to recover.
They use micro-recovery to keep themselves at a peak level during a workout. Athletes might take rest between sets of 15 seconds to 2 minutes.
They use macro-recovery to recover from tough workouts and they need a break. An athlete usually takes 1 to 2 days off a week to allow their nervous system and muscles to recover.
They use meso-recovery to cycle through various types of workouts and give their bodies deep rest to prevent burnouts and injuries. Some athletes will do completely a different style of training for several months like a strength training cycle. Some athletes will take 1 to 2 weeks off, once or twice a year to allow their bodies to recover from small injuries and to replenish motivation.
How can we apply this principle in our lives to maximize productivity?
Micro-Recovery
Micro-Recovery is vital to keep mental focus strong and fresh throughout the day.
For work:
Option 1: Work 25 minutes take 5 minutes off.
Option 2: Work 45-50 minutes and take 10-15 minutes off.
Option 3: Work 90 minutes and take 30 minutes off.
Business expert Eben Pagan recommends that we “change the channel” during our micro-recovery. It’s powerful to change your environment.
Macro-Recovery
We also need some days completely off to refuel the tank. I don’t personally know anyone who has worked several weeks non-stop WITHOUT hitting the wall.
Work is not the be all end all of life.
For your macro-recovery days, aim to create YOUR PERFECT DAYS.
Meso-Recovery
Meso-recovery here means VACATIONS.
I believe it’s OPTIMAL to take at least 7 to 10 days off every 3-4 months.
A Lifetime To Master
This system is like poker. It takes 5 minutes to learn and a lifetime to master. Until you own your own island and run 400 companies like Richard Branson, there’s another level to master.
About the Author
This article is a guest post by Matt Gallant, owner of MattGallant.tv. Matt is a Serial Entrepreneur, Life Optimizer, and a Practical Spirituality Student. This article provides a very brief overview of some of the key concepts in his book. To get far more details (84 pages), please go download your free copy of the 3X Your Productivity Book: The 20 Hour Work Week here.