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Last week Saturday i walked you through the mechanics of productivity if you haven’t read that yet you should. The reason why i take my time to explain the depths of surface level concepts is because you can only solve a problem at the depth in which you understand the problem.

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I am not a fan of quick hacks why? Because what works for me would most likely not work for you and i have seen this play out all to well.

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I have moments where i watched a you tube video, read a book and tried to replicate their structures word for word in my own life and at the end of the day i can’t keep up because it isn’t true to me.

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This doesn’t change the fact that it works but it doesn’t just work for me. What works though regardless of your reality is the foundational ideas. The ideas these hacks and routines are built on and for productivity it is that it happens in a loop.

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Motivation → Work → Motivation → more work.

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How you apply this is left to you, but the common ground is that productivity becomes second nature only when the work you are to do is clear and aligned with what you have decided to become and not what society wants you to become.

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And no, I am not saying that you need to start a business or create content for you to feel like your work is aligned, the watch word is that the work in itself is what you want.

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But enough of the theories, lets get practical and real for a moment shall we? The only case study for this is me, and that is why i have that subject for todays letter. Yes being broke is relative, but compared to where i want to be, friend I am broke lol.

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This is how I try to apply this foundational idea of productivity to my daily life.

How I Stay Productive

First things first the work i do is what i want to do for the rest of my life and it is this: profiting from my passion. Passion for writing, creating, tinkering, building, systems development, human psychology, marketing etc. It took a long time and i am talking all of my stay in university to figure out what my passions are.

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Perhaps next week i will bring you up to speed on what my journey to becoming has been so that if it seems like I have everything figured out, you would know i felt lost for so long, and i am still in that process of becoming but the common denominator is that now I am doing what feels like play to me but work to others.

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This is the Intrinsic motivation i spoke to you about. Deep down you know what this thing is, but you probably suppress it because you don’t see how scalable it is. It doesn’t fit the picture of a career you have in your mind and that’s the problem.

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This intrinsic motivation of getting up and doing work i thoroughly enjoy coupled with the extrinsic motivation of wanting to be wealthy (notice i didn’t say rich), i have the perfect motivation triggers to get me into the productivity loop.

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If i didn’t have this right I would probably be scrolling on Instagram wasting away instead of writing to you now. It is the foundation for everything, getting it right is the key.

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I can’t hammer this enough.

Then I Have Goals

An hierarchy of goals to be specific. I broke how to set goals down to you recently as well, if you are yet to read that go read. You can also use my FREE Clarity compass as a guide to setting goals alongside reading the article.

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I have a document where i have everything fleshed out. From time to time i check it out to remind myself of where i am going and how i plan to get there.

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If you don’t have a goal, you aren’t ready my friend.

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My Optimal Daily Structure

If you have your goals set up properly, and you break them down as they should into supporting systems, then daily high leverage tasks that you need to do would be very obvious. To ensure I tick a large majority of these tasks, here is what I do:

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1. I plan my day the night before: Doing this puts you in on autopilot mode when you wake up. You don’t even need to check your to-do’s before you know what to do.
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2. I sleep until my body wakes up: I have tried to have a specific time i sleep and wake up but i have found out that isn’t for me, my circadian rhythm has a mind of its own and how it operates is dependent on where I am, how my day went and the quality of my sleep the night prior, so now my goal is to sleep well and that is defined by the time i wake up.
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   Sometimes it is 2am, other times 4am, sometimes and more consistently 7am.The periods where i forced myself to rise by 4am regardless of my sleep quality, i found out i get tired easily and i do not function well when I am tired.
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3. I move my body in the morning: People go to the gym, go for a run and i figure that what works for me for now given my reality is Jump ropes. I do that for 10 minutes immediately i get up before taking my bath. I have done this so much that now if i don’t sweat i usually don’t feel worthy to have the luxury of clean water on my skin.
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4. I have only 5 tasks per day: By 5 tasks i mean 5 high leverage ones, the ones that directly impact the possibility of achieving my goals. If my to-do is to exceed 5 items then the extras are assigned tasks as i like to call them. Parent errands, work i have to do but doesn’t directly affect my goals (you can’t avoid this you just need to learn to prioritize)
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5. I divide my day into 3 blocks:
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   1. The creative block: This is where i create something. Create content, write for you through Naked notes, Write for my first every product clarity map etc. I do it in the morning because my brain is lighter and I can go into the flow state more easily at this time.
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   2. The consumption block: Because i need to create a lot, it also means i need to read a lot. Here i read a book, watch a you tube video on a topic, read an article from my favorites etc. Ideas begot ideas.
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   3. The administrative block: At this time i work on administrative tasks, equally as important but they do not move the needle as much. Edit my videos, reply mails, delegate tasks, follow up on delegated tasks, etc.
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6. I schedule time for a nap: Doing this allow me stay up a little longer into the night that way if there is need for it i can do extra work should in case i could not see through everything before dinner time.
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7. I Journal everyday: I walk through my day every night, how it went, what i did, how it felt when something happened, every single detail. In this moment is where i refine what productivity means for me. All of the structures above came from different iterations until i found what worked for my reality. It takes time but it is worth it.
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   Recently because of feedback, i am experimenting timing myself per task. I am currently writing this in a 1 hour 30 minute block. Once the time is up i would stop and continue tomorrow. I am doing this because i realize i take too much time on one task and neglect the others.You need time to refine and develop structures that work for you

What I Do On Rusty Days

Truth is it isn’t all smooth sailing, there are some days where i wake up on the wrong side of the bed and I just feel terrible. Frustration creeps in, doubt, worry, anxiety and then my brain begins to spiral out of control. when any of these happen here is what i do to snap out of it.
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1. Overthinking: I have since realized that no amount of thinking is going to solve the work that doing would so I reframed the situation. When it happens I just do the work regardless as a means of silencing my mind. Remember the loop? instead of waiting to be motivated to get into it, i brute force my way through work so as to remind myself of what it feels like to do work I enjoy and then i get motivated and i do some more work.
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   Truth is some days motivation won’t be anywhere to be found, but it is better to suck at doing the task than to skip doing the task, you just need to to take the first step.
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2. Boredom: A trick that works when i am bored of doing something is to change my position. I usually move from my bedroom to the dinning area and sometimes to the balcony. I don’t know why it works but it works.
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So yeah that’s how i apply the foundational ideas. I didn’t share this so that you follow it hook line and sinker but rather so you see that it is applicable and it works. You might see somethings that work for you though, if you do try them out.
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If they stick, great! If they don’t, stick to the principles and the rest would get easy.
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That’s it for today.
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Enjoy the rest of your Saturday.
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~ Tolu