A Method To x100 Your Productivity | Robin Sharma

The Robin Sharma Mastery Sessions*(Turn on the sound for a premium experience)*

• Hello, I am Robin Sharma, author of “The Leader Without a Title,” founder of the Titan Academy. And welcome to this Mastery Session.

A Method to Increase Your Productivity x100*(To increase it by 100 times)*

• This Mastery Session is all about a method to increase your productivity by 100 times. We live in a world where productivity, and especially what I call exponential productivity, has never been so crucial.

Avoid the Addiction to Distraction*(“An addiction to distraction will be the death of your creative production.”)*

• Here’s a thought tattoo for you to ponder: “An addiction to distraction will be the death of your creative production.”

Focus Is Crucial*(We live in a world where focus is even more valuable than your intelligence.)*

• Here’s another thought tattoo for you to ponder: “We live in a world where focus is even more valuable than your intelligence.”

The Distraction Trap*(Most people are distracted by their screens.)*

• I mean, if you look at most high achievers today, if you look at most people in the business world today, if you look at most people in your community today, they are going around checking their social media. They are addicted to the entertainment of video games. They spend the best hours of their day watching dancing cats on YouTube.

The 5% Rule*(To achieve results only 5% achieve, think, produce, and behave like those 5%.)*

• It’s incredible how people are consumed by their little white screens right now. But if you look at the A-players, if you look at many of the most creative and productive people on the planet, they work in such different ways because if you want to achieve the results only 5% achieve, you have to think, produce, and behave like only 5% of people on the planet.

The Best Are Focused*(The best people in terms of creativity and productivity are not obsessed with distraction.)*

• And the best people on the planet in terms of creativity and productivity don’t spend their prime hours addicted to distraction. They do work that matters. They don’t engage in busywork; they engage in real work.

The 90/90/1 Rule*(A method to increase your productivity.)*

• So, in this Mastery Session, I want to go through a series of protocols with you that will truly help you elevate your productivity in the finest way, and I’ll start right away with the “90/90/1 Rule.”

I hope you find this stylish subtitle format appealing!

The 90/90/1 Rule

Now, I’m pretty known for this rule. I’ve taught it to many people who attend my annual event, the Titan Summit. And they’ve used this single tool alone to create massive productivity, scale their businesses, amplify their impact on the world, and create world-class lifestyles. So, I invite you warmly to pay even more attention to the 90/90/1 Rule. So, what is it all about? It’s pretty straightforward, like any great rule. For the next 90 days, spend the first 90 minutes of your workday on your most important opportunity to move the lever in your industry. And I’ll repeat it with great respect because I believe it’s so crucial for your productivity. The 90/90/1 Rule is simple: For the next 90 days, spend the first 90 minutes of your workday on your single, game-changing opportunity, because what happens? Many of us go to work and spend our prime hours on our least important activities. We go to work and check our social media. We go to work and check our messages. We go to work and chat by the water cooler about the latest TV show we watched last night. And research has shown that the morning hours are when you have the most focus, the most energy, and the most willpower. So, you want to utilize these first 90 minutes. That’s game time. That’s showtime.

Tight Bubbles of Total Focus

• The second technology to create exponential productivity is what I call “Tight Bubbles of Total Focus.” Your environment is so crucial, and when you look at B-performers or C-producers, they really don’t pay much attention to their environment. So, they get easily distracted. There are lots of noises; their phones constantly ring. Maybe news is playing in the background. Maybe there’s clutter all around them. Maybe there are toxic people. What I suggest is the second technology to truly increase your productivity by 100 times. Create environments of tight bubbles of total focus. The way I organize my work on specific days is that I’m hard to reach. And I challenge you with great love and respect. Be hard to reach at key times of your week. I mean, I see a lot of people, and it’s not about judging them, but it’s about observing them. Every time their phone rings, they check it or they have loud notifications, so they are constantly distracted. And we know what the research says. Research says we spend 2.1 hours a day in distraction. It takes 21 minutes to regain your focus after being distracted. So, if you’re distracted by notifications, checking your phone, looking at your Twitter feed, checking your Facebook feed, browsing Instagram, all the different platforms, it destroys your focus. The second technology is to create these tight bubbles of total concentration, and the way I do that is by designating certain days as creative days, and on these creative days, I am actually free from devices, and on these days, I’m very hard to find. On these days, I am completely alone. On these days, I go to certain places. I call them my Menlo Labs, just like Edison had his Menlo Lab. And these places are very minimalist, and there’s no one there, and that’s where I do my best work. So, create these tight bubbles of total concentration and create these Menlo Labs where you are completely free from distractions. Then your brain will shift from the beta state to the alpha state, where you do your best work and get your best ideas.

Choose Your Peer Group Carefully*(Choose your peer group really well to create exponential productivity.)*

• The next technology that will help you create exponential productivity in your work life so you truly impact the world around you is to choose your peer group really well.

Choose Your Peer Group Carefully

There is a wealth of excellent scientific insights and research findings that indicate the most significant way to improve your behavior is to surround yourself with a peer group or social circle of people who are also playing at the level you aspire to play. So, if you want to be a high performer in terms of your productivity, fill your life with high performers. Here’s the scientific explanation for it. In our brains, we have something known as the mirror neuron system, dating back thousands of years when we lived on the savannah. This mirror neuron system allowed us to model the behavior of the dominant people in the tribe. So, when someone discovered a tool, fire, or a better way to survive, this brain system subconsciously allowed us to model that behavior. I find this information quite fascinating. Now, we’re here in the modern world, and what happens? Subconsciously, we model the behavior of the people we spend most of our time with. So, if you’re around victims, you’ll start behaving like a victim. If you’re around people who perform at an average level, you’ll subconsciously start behaving like them. If you’re around people who gossip, who are not A-players, who don’t produce much, you’ll subconsciously, due to the mirror neuron system in the brain, start behaving like them. Why else is it essential to surround yourself with a peer group or social circle of A-players? Emotional contagion. And this is a scientific phenomenon that simply states that we absorb the emotions of the people around us. So, if you’re in a social circle of people who are inspired, people who want to do great work, people who want to be ultra-productive, people who want to be innovative, people who continuously optimize their work, thinking, and creativity. Just being around them will allow you to adopt their energy and way of being. And then the last technology to create exponential productivity, what I call “learned minimalism.”

Learned Minimalism

• Minimalism is often considered a design philosophy, right? It’s very simple, very sparse, sometimes industrial, lots of white, not many things. It’s like going into a boutique hotel designed by Philippe Starck, the great French designer, and it’s very minimalist. What I encourage you to do with great love and respect is to be extremely productive. Embrace the mindset of learned minimalism. Now, I’ve worked with many of the most creative and productive people on the planet. I’ve worked with billionaires and CEOs. I’ve worked with true titans. Here’s one thing I’ve observed in them. They understand that the secret to genius is not complexity but simplicity. When you look at a Picasso in any field, when you look at a great artist, they haven’t cluttered their workdays and personal lives with many things. They’ve filled them with a few things. So, I suggest that one of the secrets to iconic productivity is to monomaniacally focus on being world-class at just a few things. And if you look at any great artist, any great entrepreneur, any great business builder, any great author, any great humanitarian, they were monomaniacally focused on one thing. They were minimalists. So, I want to leave you with this. Perhaps instead of having 50 projects this year that you want to excel in, choose maybe three. This year, instead of having a thousand Facebook friends, deepen and develop three really good relationships. This year or perhaps in the coming months, instead of trying to read 20 audiobooks, 50 e-books, attending five courses, why not focus on one course and one audiobook? And why not study a great autobiography? Maybe it’s the autobiography of Isaacson about Steve Jobs. Maybe it’s the autobiography of Nelson Mandela. I’m currently reading the autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr., which was not actually written by him, but it’s called “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” I really encourage you to adopt this thinking protocol of learned minimalism. Even your home. Fill it with just a few things, right? Even your work life. Just a few projects. Even your clients, only the high-leverage clients. And especially your days. Focus, focus, focus on those few priorities that will allow you to bring art to the world that enables the world to call you world-class. Hello, this is Robin. I invite you to subscribe to this podcast and be sure to visit RobinSharma.com for more information, tools, and resources on mastery, peak performance, and a world-class quality of life. (upbeat music)