Let’s be real… There’s a lot to do in a day. You’ve got your work and mission, which deserve your very best. Then there are responsibilities like kids and families that are a priority, you have passions and projects that you enjoy doing, and of course there’s your self-care to ensure that you have the capacity to show up on fire for all of the above.

That’s why today I want to share with you 3 tips that when incorporated in your life, will give you an hour of time back so that you can have more balance, harmony, and success.

Tip #1 - Use a schedule to sniff out distractions. 

Nir Eyal, a friend of mine who’s a world-renowned author, wrote a book called "Indistractable". In this book he makes a really important distinction - If you want to avoid getting distracted you need to be clear on what you’re being distracted from. 

In other words, there is no ‘distraction’ unless you’ve clearly defined ‘traction’. Traction is simply when you’re following through on what you want to be doing. Your schedule is your testament to all of the things that you want to get done. It’s your intention for how you plan to spend your time, and when you see it as a reference point of that intention you can quickly determine what is a distraction and get better at avoiding them.

Tip #2 - Get in control of your communications

We live in a world where pings, dings, and rings are constantly hijacking our attention. When we address these notifications it pulls us out of a task and redirects our focus. Once that text, email, or phone call is addressed, we return to the original task but we need to refamiliarize ourselves to return to producing quality work.

And that’s the problem. There’s something called “attention residue” which causes our brain to remain occupied by what we were just focused on even when we’re no longer paying attention to it. It causes us to have a fraction of our normal cognitive function and perform at a fraction of our fullest capacity.

So in order to eliminate this ‘mental hangover’, what you can do is batch your communications. Dedicate a few segments of 30 minutes throughout the day to stack your communications with other people so that you can stay more focused outside of that time.

Tip #3 - Productivity isn’t about getting more done, it’s about doing what you want to be doing

Society has come to equate how productive we are with how much we get done. That’s not the case. Productivity is actually about how effectively you spend your time, which includes work, personal, and self-care activities. 

When you broaden your lens to view other non-work related things as productive, you start seeing how good of a day you’re having. You realize how on top of everything you are. And with that positive perception you gain momentum that carries you between tasks, helping you transition fast and keep pace with the day.

And a bonus tip: Give yourself buffer time

This is an extension of the last point about momentum. You can really magnify the impacts of having momentum by running ahead of schedule and completing things that you didn’t expect to. What’s the best way to do that? Give yourself some dead space to make sure you get through fewer, critical things. And also, adding buffers in your schedule helps you take on the inevitable things that come up in the day without consequence.

Implement these things - using a schedule to sniff out distractions, get in control of your communications, redefine productivity, and give yourself buffer time - and you’ll feel how effortlessly your day flows!

Something that frequents every personal development podcast, blog, interview, video, everything… Is the concept of getting better at saying “no”.

We all know how valuable of an asset our time is and saying “no” is our way of protecting it. But if you’re like me, who at times can overcompensate for boredom by making myself too busy and overstimulated, I have a hard time enforcing my boundaries.

I’ve been really working on it for the last 6 months, so much so that my theme for the year is “have a plan and stick to it”. And it all started to click a little better when I got this piece of advice - When you’re deciding whether or not to do something, it needs to be a “Heck Ya” or else it’s a “No Thank You”.

What this does is it raises your standard for what you commit to. If you don’t increase the caliber of the things that are worth your time , then you’ll be spending your day doing things at a fraction of the quality that you could.

You deserve to feel like you’re putting your heart into everything you do. That’s a real possibility in your life. And the only way you get there is by raising your standards.

Now with all of this in mind, I’m not going to tell you to uproot everything all at once. I have things that I need to delete from my life that I either don’t have the courage or timing to do. That can all iron out with time, and you should revisit what feels like a “Heck Ya” in your life and what doesn’t because things are dynamic and evolve. 

But what you can control moving forward are the new things you commit to. Given how fluid things are and how quickly things cycle, you’ll be shocked to discover how quickly things reset and how possible it is for you to get better at reserving your time for the things that matter most.

So the next time you’re making a decision to do something or not, ask yourself “Do I really want to do this?” If your answer is “Heck Ya” then follow the pull of it. If it’s anything else, politely say “No Thank You.”

As long as you keep finding your edge of what’s comfortable, and pushing it, you’re growing. We all have a friend that needs to here this specific message - Forward them this article and play a role in helping them find better balance in their life.

There’s a classic Mark Twain that reads “The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.” I love the theory of it but I think what’s way more powerful is diving into what this looks like in practice.

Anyone who has been sad before can understand that they’d like to work through it and be happy again. That’s not to say that there isn’t value in allowing yourself to feel sad, there certainly is, but rather that there’s an overarching motivation to transform that sadness into something more pleasant.

When it’s time to make that shift, the best thing you can do to cultivate feelings of happiness and cheerfulness is to instill that feeling in someone else. It’s hard to do because with sadness comes lethargy and low motivation. It makes it more challenging to get yourself to take action in that low-energy state.

But the amazing thing about positivity and cheerfulness is how disproportionate its impact is. Taking 30 minutes to share that you’re grateful for or proud of someone else can change their mood for a day or a week. Positivity is a multiplier and you can add a lot for someone by giving very little.

Now that great part is, that multiplied effect then finds its way back to you. It’s not that you create cheerfulness for someone else you receive the same amount. You share positivity, it multiplies, they receive it, then they share it and it multiplies again. So your initial investment of just a pinch of goodness, that you managed to share despite your own personal darkness, then returns to you exponentially.

This is how energy works and that’s why the same concept applies across the board. You need help? Give help. You need love? Give love. You need an introduction? Make an introduction. This is what makes the world go around and you have the power within you to catalyze it, should you choose to ignite it.

“The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer someone else up.”

I’m proud to be in your corner, cheering you on! You got this. I believe in you. You know why? Because you showed up for yourself and grew today.

Ed Mylett shares something I’ve been observing about charisma, confidence, and influence. He says that people don’t need to believe you in order to be influenced by you. They need to believe you believe in what you are saying. In other words, influence is more a matter of your own sense of certainty than it is about how well you can change someone’s opinion.

We’ve all probably heard that person before who comes from a totally different perspective and viewpoint than yours. Maybe you’re listening to them and you disagree with what they’re saying, but you still feel drawn to it because of the amount of conviction they have in the way that they’re saying it.

There’s something magnetic about a person who so wholeheartedly believes in what they’re saying. You can feel it. And in certain ways, it starts to bend reality toward that viewpoint because it lands with such force and charisma.

Something I can certainly relate to, that I think challenges a lot of people, is self-confidence. So many people lack a baseline level of self-confidence and it affects how they show up in the world. When you’re low on confidence you’re less likely to assert yourself, take chances, and put yourself out there. 

This means that you gain less traction than you could have and it slows down your trajectory. When that happens, you feel bad about yourself because you see the gap between where you are and where you could be, and it perpetuates the cycle driving you deeper in it.

So when someone else has that confidence, that certainty, it’s attractive. More people pay attention to it because they want to feel that way themselves. Something that we can’t find within ourselves we seek in others. It’s a source of inspiration, admiration, and veneration.

This all points to one truth - People gravitate toward certainty. So if you want more people contributing to your cause, buying your product, or wanting to spend more time with you, you just need to come off with a little more certainty and they will naturally follow.

I’m working on all of this just like you are! So keep pushing, gaining awareness, and improving. That’s all we can do anyway!

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When we wake up in the morning, we would all love for our day to go flawlessly. We hope to be present in moments with people, focused on the task at hand, and feel fully-energized. But when reality sets in and we can’t maintain that intention, we struggle to get ourselves to meet even to a satisfactory baseline.

Days don’t go according to plan for a number of different reasons, some within your control and some outside of it, but one of the main things to really gain an awareness of is our own creative process. Rather than defining “creativity” through the lens of making art, we should recognize that in every moment we are creating the future from the present.

When it comes to creating there are three different places where people can get hung up:

The first is at the very beginning in getting started. A lot of people are paralyzed and preventing themselves from taking the first step. This often comes from a need to see the whole picture, to have a perfect plan in place that you can execute. But we need to stop romanticizing our creations and recognize that beginnings are ugly, awkward, and uncertain. But it’s part of the process.

Then the second place people get stuck is in the 'doing' itself. You might hold yourself to such a high standard that you fail to attain the quality you hoped to. The result you’re after hasn’t come through yet and it can be disappointing. This causes people to lose their sense of purpose and their motivation to be in the act of creating, causing them to step away and never return.

Then the last hurdle people need to overcome is finishing. It’s putting a period to the sentence, completing the task or project, and signing off that it is done. People seem to undo and redo their “finishing touches”, with the time invested leading to marginal returns. The reason people feel so compelled to keep making their creation better is because when it’s finished, now it’s ready for other people’s judgment. The work will be evaluated by someone else and it could be embarrassing or disappointing for someone to tell you that what you did wasn’t good enough. So a lot of people avoid that confrontation by delaying taking their creation to completion.

As you can tell, there’s a temporal sequence to these three stages and each stage presents its own challenges that cause people to get stuck. Reflect on where you’re at in a critical project right now and if it’s stalled, which stage it is in. Some focused attention right now might give that project exactly what it needs to work through it.

My goal in sharing insights like this one is simply to help you live the life you enjoy by doing things that are meaningful and being the person you’re proud to be. You can help someone you care about right now by sharing this message with them and inviting them into the journey!

You’re amazing!! Not sure if you needed to hear that but it never hurts :) 

What you have to offer the world is incredible. You are talented, you are powerful, and you’re only just getting started. The world doesn't need you to be anyone other than who you are.

But unfortunately, a lot of us resign to living a diluted version of our personalities. We fear that we’ll embarrass ourselves, draw negative attention to ourselves, or inadvertently put ourselves in harm's way... So we prevent it from happening at all by dimming our shine. 

The world needs you at full-speed attacking things quickly and confidently. The world needs you on fire with burning passion. The world needs you charged up so that you can activate to your fullest capacity! We’d all miss the goodness you have to offer if you only allow a fraction of yourself to be expressed.

So with all of that in mind - Be yourself, louder!

Don’t apologize about your methods or process. No one can take on your mission like you can.

Don’t dilute your dreams and aspirations because someone else is projecting their fears onto you. Let people know what you care about and that you’re pursuing it relentlessly.

Don’t turn your volume down at someone’s request because it makes them feel uncomfortable. Live your life how you want to and dance to the beat of your own drum.

I know, this is all easy to say and much harder to do in practice. Not only can it make you feel anxious to put yourself out there but it’s difficult to know what a louder version of yourself even looks like. 

And that’s where I want to give you a quick piece of advice - In order to amplify your life, you need to come to terms with who you are. Self-acceptance is a key element to a fulfilled, inspired life. It’s not enough to know who you are and who you’re not, you need to feel at peace with it and lean into your strengths.

So my ask of you is to shine a light on those parts of yourself that you don’t like, that you’re avoiding or that you’re not proud of. Come to terms with the role that it plays in your life and how it has been a part of creating who you are today.  

I’ve gone through this process and continue to immerse myself in it every day, and while sometimes it hurts or is confusing, I’ve discovered the next level of myself on the other side of everything that was holding me back!

On your personal development journey, you need to be sure you have the right foundation in place. Discover the 7 Fundamentals To Self Improvement and instantly accelerate your growth! (Who knows what you might be overlooking and how it’s holding you back…)

**Big announcement at the end! Make sure you read through**

What if I told you that you’re one habit away from mastering self-discipline and not only that, but that you can start consistently making the right choice on autopilot? 

Instead of negotiating with yourself about whether to pick the salad over the fries, you make the healthy decision effortlessly…

When your alarm goes off in the morning and you feel 100 pounds heavier, you jump right out of bed every time and never hit the ‘Snooze’ button… 

When you’re feeling worn out after a long day debating whether or not you should go to the gym, you move forward quickly without a second thought.

This response pattern is what I call your “Best Self Reflex”. Just like a reflex in your body that acts outside of your control, you can train yourself to take positive action unconsciously, allowing you to follow through on the things that are most important to you without strain.

The power of this reflex comes from your subconscious mind. The subconscious has the near limitless power to get you to do just about anything. If you’re intentional about priming your subconscious to fulfill on being self-disciplined, no task stands a chance against it.

Imagine how productive you’d be if you could pull yourself out of distractions and focus on what you need to do. Imagine how energized you’d feel if you got in the habit of exercising, meditating, and sleeping consistently. Instead of inconveniencing yourself to be "grit it out" and max out your will-power to get the most basic things done, you could do it effortlessly because your subconscious is providing the energy behind it.

Now here’s the really exciting part. It only takes 21 days to install your Best Self Reflex and start following through like ever before. You can build the habit of self-discipline so that you start living up the person you know you can be on a daily basis.

And that’s exactly what I want to share with you. I have distilled a 21 day process that trains this best self reflex into your psychology, that gets your subconscious to start working for you and not against you, so that you can start living out your best intentions, discover a sense of self-confidence that you never knew, and create unstoppable momentum in your life. Completing this process will usher you into the most productive, most inspired, and most achieving chapter of your life.

So here’s the deal. I am going to host a live 21 day challenge starting on Monday (February 6th) to share this step-by-step process with you. As long as 20 people sign up for it and show up to the first session, I’ll lead the whole thing for free. I’m serious!

You can learn all about the 21 Day Challenge to install the Super Habits System and register now by clicking the link here!

The time is now, we’re live on Monday, and I really hope you don’t postpone becoming the person you know you can be! Join me for 21 days to install your Best Self Reflex and you’ll discover what you’re truly capable of!

Last weekend I went on a volunteer trip to build a house for a family in need in Mexico. As we were getting ready to cross the border, my good friend and mentor Mike Sherbakov shared a quote that was really profound. He was relating it to the experience we were about to have but I believe it applies across the board in our lives.

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” It’s a quote by a man named Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 

As we chase new perspectives and expose ourselves to new things, it all leaves a permanent impression on us. While we may not feel like things are different or have changed at all, the impact is subtle but present. Everything we experience influences our worldview in one way or another. If it’s an experience that validates what we believe, it makes the shape tighter. If it’s something that challenges the way we see the world, it will create a rip that will be repaired but will never returns to its original form.

This happens on big and small scales, for positive and negative experiences. During a service trip where you spend 48 hours with people living in poverty, it causes your perspective to permanently change so that even when the stimulus is removed the change remains. Similarly for something unfortunate, difficult, or challenging that happens, we carry the remnants of that experience with us even when we’re no longer in that situation.

We are dynamic human beings. Our present moment is a product of what happened in the past. Fortunately by the same math, this means that our future self is an outcome of the things we do in the present. So the more we can be intentional about our growth (the skills we’re building and the ways we’re developing, pursuing new experiences that mold our minds) the better our tomorrow will be!

“A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions.” A great quote and inspiring challenge for us to take on! 

If you want to give the gift of growth, forward this article with someone that you care about!