Become a Rockstar of Productivity

By Robin Sharma
#1 bestselling author of The Leader Who Had No Title

Today I wanted to share some of my most powerful productivity insights and tools with you
so you become The Bono of Your Craft, The Jagger of Your Field and The Drake of Your Game (okDrakes not a rocker but
you get my point ;)
Lets dive right in
#1. Get Your Routines Right
Ultra-productive producers focus less on using their willpower and a lot more on building their routines.
Stephen King starts writing every day between 8 and 8:30 am, whether hes motivated or not. He has his vitamin pill, sits in the
same seat and plays the same music.
This ritual triggers his imagination. And kickstarts his inspiration.
while ago I was at a Yankees game in New York City. major financial player was seated next to me. He shared that hed
recently brought NB legend Magic Johnson to speak to his corporate team.
Magic spoke of the fact that during one season Larry Bird dominated him when it came to free throw success. And so, Magic
vowed that the next year, hed show Bird his own mastery.
For the next 6 months, Magic built the following morning routine: hed wake early and go down to his home basketball court.
nd he wouldnt leave until hed make 100 successful free throws. In a row.
Some days, Magic would be done by 7 am. Other days hed still be shooting at noon. But he never left before making his 100
daily consecutive free throws . It was a dedicated routine.
The next year, Magic Johnson beat his rival Larry Bird in free throws.
I also adore Maya ngelous daily routine. She says she cant work in pretty places like her home. So after she wakes up at 5:30
am each morning and has her coffee, she drives to a spartan, gritty motel room that she rents.
The rough nature of that environment pushes her to her creative edges. And provokes her greatest work.
She starts writing at 7 am and keeps at it until 2 pm. This is how she gets exceptional things done.
So get your routines right.
nd please remember that inspiration isnt some random event. No, its an organized result.
#2. Enjoy Being Disliked
Look, I get it. Part of being human involves a need to be liked. To fit in. To avoid conflict.
This neurobiological need served us when we lived on the savannah hundreds of years ago. If we strayed from the herd, wed be
eaten by tigers. Or die of starvation.
But now were in a world without the same threats. nd with a staggering array of comforts.
Yet we still work and live in a way designed to sustain the approval of all those around us.
Heres my real point: you can do world-class work. Or you can please everyone around you. But you cant do both.
The very nature of being massively productive and creating masterful output means youll have to block out all the emails asking
for immediate responses, turn off your mobile demanding your attention and say no to a ton of social obligations that only serve
to distract you from the body of work that will raise you to iconic.
And this means people will be unhappy.
But the full expression of your gifts, talents and genius into the world is more than worth the disapproval youll attract. ctually,
your mastery demands it.
#3. Value Suffering
I know this one wont be popular with most people. But whoever said youre playing at most people level
We live in a society that sells us easy.
Anything that seems hard or uncomfortable or messy is called bad.
And the quick-fix, pleasurable and fast is considered good.
But heres the thing: every master suffers. nd to become the single most productive person you know, youll have to accept
some pain along the path.
Van Gogh remained mostly anonymous his entire life, only reaching fame after his death. Yet, he kept on producing his art.
Steve Jobs was considered a misfit, eccentric and oddball. Yet, nothing stopped his monomaniacal pursuit of world-class.
JK Rowling couldnt get Harry Potter published. And still she persisted and persevered until one editor got the brilliance of her
concept.
I guess what Im suggesting is that every visionary is initially ridiculed and later revered.
Every artist, chef, manager, athlete, entrepreneur and scientist committed to mastery faces criticism as they pursue originality,
cynicism as they hunt their passion and condemnation as they chase their commitment.
nd so they suffer for their dream, knowing that
the thing thats easiest to do is rarely the thing thats the best thing to do.
#4. Do Real Work Versus Fake Work
Really important distinction here.
Average producers confuse activity with productivity.
They think movement equals effectiveness.
And they get trapped into spending the best hours of their best days climbing mountains only to realize that at the end of the day
they scaled the wrong ones.
Peter Drucker said it beautifully: There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which shouldnt be done at all.
Checking email first thing in the morning, pushing paper, doing senseless meetings and engaging in administrivia when you
should be creating remarkable value are all examples of doing fake work
the kind of work designed to make you feel like youre getting big things done but actually dig you deeper into the hole of
mediocrity and overwhelm.
At my upcoming annual self-mastery event The 48 Hour Transformation, Ill walk all the participants from around the world
through my advanced ideas on elite productivity so they get more important things done in a week than most people get done in a
quarter.
But for now, please allow me to share The 90/90/1 Rule that has created huge breakthroughs for so many of my beloved clients
for the next 90 days, spend the first 90 minutes of your workday on your #1 opportunity.
Just stop doing any fake work first thing in the morning. Check your email after lunch. Make your phone calls in the afternoon.
Surf the Net in the evening.
#5. Be an Incrementalist
Massive productivity isnt the result of one revolutionary act.
Instead, its actually the result of supertiny daily wins.
5 little acts of progress on your key plays every day delivers 1850 wins in a year.
small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules, observed British novelist Anthony
Trollope.
Beautifully said.
So please remember: the things you do regularly are 100X more important than those things you do rarely.
#6. Understand that Elite Productivity without Deep Refuelling Causes Dramatic Depletion
Try carrying a heavy load for a long time and youll be forced to stop in a short time.
But take rest breaks every little while, and you can go farther than youve ever dreamed
Old-school performers think that the best way to get more done is to work harder. But research shows thats actually the way to
get less done.
Pushing yourself relentlessly without regular periods of renewal has actually been proven to deplete your key assets of focus,
energy and productivity over time.
The smarter move? Work in intense bursts of total focus for 90 minutes and then take 10 minutes to rest, refuel and relax. Run
these cycles through your workday and watch your energy and overall performance rise to breathtakingly great levels.
#7. Know The Power of The 3 Ss
Heres a valuable idea: exceptional creativity and uncommon productivity need a space to present themselves.
Ordinary producers are always so distracted and busy being busy that theres no opportunity for their best ideas and performance
to come out and play.
Ultra-productive performers get that time alone allows the brain to shift from the left side into the right sidethe realm where
your personal genius resides.
With quiet time, your brain waves shift into alpha state. And you receive the insights and reflections that truly can move you to
change the game within your industry and inside of your life.
I learned The 3 Ss from my work as the private advisor to some of the most successful business-buil ders and entrepreneurial
titans on the planet
the best of them understand the value of a period of daily Solitude, Silence and Stillness. Theyd carve out time to think, plan
and visualize. Every 24 hours. Without fail
And ironically, by making the time to reflect, the actions that followed were vastly more focused, productive and excellent.
By doing nothing, they achieve everything.
#8. Practice Spectacularity
Ok. I made up a word here. Forgive me.
But the principle is this: practice being spectacularly productive long enough and being spectacularly productive will become
your way of being.
Recent science confirms its easier to act your way into a new way of thinking than think your way into a new way of acting
(super important idea here).
So by behaving like the most productive person you know (for 66 days says the habit-installation research of University College
of London)even when youre not there yet, youll rewire your brain patterns to the point where world-class productivity soon
becomes automatic. Your default. And your new normal.
And this is my great wish for you.
Ok. So there you go Rockstar
8 of the best tactics for seriously amazing productivity that have helped so many of my clients produce epic results and become
legendary within their fields.
Be great. Bye.