If you’re one of the select few who…
Are always on time
Can sit down and get shit done with ease
Swiftly moves projects forward and can clearly see the path ahead
Then this article will be a great reminder for you about why the way you focus and how you move projects forward is THE way to go.
It will provide a sense of resolve.
If however, you’re one of the many who…
Shows up fashionably late
Constantly drops the ball
Forgets deliverables
Doesn’t track your time or progress
Constantly has hundreds of unanswered texts or infinite tabs open on your laptop…
Then this may be the most important article you ever read.
Knowing how to manage your attention isn’t a “nice to have” skill.
It’s an absolute must if you want to become the person you envision yourself to be, let alone get done what needs to happen… today.
However, you’re likely at a disadvantage.
Because you were never taught how to effectively manage your time and attention.
And maybe even worse…
You have the experience of being paid just for punching the clock.
Regardless of performance.
Sure you couldn’t slack off completely because you would get fired. But the amount of people just going through the motions to go home and go through the motions is astronomical.
But that’s not you.
Unfortunately, the vestiges of those days may still be running the show.
Why the 9-5 mentality set you up to fail
We were sold this lie that if we went to school and graduated we would get a good job.
All we needed to do was show up day in and day out (whether we liked it or not).
Here’s the catch.
That shit doesn’t fly anymore.
However, if you’re still doing any of these things, the 9-5 mindset is likely still running the show…
- Sitting down at the computer to “work” because that’s what you do during the day, even if you don’t have a clear deliverable you’re working on
- Doing things like networking or even spending time on social media and feeling as if that’s getting work done
- Doing “research” on your ideal client but getting sucked down the black hole of social media
- Opting into one freebie after another but not ever creating one to start building your own list
While on the surface these may look like productive tasks, they’re just fillers.
They’re missing a few critical elements.
Regularly, you may even hear yourself saying things like…
I need to create a product
I should start building my email list
I need an opt-in
I have to rewrite my coaching sales page
Unless you translate those automatic knee-jerk reaction to-dos into specific actions and deliverables, you’re going to be sitting on more ideas than your consciousness can handle.
And as a result, you’ll feel behind.
You’ll get anxious.
You’ll look at the next guy and think you should be doing the same thing.
It’s not because you don’t have direction or ideas.
It’s because you’re not acting on those ideas.
1 thing
1 deliverable
1 line item
1 concrete result
You get the idea.
And you don’t have to be some insanely organized perfect planner or a Notion genius like you see on YouTube.
You just have to do what’s required to get clear on what’s most important right now and follow that project through to completion.
Because there’s a gold standard when it comes to productivity.
And it’s being able to get THE thing done that needs to get done.
In my last article, I talked about The Art of Doing Too Much and how closing loops is the key practice in juggling a full and hectic schedule.
Here I’m going to dive a bit deeper into what one thing makes that mindset work.
The key component of any productivity system
It doesn’t matter what system you utilize or what principles you agree or disagree with when it comes to getting things done.
Think about it like this…
A project is made up of a whole bunch of small single items. Think of them as puzzle pieces.
When you put them all together, you get a complete project.
A complete puzzle.
The full picture.
So it would make sense to break any project down into smaller parts and then solve for those smaller parts to bring a project to completion.
Sounds simple right?
In theory, yes.
But man…
How is it that something so simple can be so hard to follow through on?
It was estimated that the productivity management software market size alone was valued at USD 53.10 billion in 2022.1
That doesn’t even include the massive amount of money spent on Coaches that provide accountability or the many products geared to help you get better at managing your time.
This is a clear indication that there’s a need for structure and organization and a genuine problem here that needs to be addressed.
My surprising discovery about productivity
There was a time in my life when I was pretty down on myself.
I had just gotten separated and soon to be divorced after a really hard 10-year marriage.
In a moment of awareness, I thought: “I need a goal.”
Initially, I thought: “I should run a marathon.”
Then Charlie Engle popped into my mind. I had him on the podcast years ago where he talked about running across the Sahara Desert for 50 miles a day for 111 days straight.
The thought of a marathon sounded a little too vanilla for me.
So I thought: “What’s 6 more miles?”
And set my sights on my first 50k ultra trail race.
Within a couple of days, I found an entry-level ultra that was just a couple of hours from where I lived.
Race on the calendar, training started.
Training for that race taught me more about productivity and preparation than anything to date.
It was literally about putting in the work every day for 4 months. And if I trained according to plan, I was either ready for the race or I wasn’t.
This is the power of a plan you can trust.
Just showing up and doing the work according to a set schedule.
Run this many miles or do this workout on this day.
No bullshit. Just good old-fashioned hard work.
There was no question what needed to be done.
That doesn’t make running for 5 hours on a Saturday any easier.
The work still has to be done.
Again, simple, but not always easy.
Just like getting single projects done, there are external factors that get in the way.
Things like…
- Needing to put in extra time for work and skipping too many runs
- Another event popping up and doing the fun thing in place of training
- Or like the time I had to cancel my 100k race (and push to later that year) because juggling work and moving to a new state was way too much to keep up my training
Things are going to come up.
And there are going to be some things that are completely out of your control.
The Single Focus Framework
This type of productivity and thinking is binary.
The objective either happened or it didn’t.
This creates an incredible amount of clarity and certainty.
And the best part is it’s very simple.
There are 2 key components to making this framework stick.
1. A clearly defined objective
2. A designated block of time
That’s it.
Simple, right?
Let’s look at both of these to clear up what elements make up (1) a clearly defined objective and (2) a designated block of time.
A clearly defined objective
One part of what makes this work is having a clearly defined objective.
What does that mean?
That means something tangible happens by the end of a work block.
Write 2 emails
Create 1 post
Outline 3 videos to film tomorrow
The point here is to have it defined in a way where it either happened or it didn’t.
It could also be time-bound.
This article for instance.
I have a block of time first thing most mornings dedicated to writing. And I know that if I write for 1 hour a day for 5 days a week, the result is one of these articles.
This was longer at first and I worked my way down to this, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
A designated time block
This begins and ends at a specific time.
Depending on the task, you may need to expand that time, but for the most part, the purpose of a clearly designated block of time is to work within that time constraint.
Parkinson’s Law is the idea that your work will expand to fill the time allotted for its completion.2
I’ve personally found this to be incredibly accurate.
And on the extreme end of this, when you have a full open day to do whatever, this is actually the most dangerous.
The task almost always will fill that time.
Unless you chunk it down.
By the end of this process, you’ll have something like this…
6 – 7 – Write article
7:30 – 8:30 – Create 2 posts and map out creative for assistant to craft
6 – 6:30 – Read 10 pages in 10x is easier than 2x
Simple, but again, you have to focus in, eliminate distractions, and at the end of the time tell yourself the brutal truth.
Did it get done or not?
The other surprising benefits of this method
When you do this…
Time block with a specific objective or deliverable.
You put yourself in a position where you can manipulate time.
Sounds pretty cool, right?!
As an example…
When I started writing more long-form social media posts it took me about 2 hours to write a 2200-character caption.
I did it because it’s just a necessary evil if you want to leverage organic social media marketing.
But it’s not sustainable at that level.
Over time I shrunk how much time I allotted to this task.
90 minutes
60 minutes
30 minutes
Now I can create a post and post it within about 30-45
This is how to use Parkinson’s Law in your favor.
After shrinking time, then came batching.
Where I would film 3-6 videos at a time so I’m done for 1-2 weeks ahead.
Using one block of time to do the same activity is the cheat code of all cheat codes.
I even do this with copywriting.
If I’m writing for myself, I’ll also do any client work that requires the same skill and focus. Because I’m already in the zone.
This is a strategic method for intentionally expanding your capacity.
Similar to the concept of progressive overload when it comes to weight training.
It makes retrospection infinitely easier – did it get done or did it not? If not, what got in the way?
There’s one thing that’s crystal clear.
Clear objectives win
There’s a time for broad focus and specific focus.
You’ll use your time better.
You’ll have an easier time saying no to things that get in the way.
And you’ll start to see where and what you’re spending your time on.
If you’re looking to build out a business that ultimately doesn’t rely on you to operate it, then this will set you up to start that process.
Until next time,
Jeff Agostinelli
- “Productivity Management Software Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By Solution (Content Management & Collaboration, AI & Predictive Analytics), By Deployment, By Enterprise Size, By Region, And Segment Forecasts, 2023 – 2030.” Grand View Research, 1 Nov. 2023, www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/productivity-management-software-market. Accessed 19 Dec. 2023.
- “Parkinson’s Law: How to Overcome It to Increase Productivity.” Asana, 9 May 2023, asana.com/resources/parkinsons-law. Accessed 18 Dec. 2023.
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