In this blog post we’re going to talk about productivity. Usually I don’t talk about productivity and personal development and things like that so much on this blog anymore, mainly I talk about marketing, ecosystem, scaling and all that sort of stuff. But, the other day I had a group coaching call and one of my clients brought up this issue that he has with his productivity. And what’s happening in his life right now is that his whole work ethic and his productivity is based on his level of motivation and how he’s feeling.
So, in the past we did some work together, we did a successful launch for his online course and what happened is: he was in beast mode. During that time, he was feeling really motivated, inspired and he could just work like crazy and do an insane amount of work in a short amount of time. But after a few months, that motivation faded away. That inspiration was gone and he felt burned out. He felt more down and he just couldn’t get himself to do the things that he knew he should be doing to build momentum in his business.
Relying your work ethic on emotions and your motivational level
We had a chat about that and had a look at what was going on in his life and what we found out is that he is basing his whole productivity on how he’s feeling. So, when he feels great, when he feels inspired, when he feels motivated, then he goes and does amazing work. And then during periods where he’s feeling low, he’s lacking motivation and inspiration, he can’t get himself to do things. This is something a lot of people struggle with. Especially early on in their business, when they’re relying and basing their whole work ethic on their emotions and their motivational level.
Bi-polar productivity: extreme fluctuations in motivation and productivity
This type of extreme motivation and productivity fluctuations, I like to call this bi-polar productivity. What I mean by that is, when you’re operating from this place of extremes, where you’re in beast mode productivity for several months and then you basically are not able to do anything after that for several months. Well, you’re swinging back and forth from a place of one extreme to another extreme. From a place of full productivity to no productivity at all. And that’s not good.
Normalize your productivity and get into a rhythm that you can maintain
What you should do is normalize your productivity. Normalization means you need to get into a rhythm that you can maintain. So, you shouldn’t be working 16 hours a day for several months and then not working at all for several months after that. You need to normalize your productivity. Which means you need to identify the most important tasks in your business and then execute those daily, but in a way, that’s comfortable for you. What I mean is that it’s going to feel uncomfortable during those tasks sometimes and they still need to get done but you’re not working your face off.
So, instead of working 16 hours a day, you should be working, 6 to 8 hours a day and do so consistently. Because that’s more sustainable. 16 to 20 hours work days are not sustainable long term and you’re going to have fluctuations. You’re going to have crazy productivity phases and then followed by these burn-out phases, which isn’t ideal. You want to have nice and stable, consistent productivity and pressure applied to your business. And how do you do that? You normalize your productivity, you work 6 to 8 hours a day consistently. Not 16 hours one day and then 1 hour the other day. You should really normalize your daily processes and what you do. And then also, take time off. When you’re not working, outside of this 6-8 hours, take time, do fun stuff. Don’t burn yourself out.
Focus on rituals versus emotions
The next thing you should do is: focus on rituals versus emotions. You need to base your productivity on rituals and not on your motivation level or how you’re feeling. Because that’s going to fluctuate and you don’t have control over that. The people who really master productivity are those who are able to ritualize their productivity and detach it from their emotions. How do you do that? Well, you need to identify the tasks that produce the biggest results in your business and then execute them every single day, no matter what.
On days you feel terrible, depressed and unmotivated, you do those tasks. On days you feel inspired or amazing, you do the tasks. And after a while you’re just able to execute the things that matter in your business, regardless of how you’re feeling. You’re detaching your actions from your feelings. That way, after a while you don’t need to rely anymore on your motivation level or on how you’re feeling to take actions. It’s just going to be ritualized process, an automatic process, just like brushing your teeth. You’re brushing your teeth if you feel bad, if you sleep 4 hours or 12 hours, if you had a good day or a bad day. You brush your teeth because it’s a ritual and that’s how you need to treat the most important tasks in your business.
When you do that, you’ll become unstoppable and you will take your productivity to another level. It’s going to be constant and sustainable and not bi-polar.
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