Transcription
If you've been on social media long enough, then you've probably been brainwashed into thinking that a productive day looks something like this. Wake up at 5:00 a.m., go on a 10 km run, meditate for an hour, go to school, network, read for an hour, work out, do your homework, cook a healthy meal, and build a six-figure side hustle overnight.
But, we all know this is not sustainable. So, why does it feel like some people are building extraordinary lives while ours feel overwhelming and meaningless? Like many of you, I felt this got average grades and tried to stack as many good habits as possible, only to end up feeling overwhelmed and make zero progress towards my actual goals in life. That was until I read this book called Slow Productivity by Cal Newport, an MIT-trained computer scientist who fundamentally changed my life forever. No, seriously, if I had to trace back all of my academic and personal success over the last 3 years, it would come down to the lessons I learned in this book. So, my goal with this video is to change the trajectory of your life forever [music] by showing you how you can accomplish more by doing less.
First things first, slow productivity does not mean you should be lazy. But, many people think that being productive means cramming a bunch of things into one day, and that's also wrong. I believe that this way of thinking comes from the education system forcing us to juggle five to six classes at once, which means spending an hour or less a day learning a little bit about each subject. This hardwires our brain at an early age to believe that giving a lot equals accomplishing a lot. But, you can start to see the problem, which is that you're not diving deep enough in any one subject. And we can further understand the importance of this by visualizing the compound effect, which [music] states that productivity is not linear, but instead increases at an exponential as our brain enters the flow state. When you work on seven tasks throughout the day, your ability to lock in on any given task is limited, and this stops [music] the exponential growth from actually happening. Meanwhile, focusing on less allows you to increase your output of productive work. Jensen Huang at Nvidia, Patrick Collison, the creator of Stripe, or even the legend of YouTube, Mr. Beast, all attribute their success to being hyper-focused on their craft, spending all day, every day pursuing a singular goal. And it's this compounding effect that has allowed them to reach extraordinary heights in their respective [music] industries.
However, this hyper-obsession on an individual task can drive you crazy and lead to problems like burnout and fatigue. So, I'd like to show you how you can go all in on your goals without losing yourself in the process. And it all comes down to this framework that I like to call the three pillars of life. Well, actually, when I was doing research for this video, I found out that this term already exists. Traditionally, the three pillars are health, wealth, and relationships. And focusing on these three pillars are meant to create a balanced and fulfilling life. But, here's how I apply the concepts a little differently to prioritize meaningful progress and pursue my biggest ambitions.
First, you should spend an hour a day, or however long you need to reflect on your life and come up with the three most important goals or priorities in your life. Once you have your three goals identified, make them the pillars of your life. Ruthlessly cut out anything and everything outside of these three pillars in your day-to-day routine. Like seriously, say one of your pillars is to detach from your phone, and you're standing there waiting inside the elevator awkwardly, you're going to want to pull out your phone. But, don't do it. Don't pull out your damn phone. Stare at the ceiling, break the silence with a conversation, or allow yourself to zone out and reflect on your day. Do anything you have to do to stay true to your pillars. And when it comes to creating your pillars or goals, I always make sure that at least one of my pillars focuses on my physical or mental health. Meanwhile, the other two pillars focus on my personal [music] development and bigger aspirations.
Another piece of advice is to include quantifiable goals with each pillar. Examples of this include, I want to get all A's in my classes, or I want to get X amount of money in X amount of years. You want the goals to be tangible and quantifiable so you can measure the progress towards achieving them. What I found by eliminating everything outside of these three pillars was that I stopped wasting time [music] aimlessly moving through life. I woke up every day with a purpose, knowing that if I was working towards any one of these three goals, I was making healthy progress that day. Over time, that daily individual pillars started to build momentum. Each day stacked on to the last, and I stopped feeling overwhelmed by eliminating everything I thought I had to do. I would work so hard Monday through Friday that by the time the weekend rolled around, I never once felt guilty about spending the entire day with my friends. By dedicating my life to these three pillars, I began making more progress than I ever had before, in school, in my passion projects, and in my life outside of work. It felt like I had unlocked a superpower.
For this final part of the video, I want to show you what an actual day in my life looks like as someone who does less and achieves more. I wake up around 7:00 to 8:00 a.m. without an alarm. I dedicate my morning to whatever pillar I want to focus on on that day, and today I have school all [music] morning. Around 12:00, I get back home and I eat lunch, which I meal prepped over the weekend. From 12:00 to 7:00 p.m., I put my head down and get back to work, focusing on one of my pillars. From [music] 7:00 to 7:30, I eat dinner, and then for the last 2 hours of the day, I do one final push of work. Then I brush my teeth, shower, [music] and watch YouTube until midnight when I finally go back to bed and repeat the day. One day I might dedicate the entire day to [music] a school project like today, but other days I might be editing a YouTube video for 14 [music] hours straight. I basically approach the day by focusing on a maximum of one to two tasks based on whatever feels most urgent at the time.
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