 How to have your most productive day ever? Yesterday I had one of the most productive days I've ever had in my entire work life And I was trying to figure out why at the end of my day yesterday So today I'm gonna share with you what happened Why I got so much done and I didn't even realize that I was getting so much done until the end of the day we was like wow that's a lot and It's a very simple tactic that we can incorporate Every single day of our work lives every single day of Lifestyle lives if you like if it comes to losing weight or being more productive or making more money or starting that business You've always wanted to start Losing weight asking the girl out Going on a vacation How do you actually make things happen? How do you stop procrastination? So let me just give you context as I'm recording this I'm flying to London this afternoon. So as I'm recording this, it's 10 53 a.m And I have a flight at 5 50. I'm going to London and yesterday at about this time exactly 24 hours ago around about 10 30 I Was told that I was going to London or I was asked to go to London by Ty lupus Who I work with many of you know that I've been Mentored by Ty Who's the creator of the 67 steps? If you don't know who he is then you can go to my website James Wanik comm forward slash 67 steps and you can watch a little video there, but he's a very successful businessman and entrepreneur and He has a conference in London next week has I'm recording this and he asked me to come and emcee and host the Conference with him and so at 10 30 yesterday. It was like hey, can you come to London? Yep? We'll get you a flight tomorrow I'm like, okay. So all of a sudden my weekend plans were thrown Out the window and I realized wow if I'm gonna be in London for at least a week There's so much stuff that I need to get done Before I go because I know that once I'm in London I'm not gonna do the things that I'd planned this week and One of the things I'd plan to do over the course of the coming week if I was to stay in Los Angeles was record about 10 or 15 book reviews Premium book summary, so I have a lot of books here and I wanted to do a little book review record them in my home studio and release them to people who join My 30 day no alcohol challenge program The other thing I wanted to do was record a little training video on how I make phone sales How I sell people into programs over the phone because I wanted to do some coaching for people who are interested in that Plus I needed to leave instructions for my staff who helped me with the 30 day no alcohol challenge And I knew that being in London. I was gonna get behind Plus I had to rearrange Interviews that I had scheduled for this coming week this coming Wednesday had to reach out to them and and reschedule So I had all these things that ordinarily I would have taken a week to accomplish and Yesterday at 10 30 in the morning. I was like, right. I've got 32 hours to get all this done Am I gonna do it? Let's do it. So I very I wouldn't say frantically but with controlled focus With controlled purpose I went right let's get this done. So I Switched off the phone for the most part not entirely, but I switched it off when I really needed to focus I went into my studio. I turned the lights on I put the SIM card in the camera. I turned the camera on and Sat down at my I went back into my living room got my book went to my bookshelf picked out about 30 books and thought I'll just record 15 of these I'll see what I get to and I'll do book reviews little five minute book reviews let's just get ten done and That'll be a good start and then I can you know do some more when I come back to Los Angeles What happened then was I Nothing short of Extra ordinary I Went into my living into my studio and I hit record and I picked up a book and I knocked over one book review and Then I hit stop and then I picked up another book and then I hit record and I reviewed another book And then I put that book down hit stop picked up another book Looked into the camera pressed record and I recorded another one and then another one and then another one and before I knew it An hour and 15 an hour and 20 minutes ago, and I'd already knocked over 10 book reviews Why because there were no distractions because I had a single focus because I had a Deadline to do it. That's the key ingredient the secret the seemingly impossible deadline I knew I had to get it done that day and because of that. I just went bang focus get it done Then after I'd done 10 I went and sat down on my living room sofa, and I went well That's good. Well, I got did that in an hour and a quarter. That's a pretty amazing That's all I said I was gonna do. Well, actually, let's keep going. You're on a roll So I took a little five minute break. I got some water. I went out on my balcony. I got some Sun. I Went back in and I picked up another book. I Hit record and I went again And then I picked up another book and I did another book review I've picked up another book another book review and just to give you context These are all books that I've already read right so that's not like I'm reading them at In five minutes and reviewing at the same time they're all books that I've already read and I'm just reviewing telling the the viewer what's water in those books and I just kept going and going and going and Took another break and I went oh my god. I've done 20 keep going. So I went back in I completed 25 of these book reviews in seemingly no time at all the whole thing probably two and a half maybe three hours And I just got it done Then I pulled the SIM card out and I stuck it in my computer and I pressed upload to Dropbox so I can share it then at the same time I Back if I backtrack a couple of hours I'd phoned a cleaner to get a cleaner to come to my my home cleaner came she started washing my clothes cleaning the place and My place was just a complete hive of activity Then I was like wow I got that done in so long and so so quick now I've got to create this sales video this this free sales training and set up the structure of how I'm gonna run Facebook ads to this free sales training and how I'm gonna create this whole funnel where people Apply to be trained by me so they can sell ten thousand dollar coaching programs over the phone I'm gonna set up this whole funnel and Usually and actually I've given myself a week to learn how to do this and to set it up But yesterday at around 5 30 in the afternoon. I was like all right. Let's give myself Two hours to figure this out. I was gonna give myself a week To learn it and set it up and film it and put the structure in place I said it's 5 30. Let's see if I can give do this in two hours Just it's impossible deadline and you want to know what happened. I damn well did it. I Watched this training online this guy called Sam ovens is a New Zealand guy I watched the the relevant part where he's talking about driving Facebook ad to an ad and then Clicking people click on the ad they see a training video. I'm right I need a training video. I need a 15 minute training video. So I went back into my studio I've hit record on my camera. I Got the whiteboard here and I just Bashed out a 15 minute training video. Was it perfect? No, was it good enough? Yes And then when I completed it, I went back to my computer stuck the SIM the memory card in uploaded it to Dropbox Send it to one of my staff members who does builds my pages and says and said this is a training video Can you set up the funnel for this and? And then I sent the video to my to a woman who does my some of my Facebook ads She's in Australia So she probably hasn't got it yet But I sent it to her in a Skype in a Skype chat because that's how I communicate with her and said hey Can you run a Facebook ad to this video? Here's an example of the Facebook ad. I want to run And that took me to about 730. I was like, holy hell So all these things that I thought was gonna take me one week to accomplish. I Did it in one day and not even one full day It was I started at about 11 and I finished at about 730 with a few breaks in between Why why did that happen? Literally? I was gonna take a week to do this But I did it in one day Why because I gave myself an Impossible deadline a seemingly impossible deadline because I have to go to London in six hours My flight takes off in six hours because I knew I had to go. I had all this stuff I've got to get done. I know I'm not gonna do it if I'm in London because other things are coming up. I Got a focus So I had the focus and Because I had the focus and because I switched my phone off at strategic times and I wasn't distracted Probably because it was a Saturday as well Like it wasn't a normal workday where people are what's happening you and pinging you and hitting you from all over the place It I just got it done Now when I was doing the book reviews that I get tired. Yeah, I got tired It's pretty emotionally taxing speaking for three hours total time total recording time if you like Um, and there are about probably with about seven or eight books to go. I wanted to stop I was like, ah, man, I'm tired. This is this is good enough. I've done, you know, 17 16 or 17 book reviews. That's enough. Let's just call it a day But then I was looking at my watch going well, you know what if I I did the math if I was like if every book review Is like five to seven minutes and I do five more Well, that's only 35 minutes more maybe 40 minutes with a couple breaks in between I can do another 40 minutes Just just go don't even think just go So that's what I did and knocked out another seven. How can you? Have the most productive day of your life or one of the most productive days of your life easy Give yourself a seemingly impossible deadline The other thing you can do is put a penalty or a reward Around whether you accomplish it or not So for example for me the penalty was if I don't do it I'm gonna be behind by a whole week because I'm gonna go to London and then things are gonna happen I won't get to it Maybe it'll be two weeks because by the time I get back to LA There'll be things to catch up on That I've missed because of the week, you know, I've got to do those rescheduled podcast episodes, obviously There's a whole lot of Things that are just push things back push things back push things back. So for me the penalty was like Lost productivity lost opportunity so Not wanting to blow that not wanting to have to pay the penalty of being a week or two behind It was just go get it done now do it now do it now do it now Think about your own life. How many times you just put things off tomorrow next week next month next year this year I'll buy a home this year. I'll lose weight Next month. I'll invest Later on I'll figure out what business to be in Tomorrow, I'll start making new friends You know, I really want to host a mastermind or a poker night at my house. I'll do that later on this year No, just do it now There is power in the now. It's extraordinary and I'm not always Not always. I'm not perfect at it. I'm better than most But even I fall prey to the like ah tomorrow next week, whatever. There's a very famous Saying that says never put off to tomorrow what you can do today Never put off to tomorrow what you can do today Just get it done Now because that's all there is there is only now So what are the lessons out of this? Well? It's extraordinary how much work you get done when you have an impossible deadline So give yourself an impossible deadline Manufacture an impossible deadline put it in your calendar say I must get this done by 5 17 p.m. On Tuesday the 18th do or put a weird time around it. So it just sticks in your brain Don't say I'll get it done this weekend Because that's just vague, right? But if you say get it done by 322 p.m. On Sunday afternoon, then you have a very strict deadline For me my strict deadline was well shit. I got to get to the damn airport as I'm recording this I'm just come back from the gym. I'm sweating and then my workout shirt. It's 11.05 in the morning and even this This recording this episode that I'm talking about now. I have to get it done because the guy one of my my content manager I called Colin who uploads my podcast episodes to To my podcast is like James. We need your episode for for Monday We're gonna do a little tip episodes and this is the tip. I was like damn it if I don't do it Then you know, we're gonna be behind there won't be I won't be able to release this episode on the podcast So now I've got an impossible deadline even though I'm flying taking a flight in Six hours from now. I have to get it done So I was like go don't even think come back from the gym go straight to my desk turn on the recorder hit record and Record what I'm recording right now. I'm doing it because I have an impossible deadline a seemingly impossible deadline an uncomfortable deadline push yourself Yesterday was one of the most productive days. I've ever had it was amazing and at the end of the day I was tired, but man, I felt good. I was bouncing off walls. It was so happy a great sense of accomplishment I was also pissed off with myself quite frankly because I was like wow. This is what I'm really capable of This is what I'm really capable of Imagine if we could live at that level and play at that level all the time consistently Wow So I was thrilled that I had got so much work done, but at the same time. I was like damn it James All these days where you've been doing some work, but you you've been playing at like 50% So let's push ourselves a little bit more All right, so if you want to see in fact, why don't I do this? I'm gonna record a little snapchat right now If you're not following me on snapchat, or you don't even have snapchat then get on it and follow me because I'll tell you Snapchat is taking over the world in terms of the newest greatest social media thing and it's so powerful because you You can watch video of people During their lives doing cool things and look you can choose to follow your friends who are doing stuff And that's great. What I do is I do little 10-second tips lifestyle tips health hacks habit hacks Business tips, I do little 10-second book reviews So I try to make my my snapchat story be educational Where's my phone? I put my my cell phone snapchat. All right If you're listening to this on the podcast, this is not as professional as it could be But just hang on one second 10 seconds. Well, I just grabbed my phone from my kitchen bench. Hang on All right. There you go so let us Uh Let's have a look here. Let us record a little snapchat and Here we go. Oh No takes a little water warm up here. We go. Oh Damn it my phone my snapchat takes a second to warm up. Let's record here No, it still wants to just take a photo rather than taking a video technical problems here There we go. Hello James Swannick here and I'm recording a podcast episode Make sure you check out the James Swannick show podcast and I choose to hear my talk on I ran out of seconds Okay To hear my talk on how I had the most productive day of my life or one of the most productive days of my life yesterday And how you can double your productivity in one day check out the podcast There you go So that's me talking on my podcast. So If you're not following me on snapchat, make sure you do you can follow my little videos You can see me in the airport in London. I'm gonna you can follow me in London Hanging out with some of my friends in the UK. I used to live there actually lived there in 1999 through 2002 and You can see me hanging out with Tai Lopez obviously just a reminder if you want to learn more about Tai Just go to James swannick.com forward slash 67 steps James swannick.com forward slash 67 Steps that'll give you some more info on him. There's a cool little video that he put there which teaches you how to Kick ass in business and make some more money if you struggle with money right now There you go. All right, cool. So I gotta get going. I'm gonna get ready and go to the airport Thank you for listening to this, but that's how you can have one of the most productive days of your life Give yourself a seemingly impossible deadline lots of clarity lots of focus no distractions and just get it done If you enjoyed this episode, please do share it You can just touch the your cell phone screen right now and hit share share it on your Facebook wall and encourage Some friends to listen to it if you know someone who's procrastinates all the time just send it to him Say hey, you might like this episode. This is gonna help you Kick ass and thanks for listening. I'll catch you on the next one. See ya How do you come up with million dollar ideas in 60 seconds? Well today, I'm gonna read out my notes from when I went to a conference