Part of the guide: Blog Traffic
As a successful business owner; I’m constantly seeking new ways to get things done faster. Productiveness was the least of my worries a few years back; now I’d kill for an extra 30 minutes in the day. It took me a long time to realize; time really is money.
I’ve spent A LOT of the past year finding and experimenting with different ways to be more productive. SO I decided to share just 4 simple productivity boosting activities/steps you can take to get more work done A LOT faster:
1. Get An Office
When I started my online business I was working from home about 12 hours/day. In those 12 hours, I spent a solid 8 hours on the couch and another 4 hours on my arm chair. Working from the living room surprisingly had a negative effect on my productivity. The TV was right in front of me, I nearly fell asleep on the sofa and it wasn’t a proper work environment.
In order to get a lot done as efficiently as possible; you need to be working in the right environment. You need an office or as I like to say; a work zone. A zone that’s built for the sole purpose of getting shit done. In your office, you need a desk, chairs, a coffee table/machine, book shelves, storage compartments, white boards, smart boards, plants and whatever else inspires you. The whole idea is to build an office that inspires you to work.
2. Socialize
Socializing is one of those strange activities that’s been proven to boost productiveness. When I was told this one; I thought bullshit. After a few Google searches and personal testing; it works. Socializing is great for many things, above all its fun; but also great for business.
Why?
Simple; Networking!
I know you probably don’t think hanging out with close friends is prime networking time; but it is. You never know who you’re going to meet through your friends. They say you’re only like 5 people away from billionaires, celebrities and royalty. It’s true; you never know who one of your friends is going to introduce you to.
Maybe someone who has the right skills, knowledge, connections or money to take your business to the next level. Socializing is also great for improving your social skills. No matter what business you’re in; you need social skills. You need to be able to communicate with people and influence them.
Whenever you’re hanging out with friends, practice your social skills.
3. Read
As a rule of thumb; I attempt to read 1 nonfiction book per week. When I tell people that I read a book a week; they’re shocked. In fact most people I ask tell me they read less than 2 books a year. Seriously; reading is great for you. It teaches you new things, widens your vocabulary and inspires you to do great things.
What should you read?
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Well a bit of fiction and mostly nonfiction. Usually I’ll read 1 nonfiction book a week and about half a fiction book per month. While reading fiction I can’t help but think it’s a complete waste of time. Most of the time fiction books are educational; but the stuff you learn from reading fiction is pretty useless in the real world.
Only read fiction before bed. It helps you sleep and is also great for boosting creativity. Besides general books; reading the newspaper is essential for staying up to date with what’s going on in the world. Lastly read biographies and autobiographies; they’re perfect for getting an insight into the way successful people live their lives.
4. Exercise
Richard Branson was once asked by a group of entrepreneurs “how can we be more productive”. As all 20 entrepreneurs trembled with excitement, Richard’s mouth opened and out came “exercise”. The 20 entrepreneurs all looked slightly confused.
Richard went on to say that exercise is one of the most important aspects of life and his biggest productivity booster. Mainly; exercise helps you break through mental blocks. If you’ve hit a mental roadblock, staring at your screen won’t do you any good.
Instead get out the house and go for a run! Head down to the gym and start working out! It sounds insane doesn’t it? Well it’s not and exercise has helped me overcome countless mental roadblocks. You’d also be surprised how many great business ideas just come to you whilst exercising or doing a deadlift!
In Prosperity,
David Wood
P.S. Leave me your thoughts, comments, and questions in the box below. Also put your name and email in the form on the right for more cool stuff just like this.
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Comments (carried over from the previous site)
Michael Burns, January 29, 2012, 06:58
Well I have the socializing and reading down. Need the office. I am surprised by the exercising but if Richard Branso says so there’s probably something to it. Thanks Dave.
Alexander, January 26, 2012, 22:22
Thanks for the advice! I am all about finding the “smartest” way of doing things and it seems you are too. All of your tips are effective, but exercise for me seems to be the most important because it affects every other area our life. Keep up the great work.
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Getting an office to escape a couch doesn’t require white boards and a coffee machine. It requires a door that closes. The exercise part’s the only one here that’s actually true.
Look. An office with a coffee machine and smart boards is not a productivity hack, it’s a wish list. Four activities presented as equally load-bearing when one of them — read a book a week — has nothing to do with the other three. Fine, exercise helps focus. Nobody needed Richard Branson to establish that. The framing here is “do everything successful people do” dressed up as four discrete steps.
Tried the office thing two years ago, spare room, actual desk. What nobody tells you: the couch problem doesn’t go away just because you own a door now. Week two I was back on the phone in the living room because the desk faced a blank wall and it was miserable. Fixed it by facing the window instead. Small thing, mattered more than the furniture list in this post.
I read this with an eye toward whether any of it still applies to a man rebuilding at sixty-one, and I find that, unusually, most of it does. The office point in particular struck me — for thirty years my classroom was my workspace, and I had not considered until now that working from an armchair in front of a television is simply the opposite condition, no structure imposed by walls or by a bell. I have set aside the smaller bedroom for exactly this purpose, no smart boards, just a desk and good light. The reading, too, I already do, though I confess I have never counted a book a week; perhaps I shall start counting, if only to see whether the habit was there all along under a different name.
Arthur — “no smart boards, just a desk and good light.” That’s the whole section, said better than the post did.
Arthur, the office part translates fine to a feed store town of four thousand — spare room, good light, same as you did. The “socialize and let friends introduce you to money” part doesn’t. Around here everybody already knows exactly what I do and how much there is or isn’t in it. That well’s not deeper just because you make more small talk at it.
The socializing section is the one that gives me pause. Being told to “practice your social skills” on friends because they might introduce you to money isn’t networking advice, it’s a description of using people. Doesn’t make the office or the reading points wrong. But I’d ask what kind of friend you become if every backyard barbecue turns into a numbers game in your head.
Sorry if this is a silly question but I read maybe four books a year total and here it says a book a week is normal for successful people, and now I am wondering if that is actually a requirement or just what worked for David, because between the day job and everything else a book a week sounds impossible for me right now.
Bonnie, don’t sweat the book-a-week number, that’s David’s habit not a rule. What I did instead: audiobooks on 1.5x during my commute, logged in a spreadsheet so I actually finish things instead of starting five. Twenty minutes a day adds up faster than people think, and it’s automatic once the habit’s set.