The Mindset Mentor - 7 Keys to Maximize Your Productivity

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Your life becomes a result of what you have done. That's why in today's episode I am going to teach you how to be more productive so you can get more sh*t done! Want to master your mindset? Every Monday I send out an email with mindset tips for the week, click here to receive that email: http://mondayemail.com/ Follow me on IG for more inspiration here: https://www.instagram.com/robdialjr/ Want to learn more about Mindset Mentor+? For nearly nine years, the Mindset Mentor Podcast has guided you through life's ups and downs. Now, you can dive even deeper with Mindset Mentor Plus. Turn every podcast lesson into real-world results with detailed worksheets, journaling prompts, and a supportive community of like-minded people. Enjoy monthly live Q&A sessions with me, and all this for less than a dollar a day. If you’re committed to real, lasting change, this is for you.Join here 👉 www.mindsetmentor.com My first book that I’ve ever written is now available. It’s called LEVEL UP and It’s a step-by-step guide to go from where you are now, to where you want to be as fast as possible.📚If you want to order yours today, you can just head over to robdial.com/bookHere are some useful links for you… If you want access to a multitude of life advice, self development tips, and exclusive content daily that will help you improve your life, then you can follow me around the web at these links here:Instagram TikTokFacebookYoutube

We see you. You're a colleague. You're a partner. You're a friend. You're always here to support your family and your community. Now there's a school ready to support you. National University offers tuition discounts for military spouses and free tutoring

so you get the support you need to succeed. National University. Support supporting the whole you. Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I am your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so that you never miss another podcast episode. And if you're out there and you want to receive an email from me every single Monday morning with mindset tips on how to make it the best possible week that you can, I do it absolutely free. Go to mondayemail.com right now. Once again, mondayemail.com. Sign up and I will send you an email every single Monday morning with some tips on how to maximize your mindset and make it the best week possible.

Today, I'm going to be giving you seven tips to maximize your focus in productivity. I'm going to talk to you and I'm going to give you my number one tip for productivity as well in here, which I think that if you use it correctly, will be something that absolutely change your life in some sort of way. here, which I think that if you use it correctly, will be something that absolutely changed your life in some sort of way. The first thing that I want to say though, before I give you these tips, is to remove the phrase, I don't have enough time. One of the biggest things that I see from people that want to give excuses as to why they're not succeeding or why their life is not where they want it to be, is they tend to say, I don't have

enough time. Every person listening to this podcast episode right now, hundreds of thousands of you are literally all people at some point in time that have used the excuse, I don't have enough time. And if I'm being honest with you, that is a complete cop-out. And the reason why is because you're trying to blame something externally instead of actually taking the blame yourself. So many people come in and they say, Rob, I don't have enough time. I've got children. I've got kids. And they blame their lack of success or lack of happiness or joy, whatever it is they're trying to create in their life. While they're not following their passion, they blame it on their children. That's one of the biggest cop-outs that you could use.

I literally have two ladies that are in one of my programs right now. They're building coaching businesses. Both of them have three kids under the age of 10. Actually, I think all of them are under the age of six, if I'm not mistaken. And one of them, for both of these ladies, are newborns. And both of them have built successful businesses over the past six months,

even though they have newborns and they have three kids under the age of six. Don't ever say that it's your children's fault, because I don't know about you, that sounds like to me, that sounds like to me that they would be pretty, pretty busy having three young children, one of them being a newborn. So don't blame it on the children, because it's not the children's fault. They didn't ask to be brought into this world. It was a decision. So how can you figure out a way to work around the children to make sure that you show up as

the absolute best parent you possibly can, but at the same time, make sure you create the life that you want to. Another excuse people like to use is work. Oh, I can't. I've got work. There's no way that I could build my passion or do whatever it is I need to do or, you know, maximize and focus and all that stuff. You always have enough time to move the needle for things that actually matter. I don't have enough time is the same as saying it's not a priority for me or I just don't care. All of it comes down to intention. So if you want to focus, if you want to be productive, if you want to move the needle in your life and take actions that actually are going to create the life that you want to. It comes down to your intention. So let's dive into these seven different topics, seven different things I think are going to help

you out. Number one, headphones. Invest in a nice pair of headphones. This is the reason why. I have found that I have almost trained my brain. Actually, let me just be honest with you. I have basically trained my brain the same way that Pavlov's dogs, Pavlov's clicks, you know, hits a bell and their mouth starts to salivate and their mouth starts to salivate and their mouth starts to salivate because they know they're about to get a treat because he's done it over and over and over again. I listen to the exact same song every single time I'm going to get work done. It's on YouTube. It's a three-hour song and I just literally listen to the exact same song every single time I'm going to get work done. It's on YouTube. It's a three-hour song, and I just literally listen to it. It is productivity music. There's no words to

it. None of that. When I put my headphones on now, because I've been doing it for, man, over three years now, it's like my brain's like, oh yeah, this is what we're going to do. I basically train my brain to know now it's time to be productive. The other reason why headphones are so good is because number one, if you get noise canceling headphones, you can't hear anything else anybody's saying. You can't hear a car honk that ends up going by while you're at a coffee shop. You can't hear anything. And so it doesn't pull you out of your productivity. And so invest into a nice set of headphones. And another thing that they do, they tend to keep people away. They tend to keep people who. They tend to keep people who are out there who would steal your time away from you and come up to you while you're being

productive. They tend to turn them away and they're like, oh, he's working on something. Oh, she's working on something. I guess I'll just come back. And so I recommend I bring my headphones with me every single place that I go just in case I need them. So number one is to bring a nice set of headphones, invest into them, use them. That is a massive secret for productivity and focus. Second thing, if you've been listening to my podcast long enough, you know this is my number one technique for making sure that you get stuff done. It is called the Pomodoro technique. It's the simplest thing in the world. You work for 25 minutes straight on one thing and one thing

only. And then you take a five minute break and you go back 25 minutes on, five minutes off, 25 minutes on, five minutes off. On those 25 minutes, there is only one thing that you can be doing. You got to stop multitasking. Multitasking actually makes your productivity worse. There's tons and tons and tons of studies in it, but multitasking actually makes you worse. I know this because I'm in the middle of writing a book and I actually talk about multitasking in the book. There's so many studies that show that people who multitask get less done and end up being dumber than those people who don't multitask. So you have to single task. When you're doing the Pomodoro technique, it is 25 minutes of one thing and one thing only. Your phone needs to

be in another room, out of sight, out of mind. All of your notifications need to be off and you need to bring 100% of your brain power to this one task for 25 minutes. After the timer goes off, you can take a five-minute break. In this five-minute break, do not look at your phone. There's a whole lot of mental reasons why. there's neurobiological reasons why you don't want to look at your phone. What you want to do is preferably go outside where there's sun because sun makes you more alert. Go ahead and just don't talk to anybody. Go for a walk, just chill for five minutes and then go back into it. That is the Pomodoro technique. Use it. I promise you I've given this tip over and over and over and over again. I get so many messages from people on Instagram of like, hey, I thought I had ADD. I thought I had issues. And the Pomodoro

technique worked so well for me. So that is number two. Tip number three, super, super simple. I say this one all the time. Make a to-do list every single morning before you leave the house, before you start working, whatever you have to do. Make the to-do list as long as you have to. Put every single thing that you have to do on this to-do list. It could be like, you know, a meeting with your financial planner. It could be do the laundry. It could be take out the trash. It could be pick up the kids from school. It could be create a presentation for the board meeting. Whatever it is. Every single thing that you need to do, work and non-work related, needs to be on that to-do list. And then you look at that to-do list, still first thing in the morning, and you circle what number one, like the most important task in the day is. Then you find number two and you circle number two. And you find

number three and you circle number three. What do you do? You take a three by five card, an index card. So go to CVS, go to Walmart, wherever it is you need to buy these things. And on that three by five card, you put task number one, task number two, task number three, and then you leave your to-do list where it is. You can come back to it later and you literally only focus the majority of your day on number one. When you get done with number one, you go number two. When you get done with number two, you go number three. And you put it in your back pocket and that thing comes with you everywhere.

Don't focus on all of the things that you need to do. Focus on the three things that move the needle today. Don't even focus on the two, number two and number three. Focus on the number one thing that moves the needle today. Don't even focus on the number two and number three. Focus on the number one thing that moves the needle today. And then after that, go ahead and figure out what the next most important thing is. And what happens is you'll find yourself being so much more productive because you're not thinking about all of the things that need to be done. You're focusing on one thing in time. And it helps you to be able to narrow in your focus because when you narrow your focus,

your capacity and your brain power expands. So that's number three. So turn your to-do list every single day into a top three list. Put it on a three by five card and bring it with you everywhere. Hey, science tells us the best way to achieve and maintain consistent deep sleep

is by lowering core body temperature. Temperature controlled sleep repairs muscle after a hard day's work and improves cognitive function so you can always start your day feeling sharp and alert. Chili Sleep makes customizable climate-controlled sleep solutions to help you improve your entire well-being. Chili Sleep makes Uhler and Cube Systems hydropowered temperature-controlled mattress toppers that fit over your existing mattress to provide your ideal sleep temperature. These luxury mattress pads help keep your bed at perfect temperature for deep sleep, whether you sleep hot or cold. And these

sleep systems are designed to help you fall asleep, stay asleep, and give you the confidence and energy that you need to power through your day. Imagine waking up and not feeling tired. Chili Sleep can help make that happen. And for an extra layer of comfort, they also make the Chili Blanket, the only weighted blanket that can be paired with the control unit to help with ultimate sweat-free sleep. My fiancee uses their system. She sleeps hot and she says this is the best thing she's ever had to help her sleep through the night. So head over to chilisleep.com slash mindset to learn more and save 30% off the purchase of any new Cube or Uhler sleep system. This offer is only available exclusively to Mindset Mentor listeners and for a limited time. So that's chili, C-H-I-L-I, sleep.com slash mindset to take advantage of our exclusive discount and wake up refreshed every day.

Hey, what do you spend on subscriptions each month? Most of us think we spend around $80 in subscriptions, but we actually spend closer to $200 a month. Truebill is a new app that allows you to identify and stop paying for subscriptions that you don't need, want, and simply forgot about. On average, people are saving thousands per year with Truebill. See all your subscriptions in one place, keep the ones you want, and cancel the ones that you don't right from the app. And your Truebill concierge is there when you need them to cancel unwanted subscriptions so you don't have to. No talking to humans, no difficult conversations. The thing that I love about Truebill is that you can cancel everything directly from the app

and you don't need to go to each individual company. Truebill has over 2 million users and helps save them over $100 million. Like Matthew B who saved over $660 on his DirecTV bill and over $120 for the year on his SiriusXM bill and $840 a year on car insurance. So start canceling your unused subscriptions at Truebill.com slash dial. Go right now to Truebill.com slash dial. You could save thousands per year at Truebill.com slash dial. Number four is to find your peak hours. This is super important because every person that I know has different peak hours. Peak hours are the hours where you feel you're in it. Your brain is on. You're locked in. It's easier for you to work. It's easier for you to get stuff done.

Find your peak hours. For some friends that I have, their peak hours are like 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. before their kids wake up. And they get three hours of like really solid work done. And then the kids wake up and then they, you know, take care of the kids, they drop them off at school, and then they come back and they do their Zoom calls and meetings, all that stuff. For me, my peak hours are about 10 o'clock a.m. to 2 p.m. That's when the four hours of my brain feels like it's the best. And so I do all of my most important tasks in those times. So when you find your peak hours, you get the most important things done in that time where you can

bring your full 100% mental capacity to it. I've also got a really good friend. His peak hour starts usually at 10 30 PM. It's different for everybody. Figure out what works for you because ultimately what you want to do is you want to be able to bring as much brain power as you possibly can. So for him, he's got stuff he does throughout the day. He does work throughout the day, but his number one, number two, number three, most important things, the things that he needs to bring the most important, like most brain power to, he starts at 1030 at night, which is crazy to me because I'm asleep by 1030 at night, but that's his time. And he feels like that's his time. The kids have been in bed for a while. Spouse is in bed for a while, silent. His brain just is like, all right, we're going to turn on. Let's get some stuff done. So find your peak hours. That's number four.

Number five, clean up your shit. Like try to work in a space that is as clean as possible. Now, I understand sometimes things happen. You're moving offices. My office for the longest time wasn't in the best shape because we were moving from that office, transitioning to the new studio and office that we have now. So it was kind of a mess and it drove me crazy. But you want to clean up as much as you possibly can. Move as much stuff out of the way. Here's the reason why. Because if you have things in your eyesight, even if it's in your peripheral vision, your brain is bringing a tiny bit of focus to it. So how can you move as much stuff out of your visual focus so that the only thing, like if you've got to sit down and make a presentation, the only thing you should be

able to see is your computer. Your phone shouldn't be there. You shouldn't have paper in front of you. Clean up as much as you possibly can so that your brain can focus all of your mental capacity on what is in front of you. So that was number five. Clean up. Just clean up, dude. Get your stuff together. That's number five. Number six, batch your tasks. This is huge for a lot of people. If you do something multiple times throughout the week, is it possible for instead of using like an hour here, an hour on Monday, an hour on Wednesday, an hour on Friday. Instead, can you just get three hours of productivity done on that one thing? Batch everything that

is the same together. So for instance, if you've been listening to the podcast, you know I say this all the time. Today is Thursday, and today I'm recording four podcast episodes in a row. Then after this, I'm going to record all the stuff that I need for ads and then intros and all that stuff. I'll send it to the podcast team, and they will upload it for me. I don't have to think about it for the rest of the week versus me going, you know, when I first started the podcast, I would literally make podcast episodes the day before and then the day before and then the day before and the day before. And with a podcast that comes out three to four times a week, I was doing podcasting all of the time it felt like. And so you've got to figure out what

days are your days where you end up doing your stuff that you need to do, like my podcasting, where you batch things. For me, I also do a lot of Zoom calls and coaching on Zoom calls. I only do my coaching Zoom calls on Tuesday. That's it. So I have, you know, a company where I teach people how to grow coaching businesses. I do that on Tuesday morning. I also have part of my company where it's just specifically self-development. I do that Zoom call on Tuesday afternoon so that my coaching days are literally every day is broken up into tasks that need to be done. And I batch as much as I possibly can into those days. So if you're doing something day after day after day after day after day, can you instead of doing it three times a week,

can you do it once a week but get the entire week done? That's what I mean by batching tasks. Can you batch as much as possible in your life? And then last but not least, are you being busy or are you being productive? You got to ask yourself this question. Is what I'm doing right now getting me closer to or further from my goals? All too often, I find too many people yourself this question. Is what I'm doing right now getting me closer to or further from my goals?

All too often, I find too many people pretending that they're being productive, but they don't realize they're just being busy. Let me give you an example of what I mean, okay? Let's say that you, let's say you want to, let me think. Let's say you want to run a 5k. You've never run before, but you want to run a 5k. And so you're like, you know what? I'm going to run a 5k. You know what I should probably do? I should probably go and I should probably get, you know, I should probably get some new running shoes. I'm going to do some research on some running shoes. You do some research for 45 minutes or an hour, some running shoes, and you buy some new running shoes. You're like, you know what? I probably need some new clothes too. I haven't, I haven't bought workout clothes in like 12 years. So then you find out what the best running clothes are and do research on that for an hour, two hours, and try to figure out what that is. And

you're like, you know what? I probably need a new water bottle. I wonder if they make, oh, they do make running water bottles. Okay. Which one is the best one? Let me go on YouTube and look at the YouTube reviews on which one's the best one. Now, by doing that, is it helping you get closer to your goal of running a 5k? Not really. What would help you get closer to your goal of running a 5k? Just running, getting your ass up off the chair, out of the computer and actually doing it, right? So all too often, people kind of dance around the edge of what it is that they need to do versus actually doing the thing that they need to do. That's the idea of being busy versus being productive. It's when you're doing something all day long, you're doing things and you're busy and you're busy and you're busy and you're busy.

And at the end of the day, you're like, I don't feel like I got anything accomplished. Yeah, it's because you were being busy and not being productive. When I say being productive, this is stuff that moves the needle in your life. Taking the actions that actually matter, that move the needle in your life. So you got to ask yourself, is what I'm doing right now getting me closer to or further from my goals? If you ask yourself this 10, 15, 20 times a day, it'll help you stop being busy and help you start being more productive for getting stuff done in your life. So those are the seven tips.

Number one, get yourself some headphones. Number two, use the Pomodoro technique. Number three, make a to-do list every single day and then make your top three lists from that. Number four, find your peak hours where your energy is highest. Number five, clean up your space. Number six, batch all of your tasks. Number seven, make sure you're being busy and not productive. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please share it on your Instagram stories and tag me at RobDialJr, R-O-B-D-I-A-L-J-R. And if you happen to love this podcast, please do me a favor. Go ahead and go to

iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, however you listen to us, and do me a favor. Give us a rating and review. The more positive rating reviews we get, the more that we grow organically and the more that these platforms tend to show it to other people. So it's just me and a microphone talking to you. I don't have any massive company that's putting us out there and helping it grow. The only way it grows is from you guys sharing it, but then also you guys giving us ratings and reviews. So if you would do that,

I would greatly, greatly appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. And with that, I'm gonna leave the same way I leave every single episode. Make it your mission to make someone else's day better. I appreciate you, and I hope that you have an amazing day. Now there's a school ready to support you. National University offers tuition discounts for military spouses and free tutoring, so you get the support you need to succeed.

National University. Supporting the whole U.