So many people talk about becoming more productive and reading books like 7 Habits of Highly Effective People yet so few do anything real about actually becoming more productive. Like home gym equipment that’s collecting dust in the closet and doesn’t make you stronger or leaner, having a few books on productivity is not going to make you learn how to make better use of your time. Like one of my friends told his buddy once, who was a self help book junkie – “Stop watching porn and start having sex!”
Being more productive will necessarily make you a happier person for several reasons. First, you will accomplish more, you will have more reasons to be proud of yourself, and you will have more time for doing all the things that don’t require maximum productivity, such as relaxing, laying on the beach, going out, etc. Just as importantly, lack of productivity is one significant source of guilt that many of us experience, which results from underachieving and not getting done what we planned to finish today, this week, this month or even this year.
Here are a five very simple, practical steps you can take today to become more productive in just about any ares of your life – school, work, and social engagements:
1. Stop Wasting Time
You may think that you don’t waste time and you make the most out of your day, but I bet that if you looked at your life a little more closely, you would find many hours that go to waste each and every week.
Do you have a study or work partner or study group at school? If so, do you sidetrack 40% of your study time into the subjects that have nothing to do with your work, to only later stress out about not having studied enough and worrying about upcoming exams. If so, drop the study group. This doesn’t meant that you can’t be social and you can’t be friends with the same people in the group. It just means that you should be better at separating work time from play time. Also, getting your work done will make your play time all the more fun, as it’s surely easier to relax when you don’t have the outstanding stuff you need to get done hang over your head.
Do you hang on the phone with friends for hours listening to their issues and sharing yours? There is nothing wrong with discussing your problems with those who are close to you, and that’s what real friends do. However, if you spend more than 30 minutes on the phone with any given friend talking about nothing specific, you are likely wasting time – your and his/hers.
2. Minimize Commute Time
If you drive to work/school for longer than 30 minutes one way, something is wrong with the way your life is set up, and unless it seems like a very temporary situation, it’s your duty to change that. Many of us live in suburban areas where you have to drive 5 miles to get a cup of coffee. I could write a treatise about all the things that are wrong with living in such an environment, but for now – you need to focus on setting up your life in way where you don’t have to waste hours on commute every day.
We all know that being stuck in front of the wheel sucks – it’s tiring and it’s one of the biggest waste of time. If you can’t find a job or school closer to where you live, then move closer to where you go every day. Spend extra few hundred dollars on rent. It will be worth it. “It’s all about location” might sound like a total cliche, but it’s as true today as it ever was. Just try it. You can always move back, but I bet that once you taste a better life – a life where you will be just a short drive or ideally – a quick walk from work/school will feel so much sweeter, that you will never want to go back to the way things were before, when you had to start your day on an wrong foot with a long commute on a congested road during rush hour.
3. Treat Small Segments Of Free Time With Value And Respect
I meet people every day who tell me that they wish they had time to read and work out, but they do neither because they are too busy. I know that at the very list they have extra 10-15 minutes in the morning and 10-15 minutes in the evening to spare. 10 minutes doesn’t sound like a whole lot of time, but most of us can comfortably run a mile in that time. Running a mile every day or even every other day is quite a work-out and is surely better than not working out at all. During the same 10 minutes, you might be able to read 2-3 pages of a great book.
Just because you don’t have time to take a whole fitness class or read half a book in one sitting doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy those activities in smaller doses. Don’t dismiss small segments of time as useless. They are not. If an advertising agency can pack in so much entertainment and marketing in a commercial that lasts for 30 seconds or even less, if a comedian can make you laugh your ass off with his 2 min Youtube video, and if the President can address the nation in 20 minutes, who are we to say that 10-15 minutes of time cannot be put into good use?
4. St0p Spending Time On Issues That Don’t Deserve Attention
I have known quite a few people who would fight the fights that were simply not worth fighting, like that guy who is making over $200k/year, and who hangs on the phone for an hour disputing a $4 charge on his phone bill, or this other guy who took half a day off work to fight a parking ticket that was virtually unwinnable, just because it was a matter of “principle”.
Maximizing your productivity demands picking and choosing your battles carefully. Fighting for the principle is a noble idea, but it’s only wise if you don’t end up the loser in that battle, even when you technically win. I doubt that a professional guy who takes half a day off work to stand in line to fight a traffic ticket ends up a winner in that situation even if he gets his ticket cancelled.
5. Stop Spending Time With Women You Don’t Like
Do you spend hours every week with a girl that you know you are not all that into, because no one better has come along yet? If so, you are doing a disservice to yourself by not using that time more productive on developing yourself professionally, socially, physically, spiritually, or even meeting the kind of girls that you would really like. You are also hurting the girl by possibly leading her into believing that you like her more than you do. Stop doing that. Unless both of you have great sexual chemistry, you both are completely honest with each other, and you both understand that you see each other exclusively to satisfy your mutual sexual desire for each other, you are wasting time – yours and hers.
Increasing your productivity is as much about being more productive as it is about making sure that you don’t waste time or you waste less time today than you did yesterday on things that add nothing to your life.
Read Next: The Easiest Way To Explode Your Productivity
10-15 minute drive to work. No freeway…no stress.
“If you drive to work/school for longer than 30 minutes one way, something is wrong with the way your life is set up”
— Nothing is ‘wrong with your life’; this is a basic reality if you don’t want to live inside a shitty N. American city. But I’ll agree that taking a car is a bonehead move for city travel. Use public transport, read your kindle, listen to audiobooks, etc…
Public transport sucks, too.
Crammed into a train car with 70 or 100 people you’d rather not smell, or have feeling you up? Stinks.
Car is worse; try doing it on a manual transmission in traffic. 🙁 THAT was REALLY bad.
In LA, I still prefer manual transmissions over autos, even in traffic. Left in a fairly low gear, you can creep along and adjust speed to stay on the bumper of the guy in front without constantly moving your right foot from the gas to the brake. You always notice the manual drivers, since they are much better at keeping the distance to the guy in front constant, without gaps ever opening up; almost almost like a piston. While the auto guys are pumping back and forth like an accordion on crack.
Of course, in traffic, sane people are on bikes; whether pedal or motor powered. No need to spend more time than necessary stuck behind drones, like some common cage ape.
Nice articulation on manual vs. auto, I do the same thing. If you commute, consider listening to Pimsleur language courses. A 30 min lessons goes by quickly, adds a new productive skill, keeps my mind active and I don’t care about any traffic.
Nice articulation on manual vs. auto, I do the same thing. If you commute, consider listening to Pimsleur language courses. A 30 min lessons goes by quickly, adds a new productive skill, keeps my mind active and I don’t care about any traffic.
Nice articulation on manual vs. auto, I do the same thing. If you commute, consider listening to Pimsleur language courses. A 30 min lessons goes by quickly, adds a new productive skill, keeps my mind active and I don’t care about any traffic.
Please fix all the typos in this article.
I don’t take advice from people who
I don’t take advice from people who
I don’t take advice from people who
who what, have numbers in their name? fuck you
who what, have numbers in their name? fuck you
who what, have numbers in their name? fuck you
who what, have numbers in their name? fuck you
I don’t take advice from people who
Until you’ve read 200 books, made a habit of reading an hour a day, and have learned fundamental grammar, please refrain from sharing your prose with the world. No person was ever taken seriously after starting a sentence with a number.
this was absolutely irrelevant.
Tango’s comment was somewhat helpful, though he should have included the points where there were typos making it helpful for decomposer to correct should he so wish.
My apologies for the confusion. My comment was directed at the author and not mr takes3totango, who makes a great point. Anybody else not used to reading bad prose?
this was absolutely irrelevant.
Tango’s comment was somewhat helpful, though he should have included the points where there were typos making it helpful for decomposer to correct should he so wish.
You need to get over yourself Hans, no one is impressed by your pretentious attention seeking.
Until you’ve read 200 books, made a habit of reading an hour a day, and have learned fundamental grammar, please refrain from sharing your prose with the world. No person was ever taken seriously after starting a sentence with a number.
Until you’ve read 200 books, made a habit of reading an hour a day, and have learned fundamental grammar, please refrain from sharing your prose with the world. No person was ever taken seriously after starting a sentence with a number.
Until you’ve read 200 books, made a habit of reading an hour a day, and have learned fundamental grammar, please refrain from sharing your prose with the world. No person was ever taken seriously after starting a sentence with a number.
Another good workaround for 2. is listening to books.
The “commuting” problem is largely solved when you work for yourself.
Red Pill men should either be self-employed, or in the process of taking concrete steps to become self-employed.
I’d rank that principle on a par with “You should work out.”
Commuting may no longer apply, but unless you are working purely online; traveling to see clients and the like still puts you out in traffic. And in places like LA, “rush hour” is now pretty close to a 24/7 phenomenon.
Easier said than done. Is there a Starting Strength for small business?
I’m a red pill business owner but have a brick and mortar location ~30 min from home. I commute at tail end of traffic, take a 20-30 min bike ride including 10 min meditation in late afternoon. Not everyone can (or even wants to) have a purely ‘information’ based job where you can work from the beach. But structuring one’s life to maximize life / enjoyment is a beneficial of being self-employed.
Good article, i’d also add. Get some sleep.
Don’t procrastinate into the twilight hours, it fucks you over for the entire day.
regardless if you’re an early bird or a nightowl, get some sleep for the manjority of the night.
if you work best at night, like me, set aside 8pm-11pm for work then hit the sack
get up early and do a bit more then up till breakfast
a great book to read about the importance of sleep is lights out: sugar sleep and survival
the guys who wrote it were from the first place to develop human manufactured insulin, so its got a ton of good dietary knowledge and predates gary taubes et als work
Good article, i’d also add. Get some sleep.
Don’t procrastinate into the twilight hours, it fucks you over for the entire day.
regardless if you’re an early bird or a nightowl, get some sleep for the manjority of the night.
if you work best at night, like me, set aside 8pm-11pm for work then hit the sack
get up early and do a bit more then up till breakfast
a great book to read about the importance of sleep is lights out: sugar sleep and survival
the guys who wrote it were from the first place to develop human manufactured insulin, so its got a ton of good dietary knowledge and predates gary taubes et als work
Good article, i’d also add. Get some sleep.
Don’t procrastinate into the twilight hours, it fucks you over for the entire day.
regardless if you’re an early bird or a nightowl, get some sleep for the manjority of the night.
if you work best at night, like me, set aside 8pm-11pm for work then hit the sack
get up early and do a bit more then up till breakfast
a great book to read about the importance of sleep is lights out: sugar sleep and survival
the guys who wrote it were from the first place to develop human manufactured insulin, so its got a ton of good dietary knowledge and predates gary taubes et als work
The manosphere audience is well read in terms of self improvement books, If you’re going to write about time management you’re gonna have to really bring it because it’s likely they’ve read the same tips somewhere else. I recently turned down a potential job offer because it would involve a 2 hour drive each day, if I could get a train there I could at least read/write, in the car you’re a total zombie.
Thanks, I fixed as many typos as I could. If there are more and you would be so kind as to point them out, that would be much appreciated.
A good way to be productive in the car is to listen to audiobooks. You can get multiple college educations from audiobooks in a lifetime of spending time in your car. Get a music player and only put educational audiobooks into it, and listen to it through the AUX port in your car. If you don’t have one, make it happen. Buy a new head unit. Play it through speakers, your phone, ANYTHING but just sitting in your car mindlessly.
I learned vast amounts of RSD material by ripping the audio from their seminars and putting it on my iPod.
Also listen to audiobooks and educational material while you’re in the gym. If you need music to be motivated to pump iron, you’re not motivated enough as it is. Feed your brain with positive, constructive education. Listening to most music today only affects your subconscious negatively, and we all know why.
I write down everything that has to do with my time and my money in a daytimer. I have a separate vehicle log book just for my car. Every day I write down on a sheet of paper where my money and time have gone, in columns. At the end of the month, I know to the nearest penny what I’ve spent, and on what. This may seem excessive, but I can’t fool myself anymore. I’ve made a few minor adjustments that save me thousands of dollars a year. We can all do this. Try it for a few months and see.