Business Growth Strategies » Productivity

How to Shatter Your Productivity Barriers in 2012 – the 80/20 Way

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:20:06 +0000

So I just signed up for this… the $500K class in particular:

The reason?

I’ve been “stuck” at essentially the same income for the last 5 years or so. And I’m betting it has something to do with my daily work habits.

Not that they’re bad, per se. But there are many things I bet I could be doing better. And so that’s why I’ve signed up for Perry Marshall’s “80/20 Productivity Express.”

Here’s what Jack Born (Perry’s affiliate manager) says about it:

[I wanted to tell you] about Perry’s new coaching program on how to apply 80/20 thinking to productivity.

http://clickora.com/productivity

It’s called 80/20 Productivity Express and it’s definitely NOT a “me too” time management course.

Perry’s sharing his recent success at breaking through some of his own productivity challenges AND his team is each giving their unique talents and perspectives on getting projects done fast.

He just spent several weeks in China — mostly out of communication with us — and while he was gone his business grew.

Who wouldn’t love that?

That’s just the tip of the iceberg that Perry’s going to share.

I just listened to the free Q&A preview webinar and I was impressed.

That’s why I signed up.

There are two tracks:

One track is for people who want to crack the $100K mark.

The other track is for people who’ve already cracked the $100K mark, but now want to crack the $500K mark.

If you’re truly serious about breaking through your own self-imposed productivity barriers in 2012, I recommend you join me here:

http://clickora.com/productivity

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

An Inside Peek at Product Creation

Ryan M. Healy — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:43:43 +0000

Yesterday, I did a 1-hour interview with John Breese.

Our primary purpose was to discuss product creation, and we did that. But we also discussed productivity, copywriting, the state of Internet marketing, even John Wilkes Booth.

The interview is free — and there’s nothing for sale. You can download it here:

How to Create a Product Every Month

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Why I Don’t Use My iPhone Much

Ryan M. Healy — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 21:33:57 +0000

I have an iPhone.

Only my immediate family members and closest friends know the number.

I often leave my iPhone in the car when I’m out.

I rarely ever use it to access my email; rarer still that I use it to access the Internet.

In fact, my brothers tease me because of how little I use my iPhone.

You may think I’m a little crazy for my behavior. But after you read this, it will all make sense:

Being Unreachable and Totally Accessible

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

How to Stand Up When You Get Smacked Down

Ryan M. Healy — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 17:27:24 +0000

Got a tough question in my inbox today…

Hi Ryan,

I have a question I can only ask a copywriter/marketer who is a parent.

See, since I don’t have kids, I have a different kind of pressure to face than you do.

Recently my main laptop crashed, which erased my entire product launch information.

While I back-up my stuff every week, well, let’s just say it crashed about one day before the weekly update.

This resulted in major stress, not being able to meet my personal deadline.

Since all this happened, I’ve re-written the entire product launch, but at the expense of any and all other productivity.

My question is this – since you’re a parent and you have to constantly keep your act together and keep going, what do you do to re-stabilize after the shit hits the fan?

Reading an email like this makes me cringe because I know the kind of anxiety you feel in the pit of your stomach when you lose hours of work.

That anxiety is magnified tenfold if you’re facing an imminent deadline.

There are a few things I do to recenter when I’ve gotten the proverbial smack down from things outside my control.

First, I remind myself that it’s times like these that define who you are. Are you going to give up? Or are you going to grit your teeth and just get ‘er done?

Second, I remind myself that I can’t control everything. It’s part of being human. But I can control my actions and behaviors. I can control how I react… and… what I do in this moment.

So I try not to waste too much emotional energy when bad stuff happens. “Don’t cry over spilled milk” and all that. I just get back to the grind with energies redoubled and do my best to make something good out of the bad.

Third, I usually have a couple Bible verses replaying in my mind, specifically Proverbs 24:16 and James 1:2. I find encouragement from these verses. Maybe you will, too.

“…for though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again…” Proverbs 24:16

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds…” James 1:2

I find that memorizing a few key quotes can be especially helpful in tough situations. They don’t have to be Bible verses. Just some brief words of wisdom that help you quickly recenter.

Fourth, I visualize great moments when people have overcome insurmountable odds to win.

Have you ever seen a great football game where the underdogs prevailed? Reliving moments like these can galvanize you, light a fire in your belly, and give you great mental fortitude.

Borrow the emotion from other people’s heroic moments and that will help you become the hero you need to be when bad stuff happens.

Hope this helps.

-Ryan M. HealySimilar Posts:

Forgiveness in an Age of Revenge

Ryan M. Healy — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:45:03 +0000

If somebody wrongs you, it’s natural to be upset. And it’s natural to want some kind of retribution or revenge.

Just look at how we as a nation reacted to 9/11. Everybody wanted to take up arms and go kill some terrorists. (In fact, we’re still on a witch hunt, killing people in countries who had nothing to do with 9/11.)

We could have reacted differently. We could have turned the other cheek, forgiven the perpetrators, and earned the world’s respect.

Unfortunately, we showed our true colors. To our detriment, we proved we are not a forgiving people.

The reason I’m writing this post today is because it’s WAY too easy to get bent out of shape when you are wronged. It’s WAY too easy to hold a grudge and boil in your own venom.

There is a better way.

It’s called forgiveness.

Just yesterday I was reading a post by Internet lawyer Mike Young. He writes, “Everyone makes mistakes. If perfection is the standard by which marketers are to be measured, none would meet it.”

I totally agree.

So while I did “name names” in Internet Marketing on Life Support, I did it to protect unsuspecting people from what I consider egregious abuses of trust. It was not to imply that I or anybody else is perfect.

A Better Way to Respond

Personally, I’ve been ripped off by multiple clients in the past. Some to the tune of thousands of dollars.

Of course, I could have moped about it, spent time thinking of ways to get even. But that kind of behavior is totally unproductive and not gratifying in the least.

In each case, I’ve made changes to prevent the same situation from happening again, then shifted my attention toward finding new (and better) clients. It’s paid off.

My advice: Keep short accounts with people.

As King Solomon advised in Proverbs 19:11, “A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression.”

So when somebody wrongs you (and it will happen), better to just chalk it up to experience and keep going. You’ll be a better human — and you’ll be more productive — if you learn to forgive, forget, and move on with your life.

-Ryan M. Healy

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How I Overcome Inertia

Ryan M. Healy — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 19:08:20 +0000

Nearly everybody deals with inertia at some point. The law of inertia says this: things at rest tend to stay at rest; things in motion tend to stay in motion. Nobody is immune to this law.

Maybe this is why whenever John Carlton writes a sales letter, he imagines his prospect as a fat slob sitting on a couch. He is watching television. And he is the type of person who’d probably not even bother to get up if his house was on fire.

While most folks aren’t quite as extreme as this imaginary prospect, we all have to fight the urge to “stay at rest.” With that in mind, here are three things I do on a regular basis to overcome inertia.

1. Write to-do lists by hand.

This may sound old-fashioned, but it works like magic. Simply get a spiral notebook, write the date at the top of the page, then list everything you need to do in a numbered list.

I’ve been using this technique for years. It has probably contributed to my productivity more than any other single activity.

Here are a few tricks I’ve learned along the way that can make your to-do lists even more effective.

First, write your list in order of urgency and importance. What needs to be done first, second, third, etc.?

Second, whenever you complete a task, cross it off the list. The more items you cross off, the more momentum you build… and the more eager you are to get more done.

Third, get in the habit of rewriting your to-do list. Once you’ve crossed off 30% to 50% of the items, rewrite the list. Any task that has not yet been completed will then be rewritten on the next list. You may add new items as well.

This process of rewriting goes to work on your brain in ways that I can’t even explain. Rewrite a certain task enough times and you’ll do it… just so you won’t have to rewrite it again!

In terms of timing, I find it’s best to rewrite my to-do list at the END of the day. This sets my subconscious mind in motion. I usually wake up in a state of intense focus, ready to tackle whatever is first on my list.

(Hat tip to Brian Tracy for teaching me these tricks. They really work!)

2. Work on short deadlines.

As a copywriter, I have the tendency to budget too much time for copy projects. But too much time can actually be a bad thing. Why? Because Parkinson’s Law says this: Work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.

In real life, this means you’ll probably do most of the work required to complete a project immediately before the deadline. Remember cramming before a test? That’s Parkinson’s Law at work.

The fact is, you don’t need as much time as you think. So give yourself shorter deadlines. You’ll get more done faster, build momentum, and literally be amazed by how much you are able to do each day, week, and month.

3. Take time to rest.

This last one is counterintuitive. How can you get things done when you’re resting?

The answer is, you don’t. But you have to take time to rest to recharge your batteries. Otherwise, you may burn out and start to engage in avoidance behavior (like mindless surfing so you don’t have to start that project you’re dreading).

I view work as a series of sprints and rests. When you work, you work hard. When you rest, you rest hard. By working hard, you rest better. And by resting hard, you work better.

When you don’t allow this natural rhythm to run its course, bad things happen. Example: You ever meet a “muscle head”–one of those guys whose got to be in the gym lifting almost every day of the week?

Guys like this who are addicted to weight-lifting are actually hurting their bodies and reducing their potential muscle gain. They constantly rip their muscles, but never give their bodies time to rest and repair the muscle. This is a recipe for suboptimal performance and even injury.

True story: I saw one of these guys a couple weeks ago at my gym. His entire left arm was bound up in some weird-looking contraption. I overheard him explain the injury. His bicep had literally ripped off his arm and bunched up at his shoulder… a result of lifting too much weight and, I imagine, not allowing his body time to rebuild.

So the lesson is this: rest is critical to achieving peak performance and productivity.

In my own life, I like to start work early around 5:30 a.m. But if I feel my body needs rest, I’ll sleep in. That’s because I know I’m always more focused and productive when I’m fully rested. So I refuse to be dogmatic about getting up early. It’s simply counterproductive.

Of course, there’s much more you can do to maximize your productivity. But I’ve found these three things to be the most effective for me. Perhaps they will prove to be effective for you, too.

-Ryan M. Healy

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