Transformation Week Day 4 - PRODUCTIVITY

Hey, my friends, it's Brendon Burchard and welcome to special series of the Brendon show. In this series we're playing for you our entire program called transformation week. Transformation week is a program that Denise, my wife and I did to help people really understand what are the key habits that we know from science will help dramatically, I mean, really dramatically improve your life. It was an incredible video based program and online challenge that Denise and I did and we wanted to just capture it here for you in audio here on the Brendon show. So for the next six, seven days, we'll release a brand new day of transformation week and you'll get the audio right here on the podcast. If you're somebody who loves video and you would love the resources or the tools that we recommend as an example, the downloads or some special discounts to some products we might mention, please make sure you just go to transformationweek.com that's transformationweek.com when you go there again, you'll.

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Decade of your life. Hey, everybody, it's Brendon Burch and Denise Burchard. We're married. We are and we run together hpx, which is the high performance experience. And welcome to episode number four, productivity of transformation week. How do you increase productivity? How do you get more done, feel more fulfilled and crush it every single day? That's a topic Denise and I are taking on for you guys today.

It is.

I will share with you that Denise is the single most like SWAT team, productive. Make things happen, which is her thing. Make it happen. She's always saying make it happen. On occasion, on occasion she's always make it happen, make it happen. She's just so good at this. So I hope you all will really tune in. I highly encourage you to make sure you have a journal for transformation week if you haven't already. If you're just joining us for the very first time here on transformation week, my friends, episode number one, we talked about all transformation begins with getting clarity. Then episode two, we said all transformation rests on you generating energy, mental, emotional, physical, Spiritual energy to be able to serve your mission, make your difference, change your world. Number three, we talked about the importance of raising necessity, making success necessary for you, making sure that you identify with that part of you. As Denise shared, you know, to really have, like, a sense of you that says, I want to be excellent at what I do.

Yeah. Internalizing and making it your identity.

Yeah. And really taking it in, saying, listen, it is necessary. Like Les Brown always taught, you gotta be hungry for success. It's necessary for you to succeed. That's how you're gonna really transform your life. Today's episode is on productivity, which we are pumped to talk about because, you know, so many of you know we have the high performance planner that we offer through hpxlife.com our high performance planner is just like the thing that literally hundreds of thousands of people use every single day now to stay on track to get things done. But we always get more questions about how do you handle productivity? So Denise and I are gonna talk about that today.

Yeah. And you use the planner every day, and it's how you get so much done yourself.

I'm a wreck if I don't use productivity tools. Some of you are just, like, super naturally productive. You're amazing. You're incredible. I wish that was me. I need all the tools, all the help, all the strategies I can possibly get. So I'll start with it. If you haven't joined us in Transformation week four, some simple things to know. Denise shares three things and I share three things. These are our favorite strategies in each of these episodes. So if you missed episode one, we talked about our three favorite strategies, each about clarity, and then we talked about entertaining energy and then raising necessity. We'll do that here. I'll start with my. My first one. I really believe that if you're going to change your life, like transform your life, which is the theme of this week, Transformation Week, I believe it all begins with productivity, with you doing something very simple. You need to do a what matters inventory. And what that means is what I'd love for you to do is look back at your last week or your last months and really evaluate your days. Like, look at your calendar and look at all the things you did and ask, is what I am doing mattering? Like, how much of my day did I focus on? Things that really matter, the things that move the needle forward. High performers spend approximately 60% of their week focused on what they would identify as the needle moving activities, like the big chunks, the big blocks of things that matter the most. And all that other detail, all those other little small things, it's not that they don't do them. It's that they have really moved their life and their calendar to focus on the things that matter most.

They've optimized their time using the. Using their time for things that are the most important.

Yes, Yes. I always tell people, it's like, listen, are you spending your week doing busy work or are you spending your week doing your life's work? And you need to know the balance and you'll never do that until you do like a mattering inventory, meaning go back through yesterday and be honest with yourself. How much of the day did you focus on the things that are actually moving your life, your business, your career forward versus how much of the stuff that you do that just, you kind of run around like chasing your tail. Like you answered a bunch of stupid emails that don't matter. You, you, you know, replied to a bunch of things that didn't matter. You went through social media that didn't matter. You did all these activities didn't matter. And I remind you that, you know, just 20 minutes of wasted time each day doesn't sound like a lot, but 20 minutes of wasted time each day or even just lack of focus time, but 20 minutes lost each day adds up to two full weeks at the end of the year, meaning 24, 7 for 14 plus days. You didn't do anything. You wasted those times. And I tell people all the time, like, what if you could get two extra weeks a year to just focus? And they're like, oh my gosh, I'd take it. I'm like, well, that's easy. Just don't keep losing 20 minutes or the average American. I always share. I was telling these this from every stage I've been on. The average American today spends about four hours in front of the television. And four hours in front of the television adds up to 13 years across the average adult lifespan. So think about that. 13 years, 24, seven in front of the TV. That's 13 years you could have spent with the kids. You could have built that empire. You could chase that other dream. People say, I don't have time to chase my dreams. It's like, no, you're just wasting so much other times that you're not allowing yourself that time. So do a matter inventory, meaning did you focus on what matters the most over the last couple days, last couple weeks, last couple months? It's worth literally spending just maybe two hours of your time today to just go back through and really evaluate how Much of your time is focused on things that matter the most. That is my first thing. Do an inventory. Get real. Be honest with yourself to know how productive you've really been versus how much you think you've been.

I also think relationships are part of productivity, too. So if you are blocking your time or taking inventory and you're looking at how you spent your time, relationships are part of that as well. They're not productive. It's not only work, it's spending time on building relationships and nurturing them into growing healthy conversations.

So, yeah, it's huge because I think it's so important, and I should qualify that because that study that we did where the world's highest performers spent about 60% on the major needle moving activities, that was in the context of the work week. So this 60% of the work week was doing the big blocks of major efforts that move their life forward. 40% was on, like, smaller administrative things, things that didn't matter, but it didn't mean they also didn't go home and have amazing relationships with each other. Because we want to remind you that high performance is defined as succeeding beyond standard norms while consistently maintaining positive being and relationships. And a lot of people think of productivity is like SWAT Team, get stuff done, crush it. But if you lose your relationships in life because you're working so hard or you lose your health, that's not high performance. And over the long term, you'll just be burned out or be lonely and unfulfilled. So beware. Focus your time really productively, but don't think your health or your relationships have to come at that cost. That's what we found in the world's largest study. High performers wrote about it. High forms habits. Denise, what is your first strategy?

My first strategy is breaking things down and blocking time for them appropriately. And why I say that is because I think a lot of people get overwhelmed and then they just don't move forward or they get stuck and kind of circle around. But when you can break something down into smaller pieces and then schedule them, and I call it, you know, like every. Everything has its home in your planner about when you're going to do it. And here's the other thing that I have found to be a huge piece of productivity is if you know that one of those pieces that you are blocking into a compartment or a time slot, make sure it's an appropriate time slot. So if you know that something's going to take you two hours to do, put it in a slot that you have two hours. Not for 30 minute chunks that get broken up because then you're going to kind of lose some of that momentum and streamlining that would happen if you could do it all in one chunk. So break it down, schedule it so that everything, every task has a home and then you won't be so overwhelmed because suddenly you know when you're going to get it done. And almost just that sense of peace and ease with that just is like a sigh of relief and then you can just check it off and do one step at a time. So I like doing this on Sundays for my entire week. I would encourage you when you do maybe your review of the planner that you plan out your week and put things in appropriate times.

Foreign. My second big idea is the five moves methodology. If you read high performance habits or you've been in my tribe for HPX for a long time, you know that I believe any major dream, any major goal you have can be broken down into five major moves. But we tend to overcomplicate things. So we think of all dreams as these overwhelming scary things that will take, you know, millions of actions. And so we don't start because we're overwhelmed. But if you could just break it down and kind of like chunk down your dream into like five things that you would have to do. So for example, for me like writing a book, I'm like okay, number one, write proposal and outline like just kind of like think through the book. What's the book gonna be about? What's the outline gonna be? Number two, write book, you know, and that's just a big activity of it. Number three, three, get major publisher or major agent major publisher to represent the book, to publish the book. Number four, promote that book, like launch that book. And number five, get a community activated around that book. That's five things to become a best selling author. Everything else happens drilling down from those major moves. So the major move is think like they've like it's the project or the major activity that has to happen and, and then you break that down into more steps or to more deadlines. It's just basic project planning. But it's so comforting when everyone says I got this big dream Brendan. I don't know what to do. I'm like there's only five things you have to do. Figure out where those five major earth moving things you would have to do. Break it down, set the schedule from there. Then it's not so overwhelming. Most people aren't more productive because they're overwhelmed before they start. They just think there must Be a million random things they have to do. I'm like, nope. You can line it up, knock it down, and if you focus on figure out your five moves, you can do that. If you need help again, I know I'm pushing it really hard today, but, Denise, what's your number?

I like that. Those five things. So once you've got your five things and you've scheduled your five things into block times, the next thing I think is following through.

Yes.

Follow through on your block time.

Oh, my gosh, you're so good.

Because what happens is you create this positive confidence loop, where when you're achieving each one of those pieces that you've broken out, it gives you this loop of, okay, I did it. I can do it. It's not so overwhelming. It's not so intimidating. And you can build up momentum and confidence that you can get the things done. And when you see it happen over time, you're just kind of replaying that positive loop for yourself, which then allows you to take on bigger projects, bigger chunks, with confidence and with ease, because you are building this muscle of productivity and just positive associations with it versus being overwhelmed and kind of stuck. So my challenge to you would be to follow through and then also stop and acknowledge when you do follow through and internalize how that makes you feel. And I think it's so easy to kind of blow through everything that you're doing. But when you stop and think, wow, look at what I just accomplished, or look back and see how all those little steps added up into something, or if you can look back and, no, look, I used to be able to do this, but now I can take this, you know, something bigger on or a bigger project on. Making those little wins acknowledgeable factors leads up to huge, huge successes.

Yeah, I love that we've become much better as a couple. Like, celebrating wins in little ways. Whether it's like we come home from a big trip or something happened, it's like, okay, let's go get a pina colada. Or, you know, it's like, let's go celebrate in this way or that way. And it does make a huge difference. And I think it's really important that we focus on that. My last idea, y' all team. You have to understand the power and the momentum that comes from a team. And so many people say, well, Brendan, I don't have a team. I don't have any supporters. I don't have anyone who understands me. No one's cheering me on. Well, first, your progress is not dictated upon. People approving understanding, or cheering you on. However, the faster progress you want in life, the more you realize you need to get a team. Or that's you get your first assistant or you get an intern, or you get somebody in your family or one of your friends to help you out. But it's about just having that camaraderie of people around you, whether you're paying them or just part of the mission, who really support you. Like, we have a lot of team, we call you guys sometimes Team hpx. You'll see us use that hashtag a lot, like when you guys do something amazing like hashtag teamHPX, because it's like just sometimes a social community or people supporting you, like there can be a movement that begins. And when you have a movement at foot, then all of a sudden productivity happens more because you have more people fighting for it and striving for it. You have to realize if you have a big dream in your heart, then you must develop leadership skills as an art. It's really important. I meant to rhyme. Did you see that rhyme?

I did.

If you got. Yeah. Big dream in your heart. Yeah. I think it's just important. Listen, too many of you, you're striving by yourself for way too long. Why? Well, I'm not a good leader. I'm not a good manager. Look, well, you weren't a good bike rider or shoe tire. You figured it out, you started, you tried it. I always tell people, no matter how small you start, start something that matters. And if you just start with one person, one team member, one employee, one independent contractor, you source, Trust me, once you get one or two or three or four, it builds a momentum. And it's not that much harder to go in from 10 people to 20 people to 30 people. Denise had 30 employees. You know, it's like she didn't know how to do that. She wasn't on it. She wasn't an entrepreneur, she wasn't a big manager in her previous career. She, she just learned. She got in the fray and realized if she really wanted to be excellent with her customers and build a brand, she needed a team. And so I'm just encouraging. I didn't know that either. We have now, you know, four plus companies that we own or majorly invest in that have, you know, crossed the 200 person employee number. I never imagined that would be part of our life. But while we're doing this, they're out there working in this world to spread the difference to, to take the high performance experience to literally millions of people around the world. If we didn't have that team, we wouldn't probably even get to meet you or know you. And so I just want to let you know, you're like, building a team should be an absolute humongous priority for you if you have a big dream that'll make you more productive. Yeah, yeah. We get, like. I get, like, 50 things more done. Everyone's like, how you get so much done? I'm like, I don't do it all myself anymore. I did it all myself for, like, 10 years, which was stupid. The biggest mistake I made in our career was I didn't get team earlier because I was able to do everything. Now, you know, when we have. When we can have team around, like, we did this yesterday. We probably were five times more productive because people were doing that. We could do our art. And so I just really want to emphasize, have the team, build the team, scale the team, because that will make you infinitely more productive.

Yeah.

Yeah.

My last thing is being thoughtful about your transitions between one thing to the next. So if that means, you know you're transitioning from work to home, and like, you like to say, take two beats and maybe you stop in the car and you think about who you want to be, and you transition into your home and your spouse and your family, perhaps that's one type of transition. The other type of transition is transitioning from one project to the next, or I call them different hats or different roles. And if you're an entrepreneur or you're looking to build something, you have a lot of different hats that you have to wear all the time. And sometimes those hat transitions have to happen pretty quickly, just depending on what it is. I know for my exercise studio, it would be teaching class for one hour and working with clients the next, and then training teachers and then doing marketing and then managing the accounting and the finances. I mean, these would all happen in half a day's time or whatever an entrepreneur's half a day time is. So you have to be able to manage those transitions pretty quickly so that you're not losing focus and you're also not losing productivity between them. And I think helping. One thing that helps is block time, because it won't all stay in your head. Like, you need a little bit of plan or guidance. So if you know you're going back to block time, if you know what your next thing is, then you can quickly go to it, and you almost can anticipate it. Okay, I need to switch my mindset to this, and I don't know how Many times I've walked around if I didn't have a plan, and you kind of. You're like, what am I supposed to do next? But if you have it written down and you go back to it, you're going to minimize the lost time and focus that you might have in transitions, wondering, what am I supposed to do next? So I think that is a huge, huge one. And so I would challenge you for every day in the next week. Take a moment at least once a day. If you can do it more, great. But take a moment to notice your transitions and to apply somewhere that you have a challenging time keeping your momentum or keeping your focus or your productivity. Implement that for seven days straight and see how that transition time helps you become more productive.

I love that. I was also saying to everybody, you know, be. Be patient on yourself.

Yeah.

You know, I think.

And notice what works.

Yeah. I just feel like this is an area, honey, that, like, people are so hard on themselves. They. They know they can achieve more, but they're not. And they're just. They hate themselves or they guilt themselves and then they get down on themselves.

And that emotion celebrate the wins.

Yeah. But a lot of people go, well, honey, I, you know, they say I haven't had any wins. And so what I think my message is that just go easy on yourselves. Because if you're always hating yourself for not getting progress in your life, that emotion carries over onto the next Monday. If you always feel down on yourself, that's something to explore. Because feeling down on yourself is hurting your productivity and your ability to make your difference in the world. So take your psychology seriously. Listen, you're stronger than you think. Please give yourself some credit. Please enter each day confident. And remember, confident isn't like, I'm so perfect. Confident is. I believe in my ability to figure things out. Wander each. Wander into each day with an open, positive mindset that you are going to do the things that matter, that you're going to, you know, do the things that matter the most, push away the things that don't really reclaim your life's agenda. Because, listen, if you're ever going to get productive for you and your family, decide to do that now, I think.

It'S also important to kind of internalize. I think mindset is a huge component to feeling productive or feeling like you have progress. And if you're trying something new, you are making progress because you're seeing if it works or if it doesn't work for you.

Learning is progress.

Yeah. And it's evolution. And you can't evolve or make progress without maybe having some stumblings. And if you figure out what doesn't work for you, that's progress too. So I think it's how you define it.

Yeah, I think it's so important. Well, we hope you enjoyed this episode of HPX Transformation Week. We always get asked, what's hpx? HPX stands for the High Performance experience. Denise and I's mission is we're trying to change people's lives. And to do that, we just want to like tell you that there's this other experience of life where you are more focused, more organized, but also more fulfilled and energized, moving throughout your day. Our values are about helping you become more vibrant, more connected, more excellence driven. We really appreciate you all being part of this one. Our next episode we're taking on how do you develop more influence? So tune in for that one. Until then, Denise has this thing she likes to say.

Remember, you always have a choice. You can choose to be average or you can choose to become extraordinary.

So my friends, go be extraordinary today. We'll see you soon. All right.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of Transformation Week. Again, if you really love this and you want the video based resources, tools and downloads for Transformation Week, make sure you go to transformationweek.com again, that's transformationweek.com and your email there. We'll send you the entire Transformation Week series, all the videos, all the resources, all the tools you'll be able to access for free@transformationweek.com.