The 4 STEPS To Become A PRODUCTIVITY MASTER | Dean Graziosi

What if this was a time that could allow growth? The growth that you've been putting off for months or years? The time that you said, when it allows, I'm going to fit in starting a new business. I'm going to fit in gaining these new capabilities.

I don't burn out because I know what success means to me. I love what I do. Oh, my God, I hate needles. I feel like there's not even enough time in a day.

So if we're going to be stuck.

Stuck at home, work from home, think what our next move is going to be from home. We might as well be the most effective and efficient as possible. Hey, it's Dean Graziosi. Welcome to the Dean Graziosi show, where we go upstream to anchor in a foundation for success. No magical money machines here. This is the real truth to wealth, abundance and joy in your life, especially in today's uncertain, crazy times. This podcast is dedicated to what's going on right now around the world. With coronavirus and people being laid off and unemployment at an all time high, fear at an all time high, we're being told to stay home. But what if this was a time that could allow growth? The growth that you've been putting off for months or years, the time that you said, when it allows, I'm going to fit in starting a new business. I'm going to fit in gaining these new capabilities. I'm going to fit in becoming the best version of myself. But what if that was this time in the midst of the fear, in the midst of the uncertainty. So that's why I'm here, doing special podcasts each week, just about what's going on in the world right this very moment. And today I want to teach productivity. But maybe different than you've ever heard before, there's a lot of ways I love teaching about productivity. I love doing more than most people I know. I love being able to thrive in business. Thrive as a husband, thrive as a parent, thrive as a friend, thrive as a leader.

Right?

But how do you fit it all in and simultaneously eat better and work out? It's like, no, can you? Yes, you can. But this, specifically, this podcast, is about how to move the needle in your life. Listen, as you're listening to this, I don't know where you are. You have your own business that is thriving still in this shifted world. Or maybe you have your own business and you're scared. Maybe you've been wanting to start your own business. You don't know if this is the right time. Or maybe you Lost your job or you're just on pause in your current career. No matter where you are, I promise this is going to fit you. So let's break it down. We're home. So many of us, not everybody, but so many of us. Even if you're in the office, use the same strategy. I've been using this for over a decade and that's breaking down between the stuff you don't like, but you must do it, the things that you love doing, and then days you really don't do anything except allow yourself to be in flow state, in innovative state, in creative state, whatever you want to call it. Okay, so what does that mean? I run multiple companies, right? I have, you know, probably at this very moment, 75 employees in just one of my companies. So if to run a company, to run a life, to run your job, to run the company, you're going to start to run the company you want to scale. Doesn't matter what level you're on. This, this applies to everyone. You're going to have to do some things that you don't love. Okay, I'm going to give you my life. My example. I don't love zoom calls and conference calls that go on for so long that my ADD kicks in and I just want to scream. I just want like jump out a window like I'm on the first floor so I wouldn't get hurt. I meant run. Right? I don't like conference calls where people aren't specifically organized and it's kind of not talking about solution oriented stuff. That's just me personally. I need to do them. I need to have meetings with my accountants. I need to go over KPI's key performance indicators. I need to go over and make sure that our SOPs, our standing operating procedures are in place so my company can scale. I need to do all those things, but I don't like it. I'm just going to be honest with you. You know what I love? I love being in creativity mode. I love envisioning where the world is going, what people need. I love to be creative. I love to be a visionary. I love to make stuff up and then obsess on making it real. I love to come up with new ideas on what my next book will be or what my next video will be, or what my next course will be, or how to get self education to really become the new norm or how to solve big problems. I love solving big problems that most people think aren't solvable. They lighten me up, but I don't get to do those things. I don't get to make an impact. I don't get to employ and help.

People around the world.

I don't get to write books that empower millions. I don't get to do that unless I also do the crap that kind of sucks. And here's what I know I did wrong for many years is I would mix and match. I would have a conference call, then.

Try to film a video, and then.

Get done being creative in a video and say, okay, now I want to think of the next course or training I want to create. But then I'd get a call from my accountant and I'd worry about what our fourth quarter projections are going to be. And my brain would switch back and forth from, like, art and science, creativity and processes, and it would get all mumbled. And sometimes I feel like I'm not going quick enough. I'm kind of delaying.

Am I slacking?

Am I procrastinating? No. Because it was like my brain had.

To switch back and forth.

So what's the solution is when I do this right, and I'm urging you to do this, when I dedicate days for specific things, then the world changes. I get into flow state. I can get more done in an hour than I could on regular days in three or five, or what I believe other people take two weeks to get done. I can do it an hour if I'm in flow state. So I want to protect flow. I want to protect the thing in my life that moves the needle more than anything else. And that is my innovation.

I.

That is my creativity. So I'm going to give you an example in my life. Then we're going to put it back on you this week. On Monday, I'm just dying to film. I'm working on a new course right now that I love. I'm just going to. I'll be transparent. I'm working on a course on how everyone can be better on video. Everybody asks me how to communicate on video, authentically and real, and not get worried. It's like I'm an entire process. I've been geeking out on it. And I want to create that because everybody asks for it, right? So I. I want to get to that so bad. I've laid it all out. I got whiteboards all over my house. I got big sheets of paper like this that I. That I fill everything out on. Like I have the whole thing broken down. I got to get creative. But here's what I know. Monday of this week, as I'm recording this for you, I had zoom calls every hour with teams with different departments, with our marketing team, with our accounting team, with, with our next level fulfillment team, with our high end coaching and next level education team, ad buyers. Like I had to go through all those things. It's a big shift in everybody's business. My business shifted too. We were all in one building. Now we're virtual. Like lots of busy stuff. And I have to tell you, man, it burned me out. I didn't love it, but I scheduled it for Monday. And I can live with Monday being the day that I do all the crap that I don't love to do, but I must do. You see, in business, in life, if you want another level, it's not all peaches and cream. It's not all puppies and rainbows. You have to do the crap you don't like. Someday you get to hire people to take it away, but there'll still be stuff on the list you don't like, but you must if you want that next level. You want more freedom, want more control, you want to thrive in these uncertain times, you have to do the crap you don't like. But I schedule it for one day and I still do it to the best of my ability. And no one would ever know I don't like it. But because I know I must do that, because you know what I got to do on Tuesday? I got to live in my creative space. I came up with two challenges I want to do that I think will change the world, to really help people in today's world. Challenges that cost next to nothing. And in fact, they might even be free to give people capabilities that they need to start the business to thrive, to scale the business in the shifting times. I've been through three down economies. I know how to help people, right? So I wouldn't have been able to be in that creative mode on Tuesday if I would just let it all run together. So Monday I got the crap out of the way. Tuesday I was in creative mode. You know what's scheduled for me on Thursday?

Yep.

Back to some things I don't love to do. So I got Monday and Thursday to do the things I must don't love, but must do. But then I got Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and whatever time I decide to work on the weekend for the things that really move the needle in my heart, but then move the needle in my company, I allow me to get in flow state, allow me to be innovative, allow me to be an investigative reporter on what industries and what things are going to thrive in these shifting times and what things are going to go down and how I can put my attention towards the things that thrive and I can protect the downside, the things that are going to die. And then the third thing is schedule the days that you don't do any work. I know I was kind of against this for a long time. I have to be honest with you, totally against it. Because I, I'm a worker. I'll go seven days a week still to this day. But here's what I know. When I take days and just say no work, but I allow my brain, I should say no work. I allow my brain to fantasize, to envision where the world's going to be, to picture where I want my life, my family, my kids, my company, my impact in a year, five, 10 years. Now I mostly do fun things and hang out with my kids or take a bike ride or, or maybe watch a couple hours of Netflix on a day like that, on the weekend. But mainly I want my brain not to be focused on the busy work, not to be focused on SOPs or KPIs or when the book's going to get written or what hour I'm going to film. It's more of where are we going as a world? Where do I want to go? Who do I want to become as a man now? Do I do all this perfect? Do I Do I sit down and everything's lined? Heck no. I've been practicing this for years. I still screw it up. I'll still take my creative days and take a call I shouldn't. I'll still try to fit creative pieces in a day where I'm doing the crap I don't like and it's not my best videos and I end up doing them over anyway. I try on my days off to just envision, like, where I want to be, but I'll take a call. Like, I'll mess them up, but for the most part, I stick to this. So if you want to go to another level, if you want to move the needle and not get stuck with just the busy work, then schedule your days. What things do you not love to do, but you must schedule them? What things can actually move the needle in your life? Not just running on a treadmill, not on a hamster wheel, but the things that allow you to start the business, scale the business, get the marketing going, extract what you're good at, get your digital marketing, get your digital economy, get your information business off the ground. What can you do in those days and how on your days off, can you just kind of eliminate most and think about you want to become. What are the big boulders? What are the big needle movers in your life? As crazy as that sounds, I think it's one of my unfair advantages. I think it's what allows me to go faster, quicker than most people I know. And that's my secret for you while we're going through this shifting time in our world. And if you don't already have a copy, I got to mention it to you because legit. I didn't know this was coming, but it was, like, written for today's time. If you're watching the video, it's my book, Underdog Advantage. If you're listening to this on our podcast, go check it out@deansbook.com deansbook.com I think you'll see why people are going nuts over the Underdog Advantage, because we're all underdogs right now. And I'd love to get this book in your hands and see how you could take your disadvantages and make them your superpower. Of course, you can get it at Amazon as well, but we got a really special offer@deansbook.com and if you love this podcast, please share it, Take a picture of it, share it on Instagram, share it on Facebook. I do these every single week, three episodes a week for free, for you, to empower you. But a lot of people need this message. A lot of your friends need this message. So what about today? Thinking about who needs this, and go send it to them right now to take a listen.

I still pack my own vitamins. Look at these. Once a month, I pack up a month's worth. Here. Vitamins can be overwhelming, absolutely overwhelming, because you don't know what to take every time you read something awesome online. First of all, you don't know if it's an ad. You don't know if it's a fad. For the week, you get recommendations from 30 different people. So again, and it's because I'm fortunate to be in the space. I am. I hired a great doctor naturopath to understand my blood, my life. And then I get my little cheat sheet of what will make my life ideal. And for me, I have a little bit of high cholesterol. That's hereditary. My sugar runs a little high. I have a tough time sleeping at night, shutting off my brain. My adrenals get fried really fast because I go, I live on adrenaline. I don't need more than four hours sleep. I never get tired. I Don't take naps. Anyway, not that you care about all this, but I found a way to. Again, I'm always talking about paying for speed or learning from those who already know. I'd rather pay a doctor and great naturopath to give me the cheat sheet so I can fill these up once a month. And I know what to take in the morning, I know what to take at night. That's ideal for me. And how I justify paying a doctor and great naturopath to do it is if I can run harder, run stronger, be a better dad, be a better fiance, future husband, be a better leader for my team, have the stamina, have the energy to show the world at 50 I can keep up with anybody at any age, I think it's worth it, right? Because I equate everything, even when I didn't have money, I equate everything to a return on investment. So if I get a doctor that allows me to run faster, just think about this. What if I could go one hour a day stronger and harder? What if I could stay another hour a day and flow right? What if I can outrun my kids? They're only 10 and 12, but I told them I'll be 100 before they could outrun me. What does that mean? As an example to my kids about health and fitness, right? It's not just telling them to do it. I'm exemplifying it by living it, right? So in my head, and maybe it's justification, in my head, I justify the dollars that I spend for supplements for getting a cheat sheet, to knowing what to take. And I do love packing them myself. My assistant always says, I'll pack those for you and even my fiance, Lisa. But I like it because then I get to pick and I see all these things, and sometimes I'll be taking something for a while and I'll get my blood checked. And that's good, like cholesterol. I have high cholesterol. I was on a statin for a long time, and then I took the natural path for 10 years. And then in the last couple months, for some reason, my cholesterol has spiked like crazy. So my natural path's like, you know what? Do a statin for six months, get it under control, and then we'll go the natural route again. If you're watching, if you're a doctor, you might have another path. But this is the path I chose. And I don't mind cutting a check to be healthier, cutting a check to go faster, and I have zero doubts there's a return on investment. And then I do these once a week. I do a vitamin B shot. And this is a liver cleanse just to help detox. Yeah, this is my pile of supplements. So we're getting ready to go to Florida today. We're going to. We're going to. This is my superfoods. It's a little messy. My spirulina and cacao and maca and flaxseed and hemp seed and organic beet.

Powder.

Some shaved almonds. This is some stuff we just bought. Just got delivered. So, yeah, I mean, listen, I want.

To be able to impact the world.

I want to keep going. I want to be able to hustle. And so my health is. I mean, what is that, ancient? It's an old Indian proverb. It says, a man who has his health has many wishes, and a man without his health has but one. So, yeah, I probably run too fast, too hard. I probably not really stress, but I got a lot on my mind all times. It's hard to shut my brain down. That's probably the biggest thing I got to work on, is probably more meditation, more peaceful moments. But I love what I do so much. Like, literally, it's not just a saying. I love what I get to do. I love the impact I get to make. I love growing. Like, I'm 50. What do I got? 30 more good years. Like, to. To, like, leave more of a legacy, to make more of an impact, to.

Show people they can go to another.

Level, to give people an unfair advantage. Like, I feel obligated. Like, not that I was blessed by God with this perfect trick, but I'm in a space where I get to impact people. I get to show them a better path. And I have a big audience. So, like, I don't want to sleep. I don't want to not work. Like, my life is staying healthy so I can work, work, work, work, work, make an impact. Work smarter, not just harder. Be a great dad and be an example for my children. Kids don't do what you say. They become who you are. And last is be a good fiance and future husband. Get married in a couple months. So my focus, really, like, 90% of my focus in my life is my children, my fiance, my business, and my health and a lot of other things outside that. Just, there's no time for it. And that's okay because it makes me happy, it makes my family happy. And I think that's what we all have to do, is we all have to find what. What success means to us. And Sometimes it took me to my 40s to figure that out. So that's. That's my message on health.

How do you avoid burnout?

So you're going, going, going. My experience is that's it's kind of unsustainable if I. I don't 100% love what I do, but explain that to me. Yeah. So how do you avoid burnout? I would think when I see burnout.

I think, and this is a really.

Hard one to say because there's so many of you that might watch this and say, I'm in something I don't like. It's temporary. But I would find a way to trick your brain to say whatever it is that you're currently working on or anything that you're doing is just part of the path to get to what you're really supposed to do. And then you could trick yourself to say, this isn't waste. This isn't. This isn't a waste of my time. This isn't a waste of my energy. I'm working in this job because it's building the grit, it's building the muscle. I'm learning what I shouldn't do, or I'm learning what I should do. I'm failing forward. And it's all part of the design for me to have a better life. I didn't feel this way in my 20s. I worked hard in my 20s.

I got burned out a lot in.

My 20s and 30s. But I think having a big enough purpose, a big enough why, a big enough passion, I know all those words have been kind of played out, but I truly do love what I do. I don't want anybody to ever tell me how I can parent. Like, I want to be the dad I want to be. I want to. Like, literally right now, I'm flying to Florida to speak at Wealth Mastery. We're going to go on a trip together. The camera here for one of the first times. We're going to go to Wealth Mastery and I chartered Flying Private. One of the main reasons I'm flying private is because my kids are the number one priority in my life. That's my success. That fills my heart. It keeps me driving. So I'm giving telling that for a reason. I will jump on a plane now. I'll fly to Florida. I'll speak on stage tomorrow, rock the house, get up early the next day. And I'm going to fly from Florida all the way to California. Not all the way. I'll fly from Florida to California. I'll land, I'll See my daughter because the next day she goes to summer camp for a week, and there's no way I'm going to not see her before she goes to camp for a week. So I'm flying to Florida, going to land, going to get in a car, drive an hour and a half, take her to her camp, spend time with her, eat a little lunch at camp, leave, get back in the car, fly back here, and I'll do all those things without losing one bit of energy, one bit of stamina, one bit of drive, because there's no way. My motivation is what success means to me is when my daughter waves by to me when she's going off to camp, that's worth sleepless nights, that's worth pushing through. How do I get to send her to that camp? How do I get to fly private to get there so I don't miss her? And again, I don't want to say because some of you watching might be years away from this, right? But I will continue to work, continue to motivate. I'm writing my new book, I'm presenting on stage Tony Robbins, and I have the new training. I mean, I have 15, 12 different companies right now. I don't burn out because I know what success means to me. I love what I do. And I feel like there's not even enough time in a day. I want to keep going. Now, again, did that happen in my 20s and 30s?

No.

It was over time. I learned what to say no to. I learned not to surround myself with people who drain my life. I learned not to focus on projects that don't light up my soul. But I had to do a lot of shitty stuff in my life. I had to do the wrong things. I had to work with partners I didn't like. I had to accept bullshit, for lack of a better word. I had to work on cars. I drove tow trucks. I worked until 4 o' clock in the morning on houses. And I'd get up and work on cars during the day. I did the things I didn't like so I could do the things someday I would. But here's the thing. I didn't necessarily know it was when I was in it that someday I'd be at this place. Now that I look back, I realize that God, the universe, whatever you believe in, I had to do all that. I had to suffer, I had to struggle. But what I did have is I had focus, I had vision that someday.

I would have that life.

And that made all the difference is like, now that I look back thank God I was a mechanic. Thank God I fixed cars. Thank God I drove tow trucks. Thank God I had partners screw me over. Thank God I went through bad relationships. Thank God my parents were married and divorced nine times. I'm a better dad. I have more. I have more values. I have more structure. I've become a better human being because of all of those experiences. So I guess that's the best way. That's a long answer to a short question.

I've lost all my money more than once. I've worked way too many hours on busy work rather than accomplishing work. I know what it feels like to know you're working harder than other people, but why are they getting ahead and you're not? I know all those feelings, but I also know what it feels like to be on the other side. So it's a privilege and an honor that you are here with me spending this time. I know there's a million things you could do, there's a million podcasts out there, but you're with me and I don't take it lightly. I also don't take lightly that this podcast is growing super fast because of you. And I appreciate so many of you going to. What is the hell is that? Followed Dean sign up. I forget what it is. Not follow. That's. Oh my God, you're watching this video, Roger.

And I don't remember.

It is subscribe. Thank and so many of you going to subscribe to dean.com and registering so you can get your discounts and your free stuff and be have notifications when I post a new podcast. Thank you so much. So flow state, what does that mean? Okay, so I was in flow state yesterday and in a four hour period, I would bet to say I got more done in those four hours than I did in the previous four or five days. And what flow state does to me is compress time. It's. It's. You can get hours and hours. You can get 15 hours worth of work done in literally an hour. It seems impossible, but it's not. And every successful person I know gets into flow state. So what is flow state? To me, that's a time when you're living harmonious with the universe, with God, with. With your bigger future. And it's your, your, your talents are flowing through you. It's when you look at the clock and four hours go by and it seems like four minutes. It's not when you're looking and going, oh, another hour to lunch, you. You look and go, holy shit, there's only an hour left until lunch. I want, I'm not quitting. I'm going to eat it and I'm going to call and have food delivered. It's when you know you're making an impact that's moving the needle in your life. Rather than just busy work that's making you continue to run on a treadmill. You could put the treadmill on one or you could put the treadmill on 12. It doesn't matter how fast your legs are moving, you still are in the same place. So if you feel like you're in the same place, even though you're going faster, then I want you to think about flow state. Now flow state for me is first off, it's working on the things that move the needle. You really need to differentiate that in your life. You might be busy as hell. If you're listening to me. I bet you're a baller, you are a mover, you're a shaker, you're a hustler, you got grit. All the common new buzzwords that people are using, that's great. But if you have grit and you're a hustler and you're working on the wrong things, then you're kind of white knuckling. You're forcing yourself and you're not moving the needle. You're not going anywhere. Or sometimes you might have had a busy day and you come home and want to work on your own business and you white knuckle go, I need to do this. I feel bad. I'm not working more on my own business or my own dreams or the promotion I want. And you kind of force it and then the needle doesn't move and you're like, ah, it's like self fulfilling. Like it's really not helping. Maybe I should stick in this life that I really don't like. No, you shouldn't. You need to switch everything up a little bit. That's why you're here. That's why you're gaining the millionaire success habits again. I, I didn't, I didn't invent this stuff. I've just, just been through it all and I get to share from the other side of, of success and failure. So here's what I want to share. I want you to think about creating first off the atmosphere for the, for the, for the perfect working environment. Now I don't know if you like working in a busy coffee shop where people are coming in. You got your earbuds on, you like the energy. I like that kind of stuff. I like going to the hotels in Phoenix. I just drove by the Royal Palms. That's a place I go and work all the time. It's got the right music, the sound is the. The atmosphere is great, the temperature is always perfect. There's a waitress that comes and brings me my green tea and brings me snacks and I'll sit there with earbuds and work for hours. I can get in flow state there. I can also get in flow state when I'm literally in the busiest place possible, like a coffee shop with lots of busy people. I like the energy. My buddy Joe Polish likes to go to libraries where there's no one and it's quiet. But that helps them get the flow state. So for me, atmosphere. I love when there's kind of like spa music playing. I love making sure I got a kombucha and a green tea and a water and healthy snacks that I don't have to move. I love physically looking at something. I like looking at Camelback Mountain that I'm driving by right now. I like looking at a pool or the mountains or just something that stimulates. If I get in those, that helps the atmosphere. Secondly, other things I do, if I'm. If I feel I'm getting in the flow state to work on something that's going to move the needle, I will also, I will shut off my phone, I will teleport, tell everybody I'm checking out. I won't answer emails, I won't answer, I won't go on social media, I won't record a video for you guys if that's not what the part of my flow state is. I eliminate all other distractions. I write down the one to three things that I want to accomplish while I'm in this flow state. And I set myself up for fail or for success. Because in most days the complete opposite is we set ourselves up for failure. We want to get more done. We want to accomplish. We want to start the new business, write the business plan, get the marketing done, get the real estate deal done, make the offer. But we set up so many distractions. We're trying to do it while we're juggling kids or trying to get homework done or busy work done for our regular 9 to 5 job. And we set ourselves up for failure. So this is a little call to action.

I stopped.

Now I can look at the camera. There's a little call to action for you guys. Do you remember a time in your life life that you got so much done in a short period of time? Could have been yesterday, last month, Last year, you got so much done, and you felt amazing when you're done. You felt that sense of accomplishment. Those are flow states. I didn't name it. I think there's a book flow state, or I got it from somebody else, but I know when I'm in it. And yesterday, I literally compressed time and I accomplished so much. I got done. I was like, holy crap, look what I got done. So I'm going to encourage you guys to decide what's busy work and what moves the needle. Make a list of needle movers, then pick one or two only, and then find the place that satisfies you. Yesterday I was at my house. There was no one home. I put the music all through the house, like spa music. I got all my drinks. I got my snacks. I put on the most comfortable clothes. I sat facing the mountain where I live. I just lined up everything and I sat there and whoa, Magic happened. What's your atmosphere then? What are your thoughts? Shut off your phone. Tell everybody you can't, even if it's for an hour. And then immerse yourself in your goals. Start thinking about what your life is going to be like when you get to your next level. Get yourself in a space of abundance. Get yourself in a space of gratitude. And then attack the one or two things that move the needle. And don't focus on anything else. Don't be distracted. Don't check email, don't check Facebook. Don't check Instagram, don't check how many likes you got. Stay in that space. Get into flow state and watch the needle move with your accomplishments. Stop running on a treadmill. Be a ladder entrepreneur climbing to your next level.

What's up? What's up?

Hey, before you go, need to watch.

These next few videos.

They're absolute game changers. Hurry up and click right over here.

And watch them and I'll see you there.