Success Principle #12: The Real Golden Rule (How to Be Productive)
Tuesday, 10 February 2015 in Get Success
The Productivity Concept - Golden Dozen
Hopkins calls his productivity concept the "Golden Dozen" because it's 12 words long.
The concept says -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
Read that again please -
I MUST DO
THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE
AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT
Maybe you see how this works.
But maybe you are a bit confused.
Don't read too far into it.
Just repeat that sentence over-and-over to yourself during the day.
Also, the Golden Rule calls for you to put up signs that say "I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT" in all of your rooms.
When I started trying to apply this concept, I put signs everywhere -
Bedroom.
Office.
Kitchen.
Everywhere.
Bathroom.
I was sharing a house with a bunch of people too. They didn't mind.
I had a little note card too.
With the Golden Rule in your head and often right in front of your face, you will constantly remind yourself -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
What This Actually Means
Go ahead and read pages 6 through 11 in "The Official Guide to Success", Tom explains what this is and what it means in his own words.
In a nutshell (directly from the book) -
Tell yourself, "I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment."
Decide what the most productive thing is.
Do it.
When you've pushed the thing as far forward as you can right now, go back to step (1) and start over.
That means, whenever you don't know what to do, find yourself off-task or are "bored" (a sign that your priorities are not that important to you), you tell yourself -
[size=14pt]
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
By default, you will figure out what to do, get yourself back on-task or STOP BEING BORED.
Works every time.
The biggest question that some of you guys have is -
- So does that mean I'm WORKING all the time?
No, it doesn't.
Sometimes, the most productive thing is to take a nap or get to bed early.
(so you can be rested to work on your #1 priority)
Sometimes, the most productive thing is to take a break and eat some food.
(so you can have energy to work on your #1 priority)
Sometimes, the most productive thing is to follow "Good Looking Loser's Life or Death Test" and schedule something fun to do at least once every 15 days.
(so you can remain emotionally/socially healthy to work on your #1 priority)
Whatever the 'MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE' is -
It is meant to benefit your #1 Goal and keep you focused on your #1 Priority.
What The Golden Rule Actually Does
(Practical Living, My Experience)
In real life, the Golden Rule does two main things for me -
Kills my desire to 'multitask', get off-task or procrastinate. Which are all the same thing. (short-term)
Keeps me more focused on my primary daily goal(s). (long-term)
That alone yield huge dividends over time.
Anytime I ask myself -
What is the most productive thing at this given moment?
If I'm off-task, I also automatically ask myself -
Why am I doing [whatever I'm doing]?
- Why am I flipping through Facebook to see how a cute girl I hooked up with 2 years ago has gained weight?
- Why am I spending more than allotted 20 morning minutes on my fantasy basketball team?
- Why am I reading customer reviews on Amazon of items I'm not going to buy?
- Why am I reading random Wikipedia entries about things I don't care about?
I will usually be right back on-task by realizing that I'm in "garbage time".
I consciously lived by the Golden Rule, everyday, for about 4.5 months back in late ~2009.
At the time, my main priority was still hooking up with girls and my secondary goal was to secure 5 private training/nutrition clients that paid me $1000/month.
It was the most consciously productive period of my life.
The Golden Rule has made me more productive on a daily basis and therefore - a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
Pre-Planned Golden Days & Golden Nights (These Days)
Although I no longer deliberately practice the Golden Rule on a DAILY basis, subconsciously, in the back of my head (or from the signs in my office) I'll be thinking -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
Practicing this on a daily basis is fantastic but eventually you want to reach autopilot and not have to constantly remind or correct yourself.
These days, I mainly apply the Golden Rule when I lose focus or "don't know what to do now...".
Both are pretty rare.
I do, however, have full days where I consciously practice the Golden Rule for the entire day.
For the sake of this discussion, I'm calling them -
Golden Days
Basically, it's a marathon work day, no less than 16 hours of short-term goals/tasks.
It's meant to knock off A LOT of work.
I have a pre-written checklist of small goals that I wrote the night before.
I take Modafinil (or Ritalin) in the morning and small amounts (3-6 grams, every 120-180 minutes) of Kratom throughout the day.
I take caffeine via Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr. Pepper, etc. throughout the day.
My appetite is DEAD because that's what this combo does. 3 meals will usually be fine.
I knock my goals out ONE by ONE by ONE.
Checking them off ONE by ONE by ONE.
The only breaks I take come when I finish the task or 90 minutes, whichever comes first.
Needless to say, I'm highly productive.
The biggest obstacle is wanting to go play instead of doing work.
When the "You're in a good mood! Let's go outside and play Chris!" idea comes over me, I'll think to myself -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
And Get back to work.
Sometimes I'll go for a jog or go to the gym (combo is amazing for the gym), but these 'Golden Days' are really meant to get 2-3 days worth of work done in just 1 day.
I will only schedule a handful or less of these "Golden Days" a month.
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Tuesday, 10 February 2015 in Get Success
The Productivity Concept - Golden Dozen
Hopkins calls his productivity concept the "Golden Dozen" because it's 12 words long.
The concept says -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
Read that again please -
I MUST DO
THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE
AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT
Maybe you see how this works.
But maybe you are a bit confused.
Don't read too far into it.
Just repeat that sentence over-and-over to yourself during the day.
Also, the Golden Rule calls for you to put up signs that say "I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT" in all of your rooms.
When I started trying to apply this concept, I put signs everywhere -
Bedroom.
Office.
Kitchen.
Everywhere.
Bathroom.
I was sharing a house with a bunch of people too. They didn't mind.
I had a little note card too.
With the Golden Rule in your head and often right in front of your face, you will constantly remind yourself -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
What This Actually Means
Go ahead and read pages 6 through 11 in "The Official Guide to Success", Tom explains what this is and what it means in his own words.
In a nutshell (directly from the book) -
Tell yourself, "I must do the most productive thing possible at every given moment."
Decide what the most productive thing is.
Do it.
When you've pushed the thing as far forward as you can right now, go back to step (1) and start over.
That means, whenever you don't know what to do, find yourself off-task or are "bored" (a sign that your priorities are not that important to you), you tell yourself -
[size=14pt]
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
By default, you will figure out what to do, get yourself back on-task or STOP BEING BORED.
Works every time.
The biggest question that some of you guys have is -
- So does that mean I'm WORKING all the time?
No, it doesn't.
Sometimes, the most productive thing is to take a nap or get to bed early.
(so you can be rested to work on your #1 priority)
Sometimes, the most productive thing is to take a break and eat some food.
(so you can have energy to work on your #1 priority)
Sometimes, the most productive thing is to follow "Good Looking Loser's Life or Death Test" and schedule something fun to do at least once every 15 days.
(so you can remain emotionally/socially healthy to work on your #1 priority)
Whatever the 'MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE' is -
It is meant to benefit your #1 Goal and keep you focused on your #1 Priority.
What The Golden Rule Actually Does
(Practical Living, My Experience)
In real life, the Golden Rule does two main things for me -
Kills my desire to 'multitask', get off-task or procrastinate. Which are all the same thing. (short-term)
Keeps me more focused on my primary daily goal(s). (long-term)
That alone yield huge dividends over time.
Anytime I ask myself -
What is the most productive thing at this given moment?
If I'm off-task, I also automatically ask myself -
Why am I doing [whatever I'm doing]?
- Why am I flipping through Facebook to see how a cute girl I hooked up with 2 years ago has gained weight?
- Why am I spending more than allotted 20 morning minutes on my fantasy basketball team?
- Why am I reading customer reviews on Amazon of items I'm not going to buy?
- Why am I reading random Wikipedia entries about things I don't care about?
I will usually be right back on-task by realizing that I'm in "garbage time".
I consciously lived by the Golden Rule, everyday, for about 4.5 months back in late ~2009.
At the time, my main priority was still hooking up with girls and my secondary goal was to secure 5 private training/nutrition clients that paid me $1000/month.
It was the most consciously productive period of my life.
The Golden Rule has made me more productive on a daily basis and therefore - a weekly, monthly and yearly basis.
Pre-Planned Golden Days & Golden Nights (These Days)
Although I no longer deliberately practice the Golden Rule on a DAILY basis, subconsciously, in the back of my head (or from the signs in my office) I'll be thinking -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
Practicing this on a daily basis is fantastic but eventually you want to reach autopilot and not have to constantly remind or correct yourself.
These days, I mainly apply the Golden Rule when I lose focus or "don't know what to do now...".
Both are pretty rare.
I do, however, have full days where I consciously practice the Golden Rule for the entire day.
For the sake of this discussion, I'm calling them -
Golden Days
Basically, it's a marathon work day, no less than 16 hours of short-term goals/tasks.
It's meant to knock off A LOT of work.
I have a pre-written checklist of small goals that I wrote the night before.
I take Modafinil (or Ritalin) in the morning and small amounts (3-6 grams, every 120-180 minutes) of Kratom throughout the day.
I take caffeine via Diet Mountain Dew, Diet Dr. Pepper, etc. throughout the day.
My appetite is DEAD because that's what this combo does. 3 meals will usually be fine.
I knock my goals out ONE by ONE by ONE.
Checking them off ONE by ONE by ONE.
The only breaks I take come when I finish the task or 90 minutes, whichever comes first.
Needless to say, I'm highly productive.
The biggest obstacle is wanting to go play instead of doing work.
When the "You're in a good mood! Let's go outside and play Chris!" idea comes over me, I'll think to myself -
I MUST DO THE MOST PRODUCTIVE THING POSSIBLE AT EVERY GIVEN MOMENT.
And Get back to work.
Sometimes I'll go for a jog or go to the gym (combo is amazing for the gym), but these 'Golden Days' are really meant to get 2-3 days worth of work done in just 1 day.
I will only schedule a handful or less of these "Golden Days" a month.
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