Boost yourself on: Attentiveness, planning, willpower, dedication

Foreword

Michael Hyatt is a bestselling author, podcaster, and founder of Michael

Hyatt & Co., a leadership development company that has been ranked
by INC. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing companies in America.

In Free to Focus, Michael shares a three-step productivity system to help

you become a well-rounded professional who wins at work and in life.
Among other things, you will learn...

● Why productivity is not about working faster but smarter

● How to cut unnecessary distractions and work in your zone of

genius

● How to have time for other things outside work

● How to design your ideal week for maximum productivity

“I’ve been where you may be now—buried under a mountain of daily
tasks, watching my biggest goals and most important projects slip further
and further out of reach. Here’s the solution. Michael Hyatt has created a
productivity system that really works. Free to Focus does not
disappoint.” ~ Lewis Howes

1. Productivity is not about getting more things done

21st century workers are the most distracted in history. Study after study
shows that people are hardly committed to work for the entire eight
hours they stay in the office. One study of UK and Canadian workers
reports that employees work an average of 1.5 – 2.5 hours out of the
eight they are supposed to be working.

The numbers are indeed staggering. And it's not only true for
employees. Business owners and self-employed people also struggle to
stay productive. It's not even that we're disengaged with work — a good
number of us love the work we do. We're passionate and proficient, just
too distracted by emails, phone calls, slack messages, data feeds, and
the likes.

We try to get around this productivity problem by Googling tips and

hacks and investing in productivity solutions. These tactics help, except
they aren't sustainable. If you're honest, you'll probably admit to trying
several productivity hacks that don't work. Michael Hyatt was in your
shoes several years ago. After he rose to the position of CEO at Thomas
Nelson, Michael found that he was splitting himself between too many
tasks. He was doing so many different things in a day that he almost
always ended up drained and exhausted after work.
He tried productivity apps and tricks, but they didn't help much. This
made him start studying the subject of productivity for himself. He
created a blog where he shared ideas he got along the way with his
readers. Soon, he was being known more as a productivity expert than
the CEO of a company.

“Focusing on everything means focusing on nothing.” ~ Michael Hyatt

Michael distilled his years of learning and personal experience into a

three-step productivity system, and that's what you're about to learn in
this summary. The first step is to stop and decide what you want then
create an action plan. Step two is cutting out unnecessary work and
focusing on work that inspires you. Finally, step three is where you take
action.

If you're down on productivity, the solution is not to work more, but to pull
back and re-strategize.

Don't worry, we will go through all steps in this summary, but first a
disclaimer: this summary may rubbish everything you think you know
about being productive. Get ready for it.

Did you know? Research shows we get interrupted or distracted every

three minutes on average.

2. The secret to winning the productivity game is to have a

clear vision for your work life

There is an old statement that is often referenced by some productivity

experts and work-life balance advocates. The statement was made
popular by American Rabbi Harold Kushner and it's often attributed to
former U.S. Senator Paul Tsongas. You've heard it before. It says
“Nobody on his deathbed ever said, 'I wish I had spent more time at the
office.'

That statement may be true for some people, but you can't just
generalize it. Work constitutes a major part of our lives. Yes, some
people go to work just because they have to pay the bills, but some
others are excited about work. They're happy when they get up in the
morning because a new day is another chance for them to make a dent
in the universe through their work. This category of people don't regret
spending time at work. And no, they don't have to be Steve Jobs or Elon
Musk or another famous inventor/creator. They are salespeople, writers,
lawyers, accountants, etc., who are happy with the work they do. They
cherish their profession because it's a vehicle for helping someone
achieve something.

The difference between these people and those who hate their jobs is
the difference between productivity on an inspiring job and fake work on
a job you dislike.

A good chunk of employees are disengaged with work. But this shouldn't
be so. You're wasting your time — and by extension, your employer's
time — working on a job you don't like. You may be on a job you hate
because circumstances have you there. Maybe because it pays the bills.
But let that be a temporary arrangement. Create an exit plan and start
working on it as soon as possible.

Your time on earth is limited; don't spend it working on a job you dislike.

What if you're doing work you like but it's encroaching into your nights
and weekends? You may need to create a prevention system around it if
your goal isn't to work long hours every week.
Start by creating a vision of your ideal workweek.

How many hours would you like to spend on work? How will you spend
your ideal 24 hours? How many of them will go for self-time, family time,
recreation, work, and play? How about your weekends? Create this ideal
timeline and keep it where you can see it.

You may not have the resources to make it happen now, but let it
become something you're working towards.

3. There are four different zones of work

Contrary to what many people think, productivity is not all about doing
more. In fact, it's the opposite. True productivity means getting the right
things done and leaving everything else. This may sound hard to
believe, but as we proceed with this summary, you will understand more
and realize just how true it is.

Let's consider the four zones of productivity. It will give you better insight.
We will begin with the zone we all hate.

● Zone 4. This is called the drudgery zone. This zone is made up of

tasks that you hate doing and can't do well. In other words, you
lack the passion and proficiency for these tasks. Can you name
some daily tasks in your drudgery zone? If you think hard you
probably will. The good news is, what's grunt work for you is
exciting work for someone else. That's why division of labor works.

● Zone 3. The disinterest zone. Tasks in this zone are things you're
good at but have zero passion for. People can get stuck working in
this zone simply because it pays the bills.
 ● Zone 2. The distraction zone. Work starts to get interesting here.
In this zone, you're passionate about your work. You can do it all
day without getting tired, but you're not skilled at it. Because you
lack proficiency, it becomes hard to make worthy contributions
through your work. But of course, if you're in this zone, you can
spend money and time to get more skills so you can transition to
zone 1, the best zone of all.

● Zone 1. The desire zone. This is the zone where passion meets
proficiency. People who work here love what they do and are able
to make notable contributions to their company, their industry, and
the world at large.

“If you design your life so that you spend most of your time working on
things you are passionate about and proficient at, the discipline to do
those things comes easily.” ~ Michael Hyatt

Your goal should be to work in the desire zone. Of course, for most of
us, that will take some time and effort, but give it a go. Maybe you're
working on a job you're skilled at but not passionate about. You could
start thinking of changing jobs or switching tasks within the company so
you get into the role where your passion and proficiency are top-notch.

Design your ideal life, then tailor your work to meet that lifestyle goal.

The time and effort required to transition to zone 1 will differ depending
on where you are right now. But no matter what it takes, the transition
will be worth it.
4. Be intentional about re-energizing your mind and body

When you're on the clock, you understand how time is such a limited
resource. We all know that, but what we often fail to realize is that
energy is also limited.

Your energy can flex — that is, you can switch between energy levels
quite easily — but it's still a limited resource. You don't have infinite
amounts of emotional, mental, and physical energy, so taking steps to
conserve what you have is a wise thing to do.

Are you intentional about conserving and renewing your energy or do

you just take whatever you see because “There is no time"?

In the distracted economy, people run around getting things done on the
clock, failing to rest and re-energize, then they burn out and take sick
leave, only to repeat the same vicious cycle over again. This explains
why our productivity rarely matches the hours we clock in.

Don't sacrifice your body and mind on the altar of work because it will
turn back to haunt you.

What if you created a holistic system that ensures you work when you
need to work and unplug to re-energize when you need to? What would
that mean for your personal and professional life? Surely, among other
things, it will mean getting quality work done for the time plugged in and
having more personal time. Isn't that what we all want?

Well, here's how to achieve it. Get intentional about the following seven
practices.
 ● Get quality sleep every night. Experts recommend sleeping eight
hours per night, try not to fall short of that.

● Eat healthily. If you need to see a dietician for recommendations,

do it.

● Move your body. Create a weekly exercise regimen and stick to it.

● Connect with family and friends daily and weekly.

● Play. Engage regularly in your hobbies. Don't push them to the

back burner.

● Reflect daily. You can do this through meditation, writing, or

worshipping.

● Unplug. Life is not all about work. Find time at least once a year to
just unplug from work and enjoy life.

5. Practice saying “No”

We have an inherent desire to help others and contribute to important

projects.

This can be both a curse and a blessing, depending on how we use it.
People will come to you directly or indirectly for help and if you're not
careful, you will keep saying yes till you fill your hands with too much
than you can handle.

You must learn to say no.

It's not up for debate if your goal is to be a super performer who excels
in every area of life.
Not every request deserves your yes.

Did you cringe at the thought of turning down requests? That's a

completely normal reaction from your mind. You might even feel guilty
for saying no to people, and that's a natural feeling too, but you must
grow past it…

Because we're always saying no without realizing it.

For every yes you say, there is a no behind it. For every request you
accept, you're turning down another. Let's imagine a potential client asks
you out for lunch on the same day you're supposed to be at your
daughter's dancing competition.

Saying yes to the client means saying no to attending your daughter's

event.

Always consider the trade-off before accepting invitations and requests.

Use this affirmation strategy for turning down requests you can't afford to
accept.

● First, say yes to yourself and everything important to you. Also,

affirm the other person, so they don't feel shame for requesting.

● Second, say no to the request. Make it clear that you can't do it

now or any other time.

● Third, say yes again. Not yes to the request but yes to your
relationship. Affirm your relationship with the person and offer to
help find a solution or someone else that could help.

Let's say someone asked you to watch over their kids for a day, but you
can't because despite working remotely, you have a tight deadline to
meet that day. Using our model, you start by saying yes to yourself and
the work you do; that's the only way to get the mental stamina to say no
to them. Next, turn down the request by telling them about your tight
deadline. And finally, you can offer to help find a babysitter.

6. Automate your activities

Your days are filled with attention pulling requests from work, the
internet, family, friends, and even strangers. You will never get anything
done if you decide to pay attention to everything. And some of those
things are important and urgent such that you can't afford to postpone
them. So what do you do?

Find ways to automate.

In this chapter, we will consider four automation methods you should use
to make your life easier. Let's get started.

Self-automation

The mind is a powerful automation tool. Some of the most effective

automation machines were created by replicating how it works. Once
you do something in a particular way over some time, your mind learns it
and you begin to do it with little to no active thoughts. For example, if
you've been using an app on your phone for a considerable length of
time, your mind will teach your body to identify the position of that app on
your phone. The process of finding that app will become automated. The
same explanation goes for your morning routine. The reason you do the
same things after getting out of bed every morning is that your mind has
learned how to do it and has taught your body.
The mind learns through routines, so to automate things, start building
routines around your activities.

Template automation

Every knowledge work you do can be automated using templates. Either

create templates that suit your workflow, or Google to find useful ones.
For example, if you're sending the same type of emails daily, you could
make that into a template so you don't have to type out every email. It
saves you time.

Process automation

This refers to detailing the process of getting things done so you or

someone on your team won't have to waste precious hours figuring
things out each time they have to get the same task done.

Tech automation

This is by far the most common automation people know. There is at

least one software that can help you do your office work faster. Invest in
software products to save time and energy. The secret of succeeding
with tech automation is refusing to stick to just one solution. Be flexible
enough to change when your current solution no longer serves your
needs.

7. High performers use megabatching to stay productive

You've probably heard of batching before. If you haven't, it's a

productivity tactic where you lump the same or similar activities and get
them done at the same time with no distractions. Megabatching is doing
the same thing on a larger scale.
You can think of this tactic as a solution to multitasking. Contrary to what
we think, the brain isn't designed to multitask. You get much more done
when you're focused on one activity per time than when you try doing
multiple things at a time.

When you jump from one activity to the other in a multitasking spree, the
brain takes time to reconcile the new activity with the one you were
doing before. Parts of the brain will therefore be split between both
activities and it becomes counterproductive if the tasks aren't similar.
Use megabatching instead.

Regularly decide on a group of activities that are the same or at least

similar and block out time to execute them together.

Let's say meetings are a normal part of your week. Rather than
spreading your internal and external meetings throughout the week, you
can decide on a day or two that will be dedicated to meetings while other
days will be for something else. For example, Thursdays and Fridays
can be your meeting days, while the first three workdays will be
dedicated to working.

“In a world where information is freely available, focus becomes one of

the most valuable commodities in the workplace.” ~ Michael Hyatt

We live our lives in stages. Taking inspiration from As You Like It play by
William Shakespeare, Michael categorized our lives into front, back, and
off stages. The front stage is where you do the work you're paid for. It's
the professional part of you that the world sees. If you're a coach, for
example, your front stage work is client meetings and drafting content.
Then there is the backstage work. This is where you do the groundwork
that prepares you for the front stage. Using the coaching example, this
could be billing or updating your website. Finally, there is the off stage.
This is your rejuvenating time; the time you spend relaxing, connecting
with friends and family or playing.

Determine the activities that fit into your front, back, and off stages then
plan your ideal week to megabatch them accordingly.

Conclusion

The concept of productivity was made popular by industrial-age

efficiency experts like Frederick Winslow Taylor. The experts of that age
advised companies to increase efficiency by making workers do more
work faster.

It worked for factory workers then because when you work faster in a
factory, you naturally produce more products. But the concept is
ineffective in our knowledge economy.

If you're a knowledge worker, your job is not about directly working with
machines to produce things. Your job mostly involves solving problems
and coming up with new ideas. The problem is that problems and ideas
don't run out. When you solve one problem, a different one emerges.
You can be having dinner with family and an idea for a project you're
working on pops into your mind. So, if you follow the efficiency metric
from the industrial age, you will never stop working.

Productivity in our economy is not about getting more things done faster.
It's about focusing on the right things and getting them done at the right
time then cutting out other tasks that don't fit into your ideal work. It's
about working in your desire zone — where your passion and proficiency
are at their peak — while delegating the tasks outside this zone to
people who are good at and passionate about them.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed and unproductive, recall the three-step

system: stop, cut, and act. Stop to think about your work and chart a
course of action, then cut out unnecessary tasks, and take action. We've
discussed several points under the three-step system in this summary.
Hopefully, you've learned actionable insights that will help you make the
most of your personal and professional life.

Try this:

Make megabatching a weekly habit. Think of all the weekly activities

you're certain to always perform. Group similar ones together, then
create time to execute each group at specific stretches.