I constantly read and review books on productivity in my quest to do and achieve more. It is one of my favorite topics because the knowledge that I find in these books compounds in my mind over the years.
I believe gleaming a single actionable piece of advice can profoundly impact and improve my life.
Here are the top three lessons I’ve learned from the book Do It Today by Darius Foroux.
Lesson 1: Know What Your Life Is About
The search for the meaning of life is profound, important, and far above the scope of anything I can write here.
I do believe, however, that we can make life meaningful by carefully choosing what is important to us.
Ultimately, each of us here is learning ways to grow our business and portfolios so that we can get back our time.
True freedom in life to do what we want, when we want, with the people we want with us.
Life is short and tomorrow is not guaranteed. So while there is merit to doing the necessary work in all its forms, there is also truth in doing something you are passionate about.
Enjoying what you do, perhaps even loving what you do. That doesn’t mean the removal of all hardship and annoyances, but rather the big picture, loving the craft. It means being interested, curious, and caring about the work that is done.
As we have reviewed in our Grit article, passion is important because it ultimately leads to more time engaged in the right activities.
“There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.” – Nelson Mandela [former President of South Africa]
For real estate that could be everything from more time on the phones talking to prospects to more time in the spreadsheets running numbers. The difference passion makes is one of “I wish didn’t have to do more work” to “How do I make this work?”.
Lesson 2: How We Should Be Spending Our Time
Knowing that our time is limited, how should we spend it? The two best ways are building relationships and improving ourselves.
Our success in life is largely determined by the people we choose to surround ourselves with. Therefore, we should do our best to be around the best.
As business owners our network is our net worth. Having strong bonds with fellow real estate investor professionals is important for partnering and helping with deals.
Having professional relationships with those who support our business like brokers, agents, attorneys, property managers, lenders, and contractors gives us a base of experts to look to for solutions. The best real estate investors I know don’t claim to understand or know everything. They do have a GREAT network to pull from when they have a question.
To be around the best we need to provide value. That is done by leveling up our own skills and crafting the person we present to the world.
People do business with those they know and like. Social skills are paramount. Push yourself to be good at the things that most struggle with socially. For example, I know many people don’t like small talk, but it is a necessary precursor to more in-depth discussions.
- Are you an interesting person?
- Can you tell a good story?
- Can you tell a good joke?
A popular test that employers utilize when desiring to hire someone is the following thought experiment “If we were on a business trip together and our flight was delayed a few hours would I enjoy spending time at the lounge bar with this person?”
“The good life is built with good relationships” – Robert J Waldinger [American psychologist]
Just as we can choose who we want to spend our time with, others get their vote on spending their time with us.
Lesson 3: Useful Action
Now that we see the big picture in life and understand how we should be spending our time, what do we implement?
First, we realize that life has a never-ending series of distractions to send our way. We can set up our environment to minimize these distractions:
- Closing the door to our office/workspace
- Noise-canceling headphones
- Airplane mode on our phones
- Telling people ahead of time when we are and are not reachable
These tactics are useful, but the overall strategy is to focus on what we can control. Ultimately, that is our attitude and our attention. Being upset, angry, or depressed about life’s distractions is not useful. Therefore we can choose to emotionally distance ourselves and refocus our attention.
Find problems, solve problems, and make the solutions stick.
The key is making a conscious decision to focus our energy on the consistency necessary to make progress. Progress is the keyword.
“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson [American Wrestler/Actor]
Oftentimes we can delude ourselves into doing the easy tasks that make us feel busy but in reality, are not truly productive. The goal is to be efficient but move forward.
This is a fascinating book on a fascinating topic. One last note, I understand that many people read books on productivity and start to feel pressure to optimize their lives. There is guilt when you do something that is not a perfect use of your time.
I struggle with this all the time.
I get why that happens and want to say, it is ok. Being human is not about being perfect.
It is like eating food. Being healthy means making nutritious choices more often than unhealthy but tasty choices.
But we don’t live in a world of always and never. Life is not balanced but it is more the aggregate of choices. What we do most of the time is what counts the most. That is what I believe, anyway.
You binge a Netflix show one night, but don’t make it most nights. You skipped cold calling today but don’t make it two days in a row.
Consistency counts in each direction, good habit or bad. We do our best and move forward. Don’t dwell on what could have or should have been because it isn’t as useful as, “What can I do right now?” Find the answer then Do It Today.
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