This is the first of four posts I will be writing about achieving greatness. This is a topic that I’ve been spending more time thinking about in the last few months, mostly thanks to the work of Lewis Howes on his fantastic podcast, The School of Greatness. One of the questions he always asks of his guests is what their definition of greatness is. For me, greatness is fully realizing my potential. In fact, that’s what most of his guests answer with, or something very similar. Greatness is all about just doing the best that you can do at everything you do. It never has anything to do with the final product or what it can get you. If you are truly excelling at what you do, the results will come naturally.
Part of me feels like this is a topic that I shouldn’t be giving advice on, seeing as how I am not even close to realizing my potential. And that is very true. But then again, no truly great person has ever acknowledged they have realized their potential. They just keep aiming higher. So, even though I have not reached my goals, I have learned a lot of things along the way, and I want to help others get down the right path as well.
One of the things I do a lot of is listen to interviews with successful people. And, on occasion, if I really connect with someone, I will read some of their work and try to glean some advice on how to be successful as well. These posts will be about the things that I’ve learned from hundreds of interviews and several books, things that have specifically worked for me. Honestly, a lot of these people tend to just say the same things, or sometimes their claims are rather far-fetched, and other times their advice just doesn’t apply to most people. I’m not a self-help guru, so I am not going to make any claims that these will work for everyone. I do know that they work for me, and I think that they are general enough that most people can apply the principle.
This post is about improving performance and being more productive. When I think about performance, my focus has always been on doing things properly and quickly. Not just in the workplace, but at home as well. Here are three tips to improve your performance.
Put Your Health First
This always sounds cliché since everybody says the put your health first, but yet so few people actually do. I’m just as guilty of this as the next guy. In high school I was in fantastic shape. Then I went to college and gained around 40 pounds by the time I graduated. They just built up over time. When I got out, I went on a diet and exercise regimen and lost almost all of it. Then I hurt myself and couldn’t do the exercise anymore, so I gained it all back over the next four years, which I still carry today.
And this is exactly why I am putting my health first again. I am choosing to sacrifice some of my vices in order to make sure this happens.
The first component is to not eat crap. Duh! “Eating right” is a very dumb phrase since there are hundreds of ways to do it. Just look at the shelves of books on diets that “work” at bookstores. So instead of saying “eat right”, my phrase is “don’t eat crap.” And it’s really easy to tell what crap is. All sweets, fried foods, sodas, alcohols, and most carbs fall under “crap”. Avoiding those will do most of the work. Not eating crap is pretty easy for me, but I still struggle a lot with eating enough fruits and vegetables, so I am focusing more on getting those in my meals. I am still constantly amazed at how much better I feel eating good foods versus crap foods.
The second component is to control portions. This is really, really hard in America since most restaurants serve way too much food, especially at dinner when you should be eating the least. I am the worst at controlling portions, always have been. When I see food in front of me, my instincts are to finish all of it. But I still work at it because I want to be better. For best results, I will eat a small breakfast when I get up, just to take the edge off, then eat another small portion two hours later, have my biggest meal at lunch, and finish with a smaller dinner. Often I won’t even eat enough at dinner to feel full. I take half of what I think I should have, and then eat again before bed if I get hungry enough. Having significant food in my stomach when I go to bed is the surest way to see the scale go up in the morning rather than down.
The third component is to exercise regularly, daily if possible, but I have yet to reach that point. Again, it’s really hard to find the time to do it. Any decent workout is going to take an hour. And then stretching and showering takes another 30 minutes. Put in the time it takes to get to the gym and back, and my workouts end up taking two hours out of my day. But it’s worth it to me, so I sacrifice by getting up early to make time for it. I have found that going to the gym at lunch break works best for me, but doing it before or after work is just fine too. Figure out when you like it best.
The fourth and last component is sleep. One of the most universal truths I’ve heard from the successful people I mentioned earlier is that getting enough sleep is critical to success. Just as universal, the recommended amount is 8-9 hours. Growing up as a borderline insomniac in school, it has taken me a long time to get to where I can do that consistently, and it really does make a huge difference. When I get the full amount, I have much more energy than I would with only 6 hours (which I did fine with for years). Don’t overindulge though, as going over the recommended amount will result in feeling groggy again earlier in the day than you should. When I get 8 hours, I find it hard to stay in bed anyway, my body just wants to get going.
Read Every Day
This is one that I picked up from James Altucher’s Choose Yourself. After college, it took me about four years to get back into reading regularly. However, I would read when I felt like it, preferring to play games or watch movies instead. But then I read James’ book, and he said that you should read at least two hours a day, it is that important. I admit that I don’t always read two hours a day, but I do get at least one, and I’m happy that I do.
I have found that reading has two major benefits. The first is that reading keeps me sharp and focused. I tend to be more productive at work when I read for an hour before I start than otherwise. I also find that I get a lot more from reading than any other medium, things that I can use in my own works.
The second benefit is that reading is very good at getting my brain to relax. This is especially useful at bedtime. I tend to fall asleep much faster when I read before bed over when I watch a movie or play a game. Tim Ferriss also recommends reading an hour before bed for this very reason.
Seriously, reading is good! I find that the more I read, the more I want to read. And it doesn’t have to be all serious stuff like biographies (I don’t read those at all) or other non-fiction. I mostly read fantasy and sci-fi novels, with some graphic novels thrown in for good measure. In fact I just got The Contract With God Trilogy by Will Eisner in the mail yesterday, and I’m looking forward to that one.
Monitor Your Progress
Another thing that most successful people will tell you is that recording your progress is the best thing to keep your motivation high, especially among athletes. I agree with them, for the most part. They will often take things to an extreme level. I like to simply focus on a few things that will show that my efforts are not in vain.
Two of the main things I record are my weight (daily) and what I do during my workouts. I really like seeing both of these improve over time, especially on the workouts. I am definitely getting stronger faster than I am losing weight, but that could easily be written off as muscle weight replacing fat weight.
Another thing I have started recording are my daily goals and how well I do on them. I will discuss this more next week.
Most people have poor memories about where they used to be compared to where they are now. Obviously if you lose 100 pounds, you will notice the difference there, but that’s over the course of months. You barely notice the daily changes, which is why recording those things is useful. Everyday you know that you are progressing in something, even if it’s not something that useful (I record my progress in the video games I play, for example). No matter how you do it, either using a notepad or a spreadsheet (I use both!) or a bunch of sticky notes on a board, monitoring your progress will make it easier to stay on path.
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Next week, three more tips on improving performance. Look forward to it!