6 Habits to Make 2025 Your Best Year Yet

00:22:30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2afI0n8pUk

Zusammenfassung

TLDRIn this insightful video, Ali Abdaal, an ex-doctor turned entrepreneur and author, shares six essential productivity habits that can help make next year your best year. These habits include abandoning annual goals in favor of 'Quarterly Quests'—a method that focuses on 90-day goal cycles for better efficiency. Ali then emphasizes the importance of a weekly review for reflection and planning, and introduces the morning manifesto, a quick journaling exercise to set daily priorities. He discusses the creation of a focus log as a way to track and increase focused work time. Furthermore, Ali advocates for standing order social events—regular calendar social interactions to enrich life. Lastly, he highlights the concept of multimodality multitasking, such as listening to educational content during routine tasks, to maximize time efficiency. By employing these strategies, Ali promises an enhanced path to achieving one's aspirations.

Mitbringsel

  • 📅 Focus on Quarterly Quests instead of annual goals for better efficiency.
  • 🔍 Conduct a weekly review to reflect and plan effectively.
  • 📝 Use a morning manifesto to set daily intentions.
  • ⏲️ Implement a focus log to track and improve productivity.
  • 👥 Plan standing order social events to build and maintain relationships.
  • 🎧 Practice multimodality multitasking to make the most of your time.
  • 📈 Align your daily activities with long-term aspirations.
  • 💬 Create productive routines that feel good and are sustainable.
  • 🗃️ Prioritize tasks that genuinely matter to you.
  • 📚 Learn continuously and apply insights into your routine.

Zeitleiste

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In this video, Ali introduces six key productivity habits aimed at making the upcoming year the best one yet. He begins by challenging the conventional use of annual goals and instead promotes a quarterly quests approach. This method breaks goals into 90-day increments, making them more manageable and achievable. Ali shares his personal success with quarterly goals both in his personal and business life, illustrating its effectiveness. Additionally, he hosts free workshops to guide others in setting their quarterly quests, emphasizing simplicity and focus.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    Ali highlights the importance of weekly reviews, a practice popularized by David Allen's 'Getting Things Done.' He refers to it as a weekly reset, a short session to reflect on past achievements and set priorities for the next week. This practice prevents goals from being forgotten like New Year's resolutions often are. The weekly reset serves as a checkpoint to realign with quarterly quests, helping to maintain focus and direction. Ali underscores the power of consistent review to enhance productivity and ensure progress towards meaningful goals.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Continuing the discussion on productivity, Ali introduces the Morning Manifesto, a quick journaling exercise to kickstart the workday. This habit involves identifying weekly priorities and setting daily intentions, labeled as 'adventures' to instill a sense of play. Ali stresses the significance of selecting the right goals and acknowledges the challenge of staying efficient in achieving them. Reflecting on his experience, he emphasizes that consistently setting and acting on daily intentions leads to significant progress.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:22:30

    Ali discusses the concept of a focus log to track concentrated work time, inspired by his struggle while writing his book. This transparency in focus time helps improve productivity. He also touches on standing order social events to maintain social connections and avoid loneliness, highlighting the importance of regular, scheduled social interactions. Lastly, he introduces multimodality multitasking, a strategy for maximizing time by combining different types of tasks, such as listening to educational content during commutes, to efficiently pursue personal goals.

Mehr anzeigen

Mind Map

Video-Fragen und Antworten

  • What are quarterly quests?

    Quarterly quests are goals you set for a 90-day period rather than annually, helping focus and track progress more effectively.

  • Why is a weekly review important?

    The weekly review helps you reflect on the past week, prioritize the upcoming week, and stay aligned with your goals.

  • What is the morning manifesto?

    The morning manifesto is a 2-minute journaling exercise to set daily intentions and align with weekly priorities.

  • How does the focus log help productivity?

    The focus log tracks the time spent on focused work, improving awareness and productivity on key tasks.

  • What are standing order social events?

    Standing order social events are recurring social gatherings in your calendar to maintain strong personal relationships.

  • What is multimodality multitasking?

    Multimodality multitasking involves doing two different modality tasks simultaneously, like listening to an audiobook while doing chores, to save time.

  • What inspired Ali to create these habits?

    Ali's transitional journey from a broke medical student to an entrepreneur led him to develop these productive habits.

  • Why should you incorporate these habits?

    These habits can help align focus, improve productivity, and ensure you are working on what truly matters to you.

Weitere Video-Zusammenfassungen anzeigen

Erhalten Sie sofortigen Zugang zu kostenlosen YouTube-Videozusammenfassungen, die von AI unterstützt werden!
Untertitel
en
Automatisches Blättern:
  • 00:00:00
    in this video we are discussing six key
  • 00:00:02
    productivity habits now if you
  • 00:00:03
    incorporate any of these and ideally
  • 00:00:05
    multiple of these into your life it
  • 00:00:07
    basically guarantees that your next year
  • 00:00:09
    is going to be your best year ever hey
  • 00:00:11
    friends welcome back to the channel if
  • 00:00:12
    you're new here my name is Ali I'm a
  • 00:00:13
    dror turn entrepreneur and the author of
  • 00:00:15
    The New York Times bestseller Feelgood
  • 00:00:17
    productivity which is about how to be
  • 00:00:18
    more productive in a way that actually
  • 00:00:19
    feels good and for the last 7 years on
  • 00:00:21
    this channel I have been documenting my
  • 00:00:22
    journey from broke medical student to
  • 00:00:24
    working full-time as a doctor to now
  • 00:00:25
    running a seven figure business where I
  • 00:00:27
    live a life that I absolutely love and
  • 00:00:28
    my goal on this channel really is to
  • 00:00:30
    share everything that I've learned and
  • 00:00:31
    everything I'm continuing to learn along
  • 00:00:33
    this journey of personal growth and
  • 00:00:35
    development in the hope that you find
  • 00:00:37
    some value from it and you can maybe
  • 00:00:38
    work towards what I like to call the
  • 00:00:39
    five FS of fun fulfillment flexibility
  • 00:00:42
    freedom and finance so let's get into
  • 00:00:45
    it all righty so habit number one that I
  • 00:00:47
    have gotten a lot of value out of is
  • 00:00:50
    kind of ignoring the notion of annual
  • 00:00:52
    goals and I always feel super excited
  • 00:00:54
    when I set annual goals at the start of
  • 00:00:55
    the year but there is an alternative
  • 00:00:57
    method for goal setting that I've been
  • 00:01:00
    been using on and off over the years
  • 00:01:01
    partly in personal life partly in
  • 00:01:03
    business life and when I think back to
  • 00:01:04
    the goals that I've actually
  • 00:01:05
    accomplished like the things that the
  • 00:01:06
    meaningful things that I've done they've
  • 00:01:08
    always been with this second method of
  • 00:01:09
    goal setting rather than through annual
  • 00:01:11
    goals and this second method of goal
  • 00:01:13
    setting is what I refer to as quarterly
  • 00:01:15
    quests and the idea behind this is that
  • 00:01:18
    instead of thinking about setting goals
  • 00:01:19
    for the year you actually focus on
  • 00:01:21
    setting goals for the next quarter I.E
  • 00:01:23
    the next 90 days now this is a concept
  • 00:01:25
    that the authors of the book The 12we
  • 00:01:27
    Year talk about it's also um a concept
  • 00:01:30
    in business worlds like the book get
  • 00:01:32
    scalable by Ryan Dice and the book
  • 00:01:33
    traction by junor Wickman there's a lot
  • 00:01:36
    of goal setting methodologies that are
  • 00:01:38
    focused on this sort of 90-day cycle and
  • 00:01:40
    so the whole idea behind setting
  • 00:01:41
    quarterly quests is that when it comes
  • 00:01:42
    to 90 days or 3 months or 12 weeks or
  • 00:01:44
    how however you want to split it you're
  • 00:01:46
    able to visualize that like on a single
  • 00:01:47
    piece of paper you could write down the
  • 00:01:49
    next 12 weeks but if you're trying to do
  • 00:01:50
    annual goals it's like you know in my
  • 00:01:53
    case I I'll set an annual goal in
  • 00:01:54
    January and by by the time February or
  • 00:01:57
    March rolls around either I've made
  • 00:01:58
    progress towards it in and I've gotten
  • 00:02:00
    new data in which case maybe the goal
  • 00:02:02
    has changed or I haven't made progress
  • 00:02:03
    towards it and I'm like ah it's an
  • 00:02:04
    annual goal I've got the whole year left
  • 00:02:06
    and then you know six months8 months
  • 00:02:08
    goes by and I never make any progress on
  • 00:02:09
    it at all the idea behind quarterly
  • 00:02:11
    quests is that every 90 days at the
  • 00:02:12
    start of the quarter or at any point
  • 00:02:14
    whenever you happen to be watching this
  • 00:02:15
    video or whenever you happen to
  • 00:02:16
    incorporate this habit into your life
  • 00:02:18
    you focus on what are the three or four
  • 00:02:21
    big things that I want to get done in
  • 00:02:23
    the next 90 days this is quarterly
  • 00:02:25
    quests every single quarter I host a
  • 00:02:28
    completely free alignment Workshop where
  • 00:02:30
    we get together on a zoom call and set
  • 00:02:31
    these quarterly quests so if you are
  • 00:02:33
    subscribed to my newsletter you will
  • 00:02:35
    hear about these I've been running them
  • 00:02:36
    for the last year and people get a lot
  • 00:02:38
    of value from them usually we have a few
  • 00:02:39
    thousand people attending and we do that
  • 00:02:42
    setting the quarterly quests together so
  • 00:02:43
    you're very welcome to join if you would
  • 00:02:44
    like to but of course this is also
  • 00:02:46
    something that you can do yourself more
  • 00:02:47
    than about three or four quarterly
  • 00:02:49
    quests means it's just too much too much
  • 00:02:51
    stuff to be going on and generally I
  • 00:02:53
    like to separate mine into two
  • 00:02:55
    categories work and life and so I'll be
  • 00:02:57
    thinking okay what are my quarterly
  • 00:02:58
    Quests for work and what are my
  • 00:02:59
    quarterly quests Quests for life
  • 00:03:00
    sometimes there are certain projects
  • 00:03:01
    that are going to take longer than 90
  • 00:03:03
    days to get done the idea behind those
  • 00:03:05
    is that you would turn them into 90-day
  • 00:03:07
    projects so for example when I was
  • 00:03:08
    writing my book Feelgood productivity
  • 00:03:11
    which is available everywhere books are
  • 00:03:12
    sold and also an audible where I narrate
  • 00:03:14
    the Audi book so you can check it out if
  • 00:03:15
    you haven't yet when I was writing
  • 00:03:16
    Feelgood productivity I found that
  • 00:03:17
    working in 90-day chunks was pretty
  • 00:03:20
    effective because obviously writing a
  • 00:03:21
    whole book is like a three-year process
  • 00:03:23
    but if you break it down into the
  • 00:03:24
    quarters it's like the quarterly Quest
  • 00:03:25
    would be completing the first draft or
  • 00:03:27
    completing the first draft of the first
  • 00:03:29
    three or whatever and so if you want to
  • 00:03:31
    make this year the best year of your
  • 00:03:33
    life where you are doing the things that
  • 00:03:34
    are meaningful to you and ideally
  • 00:03:36
    enjoying the journey along the way then
  • 00:03:37
    I'd really recommend thinking in 90-day
  • 00:03:39
    chunks when it comes to your goals
  • 00:03:41
    rather than in annual chunks but then
  • 00:03:42
    there's a problem right because the
  • 00:03:43
    problem is even if you do set these
  • 00:03:45
    quarterly quests these 90-day goals
  • 00:03:47
    there is a danger that they go the same
  • 00:03:49
    way that New Year's resolutions do I.E
  • 00:03:50
    you set them at the start of the quarter
  • 00:03:52
    and then you completely forget about
  • 00:03:53
    them and that is where our next habit
  • 00:03:55
    comes in so habit number two is an
  • 00:03:57
    absolute classic in the world of
  • 00:03:59
    productivity it is the single habit that
  • 00:04:01
    almost every productivity Enthusiast
  • 00:04:03
    swears by it was popularized in 2001 by
  • 00:04:06
    productivity Guru David Allen in his
  • 00:04:08
    seminal work getting things done the art
  • 00:04:09
    of stress-free productivity and that
  • 00:04:11
    habit is drum roll please the weekly
  • 00:04:14
    review I like to think of it as a weekly
  • 00:04:16
    reset uh the idea is that once a week
  • 00:04:19
    you are spending like 20 minutes
  • 00:04:21
    reviewing how your previous week has
  • 00:04:22
    gone and setting priorities for the next
  • 00:04:25
    week this is a really simple thing to do
  • 00:04:27
    it does not have to be an elaborate 8
  • 00:04:29
    hour hour routine just like 10 15 20
  • 00:04:32
    minutes reviewing how your last week has
  • 00:04:34
    gone and actually asking yourself okay
  • 00:04:35
    what are my key priorities for the week
  • 00:04:37
    ahead will do absolute wonders for your
  • 00:04:39
    productivity and will really help you
  • 00:04:41
    make meaningful progress towards the
  • 00:04:42
    things that matter most to you can I
  • 00:04:44
    request a cup of tea please yeah yes
  • 00:04:46
    nice thanks yes ni that's the wife the
  • 00:04:49
    wife was actually sitting in the corner
  • 00:04:51
    over here on her laptop motivating me to
  • 00:04:52
    film because I was feeling like H I
  • 00:04:54
    don't want to film this video anyway as
  • 00:04:55
    part of the weekly reset it's generally
  • 00:04:57
    good practice to look at your calendar
  • 00:04:58
    for the previous week and to celebrate
  • 00:05:01
    some wins to give yourself a pat on the
  • 00:05:02
    back for the stuff that you did well it
  • 00:05:04
    is also a very good idea at that point
  • 00:05:06
    and one of the key things that we have
  • 00:05:07
    within our weekly reset template is you
  • 00:05:09
    ask yourself the question what were my
  • 00:05:11
    quarterly quests and how are they going
  • 00:05:13
    and this is a weekly checkpoint where
  • 00:05:15
    you remind yourself oh yeah what were my
  • 00:05:17
    quarterly quests sometimes I skip my
  • 00:05:19
    weekly reset for like I don't know a
  • 00:05:20
    week or two in a row because like life
  • 00:05:22
    got in the way or I forgot or like you
  • 00:05:23
    know the calendar event clashed with the
  • 00:05:25
    productivity lab workshop and so I
  • 00:05:26
    didn't attend the weekly reset and then
  • 00:05:27
    it comes to week three and I look at my
  • 00:05:28
    template and it's like what were our
  • 00:05:30
    quarterly quests again and how are they
  • 00:05:31
    going and I'm like hm it's a good
  • 00:05:33
    question I've actually forgotten what
  • 00:05:35
    goals I set for myself 3 weeks ago what
  • 00:05:37
    my quarterly quests were and then I look
  • 00:05:38
    at my little quarterly quests I have
  • 00:05:40
    that in a goalkeeper document which I
  • 00:05:41
    name my goalkeeper document CU it's just
  • 00:05:43
    kind of fun again all this stuff is
  • 00:05:44
    stuff we do in this free quarterly
  • 00:05:45
    alignment Workshop so if you attend one
  • 00:05:46
    of those you'll see you'll see the whole
  • 00:05:47
    process in action but then I'll look at
  • 00:05:49
    that list I'll be like oh yeah I I
  • 00:05:50
    totally was going to do that thing which
  • 00:05:52
    I completely forgot about and then it
  • 00:05:53
    comes back on track so the idea behind
  • 00:05:55
    the weekly reset is that it is a
  • 00:05:56
    checkpoint to be able to refer to your
  • 00:05:58
    quarterly quests and see how are they
  • 00:06:00
    going and then based on how your quot
  • 00:06:02
    quests are going or anything else that's
  • 00:06:03
    happening in life you define what are
  • 00:06:05
    your top one two and three priorities
  • 00:06:08
    for the week ahead if this is a habit
  • 00:06:10
    that you haven't yet incorporated into
  • 00:06:11
    your life then I can handon heart
  • 00:06:12
    guarantee that if you do it will change
  • 00:06:14
    the game for you and help you make the
  • 00:06:15
    next year the best year of your life oh
  • 00:06:17
    by the way if you are enjoying this
  • 00:06:18
    video then you might like to check out
  • 00:06:19
    brilliant who are very kindly sponsoring
  • 00:06:21
    today's video brilliant is a wonderful
  • 00:06:23
    platform where you learn by doing not
  • 00:06:25
    just by consuming with thousands of
  • 00:06:26
    interactive lessons in maths data
  • 00:06:28
    analysis programming and AI I've been
  • 00:06:30
    using brilliant for the last 5 years now
  • 00:06:31
    and I absolutely love it they've got a
  • 00:06:33
    really good first principles approach to
  • 00:06:34
    learning which helps you build
  • 00:06:36
    understanding from the ground up and
  • 00:06:37
    it's all crafted by an award-winning
  • 00:06:39
    team of teachers researchers and
  • 00:06:40
    professionals from cool places like MIT
  • 00:06:42
    Caltech Microsoft Google and many more
  • 00:06:44
    brilliant helps you build your critical
  • 00:06:46
    thinking skills through problem solving
  • 00:06:47
    not memorizing things so while you're
  • 00:06:49
    building real knowledge on specific
  • 00:06:51
    topics you're also becoming a better
  • 00:06:52
    thinker and Brilliant helps you build
  • 00:06:54
    all of this real knowledge in just
  • 00:06:55
    minutes a day which is the absolute
  • 00:06:56
    opposite of mindless scrolling the
  • 00:06:58
    growing number of courses on program are
  • 00:06:59
    particularly good and those can help you
  • 00:07:01
    get familiar with languages like Python
  • 00:07:02
    and start building programs on day one
  • 00:07:04
    with their built-in drag and drop editor
  • 00:07:06
    if any of that sounds good you can try
  • 00:07:08
    out everything brilliant has to offer
  • 00:07:09
    for free for a full 30 Days by heading
  • 00:07:11
    over to brilliant.org Al abdal or
  • 00:07:13
    scanning the QR code on the screen or
  • 00:07:15
    you can click on the link in the video
  • 00:07:16
    description and those links will also
  • 00:07:18
    give you 20% off the annual premium
  • 00:07:20
    subscription so thank you so much
  • 00:07:22
    brilliant for sponsoring this video okay
  • 00:07:23
    let's say you've set those top three
  • 00:07:25
    priorities for the week what if you just
  • 00:07:27
    forget about them and that is where our
  • 00:07:28
    next habit comes
  • 00:07:30
    in and habit number three is another
  • 00:07:33
    absolute Staple in the world of
  • 00:07:34
    productivity that I hope you're doing
  • 00:07:35
    already but if you're not that's okay
  • 00:07:37
    that's why we're here watching this
  • 00:07:38
    video it's a very very easy Habit to
  • 00:07:40
    incorporate into your routine it doesn't
  • 00:07:42
    normally take more than about one or two
  • 00:07:44
    minutes and micro habit number three
  • 00:07:45
    that you can incorporate from right now
  • 00:07:47
    is what I call the morning Manifesto
  • 00:07:49
    what is the morning Manifesto the
  • 00:07:50
    morning Manifesto is basically a
  • 00:07:52
    2-minute journaling prompt first thing
  • 00:07:54
    in the morning before you sit down to
  • 00:07:56
    work that asks you a few basic questions
  • 00:07:58
    basic question number one is what were
  • 00:08:01
    our top three priorities for the week
  • 00:08:03
    and how are they going so you see the
  • 00:08:04
    thing like with the weekly reset we
  • 00:08:05
    asked what were our top three quarterly
  • 00:08:07
    quests and how they're going reminding
  • 00:08:08
    ourselves about that thing that we
  • 00:08:09
    decided to do a quarter ago but then
  • 00:08:11
    every single day every single work day
  • 00:08:13
    we're asking ourselves what were my top
  • 00:08:15
    three priorities for the week and how
  • 00:08:17
    are they going now this is a reminder
  • 00:08:18
    every day it's a checkpoint of like a if
  • 00:08:20
    you haven't done your weekly reset for
  • 00:08:21
    the week you think about it and I I have
  • 00:08:23
    this a lot when I when I skip my weekly
  • 00:08:24
    resets cuz it was bad but when I skip my
  • 00:08:26
    weekly resets I'll get to the morning
  • 00:08:28
    Manifesto It'll ask me what are my top
  • 00:08:30
    three priorities for the week I'll be
  • 00:08:31
    like oh well I didn't do my weekly
  • 00:08:33
    reset this week so I haven't actually
  • 00:08:34
    set those and then I'll think about it
  • 00:08:35
    and I'll Define my top three priorities
  • 00:08:37
    for the week and that is really really
  • 00:08:38
    helpful because when it comes to
  • 00:08:39
    productivity a big mistake that we all
  • 00:08:41
    make is that we think it is about
  • 00:08:43
    efficiency it's about trying to do
  • 00:08:45
    things a little bit more efficiently or
  • 00:08:46
    a little bit faster or whatever but that
  • 00:08:49
    is not where the needle is moved the
  • 00:08:51
    needle is moved in the choice of what
  • 00:08:53
    you are actually working on it's in the
  • 00:08:55
    choice of what direction you're going
  • 00:08:56
    rather than in how fast you're getting
  • 00:08:57
    there and that's why we all have this
  • 00:08:59
    problem where you can you can feel as if
  • 00:09:01
    you're being very efficient but like
  • 00:09:02
    you're not actually making meaningful
  • 00:09:04
    progress towards the things that matter
  • 00:09:05
    most to you if your goal is like mine
  • 00:09:07
    was when I had a day job to build some
  • 00:09:08
    sort of business that makes enough money
  • 00:09:10
    for you to be able to go part-time in
  • 00:09:11
    your job or to build a business that
  • 00:09:12
    gives you Financial Freedom and you have
  • 00:09:14
    a day job and you're on the grind in the
  • 00:09:15
    hamster wheel of the day job you can be
  • 00:09:17
    really efficient in your day job but
  • 00:09:18
    you're not actually making any progress
  • 00:09:20
    towards that dream over there that
  • 00:09:21
    really matters to you you're just
  • 00:09:23
    focused on being efficient or being
  • 00:09:24
    productive in your day job and that is
  • 00:09:26
    why when we do these things like
  • 00:09:26
    quarterly quests and we do the weekly
  • 00:09:28
    reset and we think about priorities a
  • 00:09:30
    lot of it is around what do I actually
  • 00:09:32
    want to work towards cuz I imagine if
  • 00:09:34
    you're watching this channel you're
  • 00:09:35
    probably reasonably competent you're
  • 00:09:36
    probably very good-look maybe you've got
  • 00:09:38
    a job you're probably reasonably okay at
  • 00:09:40
    getting things done and the problem that
  • 00:09:42
    you might have is that you're just not
  • 00:09:44
    working on the right things if for
  • 00:09:45
    example when I had a day job I did not
  • 00:09:47
    set myself the goal of like building
  • 00:09:49
    this business on the side building the
  • 00:09:50
    YouTube channel on the side I mean I was
  • 00:09:52
    I was a pretty reasonable doctor I was
  • 00:09:53
    pretty efficient pretty productive I got
  • 00:09:54
    I got decent grades in school I quite
  • 00:09:56
    enjoyed medicine I would have just
  • 00:09:57
    continued on that hamster wheel and this
  • 00:09:58
    thing of this build building this
  • 00:10:00
    business on the side would have always
  • 00:10:01
    been a pipe dream that is the importance
  • 00:10:03
    of goal selection rather than just goal
  • 00:10:05
    efficiency oh hello do you want to say
  • 00:10:07
    do you want to do you want to say hi
  • 00:10:08
    thank you so much
  • 00:10:10
    hi how's it going it's very good good
  • 00:10:12
    luck
  • 00:10:14
    thanks oh she so nice oh by the way
  • 00:10:17
    quick thing if you are watching this
  • 00:10:18
    before the 4th of January 2025 then you
  • 00:10:21
    might like to check out the completely
  • 00:10:22
    free 2day productivity Workshop that I'm
  • 00:10:24
    hosting on the 4th and 5th of January
  • 00:10:26
    2025 it is called productivity Spark and
  • 00:10:29
    it's essentially a two-day series of
  • 00:10:31
    workshops that are hosted by me and also
  • 00:10:33
    my wife and also a couple of guests that
  • 00:10:34
    I aim to help you reflect on 2024 figure
  • 00:10:37
    out where your work and life are heading
  • 00:10:38
    and set active goals and quarterly
  • 00:10:40
    Quests for 2025 it is completely free
  • 00:10:43
    you can check it out with a link down
  • 00:10:44
    below and I hope to see you there
  • 00:10:45
    potentially so coming back to our
  • 00:10:47
    morning Manifesto we are asking
  • 00:10:49
    ourselves what were our weekly
  • 00:10:51
    priorities again and how are they going
  • 00:10:52
    again just reminding ourselves that oh
  • 00:10:53
    yeah we did decide what we wanted to do
  • 00:10:55
    and are we actually doing the thing that
  • 00:10:57
    we said we were going to do again bit of
  • 00:10:58
    a tangent but a huge part of making the
  • 00:11:01
    next year the best year of your life is
  • 00:11:03
    simply in doing the things that you say
  • 00:11:05
    you're going to do if you actually did
  • 00:11:08
    if you think about this right now if
  • 00:11:09
    every single day you actually made an
  • 00:11:11
    intention of what you wanted to do and
  • 00:11:12
    you actually did it man doing that for
  • 00:11:15
    365 days your life would be completely
  • 00:11:17
    transformed you would be unrecognizable
  • 00:11:19
    a year from now if every day you set an
  • 00:11:21
    intention and you actually followed
  • 00:11:22
    through on that intention the point
  • 00:11:24
    behind the morning Manifesto It's not
  • 00:11:26
    going to help you follow through on the
  • 00:11:27
    intention but it helps you do that first
  • 00:11:28
    step of setting that intention in the
  • 00:11:30
    first place without that intention we
  • 00:11:33
    just get into work we get into following
  • 00:11:34
    what's on the calendar we get into the
  • 00:11:36
    things we should do we get into whatever
  • 00:11:37
    the algorithm is feeding us when we're
  • 00:11:38
    scrolling Tik Tok and Instagram it
  • 00:11:40
    becomes an unintentional unexamined life
  • 00:11:42
    where you're doing a lot of stuff but
  • 00:11:43
    you're not making progress towards what
  • 00:11:44
    really matters to you that is the point
  • 00:11:46
    of a lot of these habits the point of
  • 00:11:48
    the morning Manifesto It's the point of
  • 00:11:49
    having that two-minute check-in in the
  • 00:11:50
    morning where you're like okay what what
  • 00:11:52
    actually were my priorities and like
  • 00:11:54
    what do I actually want to work on today
  • 00:11:55
    I don't recommend having it as an
  • 00:11:57
    elaborate sort of series of prompts
  • 00:11:58
    because the the big the longer it takes
  • 00:12:00
    to do the less likely you are to do it
  • 00:12:02
    at least in my case and I suspect in
  • 00:12:03
    your case as well that's why for me the
  • 00:12:05
    bare minimum is what were my weekly
  • 00:12:07
    priorities and how are they going and
  • 00:12:08
    then secondly what is the most important
  • 00:12:10
    thing I want to get done today I phrase
  • 00:12:12
    this as what is today's adventure going
  • 00:12:13
    to be because by phrasing it as an
  • 00:12:15
    adventure it feels good the whole stuff
  • 00:12:17
    around Feelgood productivity is if you
  • 00:12:19
    can scop yourself into treating your
  • 00:12:21
    work in the spirit of play not being too
  • 00:12:24
    serious about it being more sincere
  • 00:12:25
    about it thinking of it as a quest that
  • 00:12:27
    you're on hence why the phrase quarterly
  • 00:12:28
    Quest it's a bit more fun a bit more
  • 00:12:30
    nice and viy than projects or like okrs
  • 00:12:33
    or like objectives I like quests because
  • 00:12:35
    it feels good daily Adventures what is
  • 00:12:37
    today's adventure going to be and if for
  • 00:12:39
    the next 365 days each morning you were
  • 00:12:41
    to actually ask yourself what is today's
  • 00:12:43
    adventure going to be what is my most
  • 00:12:45
    important task and then you just stick
  • 00:12:46
    it in your calendar assuming you
  • 00:12:48
    actually do the thing even if you don't
  • 00:12:49
    do the thing most of the time but you do
  • 00:12:50
    the thing some of the time you're still
  • 00:12:51
    going to be completely unrecognizable a
  • 00:12:53
    year from now all righty so at this
  • 00:12:54
    point we have done a lot of like
  • 00:12:56
    intention setting now it comes to
  • 00:12:57
    actually doing the stuff and that is
  • 00:12:59
    where habit number four comes in okay so
  • 00:13:02
    for habit number four I want to tell you
  • 00:13:03
    a little bit of a story of a time when I
  • 00:13:05
    struggled with this which was I think
  • 00:13:07
    about two years ago when I was on the
  • 00:13:09
    first draft of trying to write my book
  • 00:13:11
    before it came out and there was lots of
  • 00:13:13
    stuff going on lots of stuff going on in
  • 00:13:14
    the business and I knew that the most
  • 00:13:16
    important thing I needed to work on and
  • 00:13:18
    my courtly Quest and all that stuff was
  • 00:13:19
    writing my book making progress on my
  • 00:13:21
    book because I knew that was like an
  • 00:13:22
    important but not urgent project that I
  • 00:13:24
    really needed to move forward and I was
  • 00:13:26
    chatting to my CEO coach and I was like
  • 00:13:28
    oh man you know I'm just not I haven't
  • 00:13:29
    got the time I'm not making the time
  • 00:13:31
    like I'm not like doing the thing and it
  • 00:13:33
    was like okay Step One is do I have time
  • 00:13:35
    on my calendar blocked out every single
  • 00:13:36
    day where I'm working on the book and
  • 00:13:38
    initially the answer was no and then I
  • 00:13:39
    was like okay cool I'll block out that
  • 00:13:40
    time but even when I was blocking out
  • 00:13:42
    the time and my intention each morning
  • 00:13:44
    was like okay I'm going to work on the
  • 00:13:45
    book I would end up like screwing around
  • 00:13:47
    I would end up being like okay I'm
  • 00:13:49
    looking at the blank page uh can't be
  • 00:13:50
    bothered I was like um I'll make a cup
  • 00:13:52
    of tea then I'll make a cup of coffee
  • 00:13:53
    then I'll go to the bathroom because
  • 00:13:54
    obviously you know coffee is a bit of a
  • 00:13:55
    laxative and so I would need to do a
  • 00:13:57
    whatever in the bathroom then I'll come
  • 00:13:58
    back make another coffee look in the
  • 00:14:00
    fridge and before I know it like so much
  • 00:14:02
    time would have passed then I go on
  • 00:14:03
    slack reply to team messages some team
  • 00:14:05
    members might be around so I chat to
  • 00:14:06
    them and then I go for a walk and then
  • 00:14:07
    before I knew it I wasn't making any
  • 00:14:09
    progress on the book at all so the thing
  • 00:14:10
    that he encouraged me to do was to make
  • 00:14:11
    a Google sheet where every day I would
  • 00:14:13
    just track how many minutes I spent
  • 00:14:15
    working on the book in fully focused
  • 00:14:17
    time and then I just wrote that number
  • 00:14:19
    on the spreadsheet and the fact that I
  • 00:14:20
    now wrote this number on the spreadsheet
  • 00:14:22
    every day gave me profound insight into
  • 00:14:24
    how unproductive I was being as it
  • 00:14:26
    related to writing my book and just the
  • 00:14:28
    fact that I was now aware of what that
  • 00:14:29
    number was meant that number went up and
  • 00:14:31
    I was able to bang out the first draft
  • 00:14:33
    of my book and it ended up being pretty
  • 00:14:34
    reasonable once all the edits and stuff
  • 00:14:36
    happened along the way that's it when I
  • 00:14:37
    was working on the book I just logged
  • 00:14:39
    how many minutes at a time I was
  • 00:14:40
    focusing on the book for this was
  • 00:14:42
    transformational and has resulted in
  • 00:14:44
    what I now call the focus log which is a
  • 00:14:46
    key habit this is habit number four it's
  • 00:14:48
    absolute key habit that I teach to all
  • 00:14:49
    my students in my productivity lab and
  • 00:14:50
    in my course life operating system and
  • 00:14:52
    anytime I do talks and stuff when people
  • 00:14:54
    you know every everyone struggles to
  • 00:14:55
    focus right and have you have you got
  • 00:14:56
    any tips for Focus the single biggest
  • 00:14:58
    hack that I don't don't hear enough
  • 00:14:59
    people talking about is creating a focus
  • 00:15:01
    log if you're interested in specific
  • 00:15:03
    tips on how to make your own Focus log I
  • 00:15:04
    have a whole three-part series on how to
  • 00:15:06
    focus better that will be linked
  • 00:15:07
    somewhere down below there's various
  • 00:15:08
    ways of doing it you can use like manual
  • 00:15:10
    time tracking automatic automatic time
  • 00:15:11
    tracking Google Sheets pen and paper it
  • 00:15:13
    really doesn't matter the point is if
  • 00:15:15
    you actually just give yourself
  • 00:15:16
    visibility on how many minutes you are
  • 00:15:18
    focusing on the thing that's most
  • 00:15:20
    important to you or on whatever is most
  • 00:15:22
    important to you that will profoundly
  • 00:15:24
    influence your ability to actually do
  • 00:15:25
    the
  • 00:15:26
    thing all righty habit number five is
  • 00:15:29
    related to work this is more about the
  • 00:15:30
    social relationship side of things and
  • 00:15:32
    this is the standing order social events
  • 00:15:35
    I've been doing a lot of research into
  • 00:15:36
    what makes people feel lonely especially
  • 00:15:38
    in middle age and stuff and generally
  • 00:15:40
    once you get Beyond University like life
  • 00:15:42
    becomes a lot less social than it once
  • 00:15:43
    was but one of the key strategies that
  • 00:15:45
    I've a read about be spoken to various
  • 00:15:47
    social friends of mine who will do this
  • 00:15:48
    and see implemented into my own life in
  • 00:15:50
    particular back when I was living in
  • 00:15:51
    London I had this down to a tea now that
  • 00:15:53
    I moved to Hong Kong I still haven't yet
  • 00:15:55
    set this up but it's a key thing on the
  • 00:15:57
    list for basically as soon as possible
  • 00:15:59
    is standing order social events a
  • 00:16:01
    standing order social event is something
  • 00:16:03
    where once a week or every other week in
  • 00:16:05
    your calendar you have a social event
  • 00:16:07
    that's just stuck in the calendar that
  • 00:16:09
    happens at the same time in the same
  • 00:16:11
    place every single time without fail it
  • 00:16:13
    could be something like a Sunday brunch
  • 00:16:15
    that is what I was doing weekly back
  • 00:16:16
    when I lived in London it could be a
  • 00:16:18
    Tuesday evening inviting people over for
  • 00:16:20
    board games or a Thursday evening
  • 00:16:22
    inviting people over for Dino and the
  • 00:16:23
    idea is that you invite a bunch of
  • 00:16:24
    people and whoever can make it rocks up
  • 00:16:27
    and whoever can't make it you know they
  • 00:16:28
    don't make make it but the point is that
  • 00:16:30
    it happens on a weekly or bi-weekly
  • 00:16:32
    Cadence and this is just an absolutely
  • 00:16:33
    fantastic way of staying in touch with
  • 00:16:34
    people of making friends of retaining
  • 00:16:36
    friendships without having to do all of
  • 00:16:38
    the Annoying back and forth that once
  • 00:16:40
    once you're out of University starts to
  • 00:16:42
    happen where you have having to
  • 00:16:43
    coordinate a dozen different people's
  • 00:16:44
    calendars in my own life I have two
  • 00:16:46
    standing order social events right now
  • 00:16:47
    which is two date nights every week with
  • 00:16:49
    my wife and a big part of why I think
  • 00:16:51
    our relationship is very strong is
  • 00:16:52
    because we do these two date nights a
  • 00:16:54
    week they are in the calendar there is a
  • 00:16:56
    calendar invite you know if something
  • 00:16:58
    comes up we move them rather than delete
  • 00:17:00
    them and it ensures that there are at
  • 00:17:01
    least two nights a week where it's sort
  • 00:17:03
    of like we're you know quality time with
  • 00:17:04
    one another rather than all of the other
  • 00:17:06
    things getting in the way one thing I'm
  • 00:17:07
    going to incorporate into my own life in
  • 00:17:08
    Hong Kong here as well is doing like a
  • 00:17:10
    weekly or every other week kind of
  • 00:17:12
    people come over for dinner type
  • 00:17:14
    situation if you have these sorts of
  • 00:17:15
    social rituals in your life already like
  • 00:17:17
    you go to church on a Sunday or you go
  • 00:17:18
    to the mosque on a Friday and then you
  • 00:17:20
    you know grab fried chicken with the
  • 00:17:21
    boys afterwards you know what whatever
  • 00:17:23
    the situation might be these sorts of
  • 00:17:25
    regular social events seem to be what
  • 00:17:27
    drive a lot of kind of relationship
  • 00:17:29
    satisfaction and relationship Health in
  • 00:17:31
    the important relationships and
  • 00:17:32
    friendships in your life and then
  • 00:17:34
    finally habit number six to help make
  • 00:17:36
    this the best year ever is what I like
  • 00:17:38
    to refer to as multimodality
  • 00:17:40
    multitasking this is a bit of a mouthful
  • 00:17:42
    I'm sure there's a sexier way of like
  • 00:17:44
    describing this thing but basically one
  • 00:17:46
    question I get a lot when I do talks and
  • 00:17:47
    things is usually from people with jobs
  • 00:17:49
    like you've got a 9 to5 or maybe like a
  • 00:17:51
    9 to9 or whatever the job is and you
  • 00:17:53
    want to build the business or do the
  • 00:17:55
    side hustle thing outside of the day job
  • 00:17:57
    but obviously you you've got a job right
  • 00:17:59
    so it's like when you've take into
  • 00:18:00
    account the time you're at the job
  • 00:18:01
    commuting to the job commuting from the
  • 00:18:03
    job trying to eat food General Life
  • 00:18:04
    maintenance especially if you have a
  • 00:18:06
    family especially if you have kids my
  • 00:18:07
    goodness there are very few hours in the
  • 00:18:09
    week left to be able to pursue your
  • 00:18:11
    dream and then you're like well am I
  • 00:18:12
    just sort of stuck in this grind of the
  • 00:18:14
    day job where I live to work and stuff
  • 00:18:17
    or can I can I magically find time can I
  • 00:18:20
    become more productive or more efficient
  • 00:18:22
    so that I can find this magical time and
  • 00:18:24
    be able to use that magical time on
  • 00:18:26
    things related to building my dream
  • 00:18:28
    whatever ever the dream is for some
  • 00:18:29
    people it's a business for some people
  • 00:18:30
    it's a YouTube channel for some people
  • 00:18:31
    it's writing a book for some people it's
  • 00:18:33
    doing their art on the side whatever the
  • 00:18:34
    dream might be you need time is the key
  • 00:18:37
    currency well time energy and focus but
  • 00:18:38
    like time is the first one time time is
  • 00:18:40
    a key currency that you need to be able
  • 00:18:42
    to make progress on your dream so how do
  • 00:18:43
    you create more time well we all have
  • 00:18:45
    the same 168 hours in the week if you
  • 00:18:47
    have a job a huge chunk of them are
  • 00:18:49
    already taken up with the job if you
  • 00:18:50
    have a family if you have
  • 00:18:51
    responsibilities a huge chunk of those
  • 00:18:53
    are already taken up but a key thing
  • 00:18:56
    that really really helped me when I was
  • 00:18:57
    building my business when I was building
  • 00:18:58
    my dream was multimodality multitasking
  • 00:19:01
    what this basically means is doing two
  • 00:19:03
    things at once uh doing two things at
  • 00:19:05
    once creates time what you don't want to
  • 00:19:08
    do is try and focus on two things at
  • 00:19:10
    once like if you're doing focused work
  • 00:19:12
    it has to be on just one thing there's
  • 00:19:14
    all sort of research about the idea of
  • 00:19:16
    attention residue about the idea about
  • 00:19:18
    if you're trying to I don't know work on
  • 00:19:20
    your book while also answering emails
  • 00:19:21
    that's not going to work because that's
  • 00:19:23
    the same modality you're trying to do
  • 00:19:24
    the same thing whereas multimodality
  • 00:19:26
    multitasking would be for example
  • 00:19:28
    listening to an audiobook while doing
  • 00:19:30
    the laundry it's like two different
  • 00:19:32
    modalities you're doing the multitasking
  • 00:19:33
    it's fine or listening to a podcast or
  • 00:19:35
    audiobook while you're on your commute
  • 00:19:36
    to work now you can get a lot of the
  • 00:19:38
    benefits of the knowledge that you're
  • 00:19:40
    acquiring from whatever your dream is in
  • 00:19:41
    my case it was listening to business
  • 00:19:43
    books and business podcasts you can do
  • 00:19:45
    that while doing other things you don't
  • 00:19:46
    want to do that while spending time with
  • 00:19:48
    your family because you want to be
  • 00:19:48
    present with that you don't want to try
  • 00:19:50
    and do that while focusing on your work
  • 00:19:51
    but if you're doing stuff like driving
  • 00:19:53
    or like walking or like doing the
  • 00:19:54
    laundry or like doing the dishes
  • 00:19:55
    whatever the situation might be you
  • 00:19:57
    could always be listening to something
  • 00:19:59
    while that is happening I'm not saying
  • 00:20:00
    you have to do this I don't want the
  • 00:20:02
    antitoxic productivity people to come
  • 00:20:04
    after me because oh my God he's
  • 00:20:05
    promoting toxic I'm not promoting toxic
  • 00:20:07
    productivity here what I'm saying is
  • 00:20:08
    that if you have a dream and you're
  • 00:20:10
    finding yourself without the time to
  • 00:20:11
    focus on building that dream you could
  • 00:20:13
    actually create more time by doing
  • 00:20:15
    multitasking in this sort of way the way
  • 00:20:17
    that I do this now is that my team and I
  • 00:20:19
    have created an app called voice pal
  • 00:20:21
    which is a ghost writer in your pocket
  • 00:20:23
    basically I'll go for a walk and then
  • 00:20:24
    I'll hit record on the app with my
  • 00:20:26
    airpods in and I will just speak things
  • 00:20:28
    out loud I'll just sort of this is how I
  • 00:20:30
    plan my videos for example I'll think
  • 00:20:31
    okay cool I'm doing a video about six
  • 00:20:33
    habits to make next year the best year
  • 00:20:34
    of your life what are the sorts of
  • 00:20:36
    things I want to say in that video and I
  • 00:20:37
    will just be sort of walking around in
  • 00:20:39
    like the local area or whatever actually
  • 00:20:41
    this morning while I was planning this
  • 00:20:42
    video I went to do the groceries cuz my
  • 00:20:43
    wife wanted some like organic carrots
  • 00:20:45
    and milk and stuff and she wanted to
  • 00:20:46
    make a spaghetti bologna so I had to do
  • 00:20:47
    the groceries but on the way to the
  • 00:20:49
    grocery store I had my airpods in and
  • 00:20:51
    while I was around the grocery store I
  • 00:20:53
    was just speaking out loud it doesn't
  • 00:20:55
    look weird because people just think
  • 00:20:56
    you're on your phone or you like
  • 00:20:57
    speaking to someone but I was planning
  • 00:20:58
    this video while I was doing this trip
  • 00:21:00
    to the grocery store cuz the idea is
  • 00:21:02
    that you speak into the app the app then
  • 00:21:03
    asks sensible follow-up questions and
  • 00:21:05
    then it turns whatever You' said into a
  • 00:21:06
    first draft that sounds exactly like you
  • 00:21:08
    now based on these videos I don't really
  • 00:21:09
    read from a script I mostly riff but the
  • 00:21:11
    fact that I was able to talk through the
  • 00:21:12
    talking points for this video and then
  • 00:21:14
    use voice pal to turn it into a rough
  • 00:21:15
    outline that's an example of
  • 00:21:17
    multimodality multitasking most of us
  • 00:21:19
    have some sort of writing that we have
  • 00:21:20
    to do in some sort of capacity anyway so
  • 00:21:22
    like you don't have to use this app I
  • 00:21:23
    think it's really good we built it for
  • 00:21:25
    exactly this purpose so you should check
  • 00:21:26
    it out link down below it's available on
  • 00:21:27
    Android and iOS if you don't want to use
  • 00:21:29
    the app fine use whatever other software
  • 00:21:31
    you want to use that can convert you
  • 00:21:33
    speaking into a transcript and then you
  • 00:21:35
    take the transcript you stick it into
  • 00:21:36
    chat GPT and then you edit it on
  • 00:21:38
    whatever editing software you want to
  • 00:21:39
    use like notion or Google Docs Microsoft
  • 00:21:41
    Word God forbid but now with the advance
  • 00:21:42
    of AI tools if you are strapped for time
  • 00:21:45
    and the thing that you need to do to
  • 00:21:46
    build your dream or your work involves
  • 00:21:48
    writing in some capacity which almost
  • 00:21:50
    everything does because lots of ideas
  • 00:21:51
    are Downstream of writing it makes so
  • 00:21:53
    much sense to be able to use the power
  • 00:21:55
    of your voice while you're doing other
  • 00:21:56
    things to be able to do that work work
  • 00:21:58
    alongside again for the record I'm not
  • 00:22:00
    saying that when you are spending time
  • 00:22:02
    with your kids you actually have your
  • 00:22:03
    airpods in and you are sort of trying to
  • 00:22:04
    crank out your next email newsletter
  • 00:22:06
    that's obviously not the point point is
  • 00:22:08
    when you're taking a trip to the grocery
  • 00:22:09
    store that would otherwise be dead time
  • 00:22:11
    or you're just s of listening to music
  • 00:22:12
    or whatever you can use that time to be
  • 00:22:14
    productive to make progress on the
  • 00:22:15
    things you want to make progress on and
  • 00:22:16
    if you enjoyed this video firstly thank
  • 00:22:18
    you for watching and secondly you're
  • 00:22:19
    going to enjoy that little playlist over
  • 00:22:20
    here which is a couple of videos on how
  • 00:22:22
    to focus better because that is probably
  • 00:22:24
    knowing my audience something that you
  • 00:22:26
    might be potentially struggling with so
  • 00:22:27
    thank you for watching and I'll I'll see
  • 00:22:28
    you in that video bye-bye
Tags
  • Productivity
  • Quarterly Goals
  • Weekly Review
  • Morning Routine
  • Focus
  • Social Relationships
  • Time Management
  • Ali Abdaal
  • Goal Setting
  • Personal Growth