6 Habits to Make 2025 Your Best Year Yet
摘要
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.
心得
- 📅 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.
时间轴
- 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.
思维导图
视频问答
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.
查看更多视频摘要
- 00:00:00in this video we are discussing six key
- 00:00:02productivity habits now if you
- 00:00:03incorporate any of these and ideally
- 00:00:05multiple of these into your life it
- 00:00:07basically guarantees that your next year
- 00:00:09is going to be your best year ever hey
- 00:00:11friends welcome back to the channel if
- 00:00:12you're new here my name is Ali I'm a
- 00:00:13dror turn entrepreneur and the author of
- 00:00:15The New York Times bestseller Feelgood
- 00:00:17productivity which is about how to be
- 00:00:18more productive in a way that actually
- 00:00:19feels good and for the last 7 years on
- 00:00:21this channel I have been documenting my
- 00:00:22journey from broke medical student to
- 00:00:24working full-time as a doctor to now
- 00:00:25running a seven figure business where I
- 00:00:27live a life that I absolutely love and
- 00:00:28my goal on this channel really is to
- 00:00:30share everything that I've learned and
- 00:00:31everything I'm continuing to learn along
- 00:00:33this journey of personal growth and
- 00:00:35development in the hope that you find
- 00:00:37some value from it and you can maybe
- 00:00:38work towards what I like to call the
- 00:00:39five FS of fun fulfillment flexibility
- 00:00:42freedom and finance so let's get into
- 00:00:45it all righty so habit number one that I
- 00:00:47have gotten a lot of value out of is
- 00:00:50kind of ignoring the notion of annual
- 00:00:52goals and I always feel super excited
- 00:00:54when I set annual goals at the start of
- 00:00:55the year but there is an alternative
- 00:00:57method for goal setting that I've been
- 00:01:00been using on and off over the years
- 00:01:01partly in personal life partly in
- 00:01:03business life and when I think back to
- 00:01:04the goals that I've actually
- 00:01:05accomplished like the things that the
- 00:01:06meaningful things that I've done they've
- 00:01:08always been with this second method of
- 00:01:09goal setting rather than through annual
- 00:01:11goals and this second method of goal
- 00:01:13setting is what I refer to as quarterly
- 00:01:15quests and the idea behind this is that
- 00:01:18instead of thinking about setting goals
- 00:01:19for the year you actually focus on
- 00:01:21setting goals for the next quarter I.E
- 00:01:23the next 90 days now this is a concept
- 00:01:25that the authors of the book The 12we
- 00:01:27Year talk about it's also um a concept
- 00:01:30in business worlds like the book get
- 00:01:32scalable by Ryan Dice and the book
- 00:01:33traction by junor Wickman there's a lot
- 00:01:36of goal setting methodologies that are
- 00:01:38focused on this sort of 90-day cycle and
- 00:01:40so the whole idea behind setting
- 00:01:41quarterly quests is that when it comes
- 00:01:42to 90 days or 3 months or 12 weeks or
- 00:01:44how however you want to split it you're
- 00:01:46able to visualize that like on a single
- 00:01:47piece of paper you could write down the
- 00:01:49next 12 weeks but if you're trying to do
- 00:01:50annual goals it's like you know in my
- 00:01:53case I I'll set an annual goal in
- 00:01:54January and by by the time February or
- 00:01:57March rolls around either I've made
- 00:01:58progress towards it in and I've gotten
- 00:02:00new data in which case maybe the goal
- 00:02:02has changed or I haven't made progress
- 00:02:03towards it and I'm like ah it's an
- 00:02:04annual goal I've got the whole year left
- 00:02:06and then you know six months8 months
- 00:02:08goes by and I never make any progress on
- 00:02:09it at all the idea behind quarterly
- 00:02:11quests is that every 90 days at the
- 00:02:12start of the quarter or at any point
- 00:02:14whenever you happen to be watching this
- 00:02:15video or whenever you happen to
- 00:02:16incorporate this habit into your life
- 00:02:18you focus on what are the three or four
- 00:02:21big things that I want to get done in
- 00:02:23the next 90 days this is quarterly
- 00:02:25quests every single quarter I host a
- 00:02:28completely free alignment Workshop where
- 00:02:30we get together on a zoom call and set
- 00:02:31these quarterly quests so if you are
- 00:02:33subscribed to my newsletter you will
- 00:02:35hear about these I've been running them
- 00:02:36for the last year and people get a lot
- 00:02:38of value from them usually we have a few
- 00:02:39thousand people attending and we do that
- 00:02:42setting the quarterly quests together so
- 00:02:43you're very welcome to join if you would
- 00:02:44like to but of course this is also
- 00:02:46something that you can do yourself more
- 00:02:47than about three or four quarterly
- 00:02:49quests means it's just too much too much
- 00:02:51stuff to be going on and generally I
- 00:02:53like to separate mine into two
- 00:02:55categories work and life and so I'll be
- 00:02:57thinking okay what are my quarterly
- 00:02:58Quests for work and what are my
- 00:02:59quarterly quests Quests for life
- 00:03:00sometimes there are certain projects
- 00:03:01that are going to take longer than 90
- 00:03:03days to get done the idea behind those
- 00:03:05is that you would turn them into 90-day
- 00:03:07projects so for example when I was
- 00:03:08writing my book Feelgood productivity
- 00:03:11which is available everywhere books are
- 00:03:12sold and also an audible where I narrate
- 00:03:14the Audi book so you can check it out if
- 00:03:15you haven't yet when I was writing
- 00:03:16Feelgood productivity I found that
- 00:03:17working in 90-day chunks was pretty
- 00:03:20effective because obviously writing a
- 00:03:21whole book is like a three-year process
- 00:03:23but if you break it down into the
- 00:03:24quarters it's like the quarterly Quest
- 00:03:25would be completing the first draft or
- 00:03:27completing the first draft of the first
- 00:03:29three or whatever and so if you want to
- 00:03:31make this year the best year of your
- 00:03:33life where you are doing the things that
- 00:03:34are meaningful to you and ideally
- 00:03:36enjoying the journey along the way then
- 00:03:37I'd really recommend thinking in 90-day
- 00:03:39chunks when it comes to your goals
- 00:03:41rather than in annual chunks but then
- 00:03:42there's a problem right because the
- 00:03:43problem is even if you do set these
- 00:03:45quarterly quests these 90-day goals
- 00:03:47there is a danger that they go the same
- 00:03:49way that New Year's resolutions do I.E
- 00:03:50you set them at the start of the quarter
- 00:03:52and then you completely forget about
- 00:03:53them and that is where our next habit
- 00:03:55comes in so habit number two is an
- 00:03:57absolute classic in the world of
- 00:03:59productivity it is the single habit that
- 00:04:01almost every productivity Enthusiast
- 00:04:03swears by it was popularized in 2001 by
- 00:04:06productivity Guru David Allen in his
- 00:04:08seminal work getting things done the art
- 00:04:09of stress-free productivity and that
- 00:04:11habit is drum roll please the weekly
- 00:04:14review I like to think of it as a weekly
- 00:04:16reset uh the idea is that once a week
- 00:04:19you are spending like 20 minutes
- 00:04:21reviewing how your previous week has
- 00:04:22gone and setting priorities for the next
- 00:04:25week this is a really simple thing to do
- 00:04:27it does not have to be an elaborate 8
- 00:04:29hour hour routine just like 10 15 20
- 00:04:32minutes reviewing how your last week has
- 00:04:34gone and actually asking yourself okay
- 00:04:35what are my key priorities for the week
- 00:04:37ahead will do absolute wonders for your
- 00:04:39productivity and will really help you
- 00:04:41make meaningful progress towards the
- 00:04:42things that matter most to you can I
- 00:04:44request a cup of tea please yeah yes
- 00:04:46nice thanks yes ni that's the wife the
- 00:04:49wife was actually sitting in the corner
- 00:04:51over here on her laptop motivating me to
- 00:04:52film because I was feeling like H I
- 00:04:54don't want to film this video anyway as
- 00:04:55part of the weekly reset it's generally
- 00:04:57good practice to look at your calendar
- 00:04:58for the previous week and to celebrate
- 00:05:01some wins to give yourself a pat on the
- 00:05:02back for the stuff that you did well it
- 00:05:04is also a very good idea at that point
- 00:05:06and one of the key things that we have
- 00:05:07within our weekly reset template is you
- 00:05:09ask yourself the question what were my
- 00:05:11quarterly quests and how are they going
- 00:05:13and this is a weekly checkpoint where
- 00:05:15you remind yourself oh yeah what were my
- 00:05:17quarterly quests sometimes I skip my
- 00:05:19weekly reset for like I don't know a
- 00:05:20week or two in a row because like life
- 00:05:22got in the way or I forgot or like you
- 00:05:23know the calendar event clashed with the
- 00:05:25productivity lab workshop and so I
- 00:05:26didn't attend the weekly reset and then
- 00:05:27it comes to week three and I look at my
- 00:05:28template and it's like what were our
- 00:05:30quarterly quests again and how are they
- 00:05:31going and I'm like hm it's a good
- 00:05:33question I've actually forgotten what
- 00:05:35goals I set for myself 3 weeks ago what
- 00:05:37my quarterly quests were and then I look
- 00:05:38at my little quarterly quests I have
- 00:05:40that in a goalkeeper document which I
- 00:05:41name my goalkeeper document CU it's just
- 00:05:43kind of fun again all this stuff is
- 00:05:44stuff we do in this free quarterly
- 00:05:45alignment Workshop so if you attend one
- 00:05:46of those you'll see you'll see the whole
- 00:05:47process in action but then I'll look at
- 00:05:49that list I'll be like oh yeah I I
- 00:05:50totally was going to do that thing which
- 00:05:52I completely forgot about and then it
- 00:05:53comes back on track so the idea behind
- 00:05:55the weekly reset is that it is a
- 00:05:56checkpoint to be able to refer to your
- 00:05:58quarterly quests and see how are they
- 00:06:00going and then based on how your quot
- 00:06:02quests are going or anything else that's
- 00:06:03happening in life you define what are
- 00:06:05your top one two and three priorities
- 00:06:08for the week ahead if this is a habit
- 00:06:10that you haven't yet incorporated into
- 00:06:11your life then I can handon heart
- 00:06:12guarantee that if you do it will change
- 00:06:14the game for you and help you make the
- 00:06:15next year the best year of your life oh
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- 00:07:23let's say you've set those top three
- 00:07:25priorities for the week what if you just
- 00:07:27forget about them and that is where our
- 00:07:28next habit comes
- 00:07:30in and habit number three is another
- 00:07:33absolute Staple in the world of
- 00:07:34productivity that I hope you're doing
- 00:07:35already but if you're not that's okay
- 00:07:37that's why we're here watching this
- 00:07:38video it's a very very easy Habit to
- 00:07:40incorporate into your routine it doesn't
- 00:07:42normally take more than about one or two
- 00:07:44minutes and micro habit number three
- 00:07:45that you can incorporate from right now
- 00:07:47is what I call the morning Manifesto
- 00:07:49what is the morning Manifesto the
- 00:07:50morning Manifesto is basically a
- 00:07:522-minute journaling prompt first thing
- 00:07:54in the morning before you sit down to
- 00:07:56work that asks you a few basic questions
- 00:07:58basic question number one is what were
- 00:08:01our top three priorities for the week
- 00:08:03and how are they going so you see the
- 00:08:04thing like with the weekly reset we
- 00:08:05asked what were our top three quarterly
- 00:08:07quests and how they're going reminding
- 00:08:08ourselves about that thing that we
- 00:08:09decided to do a quarter ago but then
- 00:08:11every single day every single work day
- 00:08:13we're asking ourselves what were my top
- 00:08:15three priorities for the week and how
- 00:08:17are they going now this is a reminder
- 00:08:18every day it's a checkpoint of like a if
- 00:08:20you haven't done your weekly reset for
- 00:08:21the week you think about it and I I have
- 00:08:23this a lot when I when I skip my weekly
- 00:08:24resets cuz it was bad but when I skip my
- 00:08:26weekly resets I'll get to the morning
- 00:08:28Manifesto It'll ask me what are my top
- 00:08:30three priorities for the week I'll be
- 00:08:31like oh well I didn't do my weekly
- 00:08:33reset this week so I haven't actually
- 00:08:34set those and then I'll think about it
- 00:08:35and I'll Define my top three priorities
- 00:08:37for the week and that is really really
- 00:08:38helpful because when it comes to
- 00:08:39productivity a big mistake that we all
- 00:08:41make is that we think it is about
- 00:08:43efficiency it's about trying to do
- 00:08:45things a little bit more efficiently or
- 00:08:46a little bit faster or whatever but that
- 00:08:49is not where the needle is moved the
- 00:08:51needle is moved in the choice of what
- 00:08:53you are actually working on it's in the
- 00:08:55choice of what direction you're going
- 00:08:56rather than in how fast you're getting
- 00:08:57there and that's why we all have this
- 00:08:59problem where you can you can feel as if
- 00:09:01you're being very efficient but like
- 00:09:02you're not actually making meaningful
- 00:09:04progress towards the things that matter
- 00:09:05most to you if your goal is like mine
- 00:09:07was when I had a day job to build some
- 00:09:08sort of business that makes enough money
- 00:09:10for you to be able to go part-time in
- 00:09:11your job or to build a business that
- 00:09:12gives you Financial Freedom and you have
- 00:09:14a day job and you're on the grind in the
- 00:09:15hamster wheel of the day job you can be
- 00:09:17really efficient in your day job but
- 00:09:18you're not actually making any progress
- 00:09:20towards that dream over there that
- 00:09:21really matters to you you're just
- 00:09:23focused on being efficient or being
- 00:09:24productive in your day job and that is
- 00:09:26why when we do these things like
- 00:09:26quarterly quests and we do the weekly
- 00:09:28reset and we think about priorities a
- 00:09:30lot of it is around what do I actually
- 00:09:32want to work towards cuz I imagine if
- 00:09:34you're watching this channel you're
- 00:09:35probably reasonably competent you're
- 00:09:36probably very good-look maybe you've got
- 00:09:38a job you're probably reasonably okay at
- 00:09:40getting things done and the problem that
- 00:09:42you might have is that you're just not
- 00:09:44working on the right things if for
- 00:09:45example when I had a day job I did not
- 00:09:47set myself the goal of like building
- 00:09:49this business on the side building the
- 00:09:50YouTube channel on the side I mean I was
- 00:09:52I was a pretty reasonable doctor I was
- 00:09:53pretty efficient pretty productive I got
- 00:09:54I got decent grades in school I quite
- 00:09:56enjoyed medicine I would have just
- 00:09:57continued on that hamster wheel and this
- 00:09:58thing of this build building this
- 00:10:00business on the side would have always
- 00:10:01been a pipe dream that is the importance
- 00:10:03of goal selection rather than just goal
- 00:10:05efficiency oh hello do you want to say
- 00:10:07do you want to do you want to say hi
- 00:10:08thank you so much
- 00:10:10hi how's it going it's very good good
- 00:10:12luck
- 00:10:14thanks oh she so nice oh by the way
- 00:10:17quick thing if you are watching this
- 00:10:18before the 4th of January 2025 then you
- 00:10:21might like to check out the completely
- 00:10:22free 2day productivity Workshop that I'm
- 00:10:24hosting on the 4th and 5th of January
- 00:10:262025 it is called productivity Spark and
- 00:10:29it's essentially a two-day series of
- 00:10:31workshops that are hosted by me and also
- 00:10:33my wife and also a couple of guests that
- 00:10:34I aim to help you reflect on 2024 figure
- 00:10:37out where your work and life are heading
- 00:10:38and set active goals and quarterly
- 00:10:40Quests for 2025 it is completely free
- 00:10:43you can check it out with a link down
- 00:10:44below and I hope to see you there
- 00:10:45potentially so coming back to our
- 00:10:47morning Manifesto we are asking
- 00:10:49ourselves what were our weekly
- 00:10:51priorities again and how are they going
- 00:10:52again just reminding ourselves that oh
- 00:10:53yeah we did decide what we wanted to do
- 00:10:55and are we actually doing the thing that
- 00:10:57we said we were going to do again bit of
- 00:10:58a tangent but a huge part of making the
- 00:11:01next year the best year of your life is
- 00:11:03simply in doing the things that you say
- 00:11:05you're going to do if you actually did
- 00:11:08if you think about this right now if
- 00:11:09every single day you actually made an
- 00:11:11intention of what you wanted to do and
- 00:11:12you actually did it man doing that for
- 00:11:15365 days your life would be completely
- 00:11:17transformed you would be unrecognizable
- 00:11:19a year from now if every day you set an
- 00:11:21intention and you actually followed
- 00:11:22through on that intention the point
- 00:11:24behind the morning Manifesto It's not
- 00:11:26going to help you follow through on the
- 00:11:27intention but it helps you do that first
- 00:11:28step of setting that intention in the
- 00:11:30first place without that intention we
- 00:11:33just get into work we get into following
- 00:11:34what's on the calendar we get into the
- 00:11:36things we should do we get into whatever
- 00:11:37the algorithm is feeding us when we're
- 00:11:38scrolling Tik Tok and Instagram it
- 00:11:40becomes an unintentional unexamined life
- 00:11:42where you're doing a lot of stuff but
- 00:11:43you're not making progress towards what
- 00:11:44really matters to you that is the point
- 00:11:46of a lot of these habits the point of
- 00:11:48the morning Manifesto It's the point of
- 00:11:49having that two-minute check-in in the
- 00:11:50morning where you're like okay what what
- 00:11:52actually were my priorities and like
- 00:11:54what do I actually want to work on today
- 00:11:55I don't recommend having it as an
- 00:11:57elaborate sort of series of prompts
- 00:11:58because the the big the longer it takes
- 00:12:00to do the less likely you are to do it
- 00:12:02at least in my case and I suspect in
- 00:12:03your case as well that's why for me the
- 00:12:05bare minimum is what were my weekly
- 00:12:07priorities and how are they going and
- 00:12:08then secondly what is the most important
- 00:12:10thing I want to get done today I phrase
- 00:12:12this as what is today's adventure going
- 00:12:13to be because by phrasing it as an
- 00:12:15adventure it feels good the whole stuff
- 00:12:17around Feelgood productivity is if you
- 00:12:19can scop yourself into treating your
- 00:12:21work in the spirit of play not being too
- 00:12:24serious about it being more sincere
- 00:12:25about it thinking of it as a quest that
- 00:12:27you're on hence why the phrase quarterly
- 00:12:28Quest it's a bit more fun a bit more
- 00:12:30nice and viy than projects or like okrs
- 00:12:33or like objectives I like quests because
- 00:12:35it feels good daily Adventures what is
- 00:12:37today's adventure going to be and if for
- 00:12:39the next 365 days each morning you were
- 00:12:41to actually ask yourself what is today's
- 00:12:43adventure going to be what is my most
- 00:12:45important task and then you just stick
- 00:12:46it in your calendar assuming you
- 00:12:48actually do the thing even if you don't
- 00:12:49do the thing most of the time but you do
- 00:12:50the thing some of the time you're still
- 00:12:51going to be completely unrecognizable a
- 00:12:53year from now all righty so at this
- 00:12:54point we have done a lot of like
- 00:12:56intention setting now it comes to
- 00:12:57actually doing the stuff and that is
- 00:12:59where habit number four comes in okay so
- 00:13:02for habit number four I want to tell you
- 00:13:03a little bit of a story of a time when I
- 00:13:05struggled with this which was I think
- 00:13:07about two years ago when I was on the
- 00:13:09first draft of trying to write my book
- 00:13:11before it came out and there was lots of
- 00:13:13stuff going on lots of stuff going on in
- 00:13:14the business and I knew that the most
- 00:13:16important thing I needed to work on and
- 00:13:18my courtly Quest and all that stuff was
- 00:13:19writing my book making progress on my
- 00:13:21book because I knew that was like an
- 00:13:22important but not urgent project that I
- 00:13:24really needed to move forward and I was
- 00:13:26chatting to my CEO coach and I was like
- 00:13:28oh man you know I'm just not I haven't
- 00:13:29got the time I'm not making the time
- 00:13:31like I'm not like doing the thing and it
- 00:13:33was like okay Step One is do I have time
- 00:13:35on my calendar blocked out every single
- 00:13:36day where I'm working on the book and
- 00:13:38initially the answer was no and then I
- 00:13:39was like okay cool I'll block out that
- 00:13:40time but even when I was blocking out
- 00:13:42the time and my intention each morning
- 00:13:44was like okay I'm going to work on the
- 00:13:45book I would end up like screwing around
- 00:13:47I would end up being like okay I'm
- 00:13:49looking at the blank page uh can't be
- 00:13:50bothered I was like um I'll make a cup
- 00:13:52of tea then I'll make a cup of coffee
- 00:13:53then I'll go to the bathroom because
- 00:13:54obviously you know coffee is a bit of a
- 00:13:55laxative and so I would need to do a
- 00:13:57whatever in the bathroom then I'll come
- 00:13:58back make another coffee look in the
- 00:14:00fridge and before I know it like so much
- 00:14:02time would have passed then I go on
- 00:14:03slack reply to team messages some team
- 00:14:05members might be around so I chat to
- 00:14:06them and then I go for a walk and then
- 00:14:07before I knew it I wasn't making any
- 00:14:09progress on the book at all so the thing
- 00:14:10that he encouraged me to do was to make
- 00:14:11a Google sheet where every day I would
- 00:14:13just track how many minutes I spent
- 00:14:15working on the book in fully focused
- 00:14:17time and then I just wrote that number
- 00:14:19on the spreadsheet and the fact that I
- 00:14:20now wrote this number on the spreadsheet
- 00:14:22every day gave me profound insight into
- 00:14:24how unproductive I was being as it
- 00:14:26related to writing my book and just the
- 00:14:28fact that I was now aware of what that
- 00:14:29number was meant that number went up and
- 00:14:31I was able to bang out the first draft
- 00:14:33of my book and it ended up being pretty
- 00:14:34reasonable once all the edits and stuff
- 00:14:36happened along the way that's it when I
- 00:14:37was working on the book I just logged
- 00:14:39how many minutes at a time I was
- 00:14:40focusing on the book for this was
- 00:14:42transformational and has resulted in
- 00:14:44what I now call the focus log which is a
- 00:14:46key habit this is habit number four it's
- 00:14:48absolute key habit that I teach to all
- 00:14:49my students in my productivity lab and
- 00:14:50in my course life operating system and
- 00:14:52anytime I do talks and stuff when people
- 00:14:54you know every everyone struggles to
- 00:14:55focus right and have you have you got
- 00:14:56any tips for Focus the single biggest
- 00:14:58hack that I don't don't hear enough
- 00:14:59people talking about is creating a focus
- 00:15:01log if you're interested in specific
- 00:15:03tips on how to make your own Focus log I
- 00:15:04have a whole three-part series on how to
- 00:15:06focus better that will be linked
- 00:15:07somewhere down below there's various
- 00:15:08ways of doing it you can use like manual
- 00:15:10time tracking automatic automatic time
- 00:15:11tracking Google Sheets pen and paper it
- 00:15:13really doesn't matter the point is if
- 00:15:15you actually just give yourself
- 00:15:16visibility on how many minutes you are
- 00:15:18focusing on the thing that's most
- 00:15:20important to you or on whatever is most
- 00:15:22important to you that will profoundly
- 00:15:24influence your ability to actually do
- 00:15:25the
- 00:15:26thing all righty habit number five is
- 00:15:29related to work this is more about the
- 00:15:30social relationship side of things and
- 00:15:32this is the standing order social events
- 00:15:35I've been doing a lot of research into
- 00:15:36what makes people feel lonely especially
- 00:15:38in middle age and stuff and generally
- 00:15:40once you get Beyond University like life
- 00:15:42becomes a lot less social than it once
- 00:15:43was but one of the key strategies that
- 00:15:45I've a read about be spoken to various
- 00:15:47social friends of mine who will do this
- 00:15:48and see implemented into my own life in
- 00:15:50particular back when I was living in
- 00:15:51London I had this down to a tea now that
- 00:15:53I moved to Hong Kong I still haven't yet
- 00:15:55set this up but it's a key thing on the
- 00:15:57list for basically as soon as possible
- 00:15:59is standing order social events a
- 00:16:01standing order social event is something
- 00:16:03where once a week or every other week in
- 00:16:05your calendar you have a social event
- 00:16:07that's just stuck in the calendar that
- 00:16:09happens at the same time in the same
- 00:16:11place every single time without fail it
- 00:16:13could be something like a Sunday brunch
- 00:16:15that is what I was doing weekly back
- 00:16:16when I lived in London it could be a
- 00:16:18Tuesday evening inviting people over for
- 00:16:20board games or a Thursday evening
- 00:16:22inviting people over for Dino and the
- 00:16:23idea is that you invite a bunch of
- 00:16:24people and whoever can make it rocks up
- 00:16:27and whoever can't make it you know they
- 00:16:28don't make make it but the point is that
- 00:16:30it happens on a weekly or bi-weekly
- 00:16:32Cadence and this is just an absolutely
- 00:16:33fantastic way of staying in touch with
- 00:16:34people of making friends of retaining
- 00:16:36friendships without having to do all of
- 00:16:38the Annoying back and forth that once
- 00:16:40once you're out of University starts to
- 00:16:42happen where you have having to
- 00:16:43coordinate a dozen different people's
- 00:16:44calendars in my own life I have two
- 00:16:46standing order social events right now
- 00:16:47which is two date nights every week with
- 00:16:49my wife and a big part of why I think
- 00:16:51our relationship is very strong is
- 00:16:52because we do these two date nights a
- 00:16:54week they are in the calendar there is a
- 00:16:56calendar invite you know if something
- 00:16:58comes up we move them rather than delete
- 00:17:00them and it ensures that there are at
- 00:17:01least two nights a week where it's sort
- 00:17:03of like we're you know quality time with
- 00:17:04one another rather than all of the other
- 00:17:06things getting in the way one thing I'm
- 00:17:07going to incorporate into my own life in
- 00:17:08Hong Kong here as well is doing like a
- 00:17:10weekly or every other week kind of
- 00:17:12people come over for dinner type
- 00:17:14situation if you have these sorts of
- 00:17:15social rituals in your life already like
- 00:17:17you go to church on a Sunday or you go
- 00:17:18to the mosque on a Friday and then you
- 00:17:20you know grab fried chicken with the
- 00:17:21boys afterwards you know what whatever
- 00:17:23the situation might be these sorts of
- 00:17:25regular social events seem to be what
- 00:17:27drive a lot of kind of relationship
- 00:17:29satisfaction and relationship Health in
- 00:17:31the important relationships and
- 00:17:32friendships in your life and then
- 00:17:34finally habit number six to help make
- 00:17:36this the best year ever is what I like
- 00:17:38to refer to as multimodality
- 00:17:40multitasking this is a bit of a mouthful
- 00:17:42I'm sure there's a sexier way of like
- 00:17:44describing this thing but basically one
- 00:17:46question I get a lot when I do talks and
- 00:17:47things is usually from people with jobs
- 00:17:49like you've got a 9 to5 or maybe like a
- 00:17:519 to9 or whatever the job is and you
- 00:17:53want to build the business or do the
- 00:17:55side hustle thing outside of the day job
- 00:17:57but obviously you you've got a job right
- 00:17:59so it's like when you've take into
- 00:18:00account the time you're at the job
- 00:18:01commuting to the job commuting from the
- 00:18:03job trying to eat food General Life
- 00:18:04maintenance especially if you have a
- 00:18:06family especially if you have kids my
- 00:18:07goodness there are very few hours in the
- 00:18:09week left to be able to pursue your
- 00:18:11dream and then you're like well am I
- 00:18:12just sort of stuck in this grind of the
- 00:18:14day job where I live to work and stuff
- 00:18:17or can I can I magically find time can I
- 00:18:20become more productive or more efficient
- 00:18:22so that I can find this magical time and
- 00:18:24be able to use that magical time on
- 00:18:26things related to building my dream
- 00:18:28whatever ever the dream is for some
- 00:18:29people it's a business for some people
- 00:18:30it's a YouTube channel for some people
- 00:18:31it's writing a book for some people it's
- 00:18:33doing their art on the side whatever the
- 00:18:34dream might be you need time is the key
- 00:18:37currency well time energy and focus but
- 00:18:38like time is the first one time time is
- 00:18:40a key currency that you need to be able
- 00:18:42to make progress on your dream so how do
- 00:18:43you create more time well we all have
- 00:18:45the same 168 hours in the week if you
- 00:18:47have a job a huge chunk of them are
- 00:18:49already taken up with the job if you
- 00:18:50have a family if you have
- 00:18:51responsibilities a huge chunk of those
- 00:18:53are already taken up but a key thing
- 00:18:56that really really helped me when I was
- 00:18:57building my business when I was building
- 00:18:58my dream was multimodality multitasking
- 00:19:01what this basically means is doing two
- 00:19:03things at once uh doing two things at
- 00:19:05once creates time what you don't want to
- 00:19:08do is try and focus on two things at
- 00:19:10once like if you're doing focused work
- 00:19:12it has to be on just one thing there's
- 00:19:14all sort of research about the idea of
- 00:19:16attention residue about the idea about
- 00:19:18if you're trying to I don't know work on
- 00:19:20your book while also answering emails
- 00:19:21that's not going to work because that's
- 00:19:23the same modality you're trying to do
- 00:19:24the same thing whereas multimodality
- 00:19:26multitasking would be for example
- 00:19:28listening to an audiobook while doing
- 00:19:30the laundry it's like two different
- 00:19:32modalities you're doing the multitasking
- 00:19:33it's fine or listening to a podcast or
- 00:19:35audiobook while you're on your commute
- 00:19:36to work now you can get a lot of the
- 00:19:38benefits of the knowledge that you're
- 00:19:40acquiring from whatever your dream is in
- 00:19:41my case it was listening to business
- 00:19:43books and business podcasts you can do
- 00:19:45that while doing other things you don't
- 00:19:46want to do that while spending time with
- 00:19:48your family because you want to be
- 00:19:48present with that you don't want to try
- 00:19:50and do that while focusing on your work
- 00:19:51but if you're doing stuff like driving
- 00:19:53or like walking or like doing the
- 00:19:54laundry or like doing the dishes
- 00:19:55whatever the situation might be you
- 00:19:57could always be listening to something
- 00:19:59while that is happening I'm not saying
- 00:20:00you have to do this I don't want the
- 00:20:02antitoxic productivity people to come
- 00:20:04after me because oh my God he's
- 00:20:05promoting toxic I'm not promoting toxic
- 00:20:07productivity here what I'm saying is
- 00:20:08that if you have a dream and you're
- 00:20:10finding yourself without the time to
- 00:20:11focus on building that dream you could
- 00:20:13actually create more time by doing
- 00:20:15multitasking in this sort of way the way
- 00:20:17that I do this now is that my team and I
- 00:20:19have created an app called voice pal
- 00:20:21which is a ghost writer in your pocket
- 00:20:23basically I'll go for a walk and then
- 00:20:24I'll hit record on the app with my
- 00:20:26airpods in and I will just speak things
- 00:20:28out loud I'll just sort of this is how I
- 00:20:30plan my videos for example I'll think
- 00:20:31okay cool I'm doing a video about six
- 00:20:33habits to make next year the best year
- 00:20:34of your life what are the sorts of
- 00:20:36things I want to say in that video and I
- 00:20:37will just be sort of walking around in
- 00:20:39like the local area or whatever actually
- 00:20:41this morning while I was planning this
- 00:20:42video I went to do the groceries cuz my
- 00:20:43wife wanted some like organic carrots
- 00:20:45and milk and stuff and she wanted to
- 00:20:46make a spaghetti bologna so I had to do
- 00:20:47the groceries but on the way to the
- 00:20:49grocery store I had my airpods in and
- 00:20:51while I was around the grocery store I
- 00:20:53was just speaking out loud it doesn't
- 00:20:55look weird because people just think
- 00:20:56you're on your phone or you like
- 00:20:57speaking to someone but I was planning
- 00:20:58this video while I was doing this trip
- 00:21:00to the grocery store cuz the idea is
- 00:21:02that you speak into the app the app then
- 00:21:03asks sensible follow-up questions and
- 00:21:05then it turns whatever You' said into a
- 00:21:06first draft that sounds exactly like you
- 00:21:08now based on these videos I don't really
- 00:21:09read from a script I mostly riff but the
- 00:21:11fact that I was able to talk through the
- 00:21:12talking points for this video and then
- 00:21:14use voice pal to turn it into a rough
- 00:21:15outline that's an example of
- 00:21:17multimodality multitasking most of us
- 00:21:19have some sort of writing that we have
- 00:21:20to do in some sort of capacity anyway so
- 00:21:22like you don't have to use this app I
- 00:21:23think it's really good we built it for
- 00:21:25exactly this purpose so you should check
- 00:21:26it out link down below it's available on
- 00:21:27Android and iOS if you don't want to use
- 00:21:29the app fine use whatever other software
- 00:21:31you want to use that can convert you
- 00:21:33speaking into a transcript and then you
- 00:21:35take the transcript you stick it into
- 00:21:36chat GPT and then you edit it on
- 00:21:38whatever editing software you want to
- 00:21:39use like notion or Google Docs Microsoft
- 00:21:41Word God forbid but now with the advance
- 00:21:42of AI tools if you are strapped for time
- 00:21:45and the thing that you need to do to
- 00:21:46build your dream or your work involves
- 00:21:48writing in some capacity which almost
- 00:21:50everything does because lots of ideas
- 00:21:51are Downstream of writing it makes so
- 00:21:53much sense to be able to use the power
- 00:21:55of your voice while you're doing other
- 00:21:56things to be able to do that work work
- 00:21:58alongside again for the record I'm not
- 00:22:00saying that when you are spending time
- 00:22:02with your kids you actually have your
- 00:22:03airpods in and you are sort of trying to
- 00:22:04crank out your next email newsletter
- 00:22:06that's obviously not the point point is
- 00:22:08when you're taking a trip to the grocery
- 00:22:09store that would otherwise be dead time
- 00:22:11or you're just s of listening to music
- 00:22:12or whatever you can use that time to be
- 00:22:14productive to make progress on the
- 00:22:15things you want to make progress on and
- 00:22:16if you enjoyed this video firstly thank
- 00:22:18you for watching and secondly you're
- 00:22:19going to enjoy that little playlist over
- 00:22:20here which is a couple of videos on how
- 00:22:22to focus better because that is probably
- 00:22:24knowing my audience something that you
- 00:22:26might be potentially struggling with so
- 00:22:27thank you for watching and I'll I'll see
- 00:22:28you in that video bye-bye
- Productivity
- Quarterly Goals
- Weekly Review
- Morning Routine
- Focus
- Social Relationships
- Time Management
- Ali Abdaal
- Goal Setting
- Personal Growth