Productivity is the first skill you have to master in business. Why do I know? Because I’ve struggled for years to overcome procrastination, distractions and laziness. In 2011, as a college student, I started my first business in the beat-selling industry. But staying focused and working consistently was a difficult task.

Here’s what my life looked like:

• I went to bed around 4am
• I got up around noon with no energy
• I booked all college classes in the late afternoons
• I skipped most college classes
• After waking up I went straight to my computer
• I wasted insane amounts of time on YouTube and Google
• I barely had any willpower or productivity skills

In order to build my first $1,500 per month online business, I had to change al of that.

In this article I’ll share three things that particularly helped me on this journey to overcoming procrastination and laziness. I still believe productivity is the number one skill anyone should learn in life. If you know how to focus, use your willpower and work hard, there’s nothing that can hold you back. You can achieve almost anything and overcome almost every challenge.

Productivity is at the heart of a fulfilled life.

Im writing this article on the first few days of January 2018. Everyone is setting New Year’s resolutions and making a lousy attempt at overcoming bad habits and building empowering new ones. I say “lousy” because most people will fail.

This article will provide insights into the productivity secrets that have completely changed my life.

The Importance of Morning Rituals

If your day doesn’t have an external structure, this is a really big one.

And in 2011 this is the first big change I made in my life. I started drinking half a litre of water immediately after getting up. Then I took a shower, got dressed, brushed my teeth and groomed myself. After that I had a healthy, organic breakfast.

For the following years I experimented with different variations of this morning ritual.

I’ve tried many things from meditation, getting up at 5am to doing high-intensity workouts in the morning. Morning rituals shouldn’t be rigid. If your morning ritual is rigid and doesn’t change with time, you’re not progressing in life. I’ve changed my  morning ritual at least twenty times in the past ten years. Every time I do so, I adjust it to the needs I have at the time.

Morning rituals ought to be functional and serve you. So your morning ritual can, and should, look completely different from mine. It should be fine-tuned to the stage of your life you’re in and serve your particular needs as much as possible.

Here’s my current morning ritual:

• I wake up at 7.30am on weekdays and 9am on weekends
• I jump out of bed within a few seconds after waking up
• I use a Fossil Q hybrid watch with a vibration alarm
• I fast for 16-20 hours every day so I skip breakfast
• I take an ice cold shower for 30 seconds
• I then shower for as long as I want warm
• I end with another 15 seconds ice cold shower
• I leave the house and go to a co-work or coffee shop
• I practice Attention Training Technique for 12 minutes
• I work focussed until noon or early afternoon

As I said, my morning ritual has gone through countless transformations before arriving at its current form.

I don’t recommend you just copy what I do.

Start by implementing a small morning ritual and focus on one thing only. With time, keep adding more things to your morning ritual. Find out what works for you. Keep what makes sense and get rid of what doesn’t serve you.

If you work in a 9-to-5 job having a morning ritual is still helpful, but less important.

Focus Blocks

I used to work in timed, uninterrupted focus blocks of 50-90 minutes.

This can be done by setting an alarm clock and focussing on one task until the alarm goes off. These days my focus blocks have become much bigger. In fact, I only have two focus blocks: I work uninterrupted from around 9am until 12.30pm and from 2pm until around 6pm. I try to reserve my mornings for really important, high-leverage tasks like writing or making videos.

If you’re currently working in a 9-to-5 job I recommend you carve out one or two focus blocks every day.

On the other hand, if you’re already working for yourself, try stacking focus blocks and take short breaks in between. Stay hydrated, open the window, walk around or stretch. Then return and start your next focus block.

How I Manage Energy With Diet

During my lunch break between 12.30pm and 2pm I eat a ton of veggies, healthy fats and some protein. Since I do intermittent fasting, this is my main meal of the day. I eat mainly plant-based but include eggs, dairy, fish and occasional meat.

A common lunch might look something like this:

• Two brazil nuts and two macadamia nuts
• A hand-full of Goji berries
• Leafy greens sautéed in extra-virgin olive oil and garlic
• Half an avocado
• A side of cheese or smoked salmon
• Natural Greek yoghurt with blue berries, strawberries and a bit of honey
• Organic peanut butter without vegetable oils
• Some dates
• A home-made juice consisting of four carrots and one apple
• Another hand-full of Goji berries
• Water with lemon juice

Around 2pm I head back to my co-work or to a coffee shop to continue work.

I eat a mainly plant-based diet that consists to 80% of healthy fats.

In the evenings I’ll have a smaller dinner.

A common dinner might look something like this:

• A big mixed salad with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and rucola
• Salad dressing: Extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar in 2:1 ratio
• If I’ve lifted weights I’ll have 2-3 eggs for protein (scrambled or fried in olive oil)
• Some blueberries, strawberries or Goji berries
• An apple and a raw carrot
• Hot coconut milk with two melted pieces of 90% Lindt chocolate and a bit of honey

Two dinners a week I eat whatever I feel. I might go out to the movies with my wife and have a frozen Yoghurt with some Oreo and dark chocolate. I might have some Popcorn. Or I’ll got eat Indian with lots of rice and garlic Naan. Basically, I eat healthy and relatively strict 12 meals a week and 2 meals are reserved for feasting and eating whatever I want in whatever quantity.

When you do intermittent fasting you should also practice intermittent feasting every once in a while.

As with everything, a bit of balance is necessary.

I’ve experimented a ton with different diets throughout the years: From Paleo to Alkaline, Vegan and Keto. After spending half a year researching nutrition, I’ve now created my own “diet” that works pretty well for me.

Here’s my diet in a nutshell:

• Mostly plant-based
• In terms of energy: 80% of calories comes from healthy fats
• In terms of volume: 80% of my diet consists of vegetables and fruits
• I aim for about 50-100 grams of carbs per day to stay out of ketosis
• Eat fatty fish like salmon multiple times per week for Omega-3
• Eat plenty of eggs after weight-lifting workouts
• An avocado per day keeps the doctor away
• Lots of extra-virgin olive oil with everything
• Lots of filtered water with lemon juice
• Occasional small amounts of honey
• No refined carbs, gluten or sugar
• Fast 16-20 hours per day
• Feast 2 meals per week

There you go.

This diet might not work for you but it does for me.

I approach life from an investment standpoint and I’m obsessed with ROI. I choose to eat this particular way because I believe it has the highest ROI. I should give me the best chances at preventing chronic disease while looking good and giving me plenty of energy. I’ve tried a ton of different things, and I might switch things up in the future, but for now this is how I eat.

Note: Before you make any dietary changes, consult your physician.

Exercise, Health and Fitness

I try to work out 5 times per week.

I used to do mainly strength training but these days I do mainly aerobic exercise.

Once I’m finished with my second focus block of the day (from 2pm until 6pm), I leave work and head to the gym. I usually eat lunch at home. This allows me to pack my gym bag and take it with me to the co-work or coffee shop. I’ve found that this reduces excuses. Even if I’m tired and exhausted, I rarely skip the gym because I’ve already got the damn gym bag with me.

I’m invested.

I’ve packed the bag and carried it around all afternoon.

So I might as well go to the gym and work out.

My workouts are relatively simple and low-intensity these days. Most of the time I run on the treadmill for 30-45 minutes at low or moderate intensity. Occasionally, 1-2 times per week, I lift heavy weights, do some abs training and pull ups.

Fitness isn’t a big goal of mine.

I’m more obsessed with being healthy than with how I’m looking. However, I’ve found that it’s pretty easy to stay in good shape and retain lean muscle mass. I used to “kill” myself with high-intensity workouts but I don’t do that anymore.

Screen Abstinence

One of the most powerful productivity hacks I’ve ever implemented is screen abstinence.

This means, I keep my home completely screen-free.

Once I come home, I turn off my phone and laptop, store them in my backback, put the backpack it in a room and close the door. I do not touch any screens, including my phone, laptop, iPad, computer or TV. If my wife feels like watching TV I’ll join in, but I’ll not watch anything on my own. I treat screens like the pest. I don’t touch them because they’ll hijack my personal life.

I use a Fossil Q hybrid watch.

(It’s the best investment I’ve ever made in a gadget.)

Using the Fossil app you can pre-program your watch to vibrate at a certain time every day or on certain week days. This has completely replaced the need for having an alarm clock, or my iPhone, on my night stand.

It also allows me to wake up without waking up my wife who likes to sleep longer.

So why do I do this?

I am addicted to screens, to the Internet and to getting work done.

If you give me an opportunity to connect to the endless possibilities of the world wide web, I’ll find a way to research something or do some work. This makes it hard to maintain a healthy work-life balance. I’ve found that I need to be binary about it.

When I’m out of the house, I use screens, and I do so relentlessly every day.

I’m on Snapchat, checking stats, researching stuff on my phone and getting work done.

But once I’m home, I completely shut myself off from work or anything that connects me with the Internet. This has been the single most impactful habit in terms of improving my mental health, reducing my stress levels and creating happiness. I believe we’re all hopelessly addicted to technology, to computers, to phones, the Internet and all the stimulation we get from it.

After struggling to implement a work-life balance for years and being at the brink of multiple burnouts, I’ve made this decision.

I’m binary about this stuff.

Is Reading A Great Way To Nurture Your Mind Or An Excuse to Procrastinate?

Since making this radical shift my life has completely transformed.

Whereas I used to obsessively check my phone or get work done at home, I now chill on the couch and read.

I didn’t read books for almost eight years because I was focussing 100% on taking action. This was necessary to reduce information overload and overcome procrastination when I started out. If you’re a newbie and want to build a successful business I recommend you put the books aside and get your elbows in the mud. That’s what I did and it paid off massively.

However, these days I read multiple hours a day and I nourish my mind with plenty of non-fiction books.

I read anything that interests me: From diet, to artificial intelligence, philosophy, personal development, blockchain technology and marketing. Most of the time I’m looking to learn something new that can help me improve my life.

Having screen-free reading time is great.

The Power of Success Journals

For over two years I wrote in a daily success journal.

This has proven itself to be immensely important to transform my productivity. I got the idea from Tony Robbins who said: “If your life is worth living, it’s worth recording”. I think the quote is originally from Jim Rohn.

Here’s how I did it.

Every day, before heading to bed, I opened a Word-Document on my computer.

I then wrote down what I did in the morning, afternoon and evenings. This forced me to pay attention to how I spent my time. Most of us live on auto-pilot. If you want to take control of your life, you first have to understand how you’re living your life. You can’t change something without having awareness of it, and more importantly, measuring it.

Questions for your success journal:

• What did I do in the morning?
• What did I do in the afternoon?
• What did I do in the evening?
• What seeds did I plant? What did I achieve?
• What did I learn?
• What can I do better tomorrow?
• What are my goals for tomorrow?

Answering these questions every night for more than two years was key.

It gave me insights into personal weaknesses, self-sabotaging behaviors and repetitive habits. It also set me up for success, gave me direction and purpose and allowed me to learn from mistakes and setbacks.

These days I don’t use success journals anymore.

I believe I’m now at a level where I don’t need it as a “crutch” anymore.

However, if you’re currently struggling with your productivity I strongly recommend you give success journals a try. You can download my exact Success Journal Template or create your own variation.

Visualization And Purpose

I recently started visualizing every night before going to bed. This is powerful because it keeps you connected to your greater purpose in life. Work without inspiration leads to burnout. I’ve found that visualization is a great way to refuel my inspiration and stay in touch with my purpose.

It’s important to note that I don’t visualize external things like money, luxurious cars or expensive villas.

External goals don’t lead to inspiration, quite on the contrary, they lead to frustration.

When doing my visualization routine I focus on intrinsic things such as the actions I can take, the reasons why I’m doing something, how it will impact other people’s lives, how proud I’ll be and the person I’ll become in the process. This is a much more powerful type of motivation than imagining shiny objects and a fancy lifestyle. Moreover, I’ve found that money and living a crazy lifestyle don’t make me happy anyway. I’ve had my fair share of both, and if anything, they made me more miserable.

What gets me out of the bed in the morning is the person I can become and the cool stuff I can do with my life.

That’s what drives me.

Let me know in the comments what has helped you improve your productivity in the past?