3408: [Part 2] The Single Most Effective Thing You Can Do to Produce Consistently Measurable Results by Michael Mehlberg

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[00:01:08] This is Optimal Living Daily, the single most effective thing you can do to produce consistently measurable results, part two, by Michael Melberg of michaelmelberg.com. And I'm Justin Malek.

[00:01:20] Happy Saturday, welcome back, or welcome for the first time if you're new here.

[00:01:24] This is where I read to you like a big ongoing audiobook, but from many different authors.

[00:01:30] And today being a continuation from yesterday, so I'd recommend listening to yesterday's episode first.

[00:01:36] If you're all caught up, let's get right to part two and continue optimizing your life.

[00:01:44] The single most effective thing you can do to produce consistently measurable results, part two, by Michael Melberg of michaelmelberg.com.

[00:01:54] Imagine two scenarios.

[00:01:56] In scenario one, you have a free and open calendar.

[00:02:00] You've got goals and you've even broken those goals down.

[00:02:03] You know what you should be working on today, but are giving yourself all day to do it.

[00:02:08] What happens when the phone rings, when someone comes to the door, or when a new email comes in?

[00:02:15] When the phone rings, it's easy to think, I wonder what the caller needs.

[00:02:18] I can probably help them.

[00:02:20] I'll just answer it.

[00:02:21] When someone comes to your door, you have no reason to turn them away.

[00:02:25] After all, your calendar is clear.

[00:02:27] You just get to your important work later.

[00:02:29] When an email comes in, it's far too enticing to triage it immediately.

[00:02:34] You get bonus points for being responsive, and now your inbox has one less to do to deal with.

[00:02:41] The problem with this approach is that you're not doing your important work.

[00:02:45] You're not even doing your work.

[00:02:46] You're doing other people's work.

[00:02:48] You're replacing your goals with whatever urgent matter someone else has brought to your attention.

[00:02:54] In scenario two, you get a knock at the door, a phone call, an email, but you have something on your calendar.

[00:03:01] You only have so much time to finish before your next meeting.

[00:03:05] If you don't work on it now, there'll be no time to squeeze it in since the rest of your day is scheduled.

[00:03:12] These interruptions are far easier to control.

[00:03:15] You can simply ignore that call and set a reminder to call them back later.

[00:03:19] You could tell the person at your door that you really need to get something done,

[00:03:23] but you'll stop by later to see what's up,

[00:03:25] or ask them to send you an email so you can work on their request later.

[00:03:29] You could set a time later to answer all your emails at once,

[00:03:33] removing the start-stop overhead of going to your email app,

[00:03:37] checking to see what's new,

[00:03:38] then trying to context switch back to whatever it was you were doing,

[00:03:42] and risking getting sucked into the rabbit hole of email while you're in there.

[00:03:47] Sure, some things will have to get addressed instantly.

[00:03:50] Your boss may come to your door with a time-sensitive manner.

[00:03:53] Your spouse may call and say the pipes exploded in your house

[00:03:56] and the basement is flooding with toilet water.

[00:03:58] An email may come in with a late bill notice saying they're going to shut down your electricity

[00:04:02] if you don't pay immediately.

[00:04:04] Those are worthy distractions, but they'll be few and far between.

[00:04:09] The multitude of interruptions you face on a daily,

[00:04:12] even hourly basis are usually never emergencies.

[00:04:15] They can almost always wait.

[00:04:18] They can wait until you schedule them.

[00:04:22] When you get to the end of the year,

[00:04:23] will you remember if you answered that email immediately?

[00:04:27] Will you remember that phone call?

[00:04:29] Will you remember what task you did for someone who came to your door unannounced?

[00:04:33] Likely not.

[00:04:35] But you will remember that you hit your goal.

[00:04:38] You will realize that you achieved all you set out to achieve.

[00:04:41] You will have a new sense of direction and hope for the future,

[00:04:44] a future where you are in control of your schedule,

[00:04:48] your calendar, your goals, your focus, and your vision.

[00:04:53] Schedule your day.

[00:04:55] Years ago, while visiting San Francisco on a business trip,

[00:04:58] I arrived at my hotel just before midnight.

[00:05:01] I had an early morning so needed to get to bed,

[00:05:04] but was too spun up from the natural hustle and bustle of travel to sleep.

[00:05:08] Not wanting to get involved with a Netflix show,

[00:05:10] I dug through a care basket left by the hotel staff and found what I now call a daily planning card.

[00:05:17] This card was quite simple.

[00:05:19] It was the size of an index card with times printed along the left from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

[00:05:26] in 30-minute increments.

[00:05:28] I filled it out, went to bed, and awoke to the most productive day I'd ever had.

[00:05:34] Ever.

[00:05:36] Benjamin Franklin was well known for his daily plan, which he laid out in advance.

[00:05:40] Every morning, he'd rise at 5 a.m. to the same daily ritual.

[00:05:44] Work, read, work some more, rest, examine his day, and sleep.

[00:05:51] He's also well known for saying,

[00:05:53] by failing to plan, you're planning to fail.

[00:05:56] It's good advice from a legend, but he's not the only one.

[00:06:00] Alexander Graham Bell once said,

[00:06:02] Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.

[00:06:06] Clearly, these two gents held planning and preparation in high steam.

[00:06:11] Now, before you say that those two historical figures are out of touch with modern life,

[00:06:16] take note.

[00:06:18] Former American Express CEO, Ken Chennault,

[00:06:21] lists three important things to finish the following day

[00:06:24] so he can wake up and immediately start working on what matters.

[00:06:27] In fact, in a survey of 163 corporate leaders from Fortune 500 companies,

[00:06:34] the average leader spent 25 minutes on strategy and planning every day.

[00:06:39] If this anecdotal evidence isn't enough,

[00:06:43] researchers Bruce Britton and Abraham Tessler studied the effect of time management practices

[00:06:48] on college students' GPAs.

[00:06:50] Shockingly, they showed that time management skills

[00:06:53] were a bigger influence on GPA than high school SAT scores.

[00:06:59] Take note, planning your day and scheduling it in advance

[00:07:03] is the single most effective thing you can do

[00:07:05] to produce consistently measurable results.

[00:07:08] And so, with that in mind,

[00:07:10] I'm off to finish my wine and build a schedule for my kids tomorrow.

[00:07:14] At the very best, we'll get caught up on all the work we missed today.

[00:07:17] At the very least,

[00:07:18] I'll be sure to feed them lunch so they don't get hangry

[00:07:21] and fire their teacher before I have a chance to prove myself.

[00:07:29] You just listened to part two of the post titled,

[00:07:31] The Single Most Effective Thing You Can Do

[00:07:33] to Produce Consistently Measurable Results

[00:07:36] by Michael Melberg of michaelmelberg.com.

[00:07:39] And I'll be right back with my commentary.

[00:07:41] Thank you again to Michael.

[00:07:43] That point about remembering what really matters at the end of the year was nice.

[00:07:48] And maybe we can schedule in time to actually think about that at the end of the year.

[00:07:53] Like, will I remember answering that random email right away?

[00:07:57] Probably not.

[00:07:58] But will I remember consistently putting out episodes of this podcast that hopefully help you?

[00:08:03] Oh, that's what actually matters.

[00:08:05] When you mention Benjamin Franklin's daily routine starting at 5am,

[00:08:09] well, I'll be honest, I'm not quite there.

[00:08:12] I used to be more of a night owl, especially when I first started this podcast.

[00:08:16] But I've learned over time that having some kind of consistent schedule,

[00:08:20] even if it's not starting at 5am,

[00:08:22] makes a massive difference in what I accomplish.

[00:08:26] So maybe we can both try to be a bit more intentional about scheduling our important work today

[00:08:31] instead of just hoping we'll get to it eventually.

[00:08:34] I know that's something I'm always working on,

[00:08:36] and hopefully this article was helpful for you too.

[00:08:39] So thank you again to Michael for this one,

[00:08:41] and thank you for being here every day, including the weekends.

[00:08:44] It means a lot.

[00:08:45] And an extra thank you if you've ever shared this podcast with someone else.

[00:08:48] That's a huge help to keep this going.

[00:08:50] Have a great weekend, and I'll be back tomorrow as usual,

[00:08:54] where your optimal life awaits.