How I structure my day to ensure maximum productivity.
You’re not lazy. You just have too many choices.
As a kid, you probably remember your mom enforcing a bunch of rules right? Stuff like…
no cookies for breakfast.
No video games before homework.
No you can’t wear your underwear outside of your pants.
I distinctively remember my mom telling me I could not pee in my bedroom trash can.
This is the argument I made in my defense:
“I mean, c’mon now, trash can is right there! And the hallway to the bathroom is so scary at night. It’s like you want me to get eaten by a monster or something. Good grief.”
When we grow up, we learn a million more rules. Stuff like…
don’t punch strangers in the face.
When peeing, try to keep at least one urinal between you and the other guy at all times. Don’t make eye contact mid-stream and definitely don’t peek.
Or the most difficult one of them all. Don’t poop in a toilet if someone’s already sitting on it.
But these rules are what I call…
… the rules of public life.
What happens when you get home? That inner kid comes out. Except this time, your mom isn’t there to tell you to do your homework anymore. It’s all up to you now.
And that’s why you fuck it up.
Because at home, you are free. You can eat ice cream for breakfast. Heck, you can eat breakfast at 4pm if you want. You don’t have to do pretty much anything at all so long as the rules of the outside world don’t get violated, i.e., just show up to work and get those bills paid.
As long as you do the bare minimum and keep the lights on at home, you can pretty much do anything you want. And that’s the problem right there. You have way too many choices…. too much freedom.
I mean, really stop to think about it. At home, how many rules do you have for yourself? I’d argue a lot of successful discipline and habit-making comes from essentially building a robust list of invisible rules you follow almost as stringently as you do for the outside world as well.
Fact is, how good you are at making these rules and following them determines everything.
A lot of my success over the past three decades has been attributed to creating and internalizing my own set of invisible life rules. Interestingly… unspoken until this very moment here with you. Some rules were made to save time. Others, to prevent procrastination or to get healthier. Some were made to counteract the weird idiosyncrasies I’ve picked up along the way like pooping for an unbearably long stretch of time. (I’m still surprised I don’t have massive hemorrhoids)
For you, your list may look different.
For example. I don’t drink but for those who are struggling with it, one interesting rule I heard recently was this…
Never drink unless it’s free.
You immediately cut down on drinking and save some money at the same time. Pretty dope stuff.
Either way, the concept is simple. To figure this out for yourself, imagine you’re a kid again. If there were some omnipresent, all-knowing mom-god floating in the sky who knows what’s best for you, what would she tell you to do?
Below are my life rules. I list it out here to give you some inspiration for your own.