Next Level University

#1560 - Things That Don't Seem Productive But Are

• Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros

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Ever felt like you're juggling too many tasks but not genuinely accomplishing anything? That's about to change. In this episode, hosts Kevin Palmieri and Alan Lazaros discuss how to unlock the secret to blending high productivity with the serenity of balance. Share their transformations from relentless doers to maestros of practical action, revealing the unexpected activities that sharpen our minds and spark innovation. They also delve into the seemingly counterintuitive practice of meditation and demonstrate how it can be harnessed as a powerful ally in your quest for breakthrough insights. Mastering productivity is not solely about doing more; it's about doing what's most important more effectively. It requires a balance of deep work, directed tasks, and downtime, all while minimizing distractions. By redefining what productivity means on a personal level and aligning it with individual goals, anyone can unlock the secrets to work-life harmony and laser focus for more significant achievement.

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Show notes:
(1:34) A change in perspective and less resistance
(3:15) Activities that sharpen and spark innovation
(7:52) The 4D's of time
(8:16) Deep creative work time
(11:08) Directed
(11:40) Tim credits Alan's guidance and the Next Level Business Solutions for the transformative impact on his business.
(12:23) Downtime
(13:35) Distracted time
(15:56) What does it mean to you, and what does it look like?
(17:53) The power of productivity
(20:25) Goal-setting for work-life harmony
(23:23) Outro

Send a text to Kevin and Alan!

Speaker 1:

Next level nation. Welcome back to another episode of next level university, where we help you level up your life, your love, your health, angel wealth. We hope you enjoyed yesterday's episode, episode number 159. One place shame shows up for a lot of us. We talked about perfectionism and how it creeps into our lives. Today, for episode number 1560, happy Christmas Eve. If you celebrate Christmas, things that don't seem productive but are, I Really feel like you and I have had a Change in perspective over the last seven years. I Remember.

Speaker 2:

I can think of at least one.

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, I, you and I had a conversation after I went to a podcast conference and and there was a break in between sessions and I went outside and I sense Alan and audio and I said, hey, man, I Feel like I need to start blocking off time in my calendar for creative stuff. I Can't explain to you what I'm gonna do, I don't know, but I just feel like I need some silence during the day, because that's usually where I come up with things. I have ideas, I can get creative, I can test out new things and I feel like the back-to-back-to-back to back meetings for me, while they're very productive in one way, I think they're also the opposite of productive in other ways. So is there a way where we can Juggle those better and I can get the best of both worlds? In the beginning, for us, productive was just doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing, doing. It was how many things can you check off the box or check off your list every single day? How many boxes? Check, check, check, cool.

Speaker 1:

Then, as things started to grow and things started to shift, productivity looks a little bit different. Now here's the. This is the challenging thing for you. If you're early in your journey as a dream chaser. Don't take what we say and say it's time for me to do that now, because it might not be yet, and this is why advice has to be filtered through your own perspective and your own personal life. And what's going on? I woke up today, came into the office no morning routine, just out here, freestyle. And it's still no morning routine. Things are Going very well, but just not, as I'll say, more directionless than than usual, just based on so many things going on within the business.

Speaker 1:

And I Came in the office. I started working. I had a client message me and said hey, I have to cancel my 11 am Call today. Here's the reasons. Can we were scheduled? Yep, absolutely sending you love, cool. And I say, no, I'm gonna go do the dishes. The dishes probably don't seem like a productive thing to do it nine o'clock in the morning on a Friday, but when I do the dishes and the kitchen is clean and the living room is clean and the dining room is clean, I feel more productive overall. Cleaning the office might not seem like a productive thing to do and right now it's an absolute disaster, but if, if, the thing you're doing is going to create less resistance for you in the short run, mid run and long run. I would say it's productive, even if it doesn't feel like it. So I made a couple. I just have a small list of things and I want to get your perspective, alan, because you coach so many people. I Put doing the dishes. Alan is kitchen man. I am kitchen man at my house nice right walks.

Speaker 1:

Now you can overdo this. If you're going for walks all day, every day, and you're not doing anything that you're having, if you're having breakthroughs when you're walking which you don't have time to implement them, it might not be as productive as it could. So this is a sliding scale. This is all a drive to five, but when I go for walks which I very rarely do I have a lot of ideas and Ideas, or or maybe I do verbal processing and when I walk, I send audio messages to people. That's super productive. Yeah, and the third one, and this is something I've stopped doing completely meditation.

Speaker 1:

When I used to meditate, it would be. There's so much going on. The last thing I need to do is take 10 minutes and just sit, and I still don't know how I feel about meditation. I don't have anything against it, but I don't know if I'm in the season where I want to be investing that time. But I will tell you, I had many really good ideas, to the point where I would have to have a notebook next to me to write during my meditation. That 10 minutes might seem like lost time, but what if I come up with one idea that helps the business? Or if I remember someone who wanted to work with us, or whatever it may be, I would say overall that is productive. So that is the vibe for today's episode.

Speaker 2:

One thing that you mentioned in there that I think is an awesome little cheat code is, for some reason, walking and sending audio messages is the thing. For some reason, while on a walk, sending an audio message is just more powerful. Great Body's moving, the energy's moving through you and you're just yeah, it's a great way to be productive. As a matter of fact, bianca gave us her treadmill when she moved and it's downstairs now, so I'm excited to be able to send audios to people and get back to my clients and stuff while also walking.

Speaker 1:

A little habit stack.

Speaker 2:

A little habit stack Exercise plus audio messages Awesome. So this episode's about productivity. You want my perspective on deep work, creative work and with coaching clients. Essentially, that's what you.

Speaker 1:

I want to know that these are very easy to take off the rails. It's very easy to say because I think we're usually one or the other we're really good at doing, or we're really good at being productive, or we're really good at distracting ourselves from being productive. So it really is finding what your unique juggling act of these two things are. And I just didn't know if you had any good examples or stories from clients where they said to you, this is something that doesn't seem productive, but you were able to help them reframe it. Or the opposite. They would say this is something that's super productive and maybe you are able to help them reframe that. Maybe it's not as productive as you think.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay. So I coach all different people from all different countries, all different walks of life male, female, different business owners, some people young, some people older, everywhere, from 18 years old, all the way to 63. And I surpassed my 5,000th coaching session. And productivity is not only something that I'm personally obsessed with, but it's obviously something that people come to me for, because if you want to be more successful, you have to learn how to be more productive. But the best way that I can approach this episode is something I learned from my coach years ago, which is called the 4Ds of time.

Speaker 2:

We'll go simple with it, but Kevin opened with creative work and long blocks of time. That refers to the first D, which is deep. So the first D is deep work. There's actually a book by Cal Newport called Deep Work and it talks about how you have these blocks of time two, three hour blocks. I personally do 90 minutes. So this morning I woke up and the first thing I did is come up to my office before I got the pets up, emilia was still sleeping and I put an hour and a half 90 minute jam session on my timer on my clock and I just stayed in the office by myself and just got my morning done and emails, whatsapp messages, set up my calls for success, this, that and the other thing.

Speaker 2:

Deep work is an hour and a half or more of time where you're not running around answering a bunch of reactive things. You're doing things. You're doing work that you're focused on and it's not. You're not being distracted. There's no ring at the door, there's no knock on the door, there's no pets around you. You're just kind of in flow, and if you've never studied flow, I'll go quick with it. It's essentially the zone so we've all played sports where we were in the zone. Snowboarding and skiing is big for the zone where you're just in productive flow, you're in a state where you're just crushing it. Time flies by. You pull your head up.

Speaker 2:

Kevin and I were talking the other day about how hard it is when we have a morning that doesn't have any calls and then, let's say, your 11 am gets canceled and then you have a one pm. I've had days where I woke up, I got in flow and then all of a sudden it's time for my first call and I haven't spoken to a human yet today and all of a sudden I have to turn it on and go on a podcast or turn it on and go on a coaching session. It's like, oh my God, I don't wanna change gears at all, I wanna stay in what I'm doing. And so, first and foremost everyone out there watching or listening you're not alone in this struggle. There is no version of you waking up and being productive and not ever being distracted and going to bed having gotten your to-do list done. I talk about this often. There is no version of you not struggling. You are always, forever, for the rest of your life, gonna have to deal with insurance companies and you're gonna have to deal with calls and you're gonna have to deal with kids and pets and holidays and parents and family and text messages and emails, like no one on planet Earth like wakes up and meditates and does their to-do list and then, like, goes to bed happy. That's not real. It's just not not in the 21st century. What you can do, however, is design your life in a way where there's flow in between the notes, there's flow in between the distractions.

Speaker 2:

So the first D is deep. That's what Kevin's referring to of creative work. Deep creative work head down, by yourself, where ideas come to you. The second D is directed. On my whiteboard up in the corner of my office I have PPT and calendar. Ppt means peak performance tracking, habit tracking and then calendar. That's directed. So anything that is on my habit tracker or on my calendar is directed work. So deep work is flow behind the scenes, no other humans. Directed work is something that I chose to do in advance in my habit tracker or on my calendar. Okay, so deep and directed.

Speaker 2:

The third D is down. Down is the three Rs, which is rest, relaxation and recharge. So downtime. I try to get a minimum of an hour. So on my peak performance tracker it says aligned R&R prep. In other words, what's the movie I'm gonna watch tonight, what's the food we're gonna get, what are we gonna do? Is it gonna be candlelight date night or is it gonna be Lord of the Rings or is it gonna be whatever? So, whatever R&R. I always have my R&R prepared in advance, because what I found is that if I don't do that, I burn to the ground and that's not good for anybody. And so you need downtime. Down is off.

Speaker 2:

A lot of times I watch a movie that I don't I've seen so many times I don't really have to watch it. I Love watching movies that I've seen a bunch of times, because I don't have to think, I don't have to pause it, oh, don't interrupt the pets. Whatever, I just get to kind of sit there, eat food and just Turn off, completely turn off and immerse myself in someone else's world not my own, okay. So for me that's down, but for you, what is it? Is it? Is it a long shower? Is it Yoga? Whatever it is for you, rest and rejuvenation and recharge.

Speaker 2:

So deep work, directed work, down. So deep time, directed time and downtime. And then the last one is distracted time. This is the one that can ruin your life. It can make you feel like you're running around and Like you feel like you're trying to do so much and never really getting anywhere. Whenever I'm the most distracted, I Always feel like I'm losing. I always feel like crap, you know and and you're doing a lot of stuff but you're not really getting anywhere. The treadmill is speeding up but you're not making any real progress. That's distractions. And the, the coach that taught me this originally said there's high performers and low performers. High performers have a really high percentage of their time in deep to Kevin's point at the beginning of this episode have a really high percentage of their time in directed time and they take a good amount of downtime. They, they, they get there are an RN rest, relaxation and recharge. So our three, I call it. But they limit their distractions. The most productive people in the world limit distractions. They're really good at limiting distractions.

Speaker 2:

And for our community, we interviewed someone named near y'all.

Speaker 2:

He wrote a book called indistractable and it's really good. So indistractable, all one word. And he essentially wrote a book early in the late 2000s where it's called hooked and he was helping companies like Twitter and Facebook and Social media platforms make their platform more addictive. And he realized the implications of that later on. And then he Wrote another book called indistractable to try to help people hack back is what he calls it hack back and it's really awesome. There's a lot of books on how to not be distracted, how to focus, that kind of thing, but indistractable is a really good one. And then the last piece that I'll say is you will, in my opinion, be fulfilled and productive to the extent that you can limit distractions. You know, if you're constantly Checking Facebook, constantly checking Instagram, constantly checking your messages, constantly checking emails and you're constantly stressed out, you're gonna have to take back control of your own time and you can start small and improve over time and eventually you'll Be fulfilled and productive and your life will be completely different.

Speaker 1:

And that really is. The question is what are the things and this would be my next hole in nugget what are the things that seem productive but aren't, and what are the things that seem like they aren't productive that are? I am probably gonna pivot in some way, shape or form. I've noticed that you know how I love betting on the UFC fights. The problem is I like to have my phone near me so I can track my bets.

Speaker 1:

The the problem is it's very easy to get distracted and go down the rabbit hole and then you find yourself not paying attention to the fight. So the thing that is supposed to be R&R and is supposed to fill my cup is not. It's not downtime, it's distracted time. So even in that analogy that's not productive. That is not nearly as productive as me watching the fights and, again, productive for the bucket it's supposed to be in. I'm not really getting better at business when I'm watching fights, but I am filling my cup. Jiu Jitsu is a really good one for me. Does it seem productive to go to Jiu Jitsu at eight o'clock on a Tuesday? Probably not, but I'm learning so much. The discipline is awesome. I feel like I'm investing in my own health.

Speaker 1:

I'm so fulfilled doing it now again if I said, well, I'm just gonna do Jiu Jitsu from eight in the morning till 9 pm, no, that's not gonna be as productive, because I don't anticipate myself being a professional Jiu Jitsu player. So it really is, it's custom and it's up to you, but there are definitely things you are doing that you do not think are productive, that are, and vice versa. See, I think everybody has that in some way shape or form. And, alan, you've said this many times, it'll never really get to the place where you're just productive, and it probably will never. Well, maybe I would say it's probably easier to get to the place where you're just distracted, but being just productive, we're just moving the needle closer and closer, and closer and closer and just figuring out what it means to you and what it looks like. What is your next level? Nugget, sir.

Speaker 2:

My next level nugget is figure out which bucket you're putting your time into Deep time, distracted time, directed time and down time and try hard to keep the distracted time to a minimum. Kev last question. I know we gotta jump, but I want to ask you I'm obsessed with productivity and you know I study it and I'm trying to be the most productive version of myself pretty much every day. I give trainings on it, coaching, blah, blah, blah. Awesome, alan, go you. My point is is for someone who never used to study productivity and who is very productive now. Why? Why does it matter? I don't think people understand why it matters.

Speaker 1:

It matters on various levels. One it feels really good. There's something about getting to the end of the day. I have I've showed it I have my notebook next to me. It works really well for me. This is the best system I've ever had in terms of just keeping track of the things that I have to get done outside of the habits, the daily habits, the recurring habits. One it feels really good. It feels really good to get to the end of the day and say, wow, I got so much done today and I was super focused. Two it's the best way you're gonna get real results in life.

Speaker 1:

I think that we it's very easy to lose sight of what actually creates success, but it's usually the unsexy fundamentals, unfortunately. Tara and I were watching a show called Billions and it's all about people who are very, very successful and very, very wealthy and I said isn't it funny how everything they do on this show they would never do in real life, because they'd never be as successful as they are in the show? There's no way. This is how they live their lives is not possible. But the way they live their lives is not good for a TV show. It would be more. It would be super boring.

Speaker 2:

It wouldn't be a good show.

Speaker 1:

So I just think it's the only way. The only way to get more results is most likely to be less distracted and to be more focused and more productive. All productive means is closing the distance between what has to get done for your goals. When you're productive, you're just closing the distance. It's what's production? I'm being productive because I've already shoveled half the snow. I'm super productive because I've shoveled half the snow in an hour. It's only going to take me two hours to do this entire thing, and I'll be done for the day when, if it took you eight hours to do the same thing, you'd just be a little bit less productive. So, yeah, it's everything. It's everything for long term success, but it's also really good for short term fulfillment and pride. It feels really good to have a productive day.

Speaker 1:

Now your productivity is going to be directly connected to the level of the goals that you've decided you want. You don't have to do five 90-minute jam sessions if that's not what you want. But this is where things can get wonky, where I don't want to tell you what I do, so you do what I do. Alan doesn't want to tell you what he does, so you do what he does. It's more. This is what we're doing, based on the goals that we've determined. This is how the results are coming, due to that. Take that for what you will and then do your own version of that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's it. Well said, brother. I did five 90-minute jam sessions, one time on a Sunday, and I genuinely regretted it because I didn't rest and recharge. And then we started Monday and it was like the gun went off and it was like holy crap, I have nothing left in the tank. So I would say downtime is just as important if you are productive, if you are not super productive, you don't need that much downtime, and distracted time is not downtime. To Kevin's point about UFC and the fights and check in your phone Gonna make sure the bets cash you know what I mean, man, you know you couldn't, you don't want to waste that 550.

Speaker 1:

I might write them. I might write them down, I'm not even kidding, I might just write them down before the fights on a piece of paper, so I can have them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that way I don't have to have my phone done to you. That's my plan. Yeah, doesn't seem productive, but we'll be next level nation. If you have not yet joined our private Facebook group, next level nation, please do so. An amazing group of humans who want to grow, who want to evolve and they want to be themselves Throughout the process. We talk about all things we talk about on the podcast there, but it's just a great way to meet other people from the community. Link will be the show notes. As always, we'd love to have you.

Speaker 2:

If you enjoyed this episode about productivity and want to learn more, we have a module. So there's six sessions of group coaching. It's a 12-week program, biweekly sessions. The sixth one is all about productivity and we dive deep into Prado principle and Time perspective and how to scale and grow.

Speaker 2:

So if you do adore productivity, group coaching is a good place to dive much deeper. You will definitely be more productive. As a matter of fact, I was actually talking to a team member earlier who's Laura. Shadow to you, laura, if you're listening, and she was in group two. Gratitude with attitude and we were talking about back then and and how different she is now and how wild that is. The transformation is wild. It's unbelievable. So shout out to you, laura. It all started with group coaching, though. So group 13 starts January 2nd. Save some money during the holidays, start out January 2nd with us. Group 13, 13 groups in a row and Six sessions. Learn about productivity, become the most productive version of yourself. And the promo code on the website is NLU listener All one word for 30% off, and we hope you join us tomorrow For episode number 1561.

Speaker 1:

So this episode, tomorrow's episode, will be dropping. On Christmas Day. Two different types of vulnerability, I asked her and I said why do you think vulnerability is so hard? After we recorded an episode on the one we were talking about therapy I don't remember which one it was who is the? Maybe who's the person you feel safest around and her and I had a little conversation on that. I said I think this will be good for a podcast episode. So that is what we're gonna talk about tomorrow. As always, we love you, we appreciate you, grateful for each and every one of you and NLU. We don't have fans, we have family. We will talk to you all tomorrow.

Speaker 2:

Keep it productive. Next elimination Strong work.

Speaker 1:

All right, we got a boogie, we got a boogie. I am, I have, I'm about.

People on this episode

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Alan Lazaros

Host
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Kevin Palmieri

Host