Hey there, you've found an unpublished page. Feel free to poke around, but keep in mind the thoughts here are a bit more in-progress than usual. :)

Summary

Key concepts

Important quotes

• If a book gives you only one good piece of advice, it’s already worth your time.
• Building a business or career is hard. It requires you to do difficult, tedious, and unsatisfying tasks. If you want more clients or work, no one is going to hand it to you. You have to hustle. Do content marketing, one-on-one sales, network, or whatever method you use to grow your business.
• And if you want to climb the corporate ladder, you have to form alliances, be strategic, outperform your targets, and be great at what you do.
• I always gave up quickly, felt stuck, unhappy, and frustrated. But now, I’ve found a way to overcome my challenges. Here’s how I did it: • I exercise my mental toughness every day. I used to neglect my brain. I was mentally weak, thought too much, and didn’t rely on myself. It wasn’t because I lacked skills. It was because I didn’t trust in my ability to figure things out. So I started reading about Stoicism, Pragmatism and Mindfulness; anything that helps you to control your thoughts and improve your mental toughness. I don’t want to be a slave to my thoughts. I want the opposite. • I exercise my body every day. When I don’t exercise, I’m restless, lack focus, energy, and confidence. By exercising my brain and body every day, I’m always war-ready. I learned that overcoming procrastination starts before you fight the war. Soldiers don’t go to war untrained either, right? Be in great shape, mentally and physically. Always. • I have a set of daily habits that help me to be in control of my life. I journal, read, set daily priorities, and don’t consumeuseless information. I also make sure I interact with my friends and family every day. Human contact is important. This keeps me grounded. I don’t have high expectations of life. And I enjoy my days. I never look beyond that. • I always have a list of small (but important) tasks that I have to complete. Let’s take my new book for example. I often want to escape difficult things like actually sitting down and writing. So I tell myself today is not a good day. But every time I think that, I open my list of small tasks and work on one of those things TODAY. • I study and practice the science of persuasion to get my message across. My mentor taught me: “You can be the best writer and teacher in the world, but if no one knows about it, you can’t make an impact.” The science of persuasion helps you to write better pitches, cover letters, website copy, emails, etc. Of course, it takes time to develop the foundation of this strategy. And there’s a lot more to it. But it’s not magic. Howeve r, it’s also not easy to live a productive life. And it’s definitely not about technology or hacks. It’s about developing a sustainable system to build your life, career, and business on. What’s your system for living aproductive life? Whatever it is: Work on it today. Not tomorrow.
• means every time you’re not focused; you’re giving someone or something permission to enter your mind. Scary, isn’t it?
• Thinking about past success and happiness stimulates the production of serotonin, a chemical nerve our cells produce. Serotonin is the key chemical that affects every part of your body. Serotonin plays a huge role in our bodily functions. But it also helps to reduce depression, increase libido, stabilize mood, control sleep, and regulate anxiety.
• When you lose focus, there’s a big chance that your serotonin activity is low. That’s why you are giving into short-term pleasures like going out, drinking, shopping, having sex, watching TV, or anything else that gives you short-term pleasure.
• “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
• When you procrastinate, you might feel better on the short-term, but you will suffer in the long-term. It
• “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”
• When you procrastinate, you might feel better on the short-term, but you will suffer in the long-term. It
• when you give into one distraction. And that’s exactly the moment you give up being productive.
• You start working on a task, you’re excited, you’re focused , but then, after some time, you think: Let’s read the news for asecond. It always starts with just one thing. Then, you think: I might as well watch one episode of Game Of Thrones. Then, a video on YouTube—and then another one. Then, a little bit of Instagram browsing. And so forth. It always ends with a bang: “This is the last time I‘m wasting my time!” Yeah, right. Willpower Doesn’t Work. Systems Do.
• What you really need is a system for doing work. A lot of people shy away from routines, systems and frameworks because they want to have “freedom.” I’m sorry to disappoint you: Freedom is your enemy. The fact is that, if you want to get things done, you need rules. What are some things that research proved to be effective? • Self-imposed deadlines. • Accountability systems (commitment with friends, or a coach). • Working/ studying in intervals. • Exercising 30 minutes a day. • A healthy diet. • Eliminating distractions. • And most importantly: Internal motivation. If you combine the right productivity tactics, you have a productivity system.
• The deadlines create urgency, accountability will create responsibility, working in intervals improves your focus, exercising will give you more energy, so does a healthy diet, and eliminating distractions will take away the temptations. But there’s no system that can help you if you don’t have an inner drive. People overcomplicate that concept, but it’s simple: Why do you do what you do?
• a productive life equals a happy life. Also, if you’re more productive than average people, you’ll advance faster in your career. You learn more. You do more. And eventually are rewarded more.
• I always thought that learning stops when you get out of school. But the truth is: Your life stops when learning stops. Invest in yourself. Learn something. Read books. Get courses. Watch videos. Do it from home or go places. It doesn’t matter. Just learn new things. You’ll be more productive and more excited about life.
• Rules are actually THE BEST thing about life. Without rules, we would be hotdog eating pigs right now. And when it comes to productivity, the first rule is: Have rules. If you want to live without rules, go ahead. But life is not Fight Club. Rules actually help us to solve problems and get the most out of life.
• You make up the rules. For example, one of my personal rules is this: Never complain. Another one is: Read and exercise every day. And: Close the day every evening by setting your next day’s priorities. When you combine all your productivity rules, you have a system. Voila! And a system changes everything. I rely on my system to work smarter, better, happier, and effectively. It took me years to figure out that a system is a good thing, and a few more years to create one, but it was worth it. Because now, I get to be a productive person. Not bad for an unproductive person, huh?
• Why’s the evening so important? Well, you might have a perfect morning ritual, a fully planned calendar, and the intention to crush your day, but if you lack the energy, you’re not doing anything productive. During the past six months, I’ve experimented a lot with evening and morning rituals. What I’ve found is that a morning ritual is easy to implement in your life. But they’re also easy to quit. When we wake up tired, we often fall back on our, not helpful, habits. End result? You lose, and life wins. You end up not focused, our of control, agitated, and just not happy overall. That’s why I’ve created an evening ritual that helps me to get ready for some well-deserved rest. We all know it: Get 7–9 hours of sleep. But too often life gets in the way, and we don’t follow common sense.
• the following evening ritual, I’ve found a good way to bring more consistency in my evenings, and therefore, my life.
• From minute 0 to minute 10: Close The Day
• “At the end of each day, you should play back the tapes of your performance. The results should either applaud you or prod you.”
• Close the day before you start a new day. Also, close every week before you start a new week. Similar for every month, and every year. Sounds simple, right? It’s one of those “simple” ideas that have a huge impact on your life.
• From minute 10 to minute 20: Review Tomorrow’s Calendar
• From minute 20 to minute 25: Prepare your outfit
• From minute 25 till minute 30: Visualize
• Most people don’t use technology but are rather used BY technology. Apps, games, videos, articles, commercials, TV-shows, are all designed to keep your attention. So without you knowing it, you waste countless of hours every single week. Your attention is all over the place, but not at the right place.
• “To be everywhere isto be nowhere.”—Seneca
• Why do you think Netflix automatically starts the next episode in 3, 2, 1 seconds? When that happens, you think: “Screw it, let’s watch another episode.” The same goes for YouTube. Why do you think their suggestions are so good? They keep you locked in. And this applies to all content. There is ALWAYS a “next” video, episode, article, game, round, movie; you name it.
• Life is too short to do work you don’t enjoy.
• Benjamin Franklin says: “You may delay, but time will not.”
• Socrates, one of the founders of Western Philosophy, warned us 2400 years ago: “Beware the barrenness of a busy life.”
• the most famous Stoic philosophers, said this in Letters From A Stoic: “There is never a time when new distraction will not show up.”
• There are always distractions. So you better train yourself to manage your attention. Not your time. Because that’s the biggest mistake people make. We falsely believe that we can manage time. But time can’t be managed. The only thing you control is your attention. And remember: Focus determines the quality of your life. No focus means no control of your attention. And no control means frustration. We all know what frustration leads to. Start managing your attention. Not your time.

• How Perfectionism Is Destroying Your Productivity Do you always worry that you didn’t do a good job? Do you always question your work and your actions? Are you afraid of admitting your mistakes? Does rejection make you feel like shit? If so, you’re in great danger. I’m not a perfectionist myself. At least, that’s what I try to tell myself. I bet that you try to tell yourself that as well. In fact, the people who don’t admit it are the worst. But here’s the thing: If you’re a perfectionist, you’re just aprocrastinator with a mask. It’s no different from someone who’s lazy and does nothing at all. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look. A perfectionist… • Always waits for the right moment. • Never makes mistakes. • Always needs more time. But at the end of the day, life and work are about outcomes. Results matter. And if you’re a perfectionist, you might get the outcomes some day. But the question is: When? And, at what cost? Research specifically shows that perfectionism is closely related to depression and low self-esteem. “Perfectionists are their own devils.” —Jack Kirby

• perfectionism is just another form of procrastination. When you constantly worry about making mistakes, doubt creeps in your mind. And that causes indecision. There are two types of perfectionists: 1. The one that never starts. You want to achieve something, but you immediately start doubting yourself. You think: “I don’t think I can do it.” So you never start. 2. The one that starts but has too high standards. You set a goal. You work hard (maybe too hard). But you’ve set your goals so high, that you’re always failing yourself.

• “Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.”

• A(always) B(e) R(eading) You might have heard of the term ‘ABC’ from the play/movie Glengarry Glen Ross: Always Be Closing. Many salespeople and entrepreneurs live by that motto. I live by a different motto: Always Be Reading. I read a minimum of 1 hour per day on weekdays and even more during the weekend and holidays. Find a way to read around your schedule and your life situation. Don’t make excuses like you’re tired or too busy. Always Be Reading means that you: • Read on the train • Read while you’re breastfeeding your baby • Read while you’re eating • Read at the doctor’s office • Read at work • And most importantly — read while everyone else is wasting their time watching the news or checking Facebook for the 113th time that day. If you do that, you’ll read more than 100 books in a year. Here’s how. Most people read 50 pages an hour. If you read 10 hours a week, you’ll read 26,000 pages a year. Let’s say the average book you read is 250 pages:In this scenario, you’ll read 104 books in a year.

• Read as much as you possibly can — but never forget to apply what you’ve learned because that is what counts the most. You put in many hours to read books, make sure you get something out of it.

• We cannot control ourselves; we must look at the notification to see who or what wants our attention. Every time a notification pops up on our screen, we get a rush that releases dopamine.

• I want to share 20 things I’vedone in the past three years that have made me more productive than ever (in no particular order).

• 1. Always Cut To The Chase

• 2. Record All Your Thoughts And Ideas

• 3. Say No

• 4. Take A 5 Minute Break Every 30 To 45 Minutes

• 5. Eliminate Everything That Distracts You

• Willpower is overrated. If something distracts you, eliminate it. One of my friends has a news addiction. I suggested to get rid of his tv, delete his news apps, and block the news sites on his laptop. Two weeks later he told me that he’s finally starting a business. Don’t think you’re immune toyour distractions. Remove them.

• 6. Keep Away Clutter A cluttered life means a cluttered brain. And with a cluttered brain, you can’t get stuff done. I prefer a simple work and living environment. A desk, a laptop, and a notebook. Keep it simple. You don’t need any fluff.

• 7. Focus On 1 Thing Some Days If you have recurring tasks, try to do as much of the same thing on one day. I write 2–3 blog posts on 1 day, the other days of the week I use for my other projects and businesses. On my writing days, I turn off my phone and just write. Nothing else gets in the way.

• 8. Stop Consuming So Much Information

• 9. Create Routines Decisions fatigue your brain. And routines eliminate decisions. Which ultimately means more brainpower. Routines are not OCD — they are efficient. Use them.

• 10. Don’t Multitask When you juggle multiple things simultaneously, like; sending an email, texting a friend and checking your Facebook while you are in a meeting, you engage in context switching. In a research done by Gloria Mark of the University of California, Irvine, it showed that it takes an average of 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption. That’s a waste of useful time.

• 11. Check Email Twice A Day

• 12. No Smartphone During The First Hour Of Your Day

• 13. Plan The Next Day

• Every night before I go to bed, I take 5 minutes to set my priorities (usually 3–4) for the next day. That makes me more focused when I wake up.

• 14. Keep ‘Thinking’ To A Minimum

• Don’t think too much. Just DO, and see what happens. If you like what you’re seeing, continue. If not, do something else.

• 15. Exercise A few things are vital in life: Food, water, shelter, relationships, and exercise. Without this stuff you can’t function properly. Scientific research shows that regular exercise can make you happier, smarter, and more energetic.

• 18. Is That Really Necessary? Ask yourself that question as often as you can. You will find that your answer is often: Nope. So why do unnecessary things?

• 19. If You’re Having A Shitty Day, Press Reset You might screw, maybe someone gets angry with you—shit happens. Don’t get down about it. Take some time alone, meditate, listen to music, or go for a walk. Try to get back on track — don’t let your day go to waste

• 20. Do The Work

• Take 10 minutes every evening and plan your next day. Rearrange blocks if you must create time for other important things. • Use recurring blocks for recurring tasks. For instance, I’ve scheduled two hours to write my new book every Tuesday and Thursday. • Don’t over-schedule. Realistically, you can’t be productive 10 hours straight. Give yourself some time between tasks. • And always schedule more time than you think you need.

• “A man who chases two rabbits catches neither.”

• Accept The Uncertainty You could get killed by a cow tomorrow (really happened). You could lose half of your money on the stock market. Your property could go up in flames. I don’t have to tell you all those things. But we must realize that we don’t have the answers to most things in life. Will you stay healthy? Will the stock market crash? Will your business continue to prosper? NO ONE KNOWS! That’s the beauty of life. Eleanor Roosevelt said it best: “If life were predictable it would cease to be life, and be without flavor.”

• Some people ask me, “Why do you read so many books? There’s no way you can apply everything you learn.” They are right. I cannot. Why do I still read about all kinds of different topics? There might come a time in my life where I will need one particular piece of knowledge. And that one time I need it might just change the whole outcome of my life.

• So it’s not important to know exactly what you want to do with your life. People change. Economies change. So, it’s not even realistic to boldly claim “I know what I want!” The only thing every person needs is a sense of direction. A vision of where you’d like to go. Look, you don’t need to know your exact destination. You often read about people who say they always knew what they wanted. But that’s just a small portion of the population. I’ve personally never met someone like that. Most of us don’t have that conviction from day one. It grows over time.

• “Your first priority is toidentify what you want and then make sure you take the path that’s going to give you that. There’s nothing sadder than to see someone get to be seventy- five or eighty years old and look back regrettably because they pursued the wrong target.”

• few skills that I’m constantly working on: 1. Self-Discipline: Get better at ignoring the negative voice in your head. Get out of your bed. Go to the gym. Don’t listen to “I don’t want to.” 2. Personal Effectiveness: Learn how to maximize the results you can get during the 16–18 hours you’re awake. Get more done — effectively. 3. Communication: We think we’re all master communicators. But the truth is that we suck. Communication is both art and science. And our ability to work with others depends on it. 4. Negotiation: You negotiate all the time. With your spouse, kids, parents, teachers, friends, co-workers, managers, etc. Learn to get the best deal for all parties. 5. Persuasion: Learn how to get what you want in an ethical way. 6. Physical Strength & Stamina: Getting stronger is a skill. Pull your own weight. It’s something every human should be able to do. 7. Flexibility: Sitting all day long behind your computer or in your car turns you into a stiff being. Learn how to stretch your hips, lower back, hamstrings, and calves — the most common weak points of desk workers. That’s enough to keep you busy for a lifetime if you want to do it well. Pick a skill that excites you. Get better at it. Then, pick another. And keep on repeating that process. Soon enough, you’ll know what you want. And if you don’t, it’s not the end of the world. There’s still plenty to learn.

• never be surprised when bad things happen. But rather expect them to happen. In that way, you will never be caught off guard. Similarly, when you’re struck with bad luck, don’t complain and say stuff like, “why me!?” Instead, accept it, and then focus your energy on finding a solution. Always keep a positive mindset.

• If You Can Believe It, You Can Achieve It I know what you’re thinking. “This guy probably read a motivational quote on social media, and now he’s telling us that nothing is impossible. Yeah right.” I think the world has no shortage of motivational articles, books, videos, or Facebook posts. You don’t need a bigger dose of #mondaymotivation. You know why? That type of motivation is not practical. It doesn’t do anything. It’s not useful. It’s the same as drinking Red Bull. It fades quickly. Belief, on the other hand, is a tool that’s extremely useful. And it’s underutilized by many. The problem is that most of us lack belief. And when I talk about belief, I talk about it from a practical point of view. I’m not talking about hope or faith. I don’t believe that you can “hope” for the best, sit back and wait until good things happen to you. Hope is not a strategy for life. I prefer to look at facts and make conclusions like a pragmatist. Like it or not, but everything that’s floating in that head of yours is there because you believe it.

• You can achieve anything (as long as you believe in it). What’s something you once believed in but stopped believing because of fear? I think we’ve all been there. If you’re not careful, you’ll always stay there.

• “You don’t get to the highest levels of the sport without having the basics in order.” That’s not only true for sports; it’s also true for everything else in life. Writing, speaking, selling, leading, you name it. Without having the basics in order, you’ll never achieve your full potential.

• One thing we have to remind ourselves is that the people who think they know everything are the biggest losers in life.

• When you repeat the basics, you don’t only become great ; you will stay great. It’s a challenge that all high performers face. I repeat the basics of many things in my life: Fitness, philosophy, kindness, business, writing. For example, I re-read my favorite books on Stoicism every month to exercise my mind. I regularly grab The Elements Of Style by Strunk & White to repeat the basics of simple and effective writing.

• If I don’t repeat these things, I simply forget about my philosophy for life or how to write good articles. That’s how our brain works. Without repetition, we forget things easily. I always look at myself as a beginner. That’s one of the first (and most important) lessons I learned from my mentor. He’s now in his seventies and still considers himself as a student of life.

• Career and life success is directly related to how much you learn. And more importantly: How much you keep learning. Education never ends. Also, income is directly related to your learning development. The more you learn, the more you earn.

• Measuring Relationships What you’ll find is that the more you contribute to other people’s lives, the better your relationships will be as a result. And that final ingredient completes the circle of life. When you measure your relationships, only stick to yourself. Avoid the biggest mistake most of us make: We look at what others do for us.

• That’s why I like to live like I’m immortal. Because when you live forever… • You have all the time in the world to build something. • You can make mistakes and learn from them. • There’s no pressure to make things happen fast. • You treat people with respect because other people will also be around forever. This small tweak in my mindset has helped me to take a different view on life. I’m not afraid to look 10 or 20 years ahead. That helps me to make better decisions TODAY. For example, I’d rather save my money or invest it instead of spending it because I know that “future Darius” will benefit from that.

• If I’m working on a project at work, I don’t pick up another big project. If I’m working on a new course for my blog, I don’t start writing a book at the same time. That strategy helps me to get things done quicker and better. Hence, I achieve much more when I give my attention to one thing.

• “Success is sequential, not simultaneous.”

• Things add up. You learn one skill. Then another. You finish one project. Then another. Over time, your accomplishments add up to form an impressive feat.

• This is especially true for money. Most people earned their money over time. Few people make a big financial splash. Forget about the Conor McGregors and Evan Spiegels of this world. These are people who hit the career jackpot. But you don’t need special talent or skills to succeed in life. If you take the long road, achieve one goal after the other, and build up your wealth step by step, you are more likely to live a good life. It’s simple. And it always works. People who say it doesn’t just haven’t had the patience to apply it to their own life. One of my mentors owns a few dozen properties, worth millions. He acquired his wealth over time. He’s in his sixties now. You see, things take time. And when you combine patience with compounding, you achieve the biggest results. And these are not extraordinary things. I’m not promising you a gold medal at the 2020 Olympics or that you’ll become the next Zuckerberg. Everyone can save money, improve their skills, and create wealth.

• Buffett acquired 99% of his net worth after he became 50. Think about all those spoiled idiots in their teens, twenties, and even thirties (me included), who complain about the slow progress of their career. This helps you to put things in perspective.

• Buffett is the perfect example of sequential success. You can achieve big things with small actions, that build up over time. This is not only true for money. The same concept applies to skills, health, and relationships. You don’t build a strong body in a day, month, or even a year. It takes years of consistent effort. Shortcuts don’t exist, nomatter how ‘smart’ you work. For example, cyclists under the age of 28 rarely win big races like The Tour The France because it takes them years to build the strength, stamina, and mindset you need to win. If you want to see the impact of compounding in your own life, it requires you to focus on one thing at a time (for every aspect of your life) and always look at the bigger picture. It comes down to this: You’ll get there if you put in the work. Who cares if it’s tomorrow or 20 years? It will happen. That’s all that matters.

• After spending hours of reading and editing my own articles of the past three years, I noticed that there are a lot of contradictions. I’m very pleased with that. A person who doesn’t contradicts himself is an idiot. Life is not about what you know. It’s about what you don’t know. And we never know enough. That’s good news for the both of us. It means that until the day we die, we can keep learning. Another thing I noticed is that I forgot about some of the things I wrote. “Did I write that?” It’s not that I’m impressed by my own writing. Far from it. I’m surprised by the amount of knowledge that we forget. The good thing is that I’m aware of this human flaw. We think we know a lot because we might be well read—but in fact, we forget more than we remember.