How To Get More Sh*t Done & Have More Fun!

A few weeks ago we shared some of our favourite little productivity tools.

In the comments of that post, you'll find some other great ones.

That post generated some conversations with Rock Star Members that we work with around different strategies to get more stuff done.

Some have 9-5 jobs that they want to quit ASAP (we've been there!!) so that they can go do work that they believe in.

Others want to find more time to invest in real estate but feel bogged down with various work and family obligations.

Yet others are enjoying what they're doing but want more "peace of mind" in their lives.  They want to feel more centred.

It's interesting that we're all battling the same stuff in different ways.

We've found that you can use all the little technology tools you want to get more stuff done but if your own energy isn't right then you'll never accomplish as much as you want - you'll never feel in the zone - you'll never achieve peace of mind.

Whenever we're not feeling right ... tired, frustrated, distracted, etc. it's usually because our own vitality, our own energy is off.

Here are the things we go back to, to fix that:

1. Reading

If we spend too much time on Facebook, or too much time reading financial news on the numerous websites, Twitter feeds and YouTube channels that we follow then we get this strange jittery nervous energy jumping through our veins.

That's the cue to take time away from the digital world and get back to reading more in-depth stuff offline.

So for us, it's books and paper-based newsletters.

The best books for us are life stories of interesting people.  We're big fans of a lot of the metaphysical "self-help" stuff too.  Some of that goes way too far into la-la-land but a lot of it is bang on.

I can't tell you the amazing impact that Dr. Demartini's book ... The Breakthrough Experience ... had on me.  Wow.

Robin Sharma's book, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari ... awesome!

Napoleon Hill's, Think and Grow Rich, a classic.

There's something that brings mental and emotional peace to our lives when we read books and get away from jumping around between FinancialPost.com, GlobeandMail.ca, TSN.ca (Go Leafs Go! - please for heaven's sake make the playoffs!), Canadian Soccer News, Facebook and Twitter.

This sounds rather "old school" but for us, it works.

And it works best when we read first thing in the morning.  Instead of jumping online, spending 20-30 precious minutes with a book brings a lot of peace and focus.

2. Exercise

I'll fully admit that I didn't believe in this one ... at all ... for years.

I played sports growing up but then went through about a fifteen year period of "beer league" hockey as my main "exercise".

I've come to realize that playing hockey isn't really exercise at all.  It's recreational fun, which is important, but I'm got getting fit from it.

Nick tricked me into going to his gym when I was complaining about feeling drained ... and oh boy ... what a difference in energy I felt from getting some good instruction and exercising.

We've shared multiple times that we go to Element Crossfit in Mississauga - it's full of great trainers and it's definitely not your typical gym - which would bore me and I'd quit after two weeks for sure.

After doing this semi-regularly now for almost two years I can tell you from personal experience that fitting in strength training of some kind into your week is full of all sorts of benefits.

Who knew I'd be deadlifting, squatting and attempting things like a "clean and jerk" ... I had no idea about any of this stuff just a little while ago and now I know I'll be doing it for the rest of my life.

It's super interesting too .... there's everyone from students to medical doctors and dentists in the place ... of all different skill levels.

Mental clarity, increased confidence, better sleep, brand new growth hormones ... all a result of exercising and accomplishing things I didn't think possible.

And oh yeah, you get stronger too.

3. Sleep

When we don't get enough sleep we both get grumpy.

Things that shouldn't frustrate us ... do.  Problems seem bigger and nastier than they are because we're exhausted.

We fully realize that with jobs, businesses, properties and children there are often not enough hours in the day for more sleep.

But we've made an interesting observation...

When we do take enough time to get the sleep we need (e.g. more than 4.5 hours!!) we have more energy late into the day.

So instead of crashing after 3:00 pm and being mentally useless for the rest of the day, we can get more things done for longer.

We're more engaged with our family's at night and even after the kids get to bed we have enough jump to get some work done.

When we started Rock Star we went through a period of less than six hours sleep a night for two years.

And I have no idea how we did it.  But somehow we survived.

Perhaps that was the momentum required to launch a new business and juggle the last few months of our jobs and manage the family!

But today we value our sleep and recognize the healing power of it.

There's a ton of great discussions online around the value of sleep.  Here's one on MarksDailyApple.com (https://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-definitive-guide-to-sleep/#axzz2x7hG222A)

4. Food

Ah, food.

We love it, enjoy it, sometimes even dream about it.

Lately, I've been diving into my grass-fed butter like a kid in a candy store.

Nick has always been super smart about what he puts in his mouth - me ... not so much.

That all changed about two years ago with a crazy bout of serious stomach pains that the Docs couldn't figure out.  That lead to some adjustments myself ... I cut out alcohol for 5 months, sweets and then was referred to a few great books that had me adjust further.

Today I'd say 60% of how I feel is food related.

It also is the main contributor to my personal body shape.

The other 40% of how I feel is a mix of sleep, exercise and reading.

So it's a big deal.

I'm a big fan of wine.  A huge fan actually.

I don't drink other alcohol at all.  But wine, yes, please.

However, there have been some days lately that I've tweaked my diet so much that the amazing energy and "in the zone" feeling that I'm getting is too valuable to jeopardize with a glass of wine.

I literally turned down a few glasses of the red stuff with a great steak the other night because I was feeling so good that I didn't want to dull it with wine.

Now, for me, this is a huge change.  I have no idea if it'll continue but it's interesting how great you can feel from eating good, whole, healthy foods.

Today I've cut out all pasta, bread, eat way more vegetables, try to find grass-fed meats, eat bacon again, eggs, olive oils, coconut, super dark chocolate, all sorts of nuts and I'm feeling great.

My whole body is now one big food experiment.

I wish we had more super intelligent and scientific stuff to share around this but we can recommend two great books that were recommended to us (thanks Rachael!):  The Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson and from that we stumbled upon Why We Get Fat by Gary Taubes - both are excellent.

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And there you have it.

Basic stuff right?

But we all forget the basics a lot, don't we?  Including us!

Now go out and conquer your world! 😉

Until next time ... Your Life! Your Terms!