How to Be So Productive It Feels Illegal

Last month, for the first time ever, I checked my phone pickup number. That is the number of times you unlock your phone in a single day. And I knew it wasn't going to be good, but I definitely wasn't expecting it to be 128. 128 times in one day. And when I saw that number, I started thinking about what that actually meant. Because that's not 128 times I sat down and deliberately decided, I'm going to now use my phone. It's more like, I'm working and then I pick up my phone. Or I'm eating and then I quickly check my phone. Or I'm waiting for the lift, phone. Waiting for the kettle to boil, phone. And I realised that all of those tiny little gaps in my day, the ones that I thought were little moments to rest and recharge, weren't really rest at all. Every few minutes, my brain was getting another tiny hit of stimulation. So it never actually got the chance to just switch off. It's kind of like, imagine your day is one big sheet of paper. And every time you pick up your phone, you tear a tiny piece. One piece by itself doesn't feel like much. But if you tear off 128 pieces, suddenly your whole day's attention is fragmented into little bits. So this idea of checking your pickup number is something I came across in the book Ultra Productive. The authors talk about this cycle of constantly checking our phones and consuming highly stimulating content. And how that simple act actually leaves us more distracted, more drained and less motivated, which ultimately makes it harder to do the things that actually matter. Their recommendation is to get that pickup number below 90. And if you want to check yours, it only takes a few seconds. On an iPhone, go to settings, then screen time, tap see all app and website activity and then scroll down to pickups. On Android, you go to settings, then digital wellbeing where it shows up as unlocks. If you do check it, let me know in the comments what your number is. And now the book shares a few ways to actually bring that number down and two that I've been trying myself. Number one, turn your phone into grayscale. So when you change it to grayscale, it basically takes away the pull of those bright, colourful app icons. So your phone just becomes a lot less stimulating and less engaging and therefore easier to ignore. You're not getting that like dopamine hit. Number two, they suggest to give your phone its own bedtime and then let it have a lie in in the morning too. That way you have a protected window at the start and at the end of every day where you're not checking your phone at all. I've been doing both of these things for the last three weeks since I read this book and I feel so much more refreshed and weirdly more rested even though I haven't changed anything else. So definitely give it a go. And by the way, Eric Partaker, who's one of the authors of the book, has actually been my mentor for years now. He's worked with hundreds of CEOs and high performers. And as I was reading this book, I kept spotting things that he's also encouraged me to do and implement in my own life. Things that I can vouch for and have really transformed my productivity. So when I was reading this book, it was really cool to see them all in one place along with so many new ideas that I hadn't actually come across before. If you're interested and you want to grab the book, I'll leave the link in all the details below. It is packed with practical research-backed scientific ways to 10x your productivity without burning out. So that is hack number one, reduce your phone pickup number. Number two, shrink the project. If you've ever sat down to work and somehow like 10 minutes later, you're checking your phone or you're making another coffee or you're replying to an email, doing anything but actually starting the thing that you sat down to do. You probably think that it's a discipline problem, but it's most likely because of how you've written down what you're working on. There's a big difference between a project and a task. So a project is something like work on Instagram content, sort out my finances, start the new business. Those aren't tasks. They're like these huge, vague clouds. And when your brain sees this huge vague cloud, it has to make another decision first, which is where do I even start? And because that's a really difficult question, it avoids starting at all. So instead of writing down the project you need to work on, write down what needs to exist by the end of your work session. So instead of work on Instagram content, you would write by 2pm, I need three carousel ideas written and sent to so-and-so for design. Now you know exactly what you're trying to produce. There's a finish line and there's no decision left to make. All that's left is the work. This is the same reason why the goal of save more money is actually a terrible goal. But something like move $200 into my savings on payday is so much easier to act on. Vague goals, they give your brain room to negotiate and procrastinate. Specific ones, they don't. You know exactly what you have to do. So before you start working on something, ask yourself, what will physically exist at the end of this session that doesn't exist right now? If you can't answer that, your task is probably still too big. So keep shrinking it until the next step feels almost too obvious to avoid. Number three, find your best hours. I've had days, and maybe you have too, where I've literally sat on my laptop for three hours convinced I was being productive and barely moved anything forward. And then there's other days, the exact same kind of work, and it just flows. 20 minutes later, I've done what normally takes me hours. And for a long time, I thought that this was just a motivation thing. It was just a discipline thing. But actually, your brain just doesn't work at the same level throughout the day. Some people feel sharpest first thing in the morning. Others feel alive a bit later on in the day. Some don't hit our full stride until right in the evening. This is called your chronotype, which is essentially your body's natural clock. And we're so often told that productivity is about discipline. Wake up earlier, work harder. But what if you're doing your hardest work at the exact time your brain naturally works the worst? So in Ultra Productive, Eric and Christian break people into three chronotypes. Around 14% are larks, who peak about 30 minutes after waking. Around 20% are owls, who peak in the evening. And then the rest of us are third birds, who peak around three hours after waking. I took the questionnaire that they recommended to find out which type I am, and it turns out I'm a third bird. So now that I knew this, I started thinking about following all the ways they recommended for me to work to make the most out of my brain's best hours. For instance, why would I spend it answering emails, doing admin or sitting in meetings? That is just a waste of your optimal focus hours. You want to plan your schedule around this sacred focus time that you have every day. So make sure you know what your best window is, and as much as you can, and protect it to get the most important work done then. Because we all get the same 24 hours, but clearly not all of them are equally valuable. So find your focus window and protect it. If you're watching this thinking, I'd love to start a business one day, chances are you probably already have an idea. The part that is stopping you is everything that comes after. Building a website, setting up payments, managing inventory, shipping orders, it can feel very overwhelming. And it's definitely kept me overthinking for far too long. When I started my business with Shopify, it took away all of those constraints and handled the technical side so I could focus on what I actually enjoyed, which is creating content, building a community and a product. Having one platform that streamlines the setup and the backend is such a huge unlock. Whether you're selling online or in person, Shopify has everything you need to help you do that. And it grows with you as your business grows, whatever stage your business is at. So if you haven't already, sign up at Shopify.com forward slash Nisha, that's Shopify.com forward slash Nisha. Number four, and this is one that sounds pretty counterintuitive, and it's give yourself less time. One of the easiest ways to get something done faster is to give yourself less time to do it. So when I started my YouTube channel, I'd only post a video when it felt like it was good enough to post. And it never did feel like it was good enough to post. There was always one more sentence to write. There was almost an extra bit that I could record. There was always more edits that could explain my point better. But what I'd found is that as I did more and more, the quality or the views or the comments barely changed whether I spent two days or two weeks on it. The only thing that changed was how long it took for me to get it out. So now if you follow me and you subscribe and you watch my videos, you know I have a hard deadline, which is Sunday 1pm UK time the video goes out. Because at some point you have to stop making something better and just start making it finished. And again, there's actually a name for this. It's Parkinson's law. Work expands to fill the time that you allocate to doing it. You give yourself all day to do something, it will take all day. Give yourself 90 minutes to do it. Suddenly, you are completely prioritising what matters. You're super focused and you get it done in 90 minutes. And the quality, not that much different. So next time you sit down to work on something, don't just ask what you need to do. Also ask how long you're giving yourself. Set a timer and when it goes off, you are done. And number five, look after yourself. Because honestly, you can have the best productivity system in the world. But if you're not looking after your body and your mind, you just won't have the energy or the motivation to use it. A few years ago, I was like sleeping like five hours a night. I was running on coffee. I was feeling drained all the time. I thought I was pushing myself to be my best. But really, I was just on the way to burn out. And I made so many changes over the years. And when I read the book Ultra Productive again a few weeks ago, it made me realise that a lot of the small changes I've made over the last few years are exactly why I feel so much more focused and productive now. Things like move your body every day, eat healthy, prioritise seven to nine hours of sleep, drink more water, take care of your mental health. It won't be obvious just how far below your peak potential you're currently operating at until you start looking after the things that make good work possible in the first place. And that is really yourself, your body, your mind. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this video. Everything I've mentioned in this video, I've linked before. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you next week.