IT HAS TO BE A HECK YES OR A HELL NO
As valuable as the success habits in this book are, they won’t change your income, make you a millionaire, or change the quality of your life unless you actually use them. You can’t just think about them or plan to implement them at some time in the future. You have to put them to work for you and do it regularly and reflexively. Only through practice will the millionaire success habits you’re being exposed to become your norm—and show you what your true potential really is.
Look, I know how hard it can be. With all the thoughts running through your mind, it’s easy to say, “I’ll start putting these habits into practice when time allows.” Maybe you’re having a busy weekend or the kids have you running around like a crazy person. Maybe that job of yours has you a bit stressed out, and on top of that, family and friends need your time as well. With examples like these, plus the things that are actually specific and personal in your life, you may wonder how on earth you’re ever going to find the time to take your dreams seriously. I mean, there are only so many hours in the day, right? And you wish desperately that you could achieve everything you’ve always hoped for, but it just seems impossible to dedicate the time it takes to make it happen.
But here’s the crazy part . . . and I want you to take a minute to really let it sink in.
Oprah Winfrey, Richard Branson, Bill Gates, and all of the world’s most successful people—all, without a shadow of a doubt, have ONE THING in common with you. They all have the same 24 hours in a day that you do. The same 7 days in a week that you do. And the same 365 days in a year that you do. The only difference is that they’ve mastered a skill that allows them to achieve amazing things. Do you want to know what that secret skill is?
PRODUCTIVITY. By far one of the greatest success habits you can master is the art of productivity and getting stuff done.
I can almost hear what you’re saying. “I don’t have time for this right now.” Believe me, I get it. I’m busy too. For a point of reference, let me share a bit of my schedule so you can understand how much I relate to what it’s like to try and fit it all in.
THERE’S ALWAYS TIME TO BE SUCCESSFUL
During a 15-day period while finishing this book I did the following:
And that was in a period of just 15 days! I didn’t share this to brag or to say how great I am. That is never my intention. I shared this list so you can see what it’s possible to accomplish once you master productivity. Yes, you’re busy, and I know how hard it can be to imagine doing more. The fact is you can achieve so much more if you train yourself in productivity habits. And if you truly want more out of your life, this is the best training you can do. It’s like building muscle. If I go to the gym once, I’m not going to get in shape. That’s why I go every day. If you want to master productivity like millionaires, billionaires, and some of the greatest minds on the planet, you have to practice being more productive every day.
Here is a little secret. It’s not as hard as you may think. It’s just that you have never been exposed to true productivity processes. At least until now. Listen, I love doing a lot of things. I love learning. I love growing as a human being. I love teaching others, and I actually love my business. And most of all, I love spending as much time as possible with my kids. If I’m not productive, these things can’t all happen, so that’s a powerful motivator. So the question you have to ask yourself before becoming more productive is not “What do I have to gain?” The real question is, “What do I have to lose?”
Why not right here, right now, make a commitment to mastering productivity so you can get the most out of life? Can you do that? I’m guessing that was a “hell yes” if you are this far along in the book. This book isn’t about entertainment; it’s about you reaching your next level. If you don’t use it that way, then you may as well stop reading. Without action it is just another stack of papers on a shelf. So I want you to declare to the universe that you will do what it takes to exponentially grow your income, dramatically improve your health, strengthen your relationships, and live life on your terms!
IT IS ALL BLACK AND WHITE
So what’s the secret to massive productivity and making that be your reality? It comes down to two words: binary thinking.
Binary thinking is like binary code (which is made up of ones and zeros). Binary thinking is the same way. Things are either black or they’re white. It’s a yes or a no. You’re either climbing or you’re sliding. The value of binary thinking is that you get rid of the gray area that lives in between. “I’ll get to it next week” is a gray-area statement. Let’s face it, will waiting until next week move you toward your goals or away? Eliminate middle-of-the-road thinking and speaking. Leave no room for second-guessing. If you’re waiting until next week to start your business, face your fears, or even to implement new habits, then you are moving farther away from your goal. Every minute you wait, your bigger future slips a little farther out of reach.
For instance, a majority of the people I get to meet in person tell me that they’re interested in developing an additional income—maybe a home business, a real estate venture, or an online business. When you apply binary thinking to this goal, you engage in activities that either produce measurable amounts of results to get these side incomes going or you don’t. You ask yourself questions like, “Is this action taking me closer to that side income or taking me away from it?” The answer to that is always clear. There is no gray area and no middle ground.
I’m going to help make this easy for you to adopt because it’s vital to your success. So let’s start by practicing binary thinking in a small way. Pick one or two different activities you do on a regular basis that you feel are related to your success or financial growth.
Write them down if you’d like. Then think about them one at a time and ask yourself: Does this activity drain me or does it excite me? Remember, we’re practicing binary thinking so there are no “in between” answers. The answer can’t be “It kind of drains me a little, but I think I should still do it.” You must pick a definitive answer. Does it drain you? Or does it excite you? If the answer is that it’s draining you, then continuing to do that activity will diminish energy, enthusiasm, and excitement and not move you forward toward your goals. When you realize what it is costing you, then you can make a fast and clear decision to change a behavior or even stop doing it altogether. I hope this gives you a glimpse of how clear things can get when binary thinking becomes the norm.
PRODUCTIVITY HABIT #1: YOU’RE EITHER CLIMBING OR SLIDING
To develop this habit of binary thinking, you need to be okay with asking yourself the tough questions. And then be okay with the even harder part—being brutally honest with yourself about your answers. Questions like the ones below could be good examples for you to start with:
Why are these “tough” questions? Let’s take a look at the first one. Think about directing it toward someone who is really close to you. That could be a scary and tough question to answer honestly. Let’s say a close friend perceives himself as a realist and thinks you’re a hopeless dreamer. He may tell you to stop reading all those self-help books or criticize any desires you have for your own thriving business. Maybe every time you are with him you leave discouraged and questioning your own value and capabilities.
So here is that tough question from before: “Is this person or relationship moving me forward or backward?” The answer is clear that this person is moving you backward and not toward your goals. At the end of the day, we are the sum total of the people we let influence us. You could say, “Well, he’s been my friend a long time and that’s how he is.” And I get that! But you’re reading this book because you want the habits for success and productivity that have shaped some of the most successful people on this planet. And letting that person influence you negatively is the complete opposite of what you need to climb faster in the direction of your next level. That’s why these are tough questions. Because you must be honest if you want to break free.
Before you start getting nervous about ending a bunch of relationships, here’s some good news. I’m not telling you to divorce a spouse or stop talking to siblings, parents, and friends. What I am telling you is that you can’t give them your energy; you can’t let them suck it out of you with their misguided cynicism. You can’t let their words and their fears steer your ship. Remember, Joe Polish says that two types of people exist: battery drainers and battery chargers. Be careful of the battery drainers, since they’re the ones who will suck the life right out of you. So if you do find yourself with a relationship that isn’t serving your dreams and desires, you can take the binary thinking one step further. You can ask yourself, “Is this a relationship I should just end or should I create boundaries and roadblocks to keep their negativity from affecting me?” You can take it from there.
Now consider the second question: “Am I simply busy or does this activity make me massively productive?” This is a tough question because no one wants to admit they are “just busy.” That would make you feel like everything you do is all for nothing. But again, we must be honest and have no gray areas. So let’s say you’re a “hustler,” and you’re always busy. It’s easy to have the perception that you are heading toward your goals when you are always moving at full speed. But are you? Are you like a sports car roaring down the road with no GPS? You’re going faster than everyone else, but not getting closer to your true goals and desires. Are you like a hamster on a wheel, spinning furiously but stuck in your cage?
When you know the art of productivity, you will stop racing to get things done that do not serve your bigger future. You will see why successful people seem to get done five times as much as the people who are “just busy.”
Whether the above accurately describes you or just a small bit of it rings true, I want you to know I’m not about just pointing out the problem. Soon you’re going to learn the process for how to become more productive than ever. First, though, I want you to look at the third question related to your busy life: “Does this activity make me money or is it actually preventing me from reaching my next level?”
Think about what you do daily. Perhaps you enjoy spending the afternoon sipping coffee at Starbucks. Great, but what do you do while you’re drinking coffee? Are you just exchanging gossip with friends? Are you daydreaming or people watching? Or is this an opportunity to be creative, to craft your marketing campaign, or maybe even go deeper on that invention you have been thinking about for years?
You probably do a lot of stuff that makes you feel like you’re active and engaged—and this can absolutely foster the illusion of productivity. But if the stuff you’re doing is not making money or creating the foundation to make that happen—if that’s one of your goals—then to be blunt, you’re just fooling yourself. You must ask that tough question. Is this activity making me more money or is it not? You must increase your money-making activities and decrease the busywork that doesn’t make you a dime.
I see people all the time who are excited that they’ve started their own business, yet months and even years can go by without them making any real profits. Why? One main thing is they are not asking themselves this tough question. They’re focusing on the “hustle” and not the outcome. They spend hours posting on social media to “make their brand look good.” They post funny quotes, they make cool videos, and they get more followers. But they never actually do the things that produce income. If they asked themselves that tough binary question, they would realize they need to spend more time on the moneymakers like marketing and sales.
So here’s what I want you to do. Commit to asking yourself these tough binary questions. Commit to being honest with yourself about the answers and to becoming massively productive rather than busy. This is fundamental to obtaining the life you want, the income, the joy and the happiness.
Keep in mind the “big why” that I hope you discovered during the seven levels deep exercise. Compound those emotions and desires by always remembering “where you want to go.” Whether you want more money, more freedom, more control of your time, or to help others in your life, plant that picture firmly in your mind. Then get to asking those tough binary questions; answer with a yes or no and watch your productivity start to soar. One quote that always inspires me to stay on track—as I said earlier—is this: “You’re either climbing or you’re sliding.”
Let’s go a little deeper and apply the principle of binary thinking not only to your actions, but also to your thoughts. Imagine asking yourself, “Am I free or am I enslaved?” Does that seem extreme? Maybe, but it allows you the ability to make a powerful point that will stick. For every thought you have, ask yourself if it makes you free or keeps you trapped. Yes, it takes discipline. I’ve shown you throughout this book that you have to be able to cultivate discipline to stay in control of your life. And it’s not hard to do it if you stop listening to your own BS.
For instance, let’s say I decide to stop making offers on houses I want to buy because I convince myself that not a single good deal remains because the media, friends, and other investors are telling me so. In this case, I would literally be not taking action on something solely based on other people’s opinions that have converted my thoughts. Those thoughts enslave me because I’m not in control—not to mention that I’m not making the money I’d like to make. The truth is, as I write this book, there are more deals being bought and sold now than any other time in history. But we can so easily sell ourselves on these lies we hear from other people; and if we do, our thinking gets fragmented and then our discipline goes out the window.
Believe me, I know how hard it is to change our habits, to change the way we think. But every time the voice in my head tells me, “Do it later,” I fight back by ignoring my thoughts completely and immediately taking action—no matter how painful or uncomfortable it may be. And every time I do so, I find myself reaching a whole next level of life.
So why not start implementing these habits the second you put down this book, no matter how inconvenient a time it may be? You know the areas of your life that need help the most. Start there and ignore the thoughts begging you to wait until “later,” and decide to take action today. Because in the end they’re nothing more than that: thoughts. The discomfort will fade, but the habits will stick. And those habits will take you from where you are to where you want to go—faster than you can possibly imagine.
To add a little more urgency to this way of thinking, let me ask you how fast the last five years of your life went by. If you’re like me you may be thinking, “Damn, that went fast,” and heck yes, it did. So there is no better time than now to get started. Don’t say to yourself, “I’ll practice that habit of Dean’s tomorrow, next week, or next month.” No. As they say, there’s no time like the present. As busy and as stressed as you may be, you have to start working on you now. In fact, the more complex your life is, the more you need these changes, and you need them fast. Face this challenge head-on; don’t allow it to be the habit that “could have” changed your life.
PRODUCTIVITY HABIT #2: ARE YOU IN CONTROL?
When we discipline ourselves, we are controlled by no one. This is why cultivating discipline is so important. Let’s say you’re starting a consulting firm to help companies market through social media. If so, as we talked about earlier, the only thing you need to focus on when starting out is marketing and selling your new service. So do your best to schedule your day around those two things. Then stick to the schedule at all costs. Create strict deadlines for the things you know need to be done.
What you shouldn’t do is stray into the area of negative talk and distraction. Let’s say you ask seven friends about the types of businesses that “they think” could benefit the most from your social media marketing service. The truth is you’ll probably receive seven different opinions. This isn’t being disciplined at all! Instead, you’re fragmenting your attention and activity causing procrastination and eventually hitting a standstill.
Have you ever been in a relationship and decided you wanted to end it because it was no longer fulfilling your soul or heart? But before you stopped seeing that person, you asked 10 people about their thoughts on the matter and half said end it and the other half said you have to commit no matter what? Then you ended up doing nothing but staying in a relationship that no longer fulfilled you. You lacked the discipline to take action because of confusion and the distraction placed on you by other people!
Let’s go a little deeper into the concept of discipline—it’s not that scary when broken down. Imagine going to the gym, sitting on a bench surrounded by exercise equipment, and saying to yourself, “I want to be in shape.” But instead of hopping up and doing something, you simply stare at others wondering what’s the best workout routine for you. Then you decide to check a few e-mails and scroll through your music thinking about what you should listen to. Then maybe you go grab a bottle of some sports drink and start reading the ingredients. And then all of a sudden you look up and it’s time to leave. As you walk out you think, “I’ll get to it next time!” Compare that to another person at the gym who showed up, put earbuds in, hit Play on the music, and got after it by doing a great exercise routine.
If you took a step back and seriously looked at that person, you would recognize that he or she has great discipline. And even more, when you realize how integral discipline is to sustained success, you will feel urged to adopt more of those principles.
Let’s be honest: for most people, “discipline” is a scary word. Heck, that word always used to scare me. But I was looking at it wrong. We may think it will take all the fun out of life, but in fact, it’s just the opposite. Discipline is simply creating a habit out of an action that will get us where we want to go.
David Kekich wrote in his Kekich Credos, “Living life the hard way is easy and living life the easy way is hard.” Think about that one. It’s hard to get up early, practice gratitude, drink something healthy, and go to the gym every day. But the result makes living life so much easier—health, energy, stamina, and fewer doctor visits. It’s much easier to get up late, scarf down a donut, turn on the negative news rather than practice gratitude, drink a coffee for energy, and head off to work with no exercise. But later in life when your health is an issue or you hate the fact that you’re overweight, you realize that creating and sustaining discipline may be the biggest make-or-break decision in your entire life!
Plus, in most cases, when you feel overwhelmed, it’s because you didn’t ask yourself the tough questions, which results in a lack of discipline. You’re probably working on so many things that really don’t matter and don’t drive you toward the bigger, better, wealthier version of yourself. That can be frustrating, and as a result, you procrastinate and stay stuck. When you cut those things out of your day and out of your life, space opens and the feeling of being overwhelmed starts to fade.
Discipline becomes even easier when you reduce your tasks to their most basic elements. People write 300-page books on how to make money in real estate by using a strategy called wholesaling, but when you really boil it down, that only works if you are focused on three main things: 1) Using unique marketing to find hidden deals. 2) Making multiple offers until you find a deal cheaper than others can. 3) Handing that deal off to a cash buyer for a profit. People will cloud their minds, occupy all their spare time, and obsess on so many things in real estate that don’t matter unless deals are being done. If you don’t focus on the important parts above all else, it simply won’t ever work.
My goal is to lead you down the path to be ready to actually schedule time for implementation and growth. Whether you need time to implement the success habits I’m sharing in this book, or to start marketing your new company or making offers on deals, you must have clarity on your goals, focus on the main things that matter, and then be disciplined enough to actually schedule the time to follow through.
Start right now. Take out your phone or whatever you use to schedule your days. Now let’s schedule the time each week for your growth. Like Tuesdays from 2 P.M. to 4 P.M. is the time you spend crafting a marketing campaign on Facebook for a new company. Schedule it, set an alarm, and during those two hours focus 100 percent on only that topic and the solutions around it. You will get more done in those two hours than most people do in 10 if you’re clear on the intentions, focused on the important things that can move the needle, and disciplined to make it happen when you say you will.
Here are a few more tips for imposing discipline on yourself. First, pay close attention to the people with whom you associate. Tony Robbins has said that you’re the average of the five people you hang around most. If those five people energize you, challenge you, and inspire you, they’ll hold you accountable for getting things done. And of course, the wrong people will help produce the complete opposite results.
Second, lay out your day. Don’t just hope you’ll have a good day. Create a schedule that imposes discipline on what you do and when you do it. The greatest minds and most successful people in history almost always plan tomorrow, today.
Third, focus your thoughts. What you think is who you become. If you tell yourself, “I’m never going to do this,” then you won’t. If you tell yourself, “This is going to be a little tough, but I’m going to make this happen,” then you will. Google other people who have done what you’re attempting to do and read their success stories. Take advantage of what you learn from these stories to refocus your thinking on solutions and success.
Fourth, take action and get results. I know I’ve said this before, but I’ve seen so many people who talk about all the great things they’re going to do but never do it. So make it happen. B follows A, day follows night, results follow action (and keep reading—there’s more about taking action later in this section).
Put all this together and you have a disciplined, conscious way to get what you want most. You surround yourself with the right people. You schedule your day to get things done. You focus, and you have the right thoughts. Even when the bad thoughts intrude, acknowledge them and say, “No, I’m not playing with that thought anymore. It doesn’t serve me well.” Switch to thinking about positive driven thoughts and remaining focused on success. That will lead you to action, which leads you to the results you’re looking for.
PRODUCTIVITY HABIT #3: GET REAL ABOUT TIME
How much time do you need to spend putting these productivity habits into practice? You might see this as requiring a huge investment of time, or you might think that if you adopt my habits, you can put in a few hours a week and magic will happen.
The fact of the matter is that time and effort are bendable and results are less about minutes passing by and more about the level of commitment to that time allocated. Let’s get real about time. When most people are working, they usually can do no more than two hours straight before their attention becomes fragmented and they start to mentally wander. There are exceptions when inspiration is at high levels—when you look at the clock and say to yourself, “I can’t believe it’s already eleven. Where did the morning go?” You’re so focused that the hours are zipping by. But many of us spend our days dabbling without even paying attention to it. For example, you know you’re dabbling rather than working at a high level when you look at the clock more than once and say to yourself, “I can’t believe it’s only eleven; is this day never going to end?”
So do your best to get in the habit of doing two-hour sprints rather than daylong slogs. Put all your energy and enthusiasm into those two hours. If you find yourself drained after working this intensely, take a break. Go for a walk, stretch, get some tea, et cetera. Recognize that putting in more than five hours of real productive work in a day is not sustainable.
Now, what do I mean by that? You’re thinking, “Dean, I work way more than five hours a day.” But I’m talking about productive work. Not busywork. Not personal stuff but rather head-down, powering-through-your-to-do-list work. And right now your goal should be very productive two-hour sprints. Then, you can build your stamina to an ideal of five hours of productive work daily. If you can do that, no one will touch you. You’ll take your productivity to a whole new level.
Here’s a secret weapon you can use to create even more momentum in your life. Just realize there are basically three types of days you can have. The first type is the one you dread, a day in which you feel insecure and afraid to take on any project: “Man, I hope this doesn’t go wrong. What if my idea doesn’t work? What if everyone hates it?” This “what-if” thinking sends your brain into panic mode and ties your stomach in knots. Nothing creative or groundbreaking comes from days like this.
The second type of day is uneventful, pretty much routine, and that’s neither good nor bad. If someone asks you how the day went, you may respond, “It was okay.” Who wants a life that’s “okay”? Who wants a status quo life? Who wants to fall into a routine where nothing memorable happens?
When you experience the third type of day, though, it is magical. You’re on fire. You’re courageous. You’re confident. You take control rather than let events control you. Your enthusiasm is contagious. If someone comes to you with bad news, you say, “Okay, we got this.” That’s because your mind-set is solution oriented. Instead of denying there’s a problem or procrastinating, you tackle it head-on and then back to the task at hand.
Make a conscious decision to have more of the third type of days. And don’t think for a second that you’re incapable of having them. People aren’t born energized and enthusiastic—I know I wasn’t. You have the ability to create it using the tools and habits that have been shared throughout this entire book. So make this can-do, I-will-control-it mind-set yours. Recognize why you want to achieve great things and use that to power your way through all the things that get in your way.
Another secret weapon in your fight for productivity is creating systems. I have a system when I sit down to write a new book that breaks it down in tiny bite-size pieces so I don’t get overwhelmed. I have a system that helps me find real estate deals that are not for sale to the public yet. I have a system for a morning routine, how I exercise, and heck, even how I eat healthy. Yes, they took me a little time to figure out and create, but once I did, overthinking and procrastination went away. I could just follow the system. In any successful business there are Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). What these do for companies and can do for you is take away the guessing and allow the proven system to create faster results and more effective action consistently.
I also have a system to increase my productivity in all the work I do. Writing my to-do list at the start of the day is part of this system. I also write down my ideas about what I want to communicate or accomplish later in the day. Having these idea reminders makes the day feel much less overwhelming, and it ensures I address the things that are important for me to achieve. It’s time to develop your own systems and use them as your blueprints for higher achievement.
The third secret weapon is proactive planning. This is a fancy way of saying “spend more time thinking out the plan than actually working on the plan.” Many times, people slave over creating business plans, but they don’t realize they are lacking the pre-planning vision and creativity. If, however, you start that plan by taking notes and letting your subconscious be your guide, you’ll create a far better plan faster. Let all those thoughts that pop up when you’re taking a shower or just before you go to sleep flow out. Jot them down on a piece of paper. You’ll discover some amazing concepts this way.
For example, I had a tight deadline to create a new training program. I laid it out and completed all the slides in one day—an activity that could easily have taken a week or longer. How was it possible to get it done in a day? Because I planned ahead by thinking through it, then writing notes to myself about what I wanted to be in that training, and I drew from all those ideas. I visualized in advance what I was going to do in the first training, second training, and third training. I let my subconscious take control, which means I trusted my gut.
When we’re kids, we’re good at relying on our instincts. School, society, and other factors cause us to become less reliant on instinct. But here’s the truth: Your gut knows what your head might not. Trust it. Let it form the plan through your thoughts and notes, so when it’s time for execution, you’ve got the steps you want to take mapped out in rough form.
Knowing what you need to do, in what order, and then making notes about implementing it helps you figure out what not to do as well. It will highlight the areas where you shouldn’t waste your time and energy. This is where your not-to-do list can originate.
I’ve given you multiple secret weapons to increase your productivity. But before I share more productivity habits, I’d like to explain what productivity really means, since people often get it wrong. The more accurately you define it, the better you can overcome the obstacles to working at a high level of effectiveness.