This Is How You Surprise Yourself And Actually Get Things Done

By

Try doing things faster. Much faster.

Yes, quality trumps speed. But speed trumps inaction. (Most of us aren’t at a place where we should be obsessing about quality. Yet.)

Sometimes it’s easier to get something done quickly with a few errors and literally just “push” it out than to wait for it to appear in your lap fully formed. Getting things done more quickly is an insurance plan against inaction.

I have a morning routine that I faithfully execute with very rare exception. You can read all about that here. With so much time before the day officially starts, sometimes I abuse all that free space.

I’m up at 4:45. I go to the bathroom. I’m on the phone. Scroll, scroll, scroll.

I walk into the kitchen and make myself a coffee. Extra black. Sip, sip, sip.

Now it’s time to read. Usually I pick something meaty. Scan, scan, scan.

Writing is next. Sometimes I’ll sit there just staring at the screen. Think, think, think. There’s nothing wrong with going at your own pace, but it’s nice to purposely pick up the pace sometimes. Try switching things up and see how you perform when things are double speed.

Turn. Up. The. Volume.

Cut out all the leisurely pauses. Get to business. Focus on purpose.

Ever seen Ronda Rousey enter the ring? Her eyes are narrowed, shoulders square and pulled back, fists clenched. Stomp, stomp, stomp. She marches into the ring. Now that’s a woman with purpose.

When you inject more purpose into your activities, it naturally narrows your focus. The distractions on the periphery just fade into the background.

Try thinking of your work like that.

This is the manner of thought I’m adopting to get a lot more work done. Like, a LOT more work.

Last weekend, I shot 15 videos for YouTube. I just set the camera up in my house and started talking. Didn’t script it. Didn’t care.

The goal was production, not perfection. It was easy to do this. SO easy. I’m mad that I didn’t do it earlier. I’ve had this awesome camera for almost 2 years.

Yesterday, I went in the studio to make the first #Rich20Something mixtape. I came in there with the beats and a few ideas for what I wanted to do. I didn’t obsess about the “does this sound good” thing. I just asked myself “can I get 5 tracks done today?” I banged em out. We’ll mix them later.

If you’ve seen my video regarding Tupac and The Urgency of Creation, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.

This morning, I rose from the dead and stomped to the kitchen. I sat down at the computer and immediately started writing this post you’re now reading before the coffee was ready. I don’t care if it gets shared. I just care that it gets done.

Volume is a powerful force for creating hits in any industry. Especially when you’re getting started. Volume is a better formula for making something go viral than any algorithm or any tactic.

Stuff the ballot box in your favor.

Think Lil’ Wayne circa 2004-2008. He had a studio on the bus and he was just ripping mixtapes out at a sickening pace. A lot of the songs were good. A lot of them were trash. But for every 100 songs, 5 solid hits would appear. Did people obsess over the underwhelming tracks? Nah. Everybody forgot about the 95 and focused on the 5. 5 hits is a lot of hits.

Pretend that there’s a studio on your bus. Bring whatever you need to get your work done with you and do your thing on the road.

Turn up the volume.

Kanye said, “Lock yourself in a room doing 5 beats a day for 3 summers.” Try that.

You’ll probably surprise yourself with your own brilliance.