Productivity Ideas from Tim Ferriss Podcast | Los Angeles or Skype Guitar Lessons with Vreny

Productivity Ideas from The Tim Ferriss Show Podcast

Tim Ferriss, best selling author of The 4-Hour Work Week, has a fantastic podcast out on iTunes.
It’s called “The Tim Ferriss Show”.
New episodes are added every week, with tons of great info on productivity, effectiveness, and lifestyle.

Download The Tim Ferriss Show Here for Free

Tim has many amazing, helpful ideas, which, when applied, make life easier, more successful, and more meaningful.
I wanted to share some quick ideas he discusses in some episodes.

The power of negative visualization.
Instead of focusing on your goals, focus on your fears.
Defining your fears instead of (or before you define) your goals is the key to doing anything big.
Fears are “What ifs…”
They slow you down. Your what ifs are obstacles and restrictions you put up.
By doing so… you don’t get things done that would improve your life and add value to your life.
You start worrying about things like… what if I go broke when I do this, what if I lose clients, etc…
Solution:
Ask yourself: what is the worst thing that could happen if…
Write the answer to those questions down.
3 columns:
1. All the terrible things that could happen if you invested a lot of money into soundproofing your studio… or if you released your book
2. All the things you could do to minimize those terrible things
3. All the actions you could take to get back to where you were then… to reachieve the status quo.
Then… PRACTICE/rehearse that worst-case scenario
You expose yourself to the negative emotions that come with this… so you inoculate yourself against these emotions.
Make not to do lists.
What you don’t do, determines what you CAN do.
1. don’t answer phone calls from unrecognized numbers
2. do not email first thing in the morning or last thing at night
3. do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time
4. do no let people ramble (small talk takes up big time). A big thing about getting things done, is getting to the point
5. do not check email constantly. Batch checking email and set times to check email.
6. Do not over communicate with high maintenance low profit customers. It’s a huge waste of your time. Sometimes you have to fire your customers
7. Do not work more to overcome overwhelm. PRIORITIZE!! Think harder don’t work harder
8. Do not carry a phone (digital lease) 24/7. At least once a week, leave your phone at home.
9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non work relationships should.
Avoid Decision Fatigue
Find more and different ways to minimize the number of unimportant decisions made on a daily business:
1. What socks to wear
2. What shirt to wear
3. What to eat for breakfast.
4. Etc…
So there is more energy and brainpower left for all the important ones.
Things you can do:
1. Delegate, build routines, automate things so they happen without me having to make decisions.
2. Have daily rituals. (Tim Ferriss book)
3. Create lesser choices
4. Don’t ponder over decisions till you can make it
5. Don’t postpone important decisions… don’t avoid uncomfortable conversations or decisions.

Failure is highly overrated
It’s not true that you learn from failure because you’re never really sure where the failure comes from and where the true source of the failure is.
Every day, start over again
Start every day as a clean sheet.
Do more, and get better at it.
You don’t want to be part of a trend.
You don’t want to be the one who does something many other people already do.
How Many More Days Do I Have Left in This Life?
Based on the average life span: have a count-down clock on your computer showing the number of days you are still going to live.
Very empowering, very motivating.
It puts things in the right perspective.

Conclusion

Check Tim’s podcast and listen to all the episodes.
There is a lot of great information in there.

Hit me up anytime at vreny@zotzinmusic.com if you have any questions, or if you would like to book a lesson.

These free lessons are cool, but you will never experience the progress, joy, and results that my students experience in lessons when you’re learning by yourself from blogs and videos.

That is why people take lessons: way better results and progress, much more complete information, exposed to way more creative ideas than you can get from a blog or YouTube video.
There is only so much that self-study can accomplish.

If you want to see amazing results and progress in your guitar playing, buy your first lesson here and get started ASAP.