Full Transcript
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSqpkgYA-eI
[00:00] A year ago, my days looked full.
[00:02] I was busy from 7:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. emails, calls, filming, admin, research.
[00:07] But when I actually looked at what I built at the end of each month, it did not match the effort.
[00:13] And I spent nearly a decade in banking working like that.
[00:16] And I thought that's just what hard work looked like.
[00:21] Then I made five tiny changes.
[00:22] None of them were revolutionary.
[00:24] None of them required an app or a course or a 5:00 a.m. alarm.
[00:29] Together they completely changed how I spend my days and that changed how quickly everything else started compounding.
[00:35] Let me start with the one that felt the most counterintuitive especially as someone who makes content for a living and that is I stopped consuming so much content.
[00:44] Not completely.
[00:47] I just put a hard cap on it.
[00:49] And that one change gave me back more time and focus than any productivity system I've ever tried.
[00:53] My mornings used to start with reading the financial news, watching other creators videos, podcasts in the background whilst I was doing something else.
[00:58] And I justify it
[01:00] doing something else.
[01:02] And I justify it all by telling myself I was staying all by telling myself I was staying informed.
[01:04] By the time I actually sat down to do work, my best, most focused energy was already gone.
[01:09] And my head was full of other people's ideas.
[01:11] So I changed one thing.
[01:14] The input into my brain now has windows of time.
[01:16] There are specific times in my day where I'll read, where I'll watch, where I'll catch up.
[01:23] And it's only after I've done my own work.
[01:26] So, no listening to new podcasts first thing in the morning unless it's directly tied to the work that I'm about to do or motivates me to get started.
[01:33] No watching new YouTube videos before I filmed my own because after a while, consuming more advice becomes a substitute for acting on the advice you already have.
[01:42] It feels productive, but then the day goes past and nothing actually moves.
[01:46] That was the trap I was in for a very long time.
[01:49] every extra hour of input was just delaying the one thing that would actually change my position which is doing the work.
[01:55] And what made it even harder to break was that this habit felt productive.
[01:59] It was ingrained from my banking days where the
[02:00] ingrained from my banking days where the first hour of every morning was just news, markets, updates.
[02:02] first hour of every morning was just news, markets, updates.
[02:04] So stopping that felt wrong.
[02:06] But the moment I did stop, my mornings became more focused.
[02:08] I was finishing more by 10:00 a.m. than I used to by lunch.
[02:11] And I suddenly had time I didn't even realize I was losing.
[02:13] But then I had to figure out what to do with that extra time.
[02:15] And that's where the second change comes in.
[02:17] And it is embarrassingly simple.
[02:18] I call it the single priority.
[02:20] You've probably done this before and it was my default for a very long time.
[02:22] I'd sit down in the morning.
[02:25] I'd write down everything I need to do and I'd skip straight past the one that actually mattered.
[02:27] I'll do it after lunch, I'd tell myself.
[02:28] And then lunch would come and I'd find five smaller things to tick off first.
[02:30] And weeks later, that same task was still there.
[02:32] But that was the one task that usually was more valuable than everything else combined.
[02:34] Then I came across something called the Ivy Lee method.
[02:35] And that is when it clicked.
[02:37] Back in 1918, a consultant named Ivy Lee was asked by Charles Schwab how to get more done.
[02:39] His advice, super simple.
[02:41] Write down six important tasks, rank
[03:01] Write down six important tasks, rank them in order of importance, start with number one, and don't move on to the next task until that task is finished.
[03:08] That was it.
[03:11] A few months later, Schwab paid him 25,000 for that advice, which is nearly half a million in today's money.
[03:17] So, I took this and I stripped it down even further.
[03:19] Not six tasks, just one.
[03:21] I call it the single priority.
[03:23] Every day, before I even open up my emails, I write down one thing.
[03:25] If that one thing gets done today, that day counts.
[03:26] Today, it was script and film this YouTube video.
[03:28] Every single day, it either has a priority or it doesn't.
[03:32] The list of things will always exist.
[03:34] But always ask yourself, what's one thing that will actually move my life forward, that will actually make a difference if I do it or not?
[03:41] That's not done by an accident.
[03:43] That is done by serious intention.
[03:45] The third change was arguably the hardest one for me on the list.
[03:47] And I call it the ugly first draft.
[03:49] I spent nearly a decade and in banking, especially early on my career, nothing leaves your desk until it's been reviewed four times until it's been spellch checked, sense checked, approved by a senior, then approved by their senior.
[03:59] Polish was the entire job.
[04:01] So
[04:02] senior.
[04:02] Polish was the entire job.
[04:04] So when I left banking and started building my own thing, I bought that same standard with me and it nearly killed the whole thing before I started.
[04:10] I spent entire days on things that never went anywhere.
[04:13] I would rewrite an email four times before I sent it.
[04:15] I'd delay a video for one more edit pass before it went out.
[04:18] I'll sit on an idea for months because I hadn't accounted for every variable.
[04:24] And the days I worked the hardest were usually the days that nothing actually went out.
[04:28] And the worst part is perfectionism.
[04:30] It doesn't look like procrastination.
[04:32] It looks like effort.
[04:33] It looks like care.
[04:35] It looks like you have high standards, which is why most people don't even realize that they're stuck in it.
[04:38] From the outside, you look productive.
[04:41] You look thorough.
[04:43] But really, nothing is moving.
[04:46] And the founder of LinkedIn, he has this line that I think about a lot.
[04:48] He says, "If you're not embarrassed by the first version of what you build, you launched it too late."
[04:53] The whole point of version one isn't that it's good.
[04:56] It's that it exists.
[04:58] Because once it exists, you can learn from it.
[05:00] You can hear what real
[05:02] learn from it.
[05:02] You can hear what real people actually using it think.
[05:04] people actually using it think.
[05:04] You can fix it.
[05:06] But until it exists, you've got nothing.
[05:09] You're just polishing something that nobody has seen based on your interpretation of what's good and what's not.
[05:11] interpretation of what's good and what's not.
[05:13] So then I changed the default.
[05:15] My first YouTube video was extremely rough.
[05:17] The lighting was off.
[05:19] I wasn't happy with the way I was saying or explaining certain sentences.
[05:21] I was mixing up my words.
[05:22] It took 4 hours to record a 5-minute video.
[05:24] But I uploaded it anyway because at some point I realized that another week of editing wasn't going to change my life.
[05:26] But publishing, putting it out there might.
[05:28] And the only reason why any of my videos since got better is because that that first one existed for me to learn from.
[05:31] And now I apply a similar concept to a lot of areas in my life, including something that I'll talk about later on that might lose me some credibility.
[05:33] But my point is, if you think about it, what's the one project that you've been polishing for 3 months that nobody has even seen yet?
[05:35] And then ask yourself, would it be more valuable if you just got it out and refined it whilst it was live?
[05:37] Because the thing you actually get out and ship is the
[06:03] you actually get out and ship is the only thing that you can get other people.
[06:05] only thing that you can get other people to react to.
[06:07] to react to. And well and truly, you learn by doing.
[06:09] learn by doing. The fourth change is what I call close the loop.
[06:11] what I call close the loop. And this one completely changed the amount of mental
[06:13] completely changed the amount of mental space that I had because what I used to
[06:16] space that I had because what I used to do was say yes to almost everything in
[06:19] do was say yes to almost everything in the moment and then figure out how to
[06:20] the moment and then figure out how to say no later on.
[06:22] say no later on. So someone would invite me somewhere that I knew I didn't really
[06:23] me somewhere that I knew I didn't really want to go to, I'll say, "Oh, let me
[06:25] want to go to, I'll say, "Oh, let me check and come back to you."
[06:26] check and come back to you." If there was a partnership opportunity that I
[06:28] was a partnership opportunity that I knew wasn't right, I'll say, "Oh, let me
[06:29] knew wasn't right, I'll say, "Oh, let me circle back."
[06:32] circle back." And at the time, that felt polite.
[06:34] polite. It felt thoughtful. It felt like the nice thing to do.
[06:36] the nice thing to do. But what I eventually realized is that every maybe
[06:39] eventually realized is that every maybe stays open in your mind.
[06:42] stays open in your mind. And open loops, they're exhausting because now instead
[06:44] they're exhausting because now instead of an uncomfortable conversation that
[06:45] of an uncomfortable conversation that lasts 2 minutes, you carry that decision
[06:47] lasts 2 minutes, you carry that decision around for a week or so.
[06:49] around for a week or so. you think about it randomly in the shower or whilst
[06:51] it randomly in the shower or whilst you're working or before bed and or you
[06:53] you're working or before bed and or you forget about it and leave the other
[06:55] forget about it and leave the other person hanging.
[06:57] person hanging. And neither of those is kind on the other person either because
[06:59] kind on the other person either because now they're managing uncertainty, too.
[07:01] now they're managing uncertainty, too. The most respectful thing you could do
[07:03] The most respectful thing you could do to someone is be really direct and just
[07:05] to someone is be really direct and just say no.
[07:08] Say, "I'll get back to you next week."
[07:10] I really do believe being direct and letting someone down is nicer than blurring the lines and not letting them know where they stand.
[07:14] So now I've changed the default.
[07:15] There's no, "I'll get back to you next week."
[07:17] It's a very clear answer sent as soon as I see the message or the email.
[07:21] And weirdly, it made me respect my own time more because five pending may don't look stressful on paper, but mentally it can feel heavy.
[07:27] You feel overwhelmed without really knowing why.
[07:30] And protecting your time isn't just about productivity and what you do physically.
[07:34] It's also about closing mental tabs, too.
[07:36] And the next one, which might make me lose some credibility as an accountant, and that is I don't track every purchase.
[07:39] I don't budget weekly.
[07:40] I don't have a spreadsheet open judging me in the background 24/7.
[07:42] I just look at my money once a month for 20 minutes.
[07:45] That is it.
[07:46] I call it the 20-minute audit.
[07:48] And I know how that might sound from someone who spent years in finance.
[07:51] But what I realized is there are really only two ways most people relate to money.
[07:53] Either they obsess over it.
[07:55] They check their accounts every morning.
[07:57] They track every coffee.
[07:58] They react to every market dip.
[08:07] coffee.
[08:07] They react to every market dip like it's personal.
[08:09] Or they completely like it's personal.
[08:09] Or they completely avoid it and they don't open their bank app for weeks.
[08:13] They're not sure what accounts they have.
[08:15] They leave the financial decisions piling up in the background.
[08:18] Both camps probably think that their version is better, but they're both spending constant mental energy on money without necessarily improving it.
[08:26] And you might think the person who's meticulous about their finances is improving it.
[08:28] But actually, there's a study that found that people who check their finances too frequently tend to make worse long-term decisions because every small fluctuation, it feels really urgent.
[08:40] The more often you look at it, the more often you react.
[08:42] So now what I do once a month, one evening, 20 minutes, that's how much I spend looking at that month's finances.
[08:48] And if you're someone who is really looking to get out of debt or you're really looking to save more money, I highly, highly recommend using a manual tracker for this.
[08:56] The exact one that I used when I was trying to fast track my savings, I've linked below.
[09:02] It's completely free.
[09:03] You can also grab it on nicer.me/Tracker.
[09:07] It comes with a video description on exactly how to use each of the columns
[09:09] exactly how to use each of the columns and also the most common mistakes people
[09:11] and also the most common mistakes people make when using a tracker and how you
[09:13] make when using a tracker and how you can avoid them.
[09:15] So the question for you is are you checking your money too much
[09:17] is are you checking your money too much or not enough because both are likely
[09:19] or not enough because both are likely costing you not financially but
[09:22] costing you not financially but mentally.
[09:23] mentally. Your money doesn't need constant attention.
[09:25] It just needs the right kind of attention.
[09:28] And that is it. Those are five changes.
[09:30] But there is one system I haven't shown you yet, and it's
[09:32] the actual financial framework that
[09:34] makes all of this compound into real
[09:36] money. And that's in this video you see right here.
[09:38] Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you