One of my greatest talents has always been coming up with an excuse for putting off something I didn’t want to do.Skipped the gym? Eh, I’ll just make up for it tomorrow. Hit the snooze button? Well, I needed the rest. Brushed off a task on my to-do list? It wasn’t that important.

Procrastination is always an inner battle. But losing it has greater consequences than a missed workout or a blown deadline every now and then.Six years ago, I tried to pursue my dream of becoming an entrepreneur: I did some freelance writing, built websites, and took on some content marketing and design projects. But, despite all the time I put in, I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted. Why? Because I couldn’t get myself to do the uncomfortable work — the difficult, tedious, and unsatisfying tasks that come with actually building a business. I kept looking for relief from those tasks, often scrolling through the news or going out (yet again) for a coffee break.That was, and to a degree still is, the story of my life. Right now, I’m writing a book. Writing is hard. I keep fighting the urge to put off the work. But I’m moving along and getting it done. The only difference between my life six years ago and my life today is that I now have a system.

Here’s what I mean. To be truly productive, you can’t rely on hacks or apps or new technologies. Trust me. I’ve tried. You need to develop your own sustainable system, <a href="https://forge.medium.com/how-google-drive-can-make-every-corner-of-your-life-easier-9f3cc1acbb68">a set of routines and practices </a> that serves as the foundation of your work. My system looks like this:<ul><li>I exercise my mental toughness every day. I used to neglect my brain. I didn’t trust my instincts and would <a href="https://forge.medium.com/how-to-stop-overthinking-c3a98e81dc2a">spend my time overthinking </a>. So I started reading about <a href="https://dariusforoux.com/reading-list/">Stoicism, Pragmatism and mindfulness </a>, which helped me to control my thoughts and improve my mental toughness.</li><li>I exercise my body every day. When I don’t exercise, I lack focus, confidence, and energy. So I now do daily workouts. Overcoming procrastination starts before you fight the inner battle. Soldiers don’t go to war untrained, right?</li><li>I have a set of daily habits. I journal, read, set daily priorities, and don’t consume useless information. I also make sure I interact with my friends and family every day. Human contact is important. All of these things keep me grounded and help me actually enjoy my days.</li><li>I carry a list of small, but important, tasks that I must complete. I often think about all the logistical things that come with writing a book besides the actual writing. I do everything I can to get out of adding new words and new pages to my book draft. So I break the big task of writing into more manageable pieces, giving myself small daily writing assignments to complete. It’s about doing the big things first.</li></ul>As you may have noticed, not all of these things are related to the work directly. That’s okay. My system gets me in the right headspace to get the work done. It makes me a more disciplined person, so when I sit down to write, I can power through all my distracting thoughts and actually write.You will always want to procrastinate. But if you have a system, you can be productive in spite of that. Work on creating one today — not tomorrow.

Here’s how to create one to live more productively, and with more purpose.

productivity

Productivity

remotework

Remote Work

habits

Habits

writing

Reading & Writing

timemanagement

Time Management

You Don’t Need More Motivation — You Need a System

Learning is one of the overcommunicated but underleveraged tools of the common entrepreneur.Everyone talks about methods of learning, but few people find realistic and authentic techniques that actually yield a net profit in the information and application categories.Elon Musk has broken through that barrier with learning techniques that have proven successful not just once, but time and time again.A good argument could be made that Musk has leveraged his learning by becoming a disruptor. He and his companies have shifted entire industries, including the transportation sector, the energy sector, and the space sector.

Yes, Musk is a once-in-a-lifetime genius. Likely on the same levels as Nikola Tesla, Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton. He has a different way of viewing problems than the average entrepreneur.Of course, he reads hundreds of books. He works with top-level thinkers. He has astronomical levels of funding to put towards his every whim. But that’s not what makes him a great learner.His learning methods aren’t that regal. In fact, his two rules for how to learn anything faster can be implemented by anyone at any time. Including you.You, too, can be a rocket scientist, if you wanted. Here’s how.

When it comes to learning, Musk is quick to note that he believes that most people can learn more than they currently know.When it comes to the average entrepreneur, Musk claims that they often don’t break through their perceived limits and try to learn beyond their current capacity. Or, as he goes on to clarify, they don’t know how to outline their information in a way that leads to further revelation.In a conversation on Reddit, Musk discussed his approach to learning and the structure he uses as <a href="https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/heres-elon-musks-secret-for-learning-anything-fast.html">such </a>:From this, we begin to see Elon Musk’s first rule of learning:

Identify different parts of the tree

What does this mean for you practically? It helps the common entrepreneur understand that not everything is weighed with equal gravitas or importance.When it comes to learning, there is a difference between material that ends up hanging from a branch and the material that makes up the base of the trunk of your tree.It’s the periphery vs. the central.Musk is a master of understanding what is at the core of each of the sectors his entrepreneurial ventures sit in.

Rule 1: make sure for building a tree of knowledge

He starts there, ensuring that he has the best possible grasp on the “trunk” material before moving off into the minutiae of the branches and the leaves.Many of us do the opposite. We load up on periphery facts while never fully understanding how or why they connect back to the trunk. This outward-facing-in method leaves many of our brains overcrowded with misidentified and, ultimately, unimportant knowledge.That’s not learning. It’s cramming.The result of our efforts is a tree with a toothpick trunk and an overload of teeming branches, threatening to snap off as we try to cram one more idea or thought within our brains.

If you want to learn anything faster, you need to start with the materials that make up the trunk. It might be a tad slower at the onset, but without a sturdy trunk, you won’t have the base to support any additional learning and skill.

The brilliance of Elon Musk’s learning strategy isn’t necessarily in his ability to understand core central concepts.Many entrepreneurs over generations have had solids grasp on core tenets and principles.Musk’s brilliance is found in his second rule of learning, which underlines his ability to build vast and towering trees of intellect across multiple sectors.

Connections power your learning

This is how Musk was able to span sectors and shift entire industries seemingly overnight.He started with solid roots and dense trunks, and then as he began to grow his knowledge upward, he began connecting branches and leaves together with other branches and leaves from other trees.Musk never learns a piece of information at random. Everything he intakes, he connects back to some deeper, more solid base.Most learners today are not master gardeners, but stick collectors. We walk around life, picking up tidbits here and tidbits there until our arms are full of sticks.

Rule 2: You can't remember what you can't connect

Once we have a good bunch of sticks, we do what comes naturally whenever there is a pile of sticks lying around. We burn them.We think the size of our fires equals the size of our learning. But we are slow to realize what Elon Musk has built his entire learning structure on: that fires burn out.Musk plants trees, in rich soil, that grow to be thick and abundant centers of learning.You can do the same. You just need to embrace his two rules. Build the trunk first, then work tirelessly on making connections.

Like any new system, it might take you a bit to get the hang of it. You might actually feel like you are learning slower than you did previously. That’s okay. What you’re actually doing is building the foundation for exponential growth.Henry Ford once <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/904186-if-you-always-do-what-you-ve-always-done-you-ll-always">said </a>, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”If you want to learn anything faster, try the Elon Musk approach, but be warned. You may end up becoming a rocket scientist far faster than you previously thought possible.

Exponential growth

Everyone talks about methods of learning, but few people find realistic and authentic techniques that actually yield a net profit in the information and application categories. Elon Musk has broken…

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

strategy

Strategy

education

Learning & Education

problemsolving

Problem Solving

business

Business

Elon Musk’s 2 Rules For Learning Anything Faster

There are four simple steps to the Feynman Technique , which I'll explain below: <ol><li>Choose a Concept</li><li>Teach it to a Toddler</li><li>Identify Gaps and Go Back to The Source Material</li><li>Review and Simplify (optional)</li></ol>***If you're not learning you're standing still. So what's the best way to learn new subjects and identify gaps in our existing knowledge?There are <a href="https://fs.blog/2015/09/two-types-of-knowledge/">two types of knowledge </a>and most of us focus on the wrong one. The first type of knowledge focuses on knowing the name of something. The second focuses on knowing something. These are not the same thing. The famous Nobel winning physicist <a href="https://fs.blog/richard-feynman/">Richard Feynman </a> understood <a href="https://fs.blog/2015/01/richard-feynman-knowing-something/">the difference between knowing something and knowing the name of something </a>and it's one of the most important reasons for his success. In fact, he created a formula for learning that ensured he understood something better than everyone else.A lot of people tend to use complicated vocabulary and jargon to mask when they don't understand something. The problem is we only fool ourselves because we don't know that we don't understand. In addition, using jargon conceals our misunderstanding from those around us.When you write out an idea from start to finish in simple language that a child can understand (tip: use only the most common words), you force yourself to understand the concept at a deeper level and simplify relationships and connections between ideas. If you struggle, you have a clear understanding of where you have some gaps. That tension is good -it heralds an opportunity to learn.In step one, you will inevitably encounter gaps in your knowledge where you're forgetting something important, are not able to explain it, or simply have trouble connecting an important concept.This is invaluable feedback because you've discovered the edge of your knowledge. Competence is knowing the limit of your abilities, and you've just identified one!This is where the learning starts. Now you know where you got stuck, go back to the source material and re-learn it until you can explain it in basic terms.Identifying the boundaries of your understanding also limits the mistakes you're liable to make and increases your chance of success when applying knowledge.Now you have a set of hand-crafted notes. Review them to make sure you didn't mistakenly borrow any of the jargon from the source material. Organize them into a simple story that flows.Read them out loud. If the explanation isn't simple or sounds confusing that's a good indication that your understanding in that area still needs some work.

Feynman technique

There are four simple steps to the Feynman Technique, which I'll explain below: Choose a Concept Teach it to a Toddler Identify Gaps and Go Back to The Source Material Review and Simplify (optional) *** If you're not learning you're standing still. So what's the best way to learn new subjects and identify gaps in our existing knowledge?

You Don’t Need More Motivation — You Need a System

Elon Musk’s 2 Rules For Learning Anything Faster

The Feynman Technique: The Best Way to Learn Anything

Reuben Varghese