Hey entrepreneurs. I’m gonna give you the number one productivity hat that I use every day and guess who else does it? Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and he gets things done.
The key piece to being more productive every day
I’m here to help you craft a personal story and show it more powerfully in life. Today we’re talking productivity, particularly for the entrepreneurs out there hustling. They’re up early and they stay up late trying to build their business and their brand.
But they’re missing one piece, the one key thing they can start every day that would help them be more focused and get more done. I didn’t realize I was doing this already for years — 12 years as an entrepreneur in business for myself.
I was scrolling on Instagram and one of my favorite follows is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. What I love about him is that so many people know him for fitness motivation or because he seems to be making a movie every other month.
I think he is the ultimate in today’s entrepreneur. He had a video talking about no matter how little sleep he gets or how many hours he’s traveled, the very first thing he does every day is he finds a place to work out. He and I share that in common.
If you’ve followed me for a while, you know that I am very adamant about my morning routine. In fact, I share my entire morning routine at productivebook.com and I teach people how I went from a struggling, failing, overweight, $60,000 in debt, a three-time college dropout to a thriving entrepreneur, energetic entrepreneur helping others.
Shifting the body clock
The one thing that I had to shift was my body clock. When I was growing up, I was always a night owl, I was a theater major in school, I worked in the bar industry for a long time so it was nothing for me to go to bed at 2:00, 3:00, 4:00 a.m. and sleep ’til noon. It wasn’t until I started studying other successful people, and I saw not only did they get up first thing in the morning, but they did something physical.
I have my own 100-pound weight loss transformation story, and I always think, “okay Jimmy, you know you’ve tried things in the past. Where was it that it switched? How did you take control of your health?
And in by taking control of my health, that’s where this inner entrepreneurial was born, that’s where the businessperson in me was born. Nothing in my background screamed that I was gonna be successful in any business venture. I didn’t finish college, I would quit so many things growing up.
And if you’ve ever dipped your toe into the entrepreneurial world, the influencer world tries to build an online brand, you know the last thing you can do is quit. But this is a long game, this isn’t an overnight get-rich-quick thing. This is showing up, making content, reaching out, serving people and connecting.
Investing in yourself in the mornings
I find that in the mornings, I have to invest in myself first. Doing something physical preps me for the rest of the day. Getting that workout in, the sweat, the endorphins that rush into your brain, that feeling of being a bit of a badass, even if you struggle in that work out because one of two things is gonna happen.
First, having a great workout makes feel invincible and makes you feel like you can do anything today. So you’re gonna walk into that job, that meeting or that connection. You’re sending that email with a little more swag, with a little more confidence, with a little more direction.
Let’s say it was a struggle that morning. I can’t tell you that every 5:00 a.m. workout is a rockstar workout for me, but even on those days that I pat myself on the leg. You did it, you showed up, now let’s keep going and you create that momentum for yourself every morning.
Filling your tank first
Also, think about it, you want to continue to pour into others, you want to continue to raise your value in the marketplace. And in order for you to raise your value in the marketplace, you have to provide value for others. And if you’re not filling your own tank first, there’s nothing you can pour into somebody else whether that’s a client, whether that’s your audience, whether that’s your co-workers.
If you need them on your team, as your coach as your client, or if you need to continue that business relationship, you have to show up consistently. They need to see that you have that same energy level, that you have that sense of professionalism every time they interact with you and that starts with you taking care of your health and fitness first.
There is study after study of successful people that get up and move first thing in the morning. I don’t care what it is that you do because I’ve gone through a lot of things in my own lifetime. Whether that’s an in-home workout as you stream, you can get to a gym, go to a class, maybe it’s lifting or going on a run. Perhaps you can join a kind of community like I’ve had communities where we meet outside, you know 5:15, 5:30 in the morning and get in a run. You have so many options.
No excuses
There’s really no excuse. And if the excuse is that you may have been up so late grinding, I’m just gonna ask you to shift those hours a little bit, shift that timeline just a little bit, and maybe go to bed just a little bit earlier so you can get up.
And I’m telling you, those morning hours are magic. When you’re up investing in you and all of a sudden those ideas start rolling some. My best ideas, some of my best writing, some of the best videos I’ve ever done came before anybody else got up because the world wasn’t awake yet to distract me.
I had to limit looking on social media, I had to get up, invest in myself, get moving, get sweaty, move your body, get that pump and then use those endorphins. Sit down after that workout, pull out that journal and just start writing because you’re gonna be amazed at the things that come out of your brain when you start investing in yourself every morning.
If it’s good enough for The Rock and obviously I’ve had results with it, I urge you to continue to study successful people, watch their stories and watch how they show up powerfully and you will start doing the same.