The Thing That Controls Everything

If you’re wondering, there is one thing you can focus on that determines your success in everything else. Especially when it comes to productivity. 

Beneath it all, is discipline. But that’s not the silver bullet.

I’ve read plenty of books ranging from crazy David Goggins ‘adventures’ to the stoic readings. I felt a spike in my discipline for a time, but it wasn’t sustained. Soon enough, I was back to doing what I had always done. 

I thought the solution to this was to keep reading more and more books. Although I enjoyed the books and made progress., it bugged me that I couldn’t sustain progress on my own. My discipline wasn’t disciplined.

So I spent some time thinking about what it was about the books that got me going. What was it about these people that gave me energy to do the hard things? And then it hit me - these people gave me energy. 

Energy is the backbone of discipline. Energy is what determines the decisions you make. If you should go to the gym or binge the new Netflix show. Whether you can stick with the diet or gobble down a croissant. Or two.

Your energy determines your clarity of thought. It’s what feeds your discipline. That’s the silver bullet.

It’s easy for me to say ‘check emails twice a day’. It’s hard to do. 

It’s easy for me to say ‘pick up the phone and call instead of email’. It’s hard to do. 

Because hard things take energy. 

But the good news is, as your skill develops in a certain area, the effort required to kept going is little. You just need to put in the a lot of effort initially.

Just like people who go to the gym a lot. It can take years of hard work to get the body they want. But maintaining it only takes a fraction of the effort. 

So before you start putting in the effort evaluate these two things:

What things give you energy?

What things take away your energy?

For me, calling and speaking with clients I don’t like takes away my energy. So I make sure I only work with clients that I want to work with. It works out in the long term. I don’t like emails or meetings, so I find ways to minimise my time in both activities. 

My brother loves organising stuff for his business. He has all the new tech and is organised better than a public library. That work gives him energy. That’s not my thing, it takes energy away from me. So I outsource the admin work where I can. 

Let’s start with taking away the detractors. Take a minute and write down the top three things that you absolutely hate doing every week. 

 They should be at the top of your mind. 

1.

2.

3.

Done?

Now you know what NOT to focus on. If you can, reduce these activities as much as you can. Delegate, destroy or dominate. It’s your choice, but your energy matters so make sure you’re doing things that you like to do.

Second task: write down the top three things that you love to do in a week. This should be at the forefront of your mind too.

1.

2.

3.

Done?

For me:

1. Coffee

2. Gym

3. Writing

The goal is to spend a disproportionate amount of time on things that you love doing. Because these things GIVE you energy.

It sounds obvious now, but when you have the energy from doing these things you’ll be able to cultivate the discipline you need to do the things that have to be done. 

You might have come across this quote before: What separates humans from animals is our ability to reason and think. Well, I think it’s also our ability to control our energy and focus on tasks that need it the most. With the ability to change the focus points with the changing seasons in your life. 

Make energy your primary concern. The first step is to spend more time doing what gives you energy and less time doing things that take it from you. Soon enough, you’ll find it easy to say no to meetings you don’t want to be in. You’ll start finding it easy to apply the tools I’ve shared. You’ll start to take action and move towards the things that you want. 

But isn’t it important to be well rounded? 

Mother Teresa wasn’t a great investment Banker. Muhammad Ali wasn’t a great Olympic swimmer. Oprah isn’t known for her comic books. Bill Gates isn’t a sex symbol. 

All of these very famous people have strengths they cultivated to be the best in the world. The thing is, people will only remember you for the thing you’re the best at. No one will remember you for the things you’re mediocre in. So why not be the best at that thing that you enjoy? 

People are a huge source of energy. Going back to the books I was reading - I was getting energy from the people who wrote them. Not the pieces of paper bound together. By reading those books I was surrounding myself with the people I wanted to be around. That’s what gave me discipline. That’s why it fell away when I stopped reading. 

When I finally understood that, I commenced seeing out people who would push me. People who cared about their own development. I had coffee with a 20 year old with a million dollars in funding for his startup. I hung out with CEOs that I interviewed for this book (where I could). I like to spend time working with and coaching up and coming high performers who also push me to be better. 

I can’t hang out with David Goggins, but I can hang out with my friend who also loves exercise.

I can’t hang out with Warren Buffet, but I can hang out with friends who have made good money in investments. 

Choose the people you want to be around based on what you want to learn and cultivate. It’ll make more of a difference than you know. They will give you the energy you need. 

I can trace back so many good (and bad) decisions to the friends I was with. Think back to your big life decisions. Chances are, your friends were doing similar things.

Like you monitor your bank balance, monitor your energy balance throughout the day. Get off autopilot and choose where you spend it, and understand where you get it from. Everything else will fall into place.

Oh, and physical fitness has a lot to do with it too. How you treat and train your body matters. But that might be another book.