Hi Everyone,

I was blown away by the response to last week’s newsletter. Thank you for all your kind words. I hope everyone is starting to get out there and risk bold failure.

A question I received a lot from last week’s email was about productivity. How could we finally get into action and risk great failure, if it seems we’re always stuck in reactive mode and never making progress?

This newsletter answers that. You’re about to learn the only productivity principle you’ll ever need. Follow this and your efficiency and effectiveness will skyrocket.

This is something I’ve experimented with in the past and will focus intensely on going forward.

Let’s get to it.

 “To concentrate on the task immediately in front of him and to control spending.”

The above are the principles that a young Charlie Munger learned from his grandfather, who’s industry and frugality allowed his family to endure the vicissitudes of the Great Depression.

Now, the second part of it is just generally good advice - we can all do with the occasional reminder to curb our spending.

But the first principle is one that we’re all guilty of overlooking. It’s easier to get caught up in multitasking, plan our far-off projects, or brainstorm schemes to solve future problems - all while ignoring the work directly in front of us.

Munger kept this principle in mind for the length of his life. He would preach the idea to his employees, “The best source of new work is the work on your desk”. He treated every project this way - but also he treated every important thought or idea with the same respect.

His daughter believes that his ability to “chinese wall” himself off from distractions and focus solely on one task or thought at a time, was as big a contributor to his success as anything.

Charlie Munger was not the only person to come across this profound principle and drain from it all the success he could.

From Roman Emperors and Chinese Generals to Navy Seals and Modern Finance.

Although we live in a world of increasing distraction, this principle of focusing on the task in front of us is not new. Humans have wrestled with the struggle to do this for thousands of years. In his private journal, Marcus Aurelius - Rome’s great Philosopher-Emperor - chided himself:

“Concentrate every minute like a Roman— like a man— on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice. And on freeing yourself from all other distractions.”

The most powerful man in the world struggled with this and still pushed himself through with the same principle that would help make Charlie Munger one of the wealthiest and wisest men in modern history.

We can even come across the principle in Sun-Tzu’s, The Art of War, where he admonishes generals to “concentrate your force on one point”. In conquering a nation, our goals, or our to-do list, we need to concentrate on the first task ahead of us. Like dominos, toppling the first will give us the momentum we need.

This principle of strategy has weaved its way into modern warfare as well. Jocko Willink, the commander of the most decorated Navy Seal task unit of the Iraq War, teaches the concept of “Prioritise and Execute” as one of his four laws of combat. That’s essentially all this is. You need to find the most important task and settle down and work until you’ve gotten it done.

We can even see this principle at work in the method that renowned finance guru Dave Ramsey suggests to reduce your debt: Pick your lowest balance debt, focus all your effort into reducing the debt, then put what would have been your payments to your first debt to your next lowest debt. Repeat until you're debt free.

At this point, you may be thinking that the principle sounds too simplistic to be as effective as I’m claiming, so let me tell you a story.

“Give Me 15 Minutes”

By 1918, Charles Schwab was one of the most successful men in the world. He was Andrew Carnegie’s right-hand man and president of the Bethlehem Steel Corporation.

He had a problem though - he doubted the effectiveness of his executives. And so, he hired one of the world’s first productivity consultants, Ivy Lee, to help improve his executives.

After a brief interaction, Lee asked to spend 15 minutes with each of Schwab’s executives. Schwab asked how much it would cost and Lee told him to hold off on payment for the moment. Instead, he wanted Schawb to pay him whatever he thought it was worth once they had implemented his advice.

The results spoke for themselves, and 3 months later, Schwab cut Lee a check for $25,000 - over $500,000 in today’s money.

Now besides the obvious lesson in getting paid for your outcomes not your input, there’s another obvious lesson: Whatever method Lee taught the executives is extremely valuable.

The method has been passed down through the years and it’s dead simple:

1. Write down your most important tasks the night before and then prioritise them.
2. Next day, concentrate only on the first task until it’s finished.
3. Once done, move onto your next task and work it until it’s finished.
4. Repeat.

Do this day after day and you’ll be miles ahead.

The system is essentially the practical application of the principle. If it seems slightly familiar, it’s because it’s nearly the exact same system used by Elon Musk for his peak productivity.

I’ve written before on his technique of serial tasking but it goes as follows:

1. Write out all the tasks you have for your projects.
2. Work on one with intense focus - either until competition or your timer goes off.
3. Take a short break (Musk usually reads, plays a Strategy Game, or Tweets).
4. Then start on your next task with the same focus.

The only real difference is that Musk takes mental breaks - but the breaks are the price he pays to remain mentally sharp. His mental sharpness is a requirement for him to be able to work 12 hours a day, on multiple projects, for decades on end.

How To Use The Principle:

The easiest way to employ the principle is just to use either the Ivy Lee Method or Elon Musk’s routine - however, if you want to experiment with it on your own, there’s a few key components to keep in mind:

1. Be clear on your tasks and prioritise them.
2. Work with focus / without distractions.
3. Complete a Task before moving onto the next.

Give it a go - and let me know how it works out for you.

I’ve experimented with the Ivy Lee method for my to-do list in the past - and it’s by far the most effective tool I’ve found across well over a dozen productivity books. I’m going to do better with using it for the important tasks - not just the urgent ones.

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Thanks again for reading. I hope you found this useful - and I really hope that you experiment with it.

If there’s only one productivity principle you’ll ever need, it’s this one.

Let me know your thoughts - and the gains in productivity you experience.

-  Zachariah