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Ash Roy and Brian Tracy's Video Transcript (This transcript has been auto-generated. Artificial Intelligence is still in the process of perfecting itself. There may be some errors in transcription):
Ash Roy:
Want to know the secret to achieving your biggest goals? This one simple shift changed everything for me. And it's a technique used by some of the world's leading minds in achieving and exceeding their biggest goals. Avoid context switching. We'll come back to that in a moment, but first, I want you to watch this short clip from Brian Tracy.
Brian Tracy:
There's no such thing as multitasking. There is only task shifting. And so, what you do is you are shifting and then you have to shift back and if you're working on a task, it takes an average of 17 minutes to shift back.
Ash Roy: Now, Brian Tracy has taught this in his seminars for decades, and I've personally tested this approach and I can tell you that it definitely works for me.
But the big question is, will it work for you? Let's find out. And before we get into this first strategy, let me share an important principle that ties the five strategies I'm about to share with you in this video today. The core principle I want to convey in this video is productivity is not actually about doing more.
If you want to really achieve those big goals, it's actually about doing less. It's about doing the right things in the right sequence and not doing some things at all.
So, with that, let's get into our five strategies.
Strategy number one. Avoid context switching. So, what's context switching? Context switching is one of the biggest detractors from productivity.
It's jumping from one task to another. You might feel like you're multitasking, but in reality, it drains your mental energy and slows down your progress.
Brian Tracy:
You cannot learn two subjects at once. What you have to do is you just have to pick one and work on it and excel. And, and, and this single focus, what happens is you move faster towards your goals.
And the actual movement towards your goals motivates you and excites you. It makes you more positive to, uh, move forward. And then you achieve more of your goals, but you achieve them one at a time. There's no such thing as multitasking there is only task shifting. And so what you do is you are shifting, and then you have to shift back.
And if you're working on a task, it takes an average of 17 minutes to shift back.
Ash Roy:
Now think about that. Every time you switch tasks, you're losing about 17 minutes of focus. I used to check my emails constantly while working on different projects and it felt like I was being productive but I was really doing busy work.
I wasn't really moving the needle. I was losing hours every week. because I was switching constantly between email and my projects. So, I made a change. Instead of bouncing between work and email, I batch my email processing into two sessions per day at 11 a. m. and 4 p. m. That one change gave me back approximately 10 extra hours each week.
My advice to you? Set clear times when you go through your email and avoid looking at your email at any other time. Turn off your notifications so you're not tempted by that ping on your phone or your computer and you can work uninterrupted.
Okay, strategy number two. Further to the previous point about context switching, it pays to have a single-minded approach.
I'm not a big believer in multitasking. In fact, I like the term single tasking. I believe achieving your goals is about focusing on fewer things that really move the needle and potentially render a lot of the other stuff unimportant or redundant. When Steve Jobs returned to Apple in the late 90s, he found that they were drowning in too many product lines.
He cut the product lines by about 70 percent and focused on just four core products and that led to a turning point in Apple's history. That led to Apple becoming the first U. S. company to hit 1 trillion, 2 trillion, 3 trillion, And most likely 4 trillion in market valuation.
Brian Tracy:
So everywhere you look, you see examples of the single focus.
Focusing on one goal, one target, and then disciplining yourself to work only on that until it's done. And refusing, refusing to do anything else except that one thing until it's complete. If you can discipline yourself to do this, soon it becomes a habit. Aristotle said that success then It's a matter of habit and good to said, everything is hard before it's easy, but then it becomes automatic and easy.
So, it's actually easier to do them than not to do them.
Ash Roy:
I see this tendency to multitask in business owners all the time. It leads to fragmented focus and it doesn't lead to meaningful results. They try to run a YouTube channel, a podcast, a blog, Facebook ads, LinkedIn, all at the same time. The result.
None of them really work, but when they pick just one strategy and go all in, until they start seeing real results, they really start to get traction. So I'm not saying don't have a YouTube channel, run Facebook ads, do email marketing, build your website. I'm just saying do them sequentially. Don't try and do them all at the same time.
Achieve mastery and traction in one area, systemize it, automate it, and then move to the next one. So here's your action step. Choose one thing to focus on for the next 90 days. Eliminate all distractions and drive down that path until you achieve meaningful success. Then systemize that process and move on to the next thing.
Leave a comment below telling me what you're going to be focusing on in the next 90 days and if you do so in the next 48 hours. I'll be sure to respond to your comment.
Strategy number three, the power of writing down your goals. Brian emphasizes this repeatedly. Why? Let's hear it from Brian.
Brian Tracy:
For the next 30 days, I want you to pick up your workbook and every day, write down 10 goals.
The next day, turn the page and without looking at your previous page, write down 10 goals again. You're not just copying from day to day, you're rewriting from memory. In this rewriting from memory, what will happen is the description of your goals will change because you won't remember and the order of priority of your goals will change and you'll keep doing this and in 30 days your life will have changed forever.
If you've got half a brain, just do it every day. It takes three to five minutes for you to quickly write down your ten goals and you will start to achieve the goals. I mean, you will start to achieve and replace them with other goals. At the end of a month, your whole life will have taken this rapid change.
And at the end of the year, you'll be a different person.
Ash Roy:
Strategy number four. Thinking on paper. Have you ever had a thousand thoughts swirling through your mind, but once you write them down, things suddenly become clearer? They kind of settle down a bit. Brian calls this thinking on paper, and it's been an absolute game changer.
Let's have a listen to Brian talk about it.
Brian Tracy:
Something happens between the head and the hand that is almost a miracle and you can never get that, as you say, from typing. It comes from writing, and so what I do in almost all of my seminars I have people take a page of paper and write down 10 goals that they'd like to accomplish in the next 12 months and then select one goal, the goal that can have the greatest impact on all the others and focus on that one goal.
Ash Roy:
A few months ago I had a big decision to make. I had to decide on whether to focus on scaling my YouTube channel or doubling down on client work. I felt stuck. So I sat down with a notebook and I wrote down every possible option and consequence. And within 10 minutes the answer was obvious. Writing it out forced me to slow down my thinking, to have my thoughts reflected back to me on paper and get some distance from those confusing thoughts.
The way forward became clear to me. I realized that building a YouTube channel was building an asset. It was going to create inbound leads over time and it was going to work for me 24 7. As opposed to that, doubling down on my consulting business was going to bring in money for the short term, but it was trading time for money.
and it wasn't building an asset. Here's your action step. If you're struggling with something that you're not clear about, write about it. Journal about it. When you see the words reflected on paper or on a screen, you get some objectivity from them and you're able to see them more clearly and make better decisions.
Okay,
Strategy number five. Recognize turning points. Life changing moments often come around unexpectedly, but they can shape your future in ways that you don't. Realize the key is to look out for these turning points and be prepared so that when the opportunity reveals itself, you have the resources and the awareness to take advantage of it
Brian Tracy:
In life each person has turning points and the turning points are something that occurs that you had not expected, and you change the direction of your life, and you go in a different direction, and you never come back. Warren Buffett, now one of the richest men in the world, he went to university, as I understand, Columbia, and he, um, wanted to take history.
He wanted to be a teacher, and the course was all filled up. And the only thing he could take was a course on finance, teaching Ben Graham's methods of investing. And so, he had no choice, so he took that course instead. And fell in love with investing and, uh, became easily the most successful investor. Or Steve Jobs when he dropped into his calligraphy classes.
Yes, yes, exactly. So you, so it's, it was a turning point.
Ash Roy:
You know, I remember when I left my corporate job. At the time it felt like I was taking a terrifying leap into the unknown. But looking back, it was a turning point in my life. It led me down a path to freedom and incredible amounts of joy and fulfillment.
So take five minutes to reflect on turning points that have happened in your life in the past and what your next turning point is likely to be. What is it likely to look like? How can you prepare yourself for it? Maybe you're in a dead-end job and you want to start your own business, but you're not sure how.
Write about it and think about how that opportunity may present itself in the future so that when it does arrive, you'll be ready to take advantage of it.
Share your turning points in the comments below. I'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to watch several other episodes on goal setting, check out the playlist that we'll link to in the show notes.
And if you'd like to watch the full conversation that I had with Brian Tracy, I'll link to that in the show notes and the description below as well.
Be sure to leave a comment and subscribe to the channel if you find this content useful. I'll see you in the next video. Bye for now.