How Productivity Feeds Your Happiness

We always think that freedom comes with this joy of not having to be scheduled, not having to write down our ideas or go after our goals and just kind of like TRA la la through life. But the truth is that ends up being a recipe for a lot of time wasted to do the things that freedom would give you the chance to do. Foreign. Let's talk about why everyone said, Brandon, you're really into goals and you're really into writing this down. And you know, I just, I'm more free willing. I just like to go through it. You know, I got a note card here or a post it note there and you know, I write a little here and there. But geez, it seems like you really do do what you're talking about. You really write all this stuff down and you really do manage the calendar and you really do do this goal planning stuff. How did you develop that discipline? I go, oh, that wasn't discipline. That was called being tired of being miserable. See, we always think that freedom comes with this joy of not having to be scheduled, not having to write down our ideas or go after our goals and just kind of like TRA la la through life. But the truth is that ends up being a recipe for for a lot of time wasted to do the things that freedom would give you the chance to do. See, I've always learned that if I could plan my days better, I tend to have more weekends. If I can plan my weeks and my months better, I can have longer vacations. If I can make sure that I'm more diligent and disciplined with my schedule and time management, I actually have way more time for family, for working out, for meditation, for choosing better foods, for going on vacations and adventures, for having so much more time with those who I love or lead or serve. But I got to be diligent about my time. And that is why I came up with the concept all those years ago of the Friday finishers that at the beginning of the week and I write down the tasks, projects or activities that must be complete by end of day Friday. Well, let me share a couple philosophies, if I can, behind the Friday finisher. The first philosophy is this. I'm somebody who's a completionist. I'm a completer, if you will. Why? Because with completion, we strengthen character. What do I mean? Well, isn't it true that when you honor your word, you end up feeling more mentally strong? When you honor your word, you give your word to somebody else. As an example, let's say you make a promise to somebody and then you deliver that promise. Don't you feel better for having followed through? And don't they respect you in a different way because you delivered what you promised? See, completion, following through is a signal of virtue. It's a signal that you have character, that your word is your bond. So when I write those goals, those tasks, those to dos those projects down, or I say or state a goal to another person, that's my word. Now, I come from Montana and I also am the son of a United States Marine Corps veteran. My father, who has now passed away, he spent over 20 years in the Marine Corps. And I tell you what, if he said it was going to happen, if he said he was going to do it, you better believe he's going to do it. And you better believe he made sure the kids did that too. That completing your word, man, that's your bond. So what happens every time you write down a goal or to do list or a project? You capture it. You set up your reminders and you see the notifications that you set up and you don't do it. What you're telling your brain is you're not true to your own word, that you don't respect your own requests and it ends up degrading your own character. You start to not trust yourself anymore. And over a period of time, that can become a poisonous feeling that you don't trust yourself to follow through. So why do I follow through? I want to trust myself. Why do I complete my tasks that I wrote down? I want to trust myself. I want to be a person of character to myself and to other people. I want to know that if I say it and if I give my word to it, I will work diligently to make it happen. I want to be a person of character. So I complete things. The second philosophy is the idea that I know ultimately, follow through is mental health. Follow through is mental health. Because to follow through, often you got to do things you don't want to do. And that requires you to self regulate. It requires you to go, okay, I don't want to do it, but I'm going to usher up the energy, the focus, the time, the attention to get this thing done. And even if you just struggle through and you hate the process, but you get it done, your brain goes and hey, good job. You showed up through difficulty here, you got it done. You know what that's called? Persistence. You know what that's called? Resilience. You know what that's called? Progress, baby. Good job. And you give yourself a little mental pat on the back. And the more that you follow through on your word, not only do you develop character, but you teach your brain that you satisfy the goals that you have. You teach your brain that you will persist even in difficulty. And the more that you're able to persist in difficulty and overcome the negativity, the difficulty, the challenges, the other obligations, the conflicts of time to do something that you promised yourself, the more you respect yourself. And again, that comes back to character, but also mental health. I know that the more that I follow through, the more you know what. It's like a. It's like a congratulations. And that's why Friday Finisher is a habit I started because I was just like, you know what? I do a lot during the week, but some of the things I never really celebrate, but if I had a list of them that I definitely was gonna finish this week, I could celebrate that. That would feel good. Cause sometimes mental health is also celebration.

Hey, guys, it's Brandon. I'm jumping in here real quick. First, I want to make sure you've gone to progressmode.com to join the newsletter.

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We live in a culture where we've made mental health this, you know, I would say overly soft idea of just, you know, mental health is being okay with everything. Mental health is just loving myself for all, no matter what. And mental health is, you know, just being vulnerable. And by the way, those things are true, but they are also insufficient. Without the respect that we have for each other or we have for ourselves. I should say, when we follow through, when we are proud of ourselves for moving forward in even when it was inconvenient, difficult, or outside of our comfort zones, we develop mental strength. Not just a good vibe, but mental strength to complete hard things. Most of my Friday finishers, they're hard. And I won't lie to you, on most Fridays, I'm scrambling to get them done. It's not like I got them all. My Friday finishers don't finish on Thursday, people. I appreciate all the accolades and everyone think I'm the world's greatest productivity guy. Nope. A lot of times I come in, crashing in at that last minute. That's the whole point of a Friday finisher. It's hard to get those in, but I try to get them in. You gotta give yourself grace as well. That's part of mental health. Realizing other obstacles came up, you weren't able to do it, so you punt it, you move it, you reschedule it. But you don't give up. You don't get down on yourself. You just give yourself some grace, move it, do it again. You can achieve it. That's the stuff of mental health and mental strength. Third idea is that I know that completion gives me what's called momentum motivation. A lot of times I'll complete something just because I know it's gonna give me a little bit more burst of energy. It's going to fill up those gas reserves to keep going. It's almost like a pit stop that refuels me, makes me feel good, and I'm ready to go again. That it can be a small task, just something simple. This week as an example, I just had something I had to review. I didn't want to review. There's not a hard, difficult, brutal deadline on it. It's just this inconvenient thing that I'm keeping. I'm always constantly asked, would you look at this? Would you look at it for months on end, Would you look at this? Would you look at this? And look at this? And it's like, ugh, okay, I'll do it. I got it done. I didn't enjoy the process at all. But guess what? It's a relief knowing that thing's not gonna show up on Monday. Cause I got done with my Friday finisher and I felt a little motivation afterwards. I was like, you know what? I got that thing done. I wanna do something I like now. And I ended up writing almost half a chapter of something I did want to do. Now, I know it's easy to say all these things. Well, sure, you can complete things because you have this or you have that, or you're like this, but I'm like that. That's your style. Not my style. No, don't do that. People do that all the time. They hear an idea in personal development and they dismiss it based on their context. And they miss the pretext or the philosophy that is behind the very idea they just heard. I know this to be true. When I was in my 20s and an angry, unproductive, and hurt young man. I would hear these tapes. I'd listen to all these motivational tapes and CDs. I'd listen to them over and over and over again. So many times I found myself rolling my eyes. Sure, that person can do it. They're a millionaire now. Listen to them talk about their money. Or, yeah, that person could do it. They already have a family and security. Or, sure, that person could do it. Look, they've been successful their whole life. But, you know, when we do that, what that's really doing is honoring the victim inside of us that says, I can't. What that's really doing is giving ourselves convenient excuses to avoid simple truths of life. It's a simple truth that the more you follow through on your word, the better you feel. The more you complete the goals you wrote down, the more likely you're to be motivated. These are simple truths, scientific findings, universal realities we all recognize when we're in our best states versus our defeated states. And so I encourage you, write down a to do list, even just for today, and finish it. You finish that last one. I don't care if you still are gonna work till 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, midnight. I don't care if one or two of those items, you know, have to follow through on the weekend because it's complex and you decide to take it on today. But what I want you to do, capture it and knock off a bunch of those. You'll feel better. And I promise, as you do that, week after week after week, something magical happens. There's a different energy about you. You're someone progressing through life again, respecting yourself again, showing up every day willing to knock out those goals because you know that when you do, you realize that every day is a great day to grow.