Man on Fire Action Taking: Insights From a Decade of High Octane Productivity

Many guys out there want to be productive and do more with their days but they don’t know what route to take.

There’s many areas of their life that they want to optimize and become more competent in but they still can’t find a way to do that and balance whatever else they’ve got going on in their lives at the same time.

Does this sound familiar?

If so, then this article will give you some insights into how to not only be productive but on how to sustain a solid pace for extreme productivity.

You’ll also learn:

• Why productivity is (ridiculously) important
• How to structure your life for massive productivity
• Some methodologies and mindsets I’ve used for productivity

Now, if you’re ready, let’s jump in.

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Man on Fire Action Taking: The Premise

As of the time of this writing, I’ve spent the past 11 years learning how to squeeze every single drop of effort and juice from my body and brain in an attempt to produce positive effects in the world.

Naturally, this requires trying (and failing) at many different productivity approaches.

More importantly, in that period, I’ve:

• Built Unstoppable Rise to what it is today
• Had various full-time jobs while simultaneously creating different side businesses
• Gained 40+ lbs of lean mass through exercise
• Had an active social life filled with lots of hobbies
• Developed skills in multiple areas such as music composition and coding
• Read over 200+ books on various subjects and modalities in self-improvement
• Immersed myself deeply in various spiritual practices
• Traveled to various cities all over the globe

And a lot more…

While I’ve had periods of greater or lesser productivity, I’ve always maintained a very solid high baseline of getting shit done and most importantly — living life.

You can say I was a “man on fire”, constantly taking action after action after action (which is an important part of this as you’ll see later on).

This overall mindset is what has helped me get to where I am today and has given me a lot of overall blessings.

But before we go any deeper, I want to get into the root of the matter. Why is productivity important?

What is Productivity and Why is Productivity Important?

Merriam-Webster defines productivity as:

yielding results, benefits, or profits

Anything that creates effective outcomes in any area of life is defined as “productivity”. It is bringing more of something or creating something that hadn’t existed before.

So when you think of productivity from that perspective, your understanding of this opens up.

Simply put: productivity = quality x quantity.

Highly productive people produce high quality at high quantity.

This is the writer who produces a groundbreaking book a year, the musician who consistently releases great music, and the salesperson who consistently and frequently sells services or products.

Productivity is something that requires various levels of effort to achieve, that’s why someone who is productive is highly prized in various areas in life.

One of the modules in my self-development course, Cornerstone is productivity — and for good reason. Productivity is at the heart (and foundation) of a fulfilling and enjoyable life.

There’s many reasons that are tied up in the question of “why is productivity important”, so let’s break them down:

It puts back power in your hands

Without a discernible level of productivity, you cannot expect good things from life or at least with any real regularity. You will literally be at the beck and call of life, waiting for random circumstances to happen to you.

There’s many things we can’t control in life, but we can almost always control our level of output (productivity) throughout any given period of time.

It increases your level of self-esteem and self-worth

It’s very difficult to have high amounts of self-esteem when you give no value to others. Sure, there’s a “consumption” impulse that’s satisfied when you just take and don’t give, but it’s hard to feel like an inclusive member of society when you’re not generative.

Developing the mindset, skills, and habits of productivity will help you become generative (if you aren’t already).

It provides value to the world

The root of “productivity” is obviously “produce” and by producing something you are giving.

You allow others to benefit from your work.

We currently benefit from the contributions past generations of people made to humanity and another generation will hopefully benefit from ours.

As Gandhi said, be the change you want to see in the world.

If you want to see things of value in the world, you have to do your part. That requires productivity.

Building a Base For Productivity

Now that we understand why productivity is important, we can start building the ground layers for this mindset.

I want you to think of productivity as a dial that goes from 0 to 100.

On one end of the spectrum, there are low levels of activity. Nothing is really happening. You might be unemployed, having no money coming in, but spending most of your time playing video games or entertaining yourself in other ways. You either have no real motivation to do anything or you can’t do much of anything.

On the other end of the spectrum, you are going all out, all in. You are absolutely scorching. You are cranking out work at ridiculously high volume, you have a lot of things going on, etc. This state can be very exhilarating but it can quickly lead to burnout (who would have thought?).

Throughout any given period of time, you are either turning the productivity dial up or turning it down.

Based on what you’ve got going on in your life, you’ll want to step it up or downshift.

But you want to know the secret to consistently solid levels of activity no matter what you’ve got going on?

The key is having a good average level of productivity and continuously increasing that over time until it becomes your baseline.

That’s going to give you the best chance to win and be more productive.

Now this sounds simple, which it is. But it’s not easy.

It’s not easy to consistently push out quality and quantity over long periods of time.

Regardless, it’s made easier by having the right mindsets, habits, strategies, and tactics.

Productivity follows a pyramid pattern. At the base, you have mindsets. Then you build on that with habits, then strategies, then tactics.

Tactics are the things that look the sexiest but they’re the least important. What matters your overall approach to productivity. And you make that better through constructing the pyramid the right way.

Productivity Mindsets

At the base of the productivity pyramid are mindsets. This is what fuels your productivity. Here are some things to implement in your mindset before you start using productivity tactics.

Self-Discipline

Simply put, without self-discipline, there is no productivity. Self-discipline is responsible for many of the desirable achievements in this world. Therefore, it is a fundamental mindset to have when it comes to productivity.

Self-discipline is defined (by me) as:

the act of corralling and marshaling your emotions, behavior, and mental resources to achieve a goal or intention that would not be achieved in the absence of this intention.

Your goal or intention is what allows you to summon up self-discipline to direct towards that. Otherwise, you would just be lazy and sit on the couch watching TV all day.

Goals give direction and self-discipline is the action of traveling in that direction.

Luckily for us, self-discipline can be developed.

If you want a primer on how, check out How to Develop Rock Solid Self-Discipline.

Resolve

To push past the inherent pain, boredom, and overall resistance towards being productive, you’ll need some degree of internal resolve.

This requires an inner willingness and determination to keep going no matter what happens. In some people, for whatever reason, this inner spark is higher. This is one of the roots of mental toughness.

To see how you can increase your mental toughness, check out Mental Toughness: The Definitive Guide to Developing the Differentiating Edge.

Consistency

The factor that separates “good” from “great” over the long run isn’t their innate levels of talent, it’s consistency. It’s the dedication to never giving up and continuing along a path despite it not necessarily being easy.

As weeks, months, and years add up, consistency wins.

To learn more about you can increase your consistency, check out The Power of Consistency: 4 Keys to Unlocking Your Potential.

Sharpen the Saw

In his book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey dedicates an entire chapter to a concept called “sharpen the saw”. With this mindset, you view yourself as both the lumberjack and the saw used to cut down a tree.

Just like a saw gets dull without sharpening, you will also get dull without renewal. This means renewal in body, heart, mind, and spirit in order to function at your best.

To learn more about sharpening the saw, check out Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw.

“I Can Do It Too”

Many people think that some people are just born highly productive.

While there are certain dispositions that lend themselves well to productivity (such as conscientiousness), productivity skills can be learned by virtually everyone.

In fact, some of the most highly productive people in history such as artists, inventors, and other creatives had to develop a consistent rhythm for productivity that was not innate to them.

This mindset of “I can do it too” will help you develop the skills of productivity because it will encourage you to persist even in the face of seemingly endless days of work ahead.

To learn more about how you can develop this mindset, check out How to Ordinary People Can Become Creative Gods Through Daily Rituals.

Productivity Strategies

Next level up, we ascend to strategies. In productivity, strategies are overall plans that structure how you attack things. Setting up strategies is important because your next actions will flow from it.

Here’s some of the best strategies you can use to help structure your productivity.

Average Speed

As alluded to earlier, you can think of your overall productivity as a burner. At one end there is absolutely no activity and on the other end, you are absolutely incinerating everything in sight. And as I stated earlier, neither of these extremes are sustainable in the long run, so we’ll want to aim for some type of “middle ground”.

This middle ground is up to you how you want to approach it, but you’ll want to find somewhere you are highly productive without entering the realm of burnout or sloth.

James Clear refers to this as “average speed” and it’s a key strategy to employ when you’re being productive. He states:

So often we waste our time and energy thinking that we need a monumental effort to achieve anything significant. We tell ourselves that we need to get amped up on motivation and desire. We think that we need to work harder than everyone else.

While there is a time and place for “maxing out”, your overall levels of productivity across long periods of time should be something more sustainable.

To learn more about the concept of average speed, check out What is Your “Average Speed” in Your Life, Your Health, and Your Work?

Creating Momentum

Going along with the notion of average speed is the idea of generating momentum.

Things are much easier to achieve when there is positive momentum behind them than otherwise. This is why it’s important to start getting wins now, rather than later.

As Newton’s First Law of Motion states that an object in motion will stay in motion, you’ll want to constantly be in motion in various areas of your life.

To learn more about how to create momentum in your life, check out Create Irresistible Momentum in Anything with 5 Actionable Tips.

The Tower Technique

While an entire site can be dedicated around the idea of “time management“, in this context, you should think of time management as just another strategy with which to structure your productivity.

Namely, the structure in this case being your days/weeks/months/years. Time management is the container in which you place the various opportunities and obligations of your life.

In this case, you are focusing on stacking time, breaking up time, and reorganizing it to come out the other side with some type of productive artifact. I call this “the Tower Technique”.

To learn more about the Tower Technique, check out How to Structure Your Time Management with the Tower Technique.

Productivity Habits

Once we have the mindsets and the strategy in place, now we start building the habits. These habits are what will make being productive much easier.

Mental Focus

If you have trouble focusing, you’re not alone. Many people struggle with bringing focus to their tasks.

There’s many reasons why but one of the main ones is that it’s just not a habit for many people. Many people are used to being distracted.

Luckily, mental focus is something that can be trained.

To learn more about how to increase your mental focus, check out 7 Proven Methods to Increase Your Mental Focus and Ability to Concentrate.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

“Early to bed, and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin

Though the quote above can be a bit cliché or even trite, it’s largely true. There is advantage to waking up early and going to bed early.

Despite what all of the “hustlers” tell you, getting a full night of sleep can massively boost your productivity. On top of that, waking up early can help you get things done when there’s less distraction.

By the time people are up and about, you’ve already taken care of several things on your to-do list.

Diet and Exercise

Eating a good diet and getting exercise in is more emphasized now than it was in the past, however, there are many people who still struggle with this.

The reason to eat clean and workout are beyond the purely physical benefits, they have a marked influence on your productivity as well. They’re things such as:

• Less brain fog
• Less fatigue
• Greater ability to concentrate
• Greater ability to recollect information

And the list of benefits goes on and on. While eating healthy and exercising are beyond the scope of this article, the links below will help you in your quest to do that, if you so desire to do so.

• Eating Clean for Beginners
• The Definitive Guide to Strength Training

Productivity Tactics

Now, we’re finally at the place where the rubber meets the road: tactics. Tactics are the way you implement your strategies, habits, and mindsets. Here’s a few that you can use to help you grease your productive capacity.

Deep Work

“Professional activity performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.” – Cal Newport, Deep Work

Deep work is a concept that’s been catching on in the past few years — and for good reason.

The main premise behind deep work is that the requirement to master complicated things is increasing while the ability to focus deeply is decreasing.

In short, this means people who can master this productivity tactic/skill will be able to thrive.

Deep work is part of the reason why I myself am able to get large amounts of work done and part of the reason why Unstoppable Rise exists in the first place.

To learn more about you yourself can master deep work, check out Deep Work: The Complete Guide to Mastering This Vital Skill.

Develop a Strong Work Ethic

Even without developing overall mindsets or strategies to productivity, a bullheaded approach to just plowing through massive volumes of work can do incredible things for you.

Why?

Because the most successful people in life not only work smart but they work really damn hard as well.

To learn more about how you can develop a rockstar work ethic, check out The Real Secret to Increasing Your Productivity and Work Ethic.

The Pareto Principle

The Pareto Principle is a phenomenon in nature where a select few of inputs will result in most of the outputs for any given system.

This means that there’s a few things you do throughout any given period of time that account for most of your success.

If you want to be more productive, it’s worth finding out what they are and exploiting them as much as possible.

To learn more about the Pareto Principle, check out 80/20 Rule: How the Pareto Principle Affects Everything.

Taking (Massive) Action

All the productivity advice in the world is useless unless you take action. And some times? It has to be massive action.

Sometimes you’ll just need to put your nose to the grindstone and push hard to get things done.

There’s a way to do this without burning yourself out and tweaking the dial all the way to “absolutely on fire, hustle 24/7” mode. The article below will show you how.

To learn more about how to take massive action, check out How to Take Massive Action and Become Great.

Conclusion + Wrapping Up

Being productive is at the centerpiece of life and all it has to offer. It creates value in your life and the lives of others, it increases your levels of self-esteem and self-efficacy, plus it puts the power back in your hands.

Luckily, there’s a lot of ways to be productive and there’s tons of mindsets, strategies, habits, and tactics you can use to get high levels of productivity going in your own life. Once you get the hang of being productive and getting massive volumes of shit done, you won’t want to go back to your default way of living.

And if you want a start-to-finish blueprint for productivity that you can use, check out the course Cornerstone. Productivity is a central module in the course and it’s chock full of strategies, tactics, and mindsets I haven’t shared here.

If you want more information on it, hit the jump below.