Full transcript
0:00hey what's going on everyone as Sam
0:02Evans here and I just wanted to make
0:04this quick video for you today called
0:06death by a thousand cuts and
0:09specifically why productivity is death
0:13by a thousand cuts and what I mean by
0:15that is that you know when people are
0:18trying to be productive and when people
0:19are trying to get things done and
0:21deliver projects and ship things and you
0:24know really build something great or
0:26build a great business whatever it is
0:28you know the thing that the thing that
0:31really trips people up is that they
0:33think it's going to be something big
0:35that comes in and steals all of their
0:38time or makes them not productive but
0:40there isn't really what happens instead
0:43what happens is it's a thousand little
0:46things and each of them all look like ah
0:49when it pops up into your day you're
0:51like oh this is just something small
0:52it'll only take five minutes or all this
0:55will only take one minute or 30 seconds
0:57and you know it's these things that
1:00really get us when it comes to
1:02productivity and time management and
1:04that's why you know I call it death by a
1:06thousand cuts because it's not one big
1:08like dagger that gets you it's just
1:12these little paper cuts that are just
1:13getting you over time and the end result
1:16is that you know the the thousand little
1:18paper cuts it just kills you in a kills
1:20your productivity and right now I'm in
1:23my new place out here in Venice Beach in
1:28California you can kind of see the you
1:30know the ocean through there and right
1:33now I'm sitting at my temporary desk and
1:36I can show you it it's an Ikea disc with
1:40a forty dollar plastic drawer set from
1:43Amazon and you know we just made the
1:47move out here to California to Venus and
1:50I'm gonna be doing another video soon
1:52where I you know give you a tour of the
1:54place and also explain why I moved here
1:57and you know the rationale and logic and
2:00reason behind that decision and
2:01everything but for now I'm not going to
2:04give you a full tour or anything because
2:06you know we really don't even have any
2:08furniture and we're waiting on a track
2:11to bring our stuff from New York over
2:13here
2:13to Venice Beach and it's not going to be
2:15done until like four or five weeks from
2:18now and so it's not really worth giving
2:20you a tour in the state it's currently
2:22in but you know making this move from
2:25New York to Venice it's really shown me
2:28an important lesson and that is that you
2:32know you your environment and the
2:35systems and routines and processes that
2:37you have established they are crucial to
2:40your productivity and what I thought you
2:43know I've gotten quite productive in New
2:46York with with my company and everything
2:48and I started to think I'm a really I'm
2:51a really productive person and you know
2:53it doesn't matter what environment you
2:55throw me into I'll be productive I'll
2:57get things done and so I I just moved
3:01over here to Venice thinking that that's
3:03what's gonna happen but then as soon as
3:05I arrived here and we moved into this
3:06place you know my productivity just fell
3:09off a cliff
3:10you know I everything kind of is ground
3:13to a halt and I was like shocked I was
3:16like oh my god what's going on here and
3:17really what it was is you know my
3:20environment wasn't set up the right way
3:23to to really make me as productive as I
3:26was back in New York and what I learned
3:28from this experience was that you know
3:31it's not so much an individual that's
3:33productive it's more you know the
3:35individual and their environment and
3:38their routine and you I can't say which
3:40one's more important you know the
3:42individual the environment or the
3:43routine I I think they're all really as
3:45important as each other because I was
3:48very productive over there you moved me
3:49over here into a bed and we're not a bad
3:51environment but you know into a
3:53different environment and you know I'm
3:55not as productive and really what
3:58happened there is that there's all these
4:00small little things that you take for
4:03granted and you don't you don't realize
4:06a dear that you sit up earlier that
4:08really builds a foundation for you to be
4:10really productive and what I mean is you
4:13know just simple things like the
4:14internet connection how fast is it and
4:16then also having like a charger and not
4:22just a charger where you work but you
4:24know if there's multiple places where
4:25you take your computer
4:26during the day or whatever then you
4:29should have a charger in both rooms
4:30because what happens is you might move
4:32room you might be working and then
4:34notice that your battery's going flat
4:35now you've got to get up go to the other
4:37room to get the charger and bring it
4:38back again now that might seem like
4:40that's just a small thing that might
4:42only take you 1 minute 2 minutes but
4:44like I said productivity and time
4:46management it's it's death by a thousand
4:48cuts so all of these small things just
4:51creep up and the end result is that you
4:54can't get anything done because you have
4:55to make all these small micro decisions
4:57all the time and you know it goes deeper
5:01than this it's not just about like
5:02having a fast internet connection it's
5:04not just about having a charge or in
5:05every room one of the biggest things
5:07that I see that is just so tragic for
5:10most people is you know just food and
5:13eating and to you know to think about
5:17what am I gonna have for breakfast and
5:18then have to go out and get that and
5:20then to think oh where am I going to get
5:22a coffee to have to look that up and
5:23then go and get a coffee and then maybe
5:25wait in line or whatever and then you
5:28know to think about what am I going to
5:29have for lunch going out and getting
5:30lunch probably waiting in line again
5:32coming home eating it and then dinner it
5:34happens all over again and food is one
5:38of the biggest like things that crushes
5:40productivity it's because you know we
5:43need to eat like constantly throughout
5:45the day we need to have like breakfast
5:46lunch and then dinner alright and that's
5:49three things that happen every single
5:50day and if every single time one of
5:53these things you know you need a meal
5:55you have to think what am I going to
5:56have to eat and then go out and get
5:58something and then bring it back and
5:59then eat it like before you know it
6:02you've got no time left in the day
6:03because if you have to you know if
6:06you've got a slow internet connection
6:07you have to think in the middle of the
6:09day I'm gonna go get this charger from
6:11this other room and then if you have to
6:12go out and get breakfast lunch and
6:14dinner you know just doing all of those
6:17things that has probably cut your
6:20productivity by I would say 75% you know
6:24it's it's not just a small thing here
6:26it's a massive like it's a massive
6:30performance killer and why it is and
6:32this is one of the reasons why people
6:33don't understand
6:34this when they think about something
6:36when they think about doing a task let's
6:38say it's going out to get lunch they
6:40think oh they will only take me 30
6:42minutes but it's not that it's it's so
6:45it's so much more demanding than that
6:48because if you have to think about it
6:50it's using mental bandwidth and that
6:53means that when you come back from lunch
6:54you know you've got less mental
6:56bandwidth to commit to to your work and
6:58so it's draining that and more than that
7:02if you've got these small things that
7:04pop up during the day it doesn't matter
7:07if it just takes one minute to go and
7:09get like a charger and then come back it
7:11if you're in the middle of some task
7:13where you were deep in the zone and
7:15focused and concentrated on something
7:17then it doesn't matter if the thing only
7:19takes one minute to do it's gonna take
7:21you half an hour to get back into that
7:24same state of mind and into that same
7:27depth of zone that you were in so these
7:30small trivial things that look like they
7:32only take one minute two minutes or
7:33whatever they actually end up costing
7:35you thirty minutes an hour or more and
7:38so by the time we've got like a
7:39breakfast at lunch or dinner
7:41finding a charger a slow internet
7:43connection you know pretty much we don't
7:46have really any thing of the day left
7:48and our mental bandwidth is so drained
7:51that even with the small little spots we
7:53do have left to applied our energy there
7:56isn't much energy to apply and so the
7:59way that people would have noticed and
8:02the purpose of this video here what I've
8:05noticed is that the way people look at
8:07time is wrong and what they do is they
8:11just look at a task and they think this
8:13is going to take a minute but what they
8:14don't take into account is that it's
8:17gonna take them half an hour to get back
8:20into the same gear they need to be in to
8:23keep going on the projects they're
8:25working on and it might take you know
8:27longer than an hour for example you know
8:29when I'm creating content let's say I've
8:31got to create some some slides or some
8:33videos or some training for my online
8:36courses at consulting comm if I'm in the
8:39middle of there and then I get
8:40distracted from from something and I
8:42have to come back it might take me up to
8:44one hour to get back
8:46to that same depth of concentration and
8:48focus and so you get my point you really
8:52need to protect your time and what you
8:55really need to watch out for is the
8:56small things it's remember the saying
8:59like death by a thousand cuts it's a
9:01perfect way of illustrating it and I
9:03actually got this saying from the
9:06financial world we're in a lot of
9:08training programs where they teach
9:10people how to save money and how to
9:12become like financially free they say
9:15the same thing death by a thousand cuts
9:16the end why they say that is because
9:19it's not big expenses that really
9:22people it's the small things you
9:24know it's just the it's just the lunch
9:27out every day
9:28it's the override here and there it's
9:31going out on Saturday and having a few
9:32drinks there and it's buying you know a
9:34new t-shirt or new pair of shoes there
9:36and it it each one of these small and
9:39individual purchases they don't really
9:41look like they're going to do much but
9:43the sum total of all of these things is
9:45devastating and it's not just finances
9:49that work like this it is your time too
9:51and your time works like this you know I
9:54think time is better suited to the
9:56saying death by a thousand cuts then
9:57money is because you know people are
10:00shocking with their time they don't
10:02protect it and they don't treat it like
10:04the rare resource that it really is and
10:07you know a lot of people they're out
10:09there all the time and they're worried
10:10about money but no one seems to really
10:12be worried about time and to me time is
10:16more valuable than money you know money
10:17I have a lot of and can get a lot of but
10:20time I only have a finite amount and so
10:23you know really I encourage you to be
10:26more mindful of you know where your time
10:29goes and one thing that I recommend
10:31doing if you are not feeling very
10:33productive and if you're kind of getting
10:36frustrated and annoyed because you can't
10:38deliver on the projects that you want to
10:40deliver then one exercise a I highly
10:43recommend is just called a hundred units
10:45of time and all you do is for one week
10:48you just track where your time goes so
10:51every single day you keep you chunk it
10:54out into thirty minutes and every time
10:56you do something you just write it down
10:57and you track from when you wake up in
10:59the morning to
10:59when you go to bed at night every day
11:01for seven days straight and track wheel
11:03time goes and then at the end of the
11:06week look back over that and then look
11:09at these different buckets that it goes
11:10into and then you can create some
11:12buckets or some categories and then you
11:14can start to to work out as a percentage
11:17how much time do you spend doing all of
11:19these different things and once you're
11:21aware of where your time is going the
11:24the real trick to it is not to just try
11:27and become more efficient or more
11:28productive and the real trick is not to
11:31get more apps on your phone and it's not
11:35to you know get some to-do list software
11:37or anything like that that's the stupid
11:40way to do it you know you don't try to
11:42do more you try to do less
11:43so the real masterful way of dealing
11:47with time
11:48once you've once you've been made aware
11:50of it and whe your time goes you just
11:53want to start eliminating the wasteful
11:55practices so just get rid of it there is
11:58nothing better than just eliminating
12:00something you know creating a system or
12:02a process or hiring someone or
12:03delegating it these are all things that
12:06aren't true fixes you know they're kind
12:09of just patches in putting a bandaid on
12:11something but eliminating something this
12:13is gone it's eliminating things that's
12:16why I encourage you to do all the time
12:17you know once a month you should do this
12:20hundred units of time exercise just one
12:23week out of the month every single month
12:24see where your time's going identify the
12:27wasteful practices and eliminate them
12:29and then there's always going to be some
12:31sort of argument which is like oh but I
12:33have to do this or I have to post on
12:35snapchat or something and the truth is
12:37you don't you know a lot of the things
12:39that people are doing that they think
12:41they have to do just aren't that
12:43important and the way to really
12:45determine whether something is important
12:47or not is whether you know you just it's
12:50a process of elimination let's say you
12:53know you're in business and you're
12:54helping somebody let's say you're
12:56helping plumbing businesses get
12:58customers right they say that's what
13:00you're doing now if we're eliminating
13:02things that you're doing in your
13:03business and we're trying to find the
13:06point at which it becomes troublesome
13:09for your customer who is the plumber so
13:12if we start eliminating
13:13you know you're doing social media you
13:15doing all this different stuff it's not
13:17really going to affect the customer in
13:19he or she just is fine can business can
13:22continue as usual but the moment you
13:24start eliminating like delivering
13:26services to your clients or looking
13:29after your clients or you know
13:31delivering results to your clients or
13:34actually marketing and selling to get
13:36new clients you know these things are
13:38mandatory these things must be done in
13:40order for the business to stay alive but
13:42all of the other things that aren't
13:43essential to that plumber being your
13:47customer they're not necessary and what
13:50you should do is just eliminate all of
13:52those things you know I didn't do I
13:54didn't do content up until really this
13:57year like January 2018 I've only just
14:00started doing YouTube videos once a week
14:02and Instagram right it's been around for
14:06a long time I only started doing it in
14:08January 2018 and if you don't believe me
14:10just go to my Instagram profile to
14:12scroll back to the to the first ever
14:13post I did and it is January this year
14:172018 and so you know my point with this
14:22is that I was able to grow a successful
14:26business to the point that was making
14:28about 18 million a year that was at the
14:30stage last year like end of the year and
14:32this was done without having an
14:34Instagram account I didn't even have the
14:36app on my phone I didn't have a snapchat
14:37account I don't have the app at all and
14:40I didn't use Facebook either and I only
14:44really logged into Facebook to just
14:46answer people's questions and my
14:47customer community and stuff but I
14:49didn't use it as a consumer I only used
14:52it as a producer and so I was able to
14:54grow my business by not doing those
14:56things and where this really gets people
14:59is there like a button I have to do this
15:02you know I have to do this this is what
15:03I this is what has to be done and the
15:06truth is is that really one of the
15:08reasons that I was able to be you know
15:11make such massive jumps and grow to the
15:13size that my company is is because I
15:15ignored all of the stuff that everybody
15:17else is obsessed about I obsessed over
15:20getting results for my clients
15:22attracting clients and you know really
15:25looking after my clients and get
15:26as many of them as I could that was
15:28really where all of my time wind a
15:29hundred percent and then when it came to
15:32you know things that were just
15:34perception like you know posting on
15:37social media and all this stuff
15:38I just didn't ignore it completely I
15:40eliminated it and that was actually one
15:43of the reasons why I was able to make
15:44such rapid progress by not doing that
15:47and so I encourage you when you're doing
15:50you know there's hundred units of time
15:51exercise and you're finding where all of
15:53your time goes when you spot these areas
15:56that is social media and things like
15:57that or maybe it's creating content
16:00posting videos on YouTube or whatever
16:01I'm telling you it isn't mandatory but
16:05you might think well Sam why are you
16:06doing it now if it isn't if it isn't
16:09useful at all and I'm not saying it's
16:11not useful at all I'm saying it's not
16:12mandatory you know you don't have to do
16:14it to be successful I did it without
16:16doing that and there is a lot of other
16:19people who do it without doing that too
16:20now why did I start doing it this year
16:23there's a good question and the reason I
16:26started doing it this year is because it
16:29helps you know if you are spending a lot
16:31of money on ads and if you've got a
16:32bunch of customers and if there's
16:34word-of-mouth and stuff out there
16:35buzzing around then it actually helps to
16:38have a little bit of a social presence
16:39and it helps to produce a little bit of
16:41content right now the key word here is
16:45it helps it isn't necessary but if you
16:48can you should do it
16:50and I wasn't in a position to be able to
16:52do it responsibly until January this
16:54year and the reason why is because if I
16:56was creating content or doing social
16:58media then it would have been taking my
17:00time away from helping my customers and
17:03creating good training for them and also
17:06getting more customers now I'm not
17:09willing to make that trade-off I'm not
17:11willing to do less of what's most
17:12important to do more of something that
17:15isn't important it's mindless that's
17:18stupid moronic activity and so I only
17:22started doing the stuff that is helpful
17:26but not mandatory which is social media
17:28content all that when I had hired and
17:31trained enough people in my team to
17:33cover all of those bases so that when I
17:35started doing this I wasn't taking away
17:37from that and that's the that's what I
17:40encourage you to do to ignore social
17:42media and all of this noise and all of
17:44this crap and focus on the main thing
17:46keep the main thing the main thing which
17:48is you know helping your customers with
17:51whatever it is that you're promised in
17:52in delivering amazing results amazing
17:55support you know nothing is more
17:56important than adding value to your
17:58customers that is the main thing and if
18:00you're the best at that it doesn't
18:02matter what everything else is like
18:03you'll win you know at the end of the
18:06day when all is said and done the
18:07company and the business that delivers
18:10the most value to their clients wins
18:12regardless of whether they've got
18:14snapchat Instagram Facebook or whatever
18:17that is not relevant and so that's my
18:21point is you know don't get don'ts don't
18:25die from a thousand little cuts and look
18:29at everything you know properly do that
18:32hundred units of time you exercise and
18:34eliminate all of those sources that are
18:37sucking your time dry and then try to
18:39have uninterrupted focus on the main
18:42things because when you put
18:44uninterrupted focus and when you channel
18:47it into those main areas that's when you
18:49really start moving the needle of your
18:52business
18:52you know there's putting putting focus
18:56and energy into these things is so
18:59explosive to your business but most
19:02people focus just gets bleed out into
19:04all of these trivial things that isn't
19:06that important at all and I can't tell
19:09you the difference it makes in your
19:10business and in your life and in your
19:11finances and everything when you make
19:14this change it's hard to do because you
19:17know you've probably been trained to be
19:18all a DD in but when and it's
19:22going to be hard to try and channel that
19:24focus into the main things and you just
19:26have to put up with that resistance and
19:27you have to keep going against it and
19:29keep going against it until it breaks
19:31and then the resistance will break and
19:33then you'll flow with this and it will
19:34be your new it'll be your new mode of
19:37operation it'll be your new norm and you
19:40have to keep working at it until it
19:41becomes the new norm and another really
19:45useful tip that I've got for you when it
19:48comes to you know eliminating
19:51time-sucking activities is
19:54decision-making and whenever you come to
19:57a decision in during your day or during
20:00your you know your life or any stage you
20:03want to ask yourself what is the
20:05half-life of the stuff this decision
20:08what is the half-life of this decision
20:10and what I mean by that is you know if I
20:13make this decision how long is it gonna
20:15last for before I have to make this
20:18decision again so for example they say
20:21it's 12:30 on a Monday and I'm hungry
20:24and I need food and I have to make a
20:28decision where am I gonna get food from
20:29today and so I google it and I find a
20:32place then I go out I walk I go there
20:34and I get food I bring it back and I
20:36start eating and then I'm done
20:37right that's how poor people think and
20:41the same decision keeps popping up the
20:44next day the next day the next day
20:46it pops up three times in one day
20:47and yet the person doesn't realize that
20:50they keep wasting all of this time
20:53thinking what I should get to eat when
20:55it's going to keep happening forever for
20:57the rest of their life and it's going to
20:59keep it's going to happen three times a
21:01day and yet this person never really
21:03thinks like oh maybe I should maybe I
21:06should make a better decision about this
21:08maybe I should make a decision that's
21:09gonna last longer than four hours and so
21:13the half-life of that decision is really
21:15only four hours until you're hungry
21:16again
21:17right but what smart people do is and
21:20they make a decision once that fixes
21:24that problem and solves it for forever
21:26or if not for forever for a long time
21:29and let me give you an example when I
21:32noticed that you know food was taking a
21:34lot of time I decided to hire a chef and
21:38so I hired a chef and we got her trained
21:41and everything and then you should order
21:43the groceries and all that and then
21:45after I'd eaten should even do the
21:46dishes just aims to end full stack
21:49covered everything from planning the
21:51meals buying the groceries putting them
21:53in the fridge putting them in the pantry
21:54cooking the meals cleaning everything up
21:56and doing the dishes and I made that one
22:01decision and at one decision took
22:04probably the same amount of time as it
22:06took to buy one meal right so with the
22:11same mental bandwidth and energy that it
22:14takes to make one decision to get some
22:16food I found a chef who would make food
22:19for years and that's what she did she
22:23continued to you know make me lunch and
22:26dinner for you know for more than a year
22:30and it was honestly one of the best
22:33investments and productivity things I
22:35ever did in my entire life that one
22:37decision was worth millions of dollars
22:40even though it just seems so small like
22:43just hiring ship is worth a lot of money
22:45because it saved me so much time
22:48cumulatively and though these are the
22:52things you want to think about is you
22:54know make sure that the decisions you
22:56make have a long half-life you know
22:59instead of thinking how can I just solve
23:00this in the short term start thinking
23:02how can I solve this so this decision
23:04never has to be made by me ever again
23:07and another way to do this is with your
23:11schedule and your routine and I see
23:14people all the time like they go to be
23:15it at different times in they wake up at
23:17different times and whenever you do that
23:20you you can't really hold a schedule and
23:23you can't really plan out in advance
23:25because you don't really know like
23:27whether you can schedule something in
23:29for 9:00 a.m. on a Friday because you're
23:31not sure if you're going to be awake at
23:339:00 a.m. on a Friday and so you can't
23:36really plan and you can't schedule and
23:39the the real trick to this is to set
23:42standards and principles in routines and
23:45rules and what I mean by this is instead
23:49of having everything open and flexible
23:51start bolting things down a bit and what
23:55this really does is when you create
23:58constraints it actually releases more
24:01productivity you know a lot of the time
24:04we have freedom from constraints and
24:06it's quite the opposite of what most
24:08people believe a lot of people believe
24:09are if I have just true freedom no
24:11schedule no calendar no routine then
24:15I'll be really productive but there's
24:16not
24:16just try and just try and operate but
24:19when you're doing that you're all over
24:21the place you're a miss and instead you
24:24need to set some standards and have some
24:26discipline and so when I started doing
24:29this it changed my productivity
24:31immensely you know I started going to be
24:33able to live in a clock every night and
24:35then I started waking up at 6:50 in the
24:37morning every night and going to the gym
24:38at 7 o'clock in the morning
24:40pretty much every day five days a week
24:43over seven and when I really stuck to
24:45that it meant that I was able to
24:47schedule my days better I was able to
24:49schedule things well out in advance
24:51because I knew when I was gonna be
24:52working and when I wasn't going to be
24:54working and it totally unlocked a lot of
24:57efficiency for me and so if you're an
25:00entrepreneur then I beat you you suffer
25:02from you know too much freedom and this
25:06is what happens because when you've got
25:08no constraints on you and when you're
25:11your own boss and you can kind of sit
25:13whatever limits you want for yourself
25:15sometimes you can have too much freedom
25:17and you just end up kind of in a tangle
25:19in an amiss and what I recommend for you
25:22is to you know set some standards and
25:24some rules and then stick to them and
25:26stay on the rails you know really what
25:29we're doing here is we're kind of
25:30building like rails that we can stay on
25:33and when you stay on those rails you're
25:35able to just execute and get things done
25:38so much more efficiently than you would
25:42have without them and I didn't really
25:44experience this until I came here to
25:47Venice when my rails were were removed
25:51you know my personal trainer it wasn't
25:53here our chef wasn't here and you know
25:55my desk and workspace is all different
25:58the internet was different you know
26:01everything was different and I didn't
26:03really have this realization until all
26:05of that was taken away and then I
26:07realized how helpful these rails really
26:10are and that's what I'm in the process
26:12of now is putting these rails back in
26:14place so I can get back to that optimum
26:16efficiency that I was at before so
26:19that's it for this video today I just
26:22wanted to tell you watch out for you
26:25know those thousand little cuts
26:27it's those
26:28little things that get you it's those
26:31little things that are going to take you
26:32out and really consume all of your life
26:35without you either really being aware of
26:37it so if you liked this video just click
26:41that like button and also leave me
26:44something in the comment section below
26:45I'm gonna be reading these comments and
26:47replying to them so let me know what you
26:48think down there also if you if you
26:51liked this video subscribe to my You
26:53Tube channel I release a blog video like
26:55this once every week and I also do
26:57customer interviews and Q&A calls and
26:59other things that might help you along
27:01your journey so thanks for watching and
27:03I look forward to seeing you in the next
27:05one soon