Get Sh*t Done — One Hashtag That’ll 10x Your Output…It did for me.

I went from fighting and losing the daily battle of trying to get meaningful work done, to doing more in 2 hours than I could in a month. All because of one simple strategy that I created, called

— #FlightTime.

I couldn’t believe how simple the answer actually was. I’ll lay it out for you here step by step in hope that you too can end the daily battle and change the world.

Our biggest challenge today isn’t survival, or our well-being, or access to resources, or gaining knowledge, or progressing financially…

…or any of the things that we seem to think are a challenge.

These are all relatively easy.

Most things that used to be a challenge, are now relatively easy. Or will be.

Hence,

Because of this,

The noise of all the easy “things” is our greatest challenge.

It is this noise that stands in our way, and prevents us from, doing great work.

It is this mental mist. You can feel it. It appears as an uncontrollable urge pulling us towards the noise.

In each and every direction.

Except for the one direction that we actually desire. The direction that leads us to doing the great meaningful work that we are meant to do.

The work that’ll actually make a difference if we do it. The work that puts our skills to its utmost test and helps us grow. The work that has the potential of creating incredible results. The work that is impactful.

And work that makes us happy and complete.

Deep within we know that if we did this meaningful work, it would make a difference to our lives, and others in the process.

It could even change the world.

It is our higher calling and aligns us with our life’s purpose. We notice this the moment we sit down and dedicate ourselves completely to doing this work — it is like the missing pieces finally fit.

Things flow. Things makes sense. This is where we need to be more often.

“Resistance defeats us. If tomorrow morning by some stroke of magic every dazed and benighted soul woke up with the power to take the first step towards pursuing his or her dreams, every shrink in the directory would be out of business.

Prisons would stand empty. The alcohol and tobacco industries would collapse, along with junk food, cosmetic surgery, and infotainment businesses, not to mention pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and the medical profession from top to bottom.

Domestic abuse would become extinct, as would addiction, obesity, migraine headaches, road rage, and dandruff.” — Steven Pressfield

But, distraction and endless stimulation seems an insurmountable obstacle.

It is not as if this is a new challenge. This has been a challenge for every single human being since day dot.

However, it has NEVER been this difficult. It has never been this magnified.

We hear our work call out to us, that small voice within us that does its best to reach out several moments of every day. However we have to fight the battle of…

1. Not moving our fingers towards that Facebook, or WhatsApp icon on our phone “just for just a few seconds”,
2. Having to keep our curiosity at bay when the window pop-ups and sound plays as soon as another Email hits our inbox,
3. Hitting the red reject button instead of prioritising other people’s endless “emergencies” as your phone rings,
4. Pushing through the constant interruptions of our superiors and/or colleagues,
5. Doing that other thing that is an absolute priority, and
6. Procrastination in the million other forms it takes.

These battles mask themselves as real work.

Give them enough momentum and that little voice gets pushed so far down we can’t hear it anymore.

Each day we walk away with a false sense of accomplishment. We walk away having swayed our way through the noise. But it is clear if we look within — great meaningful work was not done.

There is a feeling of incompleteness.

We are similar to a person who is trying not to eat cake, but is sitting inside a cake shop.

I have been on the lookout, as you also have, for that silver bullet.

The holy grail of all solutions that would connect me with this great work.

That new productivity tool.

That ultimate technology.

That Four Hour Workweek-like strategy.

Something that would magically suck out the distractions and the noise, leaving no space between me and the work that I so desire.

I’ve devised so many systems, tried many products and strategies.

However, the force with which this noise pulls me towards itself, renders whatever strategy I throw at it to fail. Eventually.

As it is easy, very easy,

To give in.

Eventually I will eat that cake.

The greatest minds of all time rarely stepped inside the cake shop

Don’t take my word for it.

If you look at the daily habits of some of the greatest minds and creatives who’ve spent a lifetime doing this great work. They must have known the secret.

• From — Wright Brothers, Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain
• To — Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Richard Branson

It becomes obvious that each and every one is/was militant in their approach to step out of the cake shop of noise and distraction. Creating that oasis where there is no space between them and great work.

And this didn’t just happen by some magic tool, it had to be meticulously created, scheduled, and practiced.

Ninety nine percent of us do a few minutes of focused work, not enough to gather any sort of momentum,

Before we check that next email, peek over at our socials, respond to a text, walk over to the water cooler, do some “research”, and so on.

…each time that gap between us and great work expands.

Here’s the excuses that get in our way:

1. We have easy access to distractions that mask themselves as important,
2. We must remain available for the requests and requirements of others who may need us,
3. We don’t have a distraction-free space,
4. We don’t have a set schedule of time set aside to do this great work,
5. We fear we’ll miss out on something important by not being connected to cyberspace

Battling all of these for me has been extremely challenging.

And hence, I’ve rarely been able to sustain a period of great work without falling off the rails and into the ocean of noise.

Recently, by accident. I found the answer.

Initially I thought this was just another novel strategy, like all the others I tried.

On a flight to Europe, which in total was a 25+ hour journey.

I had some work to catch up on, so I took out my laptop from my carry-on bag when taking my allocated seat.

As the plane took off, I thought I’d watch a movie first.

(hey, I had 25+ hours, I’m sure that was enough time to do work…sound familiar? Noise!)

However my entertainment system didn’t work, I couldn’t get any sound

— distractions all gone.

SO

Work was all I had. I was forced to do it then, with nothing else on offer.

And, as usual, it was a challenge to get started.

The initial process of working feels like pushing a massive boulder with thorns all around it up a steep hill. All the while a row of bodybuilders hit you with baseball bats as you climb up.

— Maybe that’s just me?

But some time later.

Once I reached the peak — the boulder flew down the hill at an ever-increasing pace with me sitting on top of it, and the momentum was exhilarating.

Very little energy, very little force, was required to keep going.

Jolts of the ingrained behaviour to reach out to some noise and distract myself prodded away at me. Constantly. They kept tapping away.

But there was no option.

• I had no way of being distracted by my phone, emails, or other devices,
• I had no one expecting anything from me because I was flying, so I was obviously unreachable to the world,
• I didn’t know anyone on the aircraft, so no requirement of making useless “polite conversation”, and,
• There was no escape to a source of entertainment

The gap between me and great work = ZERO.

And it built upon itself, the longer I was in the open undistracted oasis, the more I could get done.

Each minute of great work in this space felt like hours in the normal world of mist.

It was such an experience that I have replicated it daily for 6 months, since.

I now have #FlightTime for 2 hours daily.

This doesn’t mean I catch a flight everyday. I’m not Bill Gates. However, I simulate the conditions of flying everyday in order to do this work.

• My phone has no reception
• I don’t have access to the internet
• I am in a place where I don’t know anyone around me
• Others are made aware of the time that I will be away and “flying”

All the noise is eliminated.

Most importantly, I gave the concept a fun name and added a hashtag in front of it so I could make it “social” (and enjoyable?).

We are a society that likes to share what we do.

And when it comes to doing great work, it is clearly not a social exercise. It requires our personal uninterrupted space.

But why can’t we make it relevant to us today?

This may be a reason why these other productivity tools and the myriad of strategies that worked in the pre-social days didn’t work for me for any extended period of time. Our minds respond to things in a different manner than what they used to.

Tackling the noise, therefore, may require a different approach.

So when I start

#FlightTime

I share it on my Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Whatever-new-thing-that-exists-at-the-time-you-are-reading-this [fill in the blank].

I am held accountable.

My friends and contacts are motivated to do the same,

and their friends,

and so on.

The more people doing great work, the more battles we win.

Now, of course, during #FlightTime I can just sleep, watch a movie, or do whatever else that fritters away this time towards meaningless tasks.

But knowing I only have 2 hours of #FlightTime somehow ensures that frittering away is less likely.

But here’s the CLINCHER

I can hear the resistance rising within you…

• “There is no way my boss would allow me to do whatever for 2 hours”
• “I work full days, where am I going to find the time?”
• “How do I convince my team that I’m unavailable? Sounds selfish.”
• “What if an important meeting or email comes up and I’m not around?”
• “This sounds so stupid, #FlightTime, come on!”

…and any iteration of some over-exaggerated fear.

The answer I have is to hold yourself accountable.

Those that require my time, or the ones that need to reach out to me are told in advance that I’m in #FlightTime. And they know I’m doing this to help achieve better results than I am currently, which benefits everyone. Not just me.

And to prove it, I present what I’ve achieved, or have done, each Friday.

Here’s a script that you can use right away to tackle this fear:

Hey [Insert Name of Boss/Colleague/Person That Needs To Be Convinced],

I feel I have more to contribute than what I am right now.

I would really like to get more quality work done each day that would improve my results and productivity. And hence, benefit us all.

So I’m looking to experiment with a concept called #FlightTime (full article if you’re interested) for a 2 week period.

Essentially, each day I’ll be doing focused work for 2 hours where I’ll be unreachable and cannot be distracted — pretend I’m on a flight (hence the name). At the end of this two week period I’ll present the results I’ve achieved.

I believe if we all did this we’d achieve exceptional results as a team, but I’m happy to be the guinea pig and experiment with it first.

Daily #FlightTime — [Insert the 2 hours that you’ll be unavailable]

I’ll send you a calendar invite with a meeting time to discuss the results I’ve achieved from this process next Friday.

Let me know if there is anything you’d like to discuss.

P.S. At worst I’ll learn something from this 2 week experiment that’ll help us all improve anyway.

I think that the greatest battle we face is this silent enemy that prevents us from spending our time doing the work that we’re supposed to.

Conquering this is our number one priority…

To leading a fulfilling life.

To reaching exceptional outcomes.

To being fully aligned with our purpose.

To making a difference.

To happier living.

To separate from the noise that is likely to lead us far down a dark path.

Hopefully putting it into this concept of #FlightTime

(simulating the experience of flying which we are all familiar, getting us in the right mindset. And adding the social element which makes us want to do it more and giving it the greatest possibility to be shared with others)

This could turn a simple strategy into something great.

It has for me.

If not, the other option is to wait for the diagnosis that you’ve eaten too much cake and your time is now running out.

Then you have a deadline.

Then you’ll definitely do it.

You can, of course, wait until then? It is, of course, the easier choice to make.

P.S. This entire article (unedited) was written while on a 1 hour 15 minute flight from GERALDTON to PERTH — here’s a photo.