The Tao of Ben Franklin Virtue #6: Industry-Lose no time; be always employ’d in something useful; cut off all unnecessary actions.

Well, we can see Franklin fit right into that good ole American Protestant work ethic. Its advice is simple. Work. Be productive. Don’t waste time. This will make some reader’s hair catch on fire. We live in an age where the hard pushing work ethic that has defined Americans for so long is often frowned upon. 

However, as with most everything there is nuance. Franklin knew how to enjoy himself. Sure, he was at his work often and made good use of his day. He had a planned and regimented day that outlined his work. Most great individuals do. They don’t just loaf through their day willy nilly. They have structure and purpose for their day.

Winston Churchill comes to mind. Churchill had a rigorous schedule he kept. He is known for producing voluminous amounts of writing. Former Twitter CEO and Founder Jack Dorsey had his days planned by themes. 

While Americans still claim to work a lot of hours, and some certainly do, we have also mastered wasting time. That little rectangle with the screen glowing from your palm is the biggest time waster ever conceived. There’s another one that glows and sucks time as well. It’s the television. Over 30% of Americans rank T.V. as their chosen way to pass time.

So let’s define some terms here. Busy does not equal productivity. I have a lot of days where I’m extremely busy, but to call them productive would be a massive overstatement. I do a lot of stuff and produce very little. I don’t think I’m alone. 

Franklin hits on a point that most of us neglect. We are obsessed with ‘to do’ lists. We can tell you all the time what we plan to do, but what if I asked you, “Hey. What are you NOT going to do today?”

That’s a little tougher. Yet it can be the biggest productivity enhancer of them all. Deciding what not to do takes thought and discipline. I’d argue that sometimes it’s harder to stick to a ‘not to do’ list than a to do list. The reason is because the things we know suck time, energy and dampen productivity are often the dopamine dripping actions our wandering minds crave and love. 

Look at your day.

I have found the best way to alleviate wasted time is to plan for its use. Take a look at your calendar and block off the day for whatever you need to get done. Treat everything as though it’s important.

Don’t just hope you’ll get to journaling and reading. Write it on your calendar. Plan out your morning routine and block time on your calendar. Put your physical training on your calendar. Block time to spend with your family. Try to account for the entire day before it ever begins.

Our brains love predictability. They don’t like guessing. It wastes energy. So the best we can do is decide for it what it’s going to focus on that day. This brings up another point. Where focus goes, energy flows. So make sure to put things on your calendar that you actually want to focus on. This added focus will make you more productive.

We all have time wasters that fill our day. The big obvious whipping boy of the time wasters is social media. What’s the best way to tame social media? Plan for it. If you’re like me and you create content as part of your overall business strategy make a point to be a producer not a consumer of content.

Do as Joe Rogan does. Post and ghost. Just put out whatever it is you need to with regard to something pointing to your business, content creation, your podcast then move on. Don’t let the Instagram tempest suck you in. Post and ghost.

To make the most productive use of social media, categorize it and plan for it. Limit yourself to 5 minutes. Set a timer when you begin. This is one of the best productivity hacks there is. You will be surprised how much mind numbing surfing you can do in 5 minutes. By planning for your surfing you will actually start to be more strategic and use the time to find things that really interest you.

I love to be motivated by posts of bio-hacks, quotes from authors I admire, food recipes, etc. I also love to take to YouTube for some wisdom. I might use my 5 minutes of social media recess to go look up some old Jim Rhone teaching videos and get ideas for my own courses. I might watch Jordan Peterson explain how be a better man from a scientific standpoint. I might watch a TED talk by Stephen Pinker. 

There is a plethora of great content out on the socials. With a little planning this CAN be a productive use of time. Just beware. She’s a whore. The social media Jezebel wants your attention. So whatever you look at there will be an endless stream of other similar content to tempt you. Be strong. Be productive.

Take account of your day.

I think reviewing your day is highly important. It will motivate you to plan better the next day. It will also give an answer to that horrid question we all ask ourselves at one point or another, “What the hell did I do today?”

We only have a finite amount of time to do all the things we want so cherish that time, and use it wisely. Franklin pursued many tasks. He was a naturally brilliant and inquisitive person so there was never a shortage of things to do. I think one of the biggest problems today is we are bored. We can do anything much of the time so we do nothing. Trying to decide what to do next is much like looking at the cereal in the grocery store. How the hell do you choose which box? There are so many. You must have a plan.

Get in flow.

A flow state as described by the godfather of flow Mihaly Csikszentmihaly is a feeling where, under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.

It is a remarkably powerful state of mind. It yields laser focus that leads to incredible productivity. One of the best ways to get to flow is to remove all distractions both physical and mental before starting the task at hand. This is why planning the day and making time for tasks is so critical. Once in a flow state an individual can 5X their production compared to a person in a non-flow state. It’s truly amazing.

Be useful.

Do you want to know the easiest way on earth to make money? Ok. I’ll tell you. Be useful. That’s it. Find something useful you can engage in that other people will pay you to do. Franklin was the inventor of the bifocal. That’s useful. He was one of our founding fathers so of all his inventions one could argue his best was his contribution to inventing America. That was useful. 

Sometimes we just need to ask ourselves, “Is what I’m doing of any use to me or anyone else?” If the answer is, “no,” move to something with utility value. 

Deciding what to do is hard.

Going back to the cereal isle, deciding what to do can be difficult. David Allen’s book “Getting things done,” is an excellent roadmap for prioritizing and framing things so as to give them their proper priority. Below is one of the most useful tools I have found for mapping out tasks. It’s from Allen’s book.

If you will take a list of all the things you want to get done in a given week, this will be a huge benefit toward prioritizing the tasks. I suggest on Sunday making a list of all you wish to accomplish for the week. Then run everything through Allen’s flowchart so that all that’s left are the most important tasks for you to complete.

Don’t just be busy

Don’t fill your calendar with garbage just to feel busy. If you have free space, savor it. Use it for a nap. Naps are incredibly underrated and highly effective toward productivity. Winston Churchill took one every day as did John D. Rockefeller. Naps make you more productive and increase your chances of living longer.

Reserve space to fill with really important or meaningful tasks. Also, you shouldn’t use your calendar as your to do list. Remember we are blocking off time. If you need to run those awful things called errands (I despise running errands) then block off time to get them done. This will ease your mind. You won’t think about all you should be doing instead of running to the post office. You scheduled this block of time for all the tasks that would take you away from you meaningful work so you’re ok. You’re prepared for it. You’re making good use of your time by getting this crap done so you can get back to the real work.

Quality not quantity is the key.

The reason I brought up flow is because it is such a powerful tool. You might find yourself only doing one project, but you will do more of it better and enjoy it more if you can find a flow state. It’s about quality time, work and productivity, not just quantity. 

Think about this. What if you only got one thing done all day but that one thing was reading an entire book? I’d say that’s a pretty tall achievement. That’s quality. Just doing a bunch of random tasks none of which really moved the productivity needle is not optimal. Search for quality over quantity.

Ben Franklin believed in always being industrious and using his time well. He accomplished a lot at a time when computers didn’t exist, nor cars nor the Googles. If he was able to be so productive, just imagine what we can do with a little thought and planning.