Most people believe success is supposed to feel heavy. Long hours, constant pressure, and chronic exhaustion are treated like the price of ambition. That belief is wrong, and it quietly keeps people stuck.
The truth is not that success requires less effort. It requires better alignment. When energy, focus, and priorities are mismatched, even talented people burn out without meaningful progress. When those elements are aligned, work compounds faster and feels lighter.
This article lays out seven cheat codes for stopping reactive behavior and building results intentionally. These are not hacks or shortcuts. They are operating principles that remove friction so effort actually pays off.
Key Takeaways
Success becomes easier when effort is aligned with energy, not forced through willpower.
Operating in your zone of genius multiplies output while reducing burnout.
Silence, boundaries, and focus create leverage without adding more work.
Designing your year in advance prevents reactive decisions from hijacking priorities.
The highest performers obsess over the few actions that drive most results.
Energy management matters more than time management for sustained execution.
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Table of Contents
Cheat Code 1: Build Trust by Praising People When They Are Not Around
Reputation compounds quietly. How you speak about people when they are not present shapes how others perceive your character.
Speaking positively about others creates trust without requiring self-promotion. It signals safety, confidence, and integrity. People naturally assume you speak the same way about them, which lowers resistance and opens doors.
Effective praise follows three rules:
Be genuine. Never force a compliment.
Be specific. Vague praise feels disposable.
Praise effort, not just outcomes, to reinforce the behaviors you want repeated.
This habit builds all three at once.
People do business with folks they know, like, and trust.
Cheat Code 2: Operate Only in Your Zone of Genius
Your zone of genius is the work that feels engaging while producing real results. It is the opposite of tasks that drain energy and slow momentum.
When people stay stuck doing work they tolerate but do not enjoy, progress feels heavy. When they shift into work that feels like play, effort compounds naturally.
Four principles define this shift:
Do not commit long-term to work that points in the wrong direction.
Focus on work that looks demanding externally but feels energizing internally.
Build a life that does not require escape or retirement.
Say no to dull commitments to create room for meaningful opportunities.
Broke people get good at tasks. Rich people get good at avoiding them. Energy is a finite asset. Protect it.
Cheat Code 3: Use Strategic Silence to Increase Influence
Silence is a form of control. Pausing before speaking signals confidence and clarity.
In conversations, especially emotional ones, silence allows thinking to catch up with instinct. It reduces filler words, sharpens communication, and makes people listen more closely.
Strategic silence works when you:
Pause briefly before responding.
Count seconds internally after asking a question.
Remove filler words by allowing space to think.
Power is often felt most when nothing is said.
In a world addicted to noise, silence is a signal of confidence.
Cheat Code 4: Design a Preloaded Year Instead of Reacting to One
Most people let their year happen to them. A preloaded year is designed intentionally before distractions arrive.
This process starts by placing the most important commitments first, such as family time, health, and meaningful experiences. Everything else fills in around those priorities.
A preloaded year includes:
Identifying major personal and professional commitments early.
Visualizing the year in one place using color and structure.
Maintaining a single system to capture ideas without reacting impulsively.
This approach reduces stress, eliminates last-minute decisions, and protects what matters most. Planning ahead prevents regret later.
Cheat Code 5: Apply the 95/5 Rule Ruthlessly
Most results come from a very small number of actions. The 95/5 rule refines this further by focusing almost exclusively on the few activities that truly move the needle.
Instead of optimizing everything, high performers identify what creates disproportionate impact and ignore the rest.
This requires:
Auditing where real progress has come from in the past.
Saying no to low-impact tasks, even if they feel urgent.
Doubling down on the actions that produce measurable outcomes.
When you say no to everything else and double down on those, that is where the gold happens. Focus is a competitive advantage.
Cheat Code 6: Wake Up Earlier to Create Undisturbed Momentum
Early mornings provide uninterrupted time when the world is quiet. This is not about punishment or discipline theater. It is about access to focus.
Waking up earlier creates space for deep work, reflection, and planning before distractions begin. Momentum built early carries through the rest of the day.
The shift does not need to be extreme:
Start with small increments.
Use the time for thinking, learning, or creative work.
Protect this window as non-negotiable.
As shared in the transcript, this habit compounds because “you get hours of deep work while the world sleeps.”
Momentum beats motivation.
Cheat Code 7: Stack Energy Instead of Managing Time
Time is fixed. Energy is flexible.
Energy stacking means aligning tasks with natural energy levels and batching similar work together to avoid constant context switching.
This works through three practices:
Schedule tasks based on energy, not availability.
Batch similar work to reduce mental friction.
Combine activities to create progress without extra time.
Stop managing your time and start managing your energy. When energy is aligned, work stops feeling forced.
Conclusion
Life feels hard when effort is scattered, reactive, and misaligned. It feels easier when priorities are clear, energy is protected, and systems guide behavior.
These seven cheat codes do not remove effort. They remove friction. When friction disappears, progress accelerates and discipline becomes sustainable.
The shift is simple but decisive. Stop reacting. Start designing. That is how success stops feeling heavy and starts compounding.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does success feel harder for some people than others?
Because effort is often misaligned with energy, priorities, and systems.
What is the zone of genius in simple terms?
It is the work that feels engaging while producing meaningful results.
Is waking up early required for success?
No, but protected quiet time dramatically improves focus and momentum.
How does silence improve leadership and influence?
It signals confidence, reduces noise, and encourages deeper thinking from others.
What makes the 95/5 rule effective?
It eliminates distraction by focusing almost entirely on high-impact actions.
Why is energy management more important than time management?
Because low energy makes even free time unproductive.
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More Resources
Full Transcript
Stop Playing Life on Hard Mode – 7 Cheat Codes to Achieve Anything You Want
https://www.youtube.com/watch/sPLTXJZ9isU
00:00:00.080 I’m going to share with you seven cheat
00:00:01.680 codes that took me from a broke addict
00:00:03.520 straight out of rehab in my teens to
00:00:05.359 becoming a multi-millionaire in my 20s
00:00:07.759 and today running a portfolio of
00:00:09.519 companies that generates over $100
00:00:11.040 million a year. They’re the same cheat
00:00:13.200 codes that I use to build my dream life
00:00:14.960 where I speak on stages like Tony
00:00:16.720 Robbins, fly around on my own jet, and
00:00:18.960 mentor thousands of entrepreneurs around
00:00:20.800 the world. And from all those
00:00:22.080 experiences, I can tell you success is
00:00:24.720 hard, but it shouldn’t be. That’s why
00:00:27.599 you need these cheat codes to make
00:00:29.439 success easier. So, let’s get into it.
00:00:31.599 Starting with cheat code number one.
00:00:34.000 Talk about people behind their back.
00:00:36.160 Now, hear me out. I believe if
00:00:38.399 somebody’s name comes up when they’re
00:00:40.399 not around, you should give them praise.
00:00:43.680 You should give them a compliment. You
00:00:45.280 should talk positively about them. Cuz
00:00:47.280 here’s the thing. If you say that and
00:00:49.760 the person you’re talking to then later
00:00:52.640 talks to that person and says, "Hey, I
00:00:54.320 was with Dan the other day and he said
00:00:56.000 that you’re one of the few people in the
00:00:57.360 world that truly understands Facebook
00:00:58.640 ads." That goes a massive long way.
00:01:01.760 Here’s how I learned this. I would spend
00:01:03.760 time with people and some people would
00:01:05.840 talk about other people and other folks
00:01:07.920 would praise other people when they
00:01:09.280 weren’t around. And I just thought to
00:01:10.560 myself, the ones that are talking crap,
00:01:12.799 I worry, are they going to talk about me
00:01:14.640 when I’m not around that way? But the
00:01:16.560 people that are always positive, I’m
00:01:18.320 like, man, I wonder what they say about
00:01:20.080 me when I’m not around. So, I just
00:01:21.680 decided I will always praise folks when
00:01:24.400 they’re not around. I just think it’s a
00:01:25.759 great way to live. I really want to give
00:01:27.920 you a tactical approach to doing this
00:01:30.640 cuz the truth is most people give
00:01:32.799 compliments. But here’s how you give a
00:01:35.200 great compliment. The first thing is you
00:01:37.280 have to be genuine, right? Obvious, I
00:01:39.439 know. But just don’t lie. I always ask
00:01:41.759 myself what is on my heart that I
00:01:43.759 actually want to say about that person
00:01:45.840 and that’s what comes out. The other one
00:01:47.600 is make it specific. Say something
00:01:50.479 detailed. Saying great person, not
00:01:52.960 detailed. You want to try to find
00:01:54.640 something that’s obscure. Again, genuine
00:01:56.880 that comes to your mind that you could
00:01:58.640 say specifically about them. Number
00:02:00.399 three, compliment the effort, not the
00:02:03.200 outcome. When I’m trying to give
00:02:04.719 somebody a compliment, I’m always saying
00:02:06.240 like the other day this guy on my team,
00:02:07.840 Ollie, I found out from somebody else
00:02:09.598 that he’s showing up and putting in
00:02:11.280 extra work. I made that compliment to
00:02:13.360 somebody else knowing hopefully it’s
00:02:15.440 going to get back to them. And the best
00:02:16.800 part, if they’re a team member, when you
00:02:18.319 compliment the effort, you’re
00:02:19.840 essentially shining a light on the
00:02:21.120 bright spot of what you want to see them
00:02:22.720 do more of. Here’s why it’s such a
00:02:24.959 powerful cheat code. the person that
00:02:26.800 you’re talking to, talking positively
00:02:28.560 about the other person, they’ll also
00:02:30.720 believe that you do that about them,
00:02:32.720 which is going to open up so many doors.
00:02:34.800 People do business with folks they know,
00:02:36.800 like, and trust. This creates a massive
00:02:39.599 like in their mind. Cheat code number
00:02:41.760 two, the zone of genius. Your zone of
00:02:44.319 genius is the work that feels like play
00:02:47.440 but drives real results. In many ways, I
00:02:49.840 used to tell people, you should start a
00:02:51.280 business doing the thing that you do
00:02:52.720 when you procrastinate. You literally do
00:02:54.720 this thing when you don’t want to do the
00:02:56.160 work. Imagine if you got paid for it.
00:02:58.160 Today, my life looks wildly different
00:03:01.440 than the way it used to be. I used to
00:03:03.360 wake up and just work and grind and
00:03:06.959 honestly would hate certain days. Today
00:03:09.200 I realize that when I give myself
00:03:10.879 permission to focus on my zone of genius
00:03:13.519 and find other people that play at the
00:03:16.400 things I work at, then the group of us
00:03:19.360 can do more in this world than I ever
00:03:21.280 could trying to do things that I hated
00:03:23.360 to do. Great way to think about it is
00:03:25.120 this. Broke people get good at tasks.
00:03:28.239 Rich people get good at avoiding them.
00:03:30.480 Why? Cuz it sucks their freaking energy.
00:03:32.959 When you’re in your zone of genius, an
00:03:35.120 hour or two hours of work feel like a
00:03:37.360 third of the time. It goes by so fast.
00:03:39.680 When you’re outside of your zone of
00:03:41.280 genius, that 1 hour can feel like 3 or 4
00:03:44.400 hours. So, here’s four principles to
00:03:46.959 make sure you only operate in your zone
00:03:48.959 of genius. Number one is don’t lean your
00:03:51.519 ladder against the wrong wall. For
00:03:53.760 example, you might find your zone of
00:03:55.599 genius being creating videos. So, you
00:03:57.599 might think, okay, well, the natural
00:03:58.720 thing is I got to start an agency and
00:04:00.239 start editing videos for other people
00:04:01.680 and then I can be in business. But you
00:04:03.760 might find out you hate agency work.
00:04:06.080 Instead, ask yourself, what would it
00:04:07.840 look like? Maybe it’s finding one
00:04:09.439 creator and you join their team and then
00:04:11.360 you work with that creator to create
00:04:13.040 their platform and that is actually what
00:04:14.959 you want to be doing. The second is it
00:04:16.880 looks like work but feels like play. I
00:04:19.600 love when people get around me and they
00:04:21.759 see me work because they’ll see me with
00:04:24.080 my team and they’ll see me doing long
00:04:26.000 hours, but they don’t realize internally
00:04:28.960 it feels like play. Number three, build
00:04:31.440 a life that you never have to retire
00:04:33.520 from. The idea of retirement is the
00:04:35.919 dumbest idea that’s ever been sold. I’m
00:04:38.479 a fan of saying, "How do I make this
00:04:40.880 week feel a little bit more like
00:04:42.479 retirement? How about next month? How
00:04:44.639 about next year? I’m taking nine months
00:04:46.639 off to travel with my family all over
00:04:48.720 the world. That sure sounds like
00:04:50.320 retirement to most people, but guess
00:04:52.160 what? It’s just life. When you create
00:04:54.320 things in a way that doesn’t feel like
00:04:56.320 you have to escape them, then you’re not
00:04:58.240 rushing to a vacation. Number four is
00:05:00.720 that it’s okay to say no to the dull
00:05:03.520 thing to make room for the exciting.
00:05:05.759 Often times, a yes to something today is
00:05:08.880 saying no to something more exciting in
00:05:10.560 the future cuz you just don’t have time
00:05:12.080 for it. I’m a big fan of curating my
00:05:14.800 calendar. I always ask myself this
00:05:16.560 question. If somebody’s asking me to do
00:05:18.240 something in two weeks or a month or six
00:05:19.919 months, I go, if I had to do it tonight,
00:05:22.400 would I be excited to do it or is it a
00:05:24.639 mess? I got to be able to create space
00:05:26.479 by saying no to the future dull things.
00:05:29.199 So, I have room to be able to say yes to
00:05:31.520 the exciting opportunities. This is such
00:05:33.840 a cheat code because it makes hard work
00:05:36.880 feel like play. So, your energy
00:05:38.960 compounds over time. That is a cheat
00:05:42.080 code. Cheat code number three, strategic
00:05:45.199 silence. This one is counterintuitive.
00:05:49.199 Silence is a power move. Pausing
00:05:53.280 before you speak shows control. See, it
00:05:57.120 makes people listen closer and it cuts
00:05:59.440 out empty words. The ums, the likely,
00:06:02.000 the probably. There’s all this stuff
00:06:03.759 that people say because they don’t take
00:06:05.680 a second to think.
00:06:08.240 They just assume they got to fill
00:06:09.680 everything in. The truth is they don’t.
00:06:12.800 That is a cheat code. For example, one
00:06:16.080 of my sales guys rarely talks, but when
00:06:19.039 he does, everyone listens. And his
00:06:22.800 ability to articulate with crystal
00:06:25.919 clarity a concept that helps the other
00:06:28.080 salespeople make a lot of money is one
00:06:30.319 of the most important reasons why we
00:06:32.400 love having him on the team. But this is
00:06:34.240 the thing. when he asks the team a
00:06:36.240 question, he stops because he wants to
00:06:39.120 get them to integrate the outcome that
00:06:41.440 he’s teaching, not just talk over them.
00:06:44.080 Another way to think about it is a
00:06:45.919 well-timed silence is louder than a
00:06:48.639 poorly timed opinion. Here’s how I like
00:06:51.120 to use strategic silence. First, take a
00:06:54.160 second before you speak. If you’re in a
00:06:56.400 meeting, especially if you’ve got an
00:06:58.639 emotional reaction to what was just
00:07:00.319 said, do yourself a favor and just take
00:07:02.479 a second to breathe.
00:07:04.639 Hm.
00:07:06.479 I like to go curious. That’s what I
00:07:08.000 think in my head. Be curious, Dan. Be
00:07:09.759 curious, Dan. Be curious, Dan. From that
00:07:12.000 place, then I can speak. Second is count
00:07:15.199 the seconds in your head. If you want to
00:07:17.360 practice, try 5 seconds. You know,
00:07:19.520 especially if you’re in a communication
00:07:21.280 role, sales role, business development
00:07:23.360 role, once you present somebody an
00:07:25.360 option, count to seven. I dare you. You
00:07:28.479 give them the price. One, two, three,
00:07:32.720 four, five. And usually at 5 seconds
00:07:35.520 when the other person leans in. If you
00:07:37.680 move on too quick, you don’t give them a
00:07:39.759 second to give you the real reason
00:07:42.000 they’re thinking. The third is eliminate
00:07:44.160 filler words. Those words like,
00:07:46.720 literally, ums, they’re all fillers
00:07:49.440 because you haven’t given yourself time
00:07:51.440 to think. Just stop. The cool part,
00:07:54.400 practice makes perfect. My favorite
00:07:56.400 exercise comes from my friend Vin. What
00:07:58.319 he recommends you do is record yourself
00:08:00.639 talking for five minutes. And then that
00:08:02.800 way you can go back and look at all the
00:08:05.120 times you said, the likes, the ums, the
00:08:07.199 pause, the literalies, all these filler
00:08:09.280 words that don’t add anything to the
00:08:11.280 conversation. It’ll change the way you
00:08:13.440 talk. In a world addicted to noise,
00:08:16.400 silence is a signal of confidence. This
00:08:18.800 is why it’s such a freaking cheat code
00:08:21.120 is that it builds perceived power
00:08:22.960 without saying a word. Cheat code number
00:08:25.759 four, the preloaded year. Most people
00:08:28.960 react to their year by default. I want
00:08:31.520 you to do it by design. Before doing
00:08:33.679 this, my life was non-stop conflict. I
00:08:37.200 had somebody pissed off cuz I missed a
00:08:38.799 birthday. I was mad at myself cuz I put
00:08:40.640 on weight. My life was reactive. I
00:08:43.120 wasn’t proactive. So, this is how we do
00:08:45.839 the preloaded year. First off, you can
00:08:47.920 click the link below in the description
00:08:49.360 to download my template and the whole
00:08:51.360 structure so you have a one-page
00:08:53.200 document on filling it out so it makes
00:08:55.680 it crystal clear. I always do my
00:08:57.600 pre-loaded year at the end of the year
00:08:59.440 for the following year. So the first
00:09:01.600 thing is I’m planning the most important
00:09:04.240 stuff. So at the end of my year, what
00:09:06.240 I’ve done is I’ve written down all the
00:09:08.399 things that I want to consider. So my
00:09:10.640 buddies might invite me on a ski trip. I
00:09:12.480 write that down. Somebody else might
00:09:14.080 say, "Hey, next year we should do this."
00:09:15.360 I write that down. Think of it like
00:09:16.880 rocks in a jar. I’ve got my big rocks.
00:09:18.959 I’m talking birthdays, reoccurring trips
00:09:21.600 with my family. All that stuff are the
00:09:23.680 big rocks. These are the things that are
00:09:25.040 most important. The pebbles, the
00:09:27.120 business stuff, the trips, those are
00:09:28.800 important, too. We’re going to get them
00:09:29.839 in there. But sand is like stuff that
00:09:31.839 will just fill in between. That’s like
00:09:33.760 the day-to-day stuff that you can say
00:09:35.040 yes to in real time. Doesn’t take any
00:09:36.800 extra space. Number two is I like to
00:09:39.680 visualize and color code my template.
00:09:42.320 That one page. I can block in all these
00:09:45.040 different things and I can use different
00:09:46.800 colors based on what they are. Being
00:09:48.720 able to step back, visualize it and ask
00:09:51.440 myself the energy of how it would flow
00:09:53.519 is a game changer. The third is to have
00:09:56.160 one place for all of it. I like to use
00:09:58.160 the one page to design it. Then I have a
00:10:00.160 Google doc where I save all my ideas
00:10:02.320 this year or next year for consideration
00:10:04.399 to add it to my one page. The reason why
00:10:06.480 it’s such a cheat code is because it
00:10:08.240 reduces stress. It avoids the rework,
00:10:10.720 forgetting to do something, paying last
00:10:12.560 minute for flights, or doing something
00:10:14.399 you know you need to do that you didn’t
00:10:15.680 plan for. And it protects your
00:10:17.200 priorities and that is the most
00:10:18.720 important. Cheat code number five, the
00:10:20.959 955 rule. Most results, if you truly
00:10:24.000 analyze them, look at your life and see
00:10:26.240 what have been needle moving activities,
00:10:28.399 it actually comes down to about 5% out
00:10:30.800 of 100% that truly move the needle. The
00:10:34.000 955 rule is the 8020 paro principle on
00:10:38.320 steroids. The paro principle is
00:10:40.880 essentially this guy paro that analyze
00:10:43.920 wealth distribution and he realized that
00:10:46.160 like 20% of the population had access to
00:10:49.839 80% of the wealth. But if you look at
00:10:51.839 most things from a distribution point of
00:10:53.519 view, it follows the same 8020 rule.
00:10:55.920 I’ve noticed within that there’s
00:10:58.079 actually the 955 rule which means that
00:11:00.640 if you focus on the right decisions or
00:11:02.880 activities you can get 95% of the
00:11:05.360 results with only 5% of the effort. If
00:11:07.760 you focus on the right 5% and completely
00:11:11.120 ignore the rest it’s a game changer. It
00:11:13.519 reminds me of this time years ago I
00:11:15.519 hired a marketing leader and we’re doing
00:11:17.200 probably 3 million in revenue in the
00:11:18.800 business and they jump on and they hit
00:11:20.800 the ground running auditing funnels and
00:11:22.640 refining all the marketing. 6 months
00:11:25.360 later, we fired them. The reason why is
00:11:28.320 they never move the needle because they
00:11:31.279 didn’t stop to actually analyze and
00:11:34.560 focus on the things that actually were
00:11:37.120 working. Often times, if you just look
00:11:39.440 at all the effort on a team for your own
00:11:41.920 work, you’ll find those key elements
00:11:44.880 that are actually having the biggest
00:11:46.240 impact. When you say no to everything
00:11:47.839 else and double down on those, that’s
00:11:50.079 where the gold happens. This is why it’s
00:11:52.240 such a massive cheat code is you stop
00:11:54.880 optimizing for problems that just don’t
00:11:57.200 matter. How often do you actually try to
00:11:59.440 put out what I call a kitchen fire? How
00:12:02.079 often do you actually try to put out a
00:12:04.160 dumpster fire? When you get good at
00:12:06.560 deciphering what is the 95 versus the
00:12:09.040 five, you will become lethal in your
00:12:11.200 ability to produce results. Cheat code
00:12:13.519 number six, the 5 a.m. club. This one is
00:12:17.120 my favorite. Now, I’m going to give you
00:12:18.880 permission to aim towards 5:00 a.m. I’m
00:12:20.800 up earlier. Why? Very simple. I believe
00:12:24.079 the earlier you wake up from when other
00:12:26.720 people naturally wake up gives you the
00:12:28.959 more time to actually do some of the
00:12:30.720 most important work for the day because
00:12:33.040 you’re awake while everybody else is
00:12:35.040 sleeping, which means there’s no
00:12:36.399 distractions. It builds momentum. So,
00:12:38.720 5:00 a.m. when everybody else is getting
00:12:40.160 up at 6:45 or 7 gives you a couple hours
00:12:43.760 to yourself. That time is where I use it
00:12:47.519 to create connected to my creator. Where
00:12:49.600 I look for opportunities to feed my
00:12:51.760 mind, to educate myself, to design and
00:12:55.040 dream, where most people are still
00:12:57.120 horizontal, I’ve built momentum getting
00:12:59.839 up early to start my day. 15 years ago,
00:13:03.040 I’m talking to my dad and he’s asking me
00:13:05.120 those questions the dad’s asked that
00:13:06.639 make you feel like you’re still not
00:13:08.079 actually doing much with your life,
00:13:09.360 which is crazy cuz even at that time, I
00:13:10.800 was a multi-millionaire. But you know
00:13:12.880 what? He wasn’t wrong. I had convinced
00:13:15.839 myself that I had made it and I was
00:13:19.200 sleeping in, wasn’t focused. The next
00:13:22.560 day, I made a commitment to just wake up
00:13:24.880 earlier. I just started with 15 minutes
00:13:27.279 earlier than what I was used to. At the
00:13:28.639 time, maybe 7:15, so that went to 7,
00:13:30.800 then 6:45, then 6:30. Now it’s 4:00 a.m.
00:13:34.320 Sometimes I wake up at 3:23 and I’m
00:13:36.800 awake. Guess what? I just get up and I
00:13:38.560 start my day. Other times I will let
00:13:40.160 myself sleep in. But it is rare that I
00:13:42.160 can even make it past 5:00 a.m. anymore
00:13:44.079 because it’s who I’ve become and I look
00:13:46.320 forward to it. It’s my favorite part of
00:13:48.560 my day. This is why this strategy is
00:13:51.360 such a cheat code is cuz you get hours
00:13:53.600 of deep work while the world sleeps
00:13:56.800 while everybody else is still trying to
00:13:58.639 find themselves in the morning. You
00:14:00.480 probably got more done in that morning
00:14:02.320 than they’ll do their whole day. Cheat
00:14:04.320 code number seven, energy stacking. Time
00:14:07.360 isn’t the real limit. your energy is.
00:14:10.480 Sometimes you’re doing something and it
00:14:12.000 can feel like a lot of time and other
00:14:13.760 things can feel like it goes really
00:14:15.600 quick. When you align your work with
00:14:17.600 your natural energy levels throughout
00:14:19.519 the day and then do batch tasks, you
00:14:22.000 stop forcing motivation and start
00:14:23.839 building it. The other day, I was
00:14:25.519 chatting with somebody on Instagram and
00:14:27.199 they were like, tell me how they were
00:14:28.399 burnt out. Well, tell me about your day.
00:14:30.079 And they’re like, you know, well, this
00:14:31.360 morning I had a sales call at 7:00 a.m.,
00:14:33.040 blah, blah, blah. And I’m like, why did
00:14:34.399 you take the call at 7:00 a.m.? They’re
00:14:35.680 like, I don’t know. The person that was
00:14:36.959 the only time they could talk. Did you
00:14:38.880 ask them if they could talk at a
00:14:40.320 different time? No. Interesting. The way
00:14:43.440 I like to think about it is this. If you
00:14:45.440 don’t set boundaries, somebody else will
00:14:47.920 and they won’t be for your benefit. So,
00:14:49.920 stop managing your time and start
00:14:51.680 managing your energy. Here’s how you do
00:14:53.680 it. The first is schedule for energy.
00:14:56.079 The way you do your mornings is
00:14:58.000 completely different than your
00:14:59.120 afternoons and probably your nights. So,
00:15:01.199 figure out what types of activities do
00:15:02.880 you want to do in each spot. And every
00:15:04.240 person’s different. So, for example, not
00:15:06.240 only do I like to do all my meetings in
00:15:08.320 the afternoon, I like to do all my
00:15:09.920 one-on- ones on a scooter. When I have
00:15:11.760 meetings with people, when it’s just
00:15:13.199 them and I, I want to be on the
00:15:14.959 waterfront. I want to be talking. It
00:15:16.560 also puts my mind at ease so that it’s
00:15:18.959 more fun for me and from an energy point
00:15:20.880 of view, it’s actually better. The
00:15:22.880 second is you have to batch your work.
00:15:24.720 When I look at shooting content or doing
00:15:27.920 deal reviews at Martell Ventures or
00:15:30.240 sitting down and doing financial
00:15:32.000 meetings, I batch that together because
00:15:34.000 I want to have the focus, the context be
00:15:36.720 ramped up, similar energy. So I use the
00:15:40.000 batchwork to manage the energy
00:15:41.839 throughout the day. I do that so that I
00:15:44.399 don’t lose a lot of energy switching
00:15:46.639 between things. So, for example, if I
00:15:48.639 asked you to just say out loud 1 2 3 4 5
00:15:50.720 6 7 all the way to 26 and then go A B C
00:15:53.040 D E F G all the way to Z, you could
00:15:55.040 probably get it done in about 27
00:15:56.800 seconds. But if I asked you to go 1 A 2
00:16:00.399 B 3 C, most people if they got it done
00:16:03.440 cuz they get confused will take about a
00:16:05.600 minute and a half. Think about the
00:16:07.279 amount of energy you save by not
00:16:09.839 switching context and doing batch work
00:16:12.000 instead. Number three, net time, which
00:16:14.560 stands for no extra time. I already
00:16:16.880 mentioned the scooter meetings, but I
00:16:18.720 also do all outbound messages while I’m
00:16:21.279 in the hot tub. Why? Looks like work,
00:16:23.600 feels like play. When I’m in a hot tub
00:16:25.600 doing text messaging, it does not feel
00:16:27.839 like work. I like to do workouts with
00:16:29.680 other friends. I like to do founders
00:16:31.279 hikes where I invite anybody in the
00:16:33.040 world, including yourself. If you want
00:16:34.399 to fly to Colona every Tuesday, although
00:16:36.560 I’m going to be traveling for the next 9
00:16:38.000 months, I won’t be here. Is a great
00:16:39.360 opportunity for me to say yes to people
00:16:41.040 to get a workout in, have a
00:16:42.560 conversation. It’s just a great way to
00:16:44.639 use the energy that’s appropriate for
00:16:46.320 that time and not take away from
00:16:48.399 something else that I need to get done.
00:16:49.920 Why this is such a massive cheat code is
00:16:52.160 you stop operating from a place of
00:16:54.079 needing to be motivated and start
00:16:55.920 operating from alignment. Your energy is
00:16:58.320 just more efficient. So those are the
00:17:00.160 cheat codes to achieve anything. That
00:17:03.279 being said, if you have big dreams, the
00:17:06.400 effort and discipline need to match. You
00:17:09.919 got to take big actions. You can’t have
00:17:12.480 big dreams and take little action. You
00:17:14.799 can’t have big ideas and think small.
00:17:17.520 You have to match the effort. So, now
00:17:20.400 that you’ve heard all these awesome
00:17:21.839 cheat codes, I need you to just pick one
00:17:24.640 and commit to it 30 days. Just pick one.
00:17:28.640 Leave a comment below. Let me know what
00:17:30.799 it is and commit to it for the next 30
00:17:32.960 days. That will integrate it into your
00:17:35.679 identity, who you are, and will stack
00:17:38.559 the habit of success. If preloaded year
00:17:41.679 is the one you want to do, then just
00:17:43.600 click the link below in the description
00:17:45.039 to grab your template. So, it makes it
00:17:46.960 really easy to get it done. Now, if you
00:17:49.039 want to learn the 40 brutal truths I
00:17:51.120 wish I knew in my 20s, click the video
00:17:52.880 and I’ll see you on the other