Powerful Productivity Advice By Khe Hy

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The average monthly search count of the word ‘Productivity” on Google is around 50,000. This one aspect of our lives usually brings even the best to their knees.?

The surprising fact is – most of us are trying to live by external standards of productivity. We measure it in hours, numbers of tasks ticked off, books you’ve read in a month and calories you lose during a workout.?

It’s funny because I was the same. I let social media and self-help gurus dictate how productive I was supposed to be. Frankly, I tired myself out.?

Then it hit me – If I am not enjoying the process, how am I even expecting myself to deliver my best? Why am I not measuring productivity as the quality of my days??

Everything flipped that day. Turns out, the moment you focus on the work that really really matters to you - you’ll discover your most productive self.?

I invited a good friend and one of the most real people in the productivity niche to enlighten me on some of the hidden mindset shifts that precede a fulfilling life.?

Setting The Stage:

?????Say Hi:?

Khe Hy aka Oprah for Millenials is the founder of RadReads which helps people supercharge their productivity and get the best out of life - through blogs, weekly newsletters and Notion templates.??

???Dive In Deep:?

I’ve invited Khe to give us a tour of how to go about creating systems that help us fulfill our potential. Zero fluff advice that *actually* changes your life.??

??? Learn:?

1. How to create an optimum inner environment and outer environment to boost productivity?
2. What is 10k work and how can you optimize your life for success?
3. How to get rid of a misconception about growth to climb up ahead??
4. Bonus: What does “feeling rich” mean for Khe??

While in conversation with Khe, I realized that productivity is actually more about what you don’t do than about what you need to do.?

Close your eyes and imagine your most productive day. Chances are you will think about not encountering a single distraction during your work.?

Simple: Addition by elimination.?

You add more to your life by subtracting clutter than by adding up one hack over another.

Khe says,?

“I encourage people that whenever they write down a particular task, they should ask themselves: Does this truly move me closer to the life I’d like to live?”

It’s so elegant, just eliminate what doesn’t contribute to your ideal life. It can be books, goals, irrelevant tasks that take up too much of your energy or conversations and people.?

Khe highlights that categorizing your tasks as - High Leverage Tasks and Low Leverage Tasks can deeply impact the quality of your days and, in the long run, your life.?

But what are $10K tasks exactly and how do you identify them??

“$10k work is when you take your unique skill and amplify it. So you might be a good writer but that’s a $1k skill.?

But what if you could amplify it and teach someone else how to do it or you could create a style guide to help other people. You go from a one-to-one perspective to a one-to-many perspective.”

“Basically you’ve to zoom out and find the “why” of your life. What is your driving question?”?

When you align your goals to your purpose, to what truly matters to you, it becomes easier to achieve anything.?

Most people struggle to be productive because the tasks don’t give them an innate sense of contentment. Deep down you know you aren’t doing what you want to be doing.?

On this note, Khe shares a brilliant insight –

“I suggest people do the Future Casting Exercise – wherein you visualize your dream life, your dream business, your dream work environment and work backwards from there.”?

?“You’ll see that 10k work involves setting a vision, breaking it down into component pieces and starting to take tiny actionable steps in service of that vision.”?

Here’s a breakdown I did of $10k work:?

1. Journal and brainstorm to identify what your purpose is: “What does my life look like 10 years later? Or even, where do I want to be in a year?”
2. What is the first step you need to take??
3. What is the second step??
4. Just keep breaking it down into the smallest actions that contribute and compound over time to get you to your desired life.?

Khe says, “Everyone should devote 25 minutes a day doing a $10k task.”

While we’re on the subject of compounding - Khe has been writing RadReads since 2015 and has gained 30k+ devoted readers and customers during that time. I was curious to know what factors played a part in his consistency.?

“I have sent 321 emails in the past six and a half years. I’ve spent 10,000 hours writing emails. The reason I’ve been consistent is because I genuinely care about my audience and I find it fun.”?

“My mantra is: follow the fun. It doesn’t mean that I don’t do things that are not fun but if something’s not fun for more than a month, I’m not going to do it.”?

If you want to be consistent:?

• Show up for what you enjoy doing?
• Have fun and care about it?
• Get out of your own way (aka don’t let perfectionism stop you from executing things.)?

A visual that serves as a good reminder:?

Iterate by Visualize Value?

As we talked about consistency which plays a key role in growing one’s online presence - Khe highlighted that caring about your work and the people you’re serving is so necessary to remain in the game longer while also making the process feel like a breeze for you.?

It sort of reminded me of what we talked about in 2022’s first newsletter: Make it easy for yourself to win.?

Khe says it comes to self-reflection, “I encourage everyone to ponder, ‘What if this was easy?’ or flip that and ask yourself, ‘Where is the unnecessary struggle?’”

“There’s a conception of the world that you must struggle for things to be worthwhile. Everything has to be a grind but consider for a moment that it's not actually true. What if things could be easy and beautiful and profitable?”?

“I had to let go of this conception that I’ve to constantly struggle to grow. Part of what makes it fun is that it doesn't feel like work.”

While pondering on a worthy life, Khe shared with me his new definition of “feeling rich” and that is freedom and attention.?

“If I always feel the need to check something, whether it's my audience or stocks or clicks or things related to my house, I don’t feel rich or wealthy. So one of the big ways to maximize your freedom and attention is to flex your saying no muscle.”

Thank you for your time and powerful insights, Khe. I’m taking away so many lessons from our conversation.

?? THE BALL IS IN YOUR COURT?

• Your homework for today is figuring out your $10k tasks and optimizing your daily life to feel more fulfilled. Start with journaling your bigger life goals and then make them trickle down to your daily routine.?
• Here’s Khe’s $10k Tasks Notion Template tutorial to help you understand how to go about it. I use it every day.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

?? RIFF OF THE DAY

I’ll leave you with this truth bomb:

Thanks for reading. I try hard to make it worth your time. Got feedback? Let me know .

Stay outta’ trouble and catch you next week.

??? Joel

Wanna learn more about building your voice online? Check out my 2022 Spring Cohort Class .

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