1 00:00:00,260 --> 00:00:02,770 This video is sponsored by Blinkist. 2 00:00:02,770 --> 00:00:08,760 Blinkist gives you all the key insights of bestselling nonfiction books by transforming 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:13,210 them into powerful packs that you can read or listen to in just 15 minutes. 4 00:00:13,210 --> 00:00:18,070 We will talk more about blinkist later but for now let’s get on with this video on 5 00:00:18,070 --> 00:00:23,430 how to be productive from the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius. 6 00:00:23,430 --> 00:00:31,010 Marcus Aurelius was the emperor of Rome from 161 to 180 and is considered as the last of 7 00:00:31,010 --> 00:00:33,940 the Five Good Emperors. 8 00:00:33,940 --> 00:00:39,420 During his rule, Aurelius found the time to construct a series of autobiographical writings, 9 00:00:39,420 --> 00:00:42,239 now known as the Meditations. 10 00:00:42,239 --> 00:00:47,940 In these writings, the Roman Emperor offered a number of key insights on how to be productive 11 00:00:47,940 --> 00:00:53,309 and so here are six of the most important insights for productivity from the wisdom 12 00:00:53,309 --> 00:00:55,799 of Marcus Aurelius. 13 00:00:55,799 --> 00:00:57,659 1. 14 00:00:57,659 --> 00:01:04,119 Manage your emotions well Marcus Aurelius says “You have power over 15 00:01:04,119 --> 00:01:07,580 your mind - not outside events. 16 00:01:07,580 --> 00:01:15,050 Realize this, and you will find strength” Marcus Aurelius’ rule was marked by warfare, 17 00:01:15,050 --> 00:01:18,850 revolt, plague, and many other challenges. 18 00:01:18,850 --> 00:01:24,050 The last decade of his life was particularly difficult with the revolt of the general Cassius, 19 00:01:24,050 --> 00:01:29,200 the death of his wife, chronic physical pains and the realization that his son Commodus 20 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:32,590 would not be the man Marcus had hoped for. 21 00:01:32,590 --> 00:01:37,280 He knew that he couldn’t control all that happened to him, but he could control how 22 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,670 he responded. 23 00:01:39,670 --> 00:01:44,180 Instead of complaining and letting anything affect his focus and productivity, he chose 24 00:01:44,180 --> 00:01:47,710 to see each obstacle as a way to move forward. 25 00:01:47,710 --> 00:01:53,570 Through the Stoic routine, he was able to master his emotions and got the work done. 26 00:01:53,570 --> 00:01:59,700 There are lots of factors that affect our productivity on a daily basis: The food we 27 00:01:59,700 --> 00:02:05,050 eat, the weather, how well we have slept the night before, the difficulty of the task in 28 00:02:05,050 --> 00:02:13,219 hand and so on but one of the most underestimated and often overlooked factors is your mood. 29 00:02:13,219 --> 00:02:18,659 Several studies have now shown the importance of emotions on your performance. 30 00:02:18,659 --> 00:02:24,079 One recent study of customer service representatives found that a bad mood made employees perform 31 00:02:24,079 --> 00:02:28,829 worse than those in a good mood, and made them likely to take more breaks throughout 32 00:02:28,829 --> 00:02:32,780 the day, lowering their total time working. 33 00:02:32,780 --> 00:02:37,629 Conversely, as well as taking fewer breaks than those who weren’t happy, those who 34 00:02:37,629 --> 00:02:44,939 were in a good mood tended to be about 10% more productive and produce better work overall. 35 00:02:44,939 --> 00:02:47,560 When you’re happy, you’re in a good mood. 36 00:02:47,560 --> 00:02:51,249 Good mood makes you enthusiastic and focused. 37 00:02:51,249 --> 00:02:57,959 When you’re experiencing negative emotions, such as anger, sadness, or anxiety, you’re 38 00:02:57,959 --> 00:02:59,569 in a bad mood. 39 00:02:59,569 --> 00:03:04,829 When you’re in a bad mood, you’re stressed or even depressed and to make yourself feel 40 00:03:04,829 --> 00:03:10,150 better in the moment, you start looking for distractions, like catching up on cat videos 41 00:03:10,150 --> 00:03:15,930 or doom-scrolling your Twitter feed, which further leads to procrastination. 42 00:03:15,930 --> 00:03:20,819 The study also showed that employees’ moods when they first arrived at work generally 43 00:03:20,819 --> 00:03:23,239 stayed the same throughout the day. 44 00:03:23,239 --> 00:03:28,680 Despite what happened during their workday, morning moods were a very strong indicator 45 00:03:28,680 --> 00:03:33,189 of what the representative’s moods would be like by the end of the day. 46 00:03:33,189 --> 00:03:38,749 Which means that starting the day in a good mood is paramount for doing your best work. 47 00:03:38,749 --> 00:03:42,559 So what can we do to improve our mood? 48 00:03:42,559 --> 00:03:48,489 Apart from prioritizing sleep, exercising, focusing on your diet and following other 49 00:03:48,489 --> 00:03:53,879 healthy routines that would boost our mood, the Stoics would advise us to use this technique 50 00:03:53,879 --> 00:03:57,569 called negative visualization. 51 00:03:57,569 --> 00:04:03,239 Negative visualization is a technique to anticipate the worst so that we can adequately prepare 52 00:04:03,239 --> 00:04:06,760 ourselves for the challenges that lie ahead. 53 00:04:06,760 --> 00:04:12,059 By asking yourself what could go wrong, you imagine the worst case scenarios like your 54 00:04:12,059 --> 00:04:19,410 boss in a bad mood, the bad traffic or irritating people you may encounter, and so on. 55 00:04:19,410 --> 00:04:23,590 This way you are not only preparing yourself for these challenges but you are helping yourself 56 00:04:23,590 --> 00:04:29,660 to stay calm if any of these unfortunate events happen to you since you have already envisioned 57 00:04:29,660 --> 00:04:31,780 them happening to you. 58 00:04:31,780 --> 00:04:37,440 So if your boss shouts at you for something, you will experience fewer negative emotions, 59 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:40,540 because you were already prepared for them. 60 00:04:40,540 --> 00:04:44,520 This way you can focus on the task at hand. 61 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:46,140 2. 62 00:04:46,140 --> 00:04:52,910 Do less To quote Marcus Aurelius “If you seek tranquility, 63 00:04:52,910 --> 00:04:57,710 do less” Marcus Aurelius in his meditations reminds 64 00:04:57,710 --> 00:05:03,310 himself the importance of doing less in life— and cutting out the superfluous actions from 65 00:05:03,310 --> 00:05:04,650 his own. 66 00:05:04,650 --> 00:05:11,010 Even though he was a very busy man with many obligations and responsibilities, he felt 67 00:05:11,010 --> 00:05:15,310 that most of what we say and do is not essential. 68 00:05:15,310 --> 00:05:20,050 If you take his advice and ask yourself at every moment “Is this necessary?” 69 00:05:20,050 --> 00:05:26,690 Then you will be able eliminate the things that are not required, giving you more time, 70 00:05:26,690 --> 00:05:29,330 and more tranquility. 71 00:05:29,330 --> 00:05:36,500 In our modern world, we’ve been taught that if we want more money, peace of mind or recognition, 72 00:05:36,500 --> 00:05:42,220 we need to do more, to add more to our ever-growing to-do list. 73 00:05:42,220 --> 00:05:48,001 However, according to the evidence, if we truly want to be productive and happy, we 74 00:05:48,001 --> 00:05:51,180 should actually be doing less. 75 00:05:51,180 --> 00:05:56,820 The author of Your Brain at Work, David Rock found that we’re truly focused on our work 76 00:05:56,820 --> 00:06:03,920 a mere six hours per week, which starkly in contrast to our collective 40-hour workweek. 77 00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:08,220 When you stop doing the things that make you feel busy but aren’t getting you results 78 00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:13,470 but are draining you of energy, then you end up with more than enough time for what matters. 79 00:06:13,470 --> 00:06:22,220 As people with full lives, with friends, kids, careers, hobbies, passions, and suchlike, 80 00:06:22,220 --> 00:06:27,660 we need to apply the wisdom of doing less to give ourselves more time and alleviate 81 00:06:27,660 --> 00:06:31,380 stress without jeopardizing our results. 82 00:06:31,380 --> 00:06:35,090 We need to identify what not to do. 83 00:06:35,090 --> 00:06:42,000 For that we can use Pareto’s 80/20 principle that says that 80% of your results are being 84 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:45,210 driven by 20% of your efforts. 85 00:06:45,210 --> 00:06:50,580 This helps a lot with our productivity because when we understand that the vast majority 86 00:06:50,580 --> 00:06:55,080 of our results are being driven by a small percentage of our efforts, we can pinpoint 87 00:06:55,080 --> 00:07:00,460 which efforts are driving the best results for us - and focus our energy on those. 88 00:07:00,460 --> 00:07:05,660 So, for example, let’s say that you are in sales and you have a long list of clients 89 00:07:05,660 --> 00:07:12,100 to call each day and once you study your data you will realize that 80% of your orders come 90 00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:14,530 from just a few clients. 91 00:07:14,530 --> 00:07:19,240 You could get more done and drive more revenue if you focused your time and energy on those 92 00:07:19,240 --> 00:07:24,390 few clients, instead of running yourself into the ground trying to manage your entire client 93 00:07:24,390 --> 00:07:28,670 base, and getting completely overwhelmed in the process. 94 00:07:28,670 --> 00:07:34,080 The goal is to devote energy to those 2-3 most important tasks that are likely to give 95 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,800 us higher returns. 96 00:07:36,800 --> 00:07:38,580 3. 97 00:07:38,580 --> 00:07:42,880 Strategize Marcus Aurelius teaches us “The first thing 98 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:46,430 to do — don't get worked up… 99 00:07:46,430 --> 00:07:51,710 The next thing to do — consider carefully the task at hand for what it is, while remembering 100 00:07:51,710 --> 00:07:58,330 your purpose is to be a good human being” Marcus lived a successful life because he 101 00:07:58,330 --> 00:08:00,910 was extremely self-disciplined. 102 00:08:00,910 --> 00:08:05,660 Each morning, he followed a routine in which he would visualize all the possible outcomes 103 00:08:05,660 --> 00:08:11,430 of how he would approach his day, the people he would deal with and the work he would do. 104 00:08:11,430 --> 00:08:16,690 He would then strategize on how he would go about everything in his day. 105 00:08:16,690 --> 00:08:21,950 Most of us, when we start working on something, start with unrealistic expectations. 106 00:08:21,950 --> 00:08:29,440 We fail to think clearly about the process, and this lack of uncertainty leads to procrastination. 107 00:08:29,440 --> 00:08:34,200 Not having a strategy will almost certainly lead to failure. 108 00:08:34,200 --> 00:08:38,669 Once you figure out your important tasks, you need to systematically break each and 109 00:08:38,669 --> 00:08:44,060 every task down into individual steps from the start, till the end. 110 00:08:44,060 --> 00:08:48,400 This means forming an effective plan of action that consists of a deadline for accomplishing 111 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:49,750 the tasks. 112 00:08:49,750 --> 00:08:55,210 It should be built on the foundation of mini-milestones that break your goal down into manageable 113 00:08:55,210 --> 00:08:57,340 chunks. 114 00:08:57,340 --> 00:09:00,800 Mini-milestones will ensure that you’re working toward your desired outcome in small 115 00:09:00,800 --> 00:09:07,880 pieces and time blocks, giving you a more realistic sense of what you can accomplish. 116 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:13,440 This tactic puts you in the driver’s seat as you will be able to see any potential hurdles 117 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:15,960 and take any required action. 118 00:09:15,960 --> 00:09:20,590 It gives you a sense of control over the tasks and projects you’re working on and once 119 00:09:20,590 --> 00:09:26,540 you have such clarity, it’s that much less likely that you will end up procrastinating. 120 00:09:26,540 --> 00:09:28,420 4. 121 00:09:28,420 --> 00:09:35,180 Start your day with your most difficult task According to Marcus Aurelius “The impediment 122 00:09:35,180 --> 00:09:37,980 to action advances action. 123 00:09:37,980 --> 00:09:44,140 What stands in the way becomes the way” It is well known that Marcus would tackle 124 00:09:44,140 --> 00:09:47,290 his most difficult tasks first. 125 00:09:47,290 --> 00:09:53,240 He never procrastinated on doing hard work or put off unpleasant duties. 126 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:57,550 He had a job to do and even though it was difficult, he never complained about it to 127 00:09:57,550 --> 00:10:00,530 himself or to anyone else. 128 00:10:00,530 --> 00:10:06,950 We assume that productivity means getting more things done each day but in truth productivity 129 00:10:06,950 --> 00:10:12,170 is all about getting important things done consistently. 130 00:10:12,170 --> 00:10:18,280 It is about maintaining a steady, average speed on a few things, not maximum speed on 131 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:20,120 everything. 132 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:24,420 When you have that list of things to do, there are clearly items that are more difficult 133 00:10:24,420 --> 00:10:25,970 than others. 134 00:10:25,970 --> 00:10:27,830 Suppose you are a salesman. 135 00:10:27,830 --> 00:10:33,020 Making sales calls is one of the most important things you can do to close deals, but it’s 136 00:10:33,020 --> 00:10:38,100 also one of the hardest, because you need to “disturb” the person on the other side, 137 00:10:38,100 --> 00:10:42,430 and you may well hear 100 nos just to get one yes. 138 00:10:42,430 --> 00:10:47,010 It would be natural for you, therefore, to postpone dealing with the sales calls for 139 00:10:47,010 --> 00:10:48,620 as long as possible. 140 00:10:48,620 --> 00:10:54,080 You procrastinate and avoid working on it and focus on everything else. 141 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:58,800 The problem with this approach is that on many days you would postpone it so much that 142 00:10:58,800 --> 00:11:01,350 you would end up not making the calls at all. 143 00:11:01,350 --> 00:11:05,440 It will always end up as the thing one still left on your list. 144 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:10,170 Which is why it is recommended to do your most difficult task first thing in the morning. 145 00:11:10,170 --> 00:11:13,600 Earlier in the day, our willpower tends to be higher. 146 00:11:13,600 --> 00:11:17,170 Our mind is clear and everything is quiet. 147 00:11:17,170 --> 00:11:22,380 That means you'll be able to provide your best energy and effort to your most difficult 148 00:11:22,380 --> 00:11:23,380 task. 149 00:11:23,380 --> 00:11:28,550 It’s your one opportunity to prioritize the thing that matters to you most because 150 00:11:28,550 --> 00:11:33,779 the deeper you get into your day, the more likely it is that unexpected tasks will demand 151 00:11:33,779 --> 00:11:37,650 for your attention, and it becomes less and less likely that you will be able to spend 152 00:11:37,650 --> 00:11:39,450 the time as you had planned. 153 00:11:39,450 --> 00:11:44,630 Doing the most difficult thing first each day helps avoid that and once you have gotten 154 00:11:44,630 --> 00:11:50,150 the important task out of the way, then the rest will look easy in comparison and you 155 00:11:50,150 --> 00:11:53,030 will feel more empowered. 156 00:11:53,030 --> 00:11:55,120 5. 157 00:11:55,120 --> 00:12:01,400 Respect time As we learn from Marcus Aurelius “Concentrate 158 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:07,080 every minute like a Roman— like a man— on doing what's in front of you with precise 159 00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:13,950 and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice” 160 00:12:13,950 --> 00:12:19,800 Marcus Aurelius teaches us to use our resources such as time like a wartime general because 161 00:12:19,800 --> 00:12:23,200 it is our most valuable and equitable resource. 162 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:29,240 Seneca, another great stoic figure and a teacher, wrote in the first century, how surprised 163 00:12:29,240 --> 00:12:34,170 he was by how little people seems to value their lives as they were living them — how 164 00:12:34,170 --> 00:12:39,710 busy, terribly busy, everyone seems to be, and how wasteful of their time and this has 165 00:12:39,710 --> 00:12:44,470 remained unchanged for the last 2000 years. 166 00:12:44,470 --> 00:12:50,520 Time is arguably the most precious and the least renewable resource we have at our disposal. 167 00:12:50,520 --> 00:12:54,740 . Imagine walking down the street and seeing a rich man just throwing away all his possessions 168 00:12:54,740 --> 00:12:59,100 – his money, his gold, his watch collection - All of it. 169 00:12:59,100 --> 00:13:01,390 You’d definitely call that person crazy. 170 00:13:01,390 --> 00:13:07,550 And yet we see others and ourselves throw away something far more valuable every day: 171 00:13:07,550 --> 00:13:09,770 our Time. 172 00:13:09,770 --> 00:13:13,779 The amount of time we get is uncertain but surely limited. 173 00:13:13,779 --> 00:13:19,120 Wasting time is worse than wasting money because we can’t have it back when it runs out. 174 00:13:19,120 --> 00:13:24,090 So if we want to be productive, we need to take control of our time and start distributing 175 00:13:24,090 --> 00:13:25,640 it correctly. 176 00:13:25,640 --> 00:13:31,810 Once you decide on your task and have a clear strategy, you will have to ignore the distractions. 177 00:13:31,810 --> 00:13:36,660 Even if you try to remove all distractions, and are ready to start your day as you had 178 00:13:36,660 --> 00:13:41,990 planned — to your brain, the allure of finding an excuse to do something easier is still 179 00:13:41,990 --> 00:13:43,000 strong. 180 00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:48,220 The hardest task is finding a way to make that starting effort pleasant. 181 00:13:48,220 --> 00:13:53,360 The reason that it’s often hard to start the work is that there is no expectation of 182 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,090 an immediate reward. 183 00:13:55,090 --> 00:13:58,440 Sometimes, that reward is years away. 184 00:13:58,440 --> 00:14:03,660 However if you wrap your work with the expectancy of an immediate reward, you give yourself 185 00:14:03,660 --> 00:14:05,420 a good reason to start. 186 00:14:05,420 --> 00:14:10,120 For example, if you avoid or delay your work to check your instagram feed, you can make 187 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:14,920 a deal that you’re not allowed to log in to your instagram account again until a certain 188 00:14:14,920 --> 00:14:17,100 amount of work is done. 189 00:14:17,100 --> 00:14:21,480 This way you get rewarded by completing the unpleasant work with something immediate. 190 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:26,670 You are always in control of what you can do with your time and you can choose to stop 191 00:14:26,670 --> 00:14:30,959 feeding your distractions and focus on the task at hand. 192 00:14:30,959 --> 00:14:32,120 6. 193 00:14:32,120 --> 00:14:38,780 Enjoy your progress In the words of Marcus Aurelius “Enjoyment 194 00:14:38,780 --> 00:14:43,370 means doing as much of what your nature requires as you can. 195 00:14:43,370 --> 00:14:45,540 And you can do that anywhere. 196 00:14:45,540 --> 00:14:50,040 Keep in mind the ease with which logos are carried through all things. 197 00:14:50,040 --> 00:14:55,589 That’s all you need” For Marcus Aurelius, enjoyment meant doing 198 00:14:55,589 --> 00:14:57,610 his job. 199 00:14:57,610 --> 00:15:00,680 Success is dependent on many factors. 200 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:05,040 Some are in our control while others are not. 201 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:10,490 Things in our full control include our effort, while external variables include things like 202 00:15:10,490 --> 00:15:13,209 luck, and other people. 203 00:15:13,209 --> 00:15:17,459 Success should not be measured in terms of what we achieve or don’t achieve but should 204 00:15:17,459 --> 00:15:21,589 be measured by the amount of effort we put behind our work. 205 00:15:21,589 --> 00:15:26,110 Many of us do not follow through on the things we really want because we are obsessed with 206 00:15:26,110 --> 00:15:32,230 the big picture, instead of keeping an eye on the crucial, small daily actions. 207 00:15:32,230 --> 00:15:37,380 We need to understand that building better habits is hard and maintaining good habits 208 00:15:37,380 --> 00:15:42,990 is even harder but when we do small things consistently, we see results. 209 00:15:42,990 --> 00:15:48,860 So, the next time you work on something, measure your performance by your effort. 210 00:15:48,860 --> 00:15:54,060 As long as you focused one hundred percent of your energies into it, you have your success, 211 00:15:54,060 --> 00:16:01,290 but don’t beat yourself up if you procrastinated or couldn't reach your goal - Have some self-compassion 212 00:16:01,290 --> 00:16:06,140 because research shows that it’s forgiving yourself and not beating yourself up for it 213 00:16:06,140 --> 00:16:09,450 makes you want to fix the issue and continue. 214 00:16:09,450 --> 00:16:14,760 While success is not completely in your control, your focus and your productivity is. 215 00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:18,740 So keep learning and keep enjoying your progress. 216 00:16:18,740 --> 00:16:24,399 As I said in the beginning, this video is made possible by Blinkist. 217 00:16:24,399 --> 00:16:26,880 We all know the benefits of reading. 218 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:30,970 Most of us have a book on the bedside table - that one we always promised ourselves we’d 219 00:16:30,970 --> 00:16:36,150 get around to, but the majority of us don’t even come close to finishing, often not even 220 00:16:36,150 --> 00:16:38,529 opening that book at all. 221 00:16:38,529 --> 00:16:43,540 To justify our procrastination, we start believing that we don’t have enough time even though 222 00:16:43,540 --> 00:16:49,110 we spend countless hours doing activities that bring us little joy such as commuting, 223 00:16:49,110 --> 00:16:52,080 chores and staring at our phones. 224 00:16:52,080 --> 00:16:56,880 Blinkist helps us turn these little blocks of unallocated time into precious and rewarding 225 00:16:56,880 --> 00:17:02,149 moments for learning and reflection by taking the core insights and need-to-know information 226 00:17:02,149 --> 00:17:07,180 from the best non-fiction books that you want to read, and packaging them down into just 227 00:17:07,180 --> 00:17:10,820 15 minutes for you to read or listen to. 228 00:17:10,820 --> 00:17:16,651 Blinkist now connects 14 million readers worldwide to the biggest ideas from bestselling non-fiction 229 00:17:16,651 --> 00:17:22,670 books, covering everything from mindfulness and management, to philosophy and psychology, 230 00:17:22,670 --> 00:17:26,309 with new titles added every single day. 231 00:17:26,309 --> 00:17:30,950 Being a teacher and a youtuber I love the fact that in less than 15 minutes, I can get 232 00:17:30,950 --> 00:17:34,850 the relevant information I need to stay informed and healthy. 233 00:17:34,850 --> 00:17:39,180 I use Blinkist whenever i'm in between the lectures and I have read and listened to a 234 00:17:39,180 --> 00:17:44,490 lot of books on stoicism like Lives of the Stoic by Ryan Holiday and Stephen Hansel, 235 00:17:44,490 --> 00:17:49,790 How to think like a Roman Emperor by Donald Robertson and How to be a stoic by Massimo 236 00:17:49,790 --> 00:17:50,790 Pigliucci. 237 00:17:50,790 --> 00:17:55,410 I highly recommend you check out these wonderful books on Blinkist. 238 00:17:55,410 --> 00:17:59,320 The first 100 people to click on the link in the description will get unlimited access 239 00:17:59,320 --> 00:18:05,630 for the first week to try it out and a 25% discount if you want a full membership. 240 00:18:05,630 --> 00:18:09,800 You can also cancel at any time in your trial week. 241 00:18:09,800 --> 00:18:14,540 If you enjoyed this video, please do make sure to check our full Stoicism playlist and 242 00:18:14,540 --> 00:18:19,270 for more videos to help you find success and happiness using ancient philosophical wisdom, 243 00:18:19,270 --> 00:18:21,320 don’t forget to subscribe. 244 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:23,480 Thanks so much for watching.