If you’re looking for a good summer read, I recommend Michael Hyatt’s book, Free to Focus, which is the subject of this latest installment in our recurring Productive Reading series.
Free to Focus – the next in our recurring Productive Reading series
For former Productive Reading episodes, please follow the links below!
- Episode 133 – The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
- Episode 147 – The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Episode 166 – 3 books written by Brené Brown
- Episode 182 – Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver
- Episode 211 – The Free-Time Formula by Jeff Sanders
- Episode 230 – Atomic Habits by James Clear
This time I’m sharing some of my most important takeaways from Michael Hyatt’s newest book, Free to Focus–a book I sincerely recommend. All quotes below are from the book.
Who is Michael Hyatt?
According to the book’s back cover, he’s the CEO of Michael Hyatt & Company, a leadership development firm. Formerly he was chairman and CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers. Michael is also a New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of several books, including Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, and Platform (all of which I’ve read and enjoyed). He and his wife live in the Nashville, Tennessee, area and have 5 grown daughters. Learn more about Michael at MichaelHyatt.com.
Michael Hyatt also is the person who introduced me to podcasts. Years ago he had a very popular blog about writing, productivity, and leadership that I followed pretty closely. When he announced he was launching a podcast, I started listening to it. One thing led to another, and a few months later The Productive Woman was born.
Why do we need to be free to focus?
Michael opens up the book by explaining the value of focus: why it matters, what difference it makes, but why it is hard to come by these days.
“Focusing on everything means focusing on nothing. It’s almost impossible to accomplish anything significant when you’re racing through an endless litany of tasks and emergencies. And yet this is how many of us spend our days, weeks, months, years–sometimes, our entire lives.”
Recognizing the effects of the overload on our ability to focus is crucial to improving our lives.
“The Distraction Economy” is making it harder and harder for us to focus – so much coming at us all the time . . . In a world where information is freely available, focus becomes one of the most valuable commodities in the workplace. But for most of us, work is the hardest place to find it. . . . Our devices, apps, and tools make us think we’re saving time, being hyperproductive. In reality most of us just jam our day with the buzz and grind of low-value activity. We don’t invest our time in big and important projects. Instead, we’re tyrannized by tiny tasks.”
I especially appreciated how Michael goes being looking at the economic impacts of the “Distraction Economy” and noted the personal cost we incur in living a fractured, overloaded life:
“The dollar value on lost productivity does matter, but it’s not what really hurts. It’s all the dreams left unexplored, the talents left untried, the goals left unpursued. . . . Between the projects we want to accomplish and the deluge of other activity – some of which is legitimately important and some of which only masquerades as such – we’re left feeling drained, disoriented, and overwhelmed.”
Michael Hyatt’s 3-phase approach: Stop, Cut, Act
This section of the book is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak, and it’s full of really practical, actionable ideas. A few key quotes that I underlined and continue to ponder:
- Stop (Formulate, Evaluate, Rejuvenate):
Before you can take action to improve your focus, he says, you need to pause long enough to think and gain some perspective. Take the time to ask why you want to be productive, what you want to gain from it. Why is this so important?
“Running faster doesn’t help if you’re pointed in the wrong direction.”
“True productivity starts with being clear on what we truly want.”
“The important question is not, Can I do this job faster, easier, and cheaper? It’s, Should I be doing this job at all?”
Part of the “Stop” element is making sure we take time to “Rejuvenate.” Whatever that means to you–whatever activities help you rejuvenate–make sure you build in time for it, because a life of go-go-go is not sustainable over the long haul.
“We aren’t robots. We need time off, rest, time with family, leisure, play, and exercise. We need big chunks of time when we aren’t thinking about work at all, when it’s not even on our radar. Sometimes, though, the relentless pursuit of ‘success’ keeps us always on, always engaged, and always available. . . . Yes, success is a powerful motivator–but only if you understand what success truly means to you.”
“Our brains aren’t designed to run nonstop. When we drop things into neutral, ideas flow on their own, memories sort themselves out, and we give ourselves a chance to rest. . . . Creativity depends on times of disengagement, which means doing nothing from time to time is a competitive advantage.”
On the importance of unplugging, Michael also notes, “Our always-on culture actually undermines our productivity. It also undermines our joy.”
- Cut (Eliminate, Automate, Delegate)
Once we’ve taken that pause to gain perspective and clarify our direction, the next step in Michael’s approach is to start removing from our lives those things that don’t serve us and the direction we’ve determined we want to go. In this phase, “Eliminate” is the first step. That makes total sense, because there is no value in learning how to automate or delegate things that don’t need to be done in the first place.
“[T]rue productivity isn’t about squeezing more things into your packed schedule; it’s about doing the right things. That means cutting away the nonessentials is essential. . . . By cutting away the nonessentials, you create space for the things that really matter to flourish.”
“Few things will energize you and your productivity more than the powerful little word no. . . . The truth is, even if we hate saying no, we’re unknowingly saying no all the time – every time we say yes. . . . [W]e must make choices, and these choices are often not between something good and something bad, but between competing opportunities that are good, better, and best.”
- Act (Consolidate, Designate, Activate)
In Michael’s approach, once we’ve paused to clarify and rejuvenate, and then cut from our lives those things that don’t serve us, it’s time to take action.
“Starting is half the battle, so identify next steps that will give you a quick sense of momentum.”
Michael offers several tools in this section that can help us make the most of the time we have to accomplish the things we need and want to do. Among those tools are megabatching, the “Ideal Week,” and the weekly preview.
Megabatching is just what it sounds like: Purposefully completing similar activities together so you only have to “set up” and “tear down” once, which allows you to take advantage of getting into the flow of work.
The Ideal Week also is just what it sounds like: laying out your “ideal” week as a tool for being intentional about how you use your time.
“You can’t plan for everything. Things happen that you can’t anticipate. But it is a whole lot easier to accomplish what matters most when you are proactive and begin with the end in mind.”
The Ideal Week plan is like a financial budget in that you’re thinking ahead, being intentional about what you’re doing with your time, and then you flex as you need to. Hyatt allocates chunks of time to themes such as self, work, and rejuvenation.
The weekly preview is a 6-step process for taking control of your week. He suggests that we schedule it as a weekly appointment (perhaps 30 minutes at first, but he says as you get used to the process you can complete it in maybe 10-15 minutes). There are practical exercises at the end of each chapter, with links on his website to forms and templates you can download to do the steps.
“You can design your week to keep visibility on your major tasks and review your progress as you go. The trick is to break down your major goals and initiatives into manageable next steps. Then you can map those next steps onto your week by identifying three outcomes you need to hit to make the progress you want.”
The 6 steps, summarized, are:
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- List your biggest wins from the past week.
- Review the prior week
- How far did you get on your major tasks?
- What worked and what didn’t?
- What will you keep, improve, start, or stop doing based on what you just identified?
- Review your lists and notes.
- Check goals, projects, events, meetings, and deadlines.
- Designate your Weekly Big 3. “the three most important things you need to accomplish in the coming week to keep making progress toward your major goals and projects.”
- Plan your rejuvenation (when/how/what will you sleep, eat, move, connect, play, reflect, and unplug)
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How to identify where you should spend your energy and attention
This section of the book is really at the heart of Michael’s approach, calling us to become aware of what we’re doing and where changes might help us produce more and better results.
- Four zones of productivity – quadrants based on levels of passion and proficiency
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- Zone 4, the Drudgery Zone – things you have no passion for and are not proficient at
- Zone 3, the Disinterest Zone – things you’re proficient at but have no passion for
- Zone 2, the Distraction Zone – things you’re passionate about but are not proficient at
- Zone 1, the Desire Zone – things you’re passionate about and proficient at
“The more time you spend in your Desire Zone, the more good you do not only for yourself but also the world around you. . . . All of us possess unique gifts . . . and we are never more effective, never more powerful, never more influential than when we are exercising those gifts. You can’t be me, and I can’t be you. However, we can all be the best version of ourselves. I believe that happens when we live and work in our Desire Zone. . . . True productivity is about doing more of what is in your Desire Zone and less of everything else.”
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- Zone X, the Development Zone – things outside your Desire Zone but potentially moving toward it (e.g., high passion but low proficiency, but you’re working on getting more proficient)
- Limiting Beliefs are the obstacles to operating more in our Desire Zone and less everywhere else – To counter each, he offers what he calls a Liberating Truth. Each bullet point below names a Limiting Belief, followed by the Liberating Truth he suggests we adopt to replace it.
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- “I just don’t have enough time” becomes “I have all the time I need to accomplish what matters most.”
- “I’m just not that disciplined” becomes “Working in my Desire Zone doesn’t require much discipline.”
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“If you design your life so that you spend most of your time working on things you are passionate about and proficient at, the discipline to do those things comes easily.”
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- “I’m not really in control of my time” becomes “I have the ability to make better use of the time I do control.”
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“You are not a passive object floating through life, completely at the mercy of outside forces. You have a say in how you live your own life.”
The life you live today is the result of choices you’ve made in the past; if you aren’t living the life you want, you can change it by making different choices.
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- “Highly productive people are just born that way” becomes “Productivity is a skill I can develop.”
- “I tried before, and it didn’t work” becomes “I can get better results by trying a different approach.”
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“[H]igh achievers never give up simply because one solution failed. Instead, they keep looking for what will work, and they don’t stop until they find it.”
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- “My circumstances won’t allow it right now, but they’re only temporary” becomes “I don’t have to wait until my circumstances change to get started and make progress.”
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“What is temporary will eventually become permanent unless you change something now.”
“It is up to you to define what you want normal to look like; if you do not take control of your time, someone else will.”
“If you wait for the perfect time to become more productive and pursue the freedom you crave, you’ll be waiting forever. You can start making positive changes right now, regardless of your circumstances.”
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- “I’m not good with technology” becomes “True productivity doesn’t require complex technology or systems. It’s more about aligning my daily activities with my priorities, and I can do that.”
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I also love that Michael recognizes productivity is about more than how much “stuff” we get done.
“For real productivity . . . we have to prioritize people. . . . Many of the best things in life happen in the spaces between our tasks, in the intentional moments set aside for other people.”
A life that matters almost always matters in relation to other people
One key point that resonated strongly with me went to the idea that productivity is very personal. Only you can define for yourself what it means to be productive, to make a life that matters. As Michael says in the book (and I agree 100%!):
“It’s completely up to you; no one else can–or should–tell you what matters most to you. Once you figure it out, hold on to that why for dear life. It will be the star that guides your ship through this exciting voyage; without it, you’ll get lost. That’s what productivity gives you: the freedom to choose what you want to focus your time and energy on.”
Some final thoughts on Free to Focus
There is so much more to this book than I’ve summarized here. There’s a great section that gives practical information on saying no gracefully (and why it’s important), another chapter on dealing with interruptions (external) and distractions (internal), and useful tactics for maintaining focus.
I encourage you to read Free to Focus and see if the approach he describes will help you get better at focusing your time, energy, and attention on what matters most to you, so you can get the results you want.
What do you think?
Have you read Free to Focus? What spoke to you most strongly? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below this post or in The Productive Woman Community Facebook group, or send me an email.
Resources
Previous Episodes
- Episode 133 – The ONE Thing by Gary Keller
- Episode 147 – The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
- Episode 166 – 3 books written by Brené Brown
- Episode 182 – Soulful Simplicity by Courtney Carver
- Episode 211 – The Free-Time Formula by Jeff Sanders
- Episode 230 – Atomic Habits by James Clear
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