7 Habits that Save Me 3+ Hours a Day
Summary
TLDRThe video outlines seven daily habits that save a total of three hours per day. These include capturing tasks instead of mentally tracking them, planning each day's most important task, color-coding a calendar to eliminate gaps, using a '5-minute rule' to beat procrastination, banning solo TV watching, using an alarm clock instead of a phone, and enabling focus modes on phones. The speaker argues these habits boost productivity and intentionality by reducing distraction and wasted time.
Takeaways
- 😊 The most valuable thing we have is time, so it's important to save time wherever possible
- 📝 Capture things you need to do instead of trying to remember them all
- 🚀 Identify the most important task to accomplish each day
- 🌈 Fill your calendar to avoid unintentionally wasting time
- ⌛️ Use the 5 minute rule to overcome procrastination
- 🔋 Sponsor provides a healthy, affordable meal option
- 📵 Use focus modes and keep phone face down to avoid distractions
- ⏰ Use an alarm clock instead of phone to avoid wasting time in bed
- 📺 Don't watch TV alone as a rule to save over an hour a day
- 💡 Try cutting out TV for a month to see if you actually miss it
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic is 7 habits that save the narrator around 3 hours per day.
What is the 'capture habit' and how does it save time?
-The capture habit involves writing down any thoughts or to-dos as they come up instead of trying to remember them later. This saves mental energy and avoids wasting time trying to recall what you forgot.
What is the purpose of identifying a 'daily adventure'?
-It encourages focusing on the most important task of the day. It also makes completing tasks more enjoyable by approaching them with more energy and an adventurous mindset.
How does the 'rainbow calendar' save time?
-Scheduling out your whole day avoids wasting time on unintentional activities during gaps in your calendar. It encourages living more intentionally.
What is the '5 minute rule'?
-If you're procrastinating, it says to just work for 5 minutes, since starting is the hardest part. It also says that 5 minutes of progress is better than nothing.
How does not watching TV alone save time?
-Watching TV alone can easily lead to 1-4 wasted hours per day. Removing this habit frees up time for more fulfilling activities.
What app helps reduce phone distractions?
-The 'OneSec' app makes you pause before using distracting apps. It encourages switching to more intentional apps instead.
Why use a separate alarm clock?
-Phone alarms make it too easy to snooze, cancel alarms, and scroll on your phone in bed, wasting 30-60+ minutes.
What are some benefits realized from these habits?
-Benefits include improved productivity, intentionality, mental clarity and energy. More fulfillment, progress towards goals.
Which habit seems most useful or hardest to adopt?
-Answers may vary. The rainbow calendar seems very useful but also time-consuming. No TV could be hard since it's a common default activity.
Outlines
💡 Capturing thoughts to free mental space
Paragraph 1 discusses the 'capture habit' which involves immediately writing down any thoughts or to-dos when they come up. This offloads them from your mind so you don't waste mental energy remembering them and provides a centralized place to review tasks later.
🚀 Setting a daily priority task or 'adventure'
Paragraph 2 talks about asking each morning what the day's most important task or 'adventure' will be. This helps focus time on priorities, removes the burden of deciding what to do, and frames tasks as fun adventures to generate energy.
🌈 Blocking calendar gaps to avoid mindless scrolling
Paragraph 3 recommends color coding a daily calendar to minimize open gaps where unintended, non-optimal activities like social media scrolling may occur. Scheduling intentional blocks makes it a habit to follow predefined plans.
⌛ Using 5 minute rule to start and utilize small blocks of time
Paragraph 4 introduces the '5 minute rule' - commit to working on something for 5 minutes to overcome procrastination through getting started, and use small 5 minute blocks as they add up over time.
📵 Rules and settings for avoiding phone distractions
Paragraph 5 suggests phone strategies like scheduled focus modes, face down placement, and apps that impose a delay before mindless scrolling sites to minimize wasted time.
⏰ Physical alarm for pre-sleep willpower & optimal mornings
Paragraph 6 finds consistent benefits from using a separate alarm clock instead of a phone to prevent digital temptations interfering with good sleep and wakeup habits.
📺 Only watching TV intentionally in social settings
Paragraph 7 shares a personal rule to only allow TV watching in fun social contexts, saving an average of 60 minutes daily for more meaningful priorities.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Time management
💡Intentionality
💡Procrastination
💡Attention management
💡Intentional media consumption
💡Calendar blocking
💡Offloading/capturing tasks
💡Accountability tools
💡Daily planning
💡Habit formation
Highlights
The capture habit helps you capture thoughts and ideas immediately so you don't forget them or get distracted.
The daily adventure habit encourages you to identify the most important task to focus on each day.
The rainbow calendar habit involves planning out your day in advance to avoid wasting time.
The five minute rule helps beat procrastination by letting you just get started on something for five minutes.
Gaps in your calendar can lead to aimless social media scrolling, so try to schedule intentional activities.
Even just five minutes of progress is better than nothing.
Making tasks seem more fun can be a huge productivity boost.
The focus phone keeps distractions at bay through focus modes, keeping the phone face down, and apps like One Sec.
Using a separate alarm clock avoids wasting time on your phone before bed.
Cutting out solo TV watching freed up time for goals and experiences.
Getting started is often the hardest part of overcoming procrastination.
Out of calendar time often leads to mindless social media use.
Scheduling even small blocks of focused time adds up.
Apps and tools can curb distraction, but self-discipline is key.
Evaluate whether TV watching is quality time for you.
Transcripts
hey friends welcome back to the channel
as you guys know I'm absolutely obsessed
with trying to save time in any ways
that I can because time is really our
most valuable non-renewable resource we
can always make more money but we can
never make more time and so in this
video I want to talk through seven
habits that I try my best to do every
day and that saved me around three hours
every single day coming in at number
seven we have a habit that saves me
around 10 minutes a day and that is the
capture habit now this is a strategy
from David Allen's book getting things
done which is the Bible of productivity
that first came out in 2003 and the idea
is that anytime you have a thought or
you remember something that you need to
do instead of doing it there and then
you make it a point to immediately
capture it and offload it to some other
sort of system so that your brain is not
having to think about it so for example
if I'm in the middle of doing some work
and I think oh I need to call my grandma
then what I'll do is that I'll either
write it down on a piece of paper
directly in front of me so I know I've
got it captured or more likely I'd put
it straight into the app things which I
use on my Mac it saves a lot of time and
it also saves a lot of headspace because
a you're not distracting yourself trying
to go somewhere else and write down the
thing you're also not wasting time
trying to remember what you think you've
forgotten the only problem is
I can't remember what I've forgotten and
then when you have moments of spare time
you can just look at your to-do list and
think oh cool these are the things I've
already captured and these are the
things that I want to do and you can use
any kind of app for this you can use pen
and paper you can use Post-it nodes you
can use things to do it notion whatever
you want whatever app works for you
Apple reminders Apple notes whatever the
thing might be it really doesn't matter
as long as you have a centralized place
where you can capture your thoughts and
capture your ideas and then not have to
worry too much about it and waste time
having to think about it alright coming
in at number six we have a habit that
saves me around 15 minutes every day and
that is what I call the daily adventure
and this habit is basically where every
single morning I ask myself when I sit
down to work what is today's adventure
going to be now this habit serves two
purposes the main purpose that saves
time is that it encourages me to think
about what is my most important task for
the day in the book make time for
example where I first got this many
years ago when I read the book they call
it the daily highlight where you just
ask yourself what's the most important
thing I need to do today and even if
that's the only one thing that you do
for the day as long as you're doing this
for 365 days you're really winning and
you're saving tons and tons of time and
effort and also moving towards your
goals over the course of a year the
second main benefit of this is that
ideally the most important thing that
you would do would be the first thing
that you do that day when you have a
little bit of spare time so it removes
that kind of cognitive burden of having
to think about what was that thing I
need to do again and the third benefit
and the reason why I call it a daily
Adventure these days rather than a daily
highlight is because thinking about it
as an adventure just makes it seem a
little bit more fun the single biggest
productivity hack of all time is finding
a way to enjoy what you're doing and
finding a way to generate energy from
that thing that you're doing so let's
say I've got this I don't know
PowerPoint presentation that I need to
finish that's like super important I
could think of it as my most important
task or I can think of it as today's
adventure maybe I'd have Harry Potter
music in the background while I'm doing
the thing to make it feel more fun
[Music]
maybe I'd go out to a coffee shop or
maybe I'd sit on a park bench nearby if
it's sunny outside like there are
different things that I can do to
approach this activity that I have to do
with a little bit more enjoyment a
little bit more energy A little bit more
like an adventure all right coming in at
number five we have another habit that
saves me around 15 minutes a day and
that's what I call the Rainbow calendar
and basically the idea behind the
rainbow calendar is that ideally every
morning I want to be planning out my
calendar for the rest of the day and I
like to color code things so it feels as
if it's a rainbow that doesn't have too
many gaps in it because the problem with
gaps in the calendar is that at least
for me I find that the sort of person I
am when I have a gap in my calendar and
I don't know what I intend to do in that
time I inevitably spend that time doing
something non-intentional like randomly
scrolling Instagram or Tick Tock and
generally it's not me living my best
life when I'm randomly scrolling
Instagram and Tick Tock for the record I
have nothing against using social media
I'm a professional social media user
myself but what I want for myself is
that the time I'm spending on YouTube or
social media or whatever is time that I
intend to be spending on YouTube or
social media or whatever not time that
I've accidentally found myself spending
on it because I just didn't have a
default activity that I wanted to do in
that time instead so for example in my
calendar I literally have a Blog every
day for breakfast a block for work a
block for lunch a block for a little
break sometimes a Blog for going to the
walk to get coffee sometimes I have a
block where I'm like okay I'll just do
whatever in that block but then I'm
intending that that block is just for me
to do whatever I've actually tried this
I've run this experiment a few times
where I've not time blocked stuff in the
daytime and I found that inevitably
every sort of it's approached like 12
o'clock and I'm like oh you know I don't
have anything to do right now and then
I'll just end up scrolling Instagram the
more this becomes a habit and the more
you follow your own intentions at least
for me I find that it saves me quite a
lot of time I eat around 15 minutes a
day all right coming in at number four
is a habit that saves me around 20
minutes each day and that is what I call
the five minute Rule now the five minute
rule has two components the first one is
that if I'm struggling to do something I
can just get started for five minutes so
for example filming this video I was
procrastinating a little bit from
filming this video but then I thought
you know what five minute rule I'm just
gonna film the video for five minutes
and then I can stop if I want to but
that's how we beat procrastination
because the hardest part is getting
started it's like when you're like
pushing a trolley in the supermarket
it's a bit of a push to get started but
once the trolley is moving it just kind
of Carries On Moving and now I don't
know we're 12 minutes into filming this
video or however long it's been I'm
enjoying it now it's not a thing that I
need to procrastinate from but the
second aspect of the five minute rule is
that five minutes is way better than
nothing now especially when you organize
your life with your calendar like it's
it's very easy to let like on the hour
be the only legit time that you can
start something like oh it's 11 48 right
now I couldn't possibly do anything for
12 minutes until 12 so I'm just gonna
wait until 12 and then I'll do my next
thing when I'm thinking in that kind of
mindset I'm wasting a lot of time doing
things unintentionally in those 12
minutes whereas I find with a five
minute rule I tell myself oh it's 12 48
okay that's two lots of five minutes I
could spend 10 minutes working on
something interesting that could be
checking through my emails it could be
replying to some friends on WhatsApp it
could be making a little bit of progress
on my book it could even be drafting a
video like there was a five minute blog
this morning where I drafted a whole new
video that I'm gonna do next and people
often ask me you know how did you manage
to make videos while you were working
full-time all that stuff for the first
three years of this YouTube channel and
really a big chunk of it was the five
minute rule when I would have five
minutes in between seeing patients
waiting for some blood test results to
arrive waiting for the tea to brew if
I'm making tea for the nurses I would
generally get out a piece of paper and
then start like drafting out a video in
that time and so using the five minute
rule in This Way saves me around I'd say
20 minutes maybe even more time every
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in at number three we have a habit or a
system rather that saves me at least 30
minutes every day and that's what I call
the focus phone now phones are an
absolutely incredible device incredible
invention but they're an absolute time
sink when it comes to distracting us
from the things that we actually want to
do most of us do not intentionally spend
a lot of time on our phone we find
ourselves spending time on our phone so
there are three things in particular
that I do to help me focus more and
waste less time on my phone the first
one is that my phone is almost always on
some kind of focus mode now this happens
automatically because I actually time
block everything in my calendar and so
right now my phone is in work mode which
means I'm not going to see any
notifications except my girlfriend my
mum my brother and my sister-in-law
those are the only four people whose
notifications come through while my
phone is in any kind of focus mode and
that means that when I want to open
WhatsApp group chats I'm doing it
intentionally on my own time rather than
on someone else's time secondly what I
do is I always keep my phone face down
there is something about having a phone
face up in front of you that is just
like a recipe for disaster and a recipe
for distraction and there's something
about the phone being face down that
makes it seem a lot less threatening and
a lot less inviting as a device and the
third strategy that I found helpful is
that when I have periods where I'm
spending too much time on social media I
install a quick app called one sec but
essentially what one sec does is that
anytime you open Instagram or Tick Tock
or YouTube and you and you can decide
what apps it is it like opens up with
this thing and it makes you take a
breath and then breathe out again and
then it says hey would you like to go on
Kindle or audible in that time instead
because you can set what kind of more
intentional apps you want in that time
and usually by the time I've taken a few
seconds to take a breath and breathe out
again and ask myself do I really want to
be going on Instagram right now the
answer is hell no and then I close
Instagram now I like this app so much
that I reached out to the guy who made
it on Twitter and he's very kindly
created like a free trial link just for
a slot so that'll be linked down below
if you want to check it out all right
coming in at habit number two is another
habit that saves me at least 30 minutes
every day sometimes 60 Minutes sometimes
longer than that and that is the alarm
clock and basically the idea here is
using a physical alarm clock as my
bedtime alarm clock rather than my phone
now I've been on and off with this habit
for the last several years but I find
that whenever I don't use a physical
alarm clock and I think oh it's fine my
phone is my alarm it's way easier than a
physical alarm clock and I have my phone
charging on my bedside inevitably I
waste at least half an hour sometimes an
hour sometimes even two or three hours
before I sleep and then even when I wake
up in the morning it's too easy a to
snooze the alarm B to cancel the alarm
and see to then just lie in bed and just
go on my phone for a bit especially if I
don't have anything that morning and now
we have habit number one which saves me
at least 60 Minutes every day sometimes
more and that is a simple rule that I am
not allowed to watch TV unless it's with
friends this is a very controversial
thing I know some people are like like
feel borderline religious about oh my
God I need to have my two hours of
watching Netflix every night because if
I don't then it's really bad for my
health and all this I call BS to most of
that kind of stuff I used to watch so
much TV when I was younger I used to
watch quite a lot of TV at University
and then one day I realized hang on I'm
wasting like so much time watching TV I
think the average American watches
somewhere between one and four hours
every day of TV for me it was about an
hour a day on average and I realized
that you know when I was on my deathbed
I probably wouldn't regret not having
watched more TV and so I tried this I
tried making this rule for myself when I
was at University no TV unless it's with
friends so when Game of Thrones would
come out we'd do a Sig Game of Thrones
nights we'll invite people over it would
be super fun and that would turn into a
social experience but it meant that I
wasn't spending every evening after
lectures catching up on Gray's Anatomy
or The Vampire Diaries or the office or
watching reruns of friends or whatever
and that freed up so much time in my
life at University to build my business
to build my YouTube channel I almost
never watched TV when I was working as a
doctor as well I would do YouTube stuff
in the evenings and all of that was way
more fulfilling and way more intentional
than sitting down and trying to watch TV
for example now I'm know this is
controversial I know some people want to
cancel me for promoting toxic
productivity and hustle clutch and all
that kind of stuff all I'm saying is try
cutting out TV from your life for like a
month and see if you miss it and if you
really miss it if you really can't live
without it if it's really you living
your best life by watching more TV on
your own sitting on your computer and
watching Netflix by all means you're
living your best life and you're living
intentionally but if in my case I
realized hang on I'm actually not proud
of that time I spent watching TV I'd
rather go for a walk in nature rather go
for a run rather go to the gym so
overall these seven habits save me at
least three hours every single day I
hope you found at least some of them
helpful and you might try and
incorporate them into your life and if
you're interested in more tips related
to productivity you might like to check
out this video over here which is 12
cheap purchases I.E under about 20 that
have genuinely been able to boost my
productivity so that's a video over
there thank you so much for watching and
I'll see you later bye
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