Today we’re going to talk about how Briana Scurry and other Olympians win the day and how to focus on your MIT.

What you’re going to learn:

The MIT Principle (What you should be focused on and how to get it done)
What Briana Scurry and other Olympians do to win the day
How to break down your yearly goal into daily MITs

Key Quotes:

“About six months before an Olympics, I would relate all the decisions I made to the ultimate vision of winning gold. The simple question I would ask several times a day was, ‘Will this activity help me perform better and therefore help us win gold?’” – Briana Scurry

“I always start with the most important thing on my priority list. If you didn’t spend your week working on the most important thing, it was a week wasted.” – Randy Gage

“I work more on time alignment. Is this part of my mission?.” – Chris Brogan

“If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither one.” –Russian proverb

“To do two things at once is to do neither.” –Publius Syrus

Read Full Transcript

Welcome back to the Extreme Productivity podcast, I’m Kevin Kruse and I interviewed over 200 billionaires, self-made millionaires, successful entrepreneurs, and even Olympic athletes and straight A students to learn how THEY 10x their productivity.

In the previous episode we discussed how the number 1440 can change your life and I shared the advice of Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington. TODAY we’re talking about how Briana Scurry and other Olympians win the day.

But first, if you want to achieve your goals faster than ever before, just grab your smartphone and text the word ACHIEVE to 44222 and I’ll send you The 1-Page Planning Tool That Millionaire’s Use To Schedule Their Day. Just text ACHIEVE to 44222 or you can visit the website productivity-podcast.com to download the 1-Page Planning Tool that Millionaire’s Use To Schedule Their Day and other bonuses.

Do you remember the movie City Slickers? Hilarious. Got to watch it.

In one scene, an old cowboy Curly (played by Jack Palance) gives a secret to life to Mitch (played by Billy Crystal). Holding up his index finger, Curly explains that you need to figure out your one thing and stick to it.

But the “one thing” concept goes back a lot further than a Billy Crystal comedy. Consider this advice from the ages:

• “To do two things at once is to do neither.” –Publius Syrus
• “If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither one.” –Russian proverb
• Wise old Buddha once said, “Put down your freaking smartphone and focus would you?!”

We can take this wisdom and boil it down to a single principle.

The MIT Principle – The Most Important Task

Therese Macan, a professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, conducted groundbreaking research into time management, productivity, and stress, discovering that the two most important keys are priorities and mechanics (i.e., the mechanics of implementing time management techniques and tactics).

Put simply, the most important things are to know what to focus on and how you are going to get it done. I call this always knowing your MIT: the most important task.

The key to your productivity all comes down to understanding what is most important to you—and what activity will provide the greatest leverage to getting there—right now.

Additionally, research that we’ve conducted at the Kruse Group in 2015 on over 4,000 working professionals indicates that having a daily MIT correlates to higher levels of happiness and energy.

Briana Scurry, who won two gold medals as the starting goalkeeper for the United States women’s soccer team in 1996 and 2004, tod me:

“About six months before an Olympics, I would relate all the decisions I made to the ultimate vision of winning gold. The simple question I would ask several times a day was, ‘Will this activity help me perform better and therefore help us win gold?’”

Randy Gage is author of nine books including the New York Times bestseller, Risky Is the New Safe. For Gage, success is measured in identifying his MIT and sticking to it:

“I always start with the most important thing on my priority list. If you didn't spend your week working on the most important thing, it was a week wasted.”

Chris Brogan is a bestselling author and CEO of Owner Media Group. said:

“I work more on time alignment. Is this part of my mission?.”

Your MIT will be different from mine, and next month’s (or year’s) MIT will most likely be different than today’s. Let me give you an example from my own life…

My goal is to impact 100,000 people and make 1 million dollars in a year. I break down all the things I need to do to make that happen…it involves reaching people and content marketing through articles, it includes writing and publishing books, it includes speaking engagements, it includes online courses…so there are many different projects to complete to reach my goals…tasks. So last year the big project was the successful launch of my book, which is what this podcast is based on. For a long time, my daily MIT was:

• Write the freakin book
• Finish the marketing plan
• Line up book reviewers
• Line up podcast interviews and do the podcast interviews
• Right now…the biggest project to achieving my annual goal is this podcast…so reviewing podcast training modules was an MIT, then it was deciding on the format, length and style, then it was writing the scripts, etc.

Here are some questions to help you to get at your big goal and MIT…if you have a corporate job:

• What does your boss care most about?
• How is your bonus determined?
• What would be the thing that would get you promoted if you could accomplish it? (the busy work keeps you from getting fired, but your MIT will get you promoted)

If you’re an entrepreneur, you have your big hairy audacious goal and the steps to achieve it…lined up like dominos…what’s the next domino to tip over that will have the biggest impact on your goal…

- When I had a small company, double my revenues in one year. I had one sales rep. I needed to hire two by January 1…
- Launch a new product…
- Raise $35 million in VC money

OK, so how can you apply this information?

Step 1) Figure out your MIT; what is the project that if accomplished will get you promoted, or double the size of your business in a year?...Work on that task is your MIT

Step 2) Schedule at least an hour a day, as early as possible to work on it

Step 3) Protect that time (shut off phone, no email, tell admin you’re out)

Make a habit out of it. Every morning I look at my calendar and say how am I going to WIN THE DAY? What do I need to accomplish before 10am, so that no matter what else happens, I will have won the day.

Guess what. I got a tool that can help you to figure out your MIT.

If you would like to instantly download your “Most Important Task Worksheet”, just text the word ACHIEVE to 44222 or visit extreme-productivity.com.

Hey the next episode has a mind blowing truthbomb…I’m going to tell you why self-made millionaires don’t use to-do lists. Yep, you heard it here first. Instead of to-do lists what they use is…well, you’ll just have to tune-in to the next 10 minute episode to find out.

Until next week, Remember, Master Your Minutes to Master Your Life.

In the Trenches 287 - J.J. McCarthy