How to boost your productivity by 200%

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I was lying on my hammock, reading my favorite book "Atomic Habits."

Then, I remembered, "Oh no, I need to write my newsletter article today!"

I dashed upstairs, opened my laptop, and started typing what you're reading now.

Anyway, if you haven’t read this book, then YOU SHOULD because it could change your life (or at least change the way you think about your life)

Habit sounds like the most boring thing in the world, but your habits today determine who you will become. The book talks about the 4 laws that make building habits so much easier: (1) Make it Obvious, (2) Make it Attractive, (3) Make it Easy, (4) Make it Satisfying.

Today, I want to share how I stumbled upon Law #3 and used it to break free from the miserable life I had five years ago. It all came down to redesigning my environment. Let me show you what I mean.

I wanted to change my life.

Long story short, I was working at Chili’s as a server. Making little to no money, people are rude when they are hungry, and the job was physically demanding. I hated it.

Every single day, I find myself lounging on the couch, eating dinner, and watching TV. After dinner, I spend hours and hours on social media (back then, Snapchat was my go to)

During that period of my life, I was feeling lonely and far from my family. I didn't have many activities to keep me occupied, so I ended up spending a significant amount of time watching YouTube videos.

But then, something interesting happened one day – I stumbled upon the captivating world of self-improvement. It was like falling down a rabbit hole of inspiration and motivation. As I dig deeper into the world of personal growth, I found myself getting drawn towards learning more about how I could better myself and make positive changes in my life. At that very moment, I made a decision that things had to change.

If you know me (probably not yet), but when I get hooked on something, it's like the rest of the world doesn't exist. I become fully absorbed in that one thing, and for me, it was self-improvement.

I wanted to change my life, and the only thing I could control was myself—my actions, my habits, and my choices. So, I decided to redesign my environment and my lifestyle to make that happen.

1/ Where I live

Let me tell you this, it wasn’t an easy decision to sell the TV man. I remember walking out of Walmart all excited after spending all my saving on that flat screen.

Now that there’s no TV, I don’t think I need the couch. Bye bye couch.

In my apartment at that time, I had all the basic essentials for the kitchen and bathroom, but the rest was quite minimal. There was just a mattress (no bed frame 🤷), a small desk with my laptop on it, and a chair.

That left me only 2 options, I could either sit at the desk or lay on my bed. Yes, I was a little extreme, but that’s because I had to. When you want something so badly, you will do anything to get it.

A bed to sleep (sleeping is productive), and a desk to use my laptop.

After this whole redesigning of the apartment, I ran into another problem. Without the TV, I found myself spending more time on my phone, especially on Snapchat and Instagram. Man I was so single during that time, I spend a good 2 hours daily swiping on Tinder, hoping to match with a hottie 😂 

And that forced me to do the next redesign.

2/ Where I spend my attention & focus

In today's world, technology isn't just a tool—it's become our life. Everything we consume, do, and spend time on is influenced by our constant use of phones and computers. They have our undivided attention.

Realizing that had forced me to delete all social media apps and games on my phone. It got to a point that I got bored looking at my phone. Now what about my laptop, I could still game on it, yeah? Wrong. My laptop was so slow, it takes a whole day to turn on.

One thing I was so grateful back then was that I had no access to Netflix. I remember using it for only a month because of the free trial, after that I just couldn’t spare $10/month for it.

And here we are, with nothing to do on my phone and laptop, I got so bored. So bored that I decided to learn how to edit videos.

When you intentionally make yourself bored, you reduce the expectations and standards you have for a particular task or work. This, in turn, enables you to engage in the work that might have seemed dull or uninteresting before, making it easier to accomplish and get things done.

3/ Who I spend time with

After successfully turn my apartment into a productivity pod, there was one more thing to change. And it was my circle, the people who I hang out with.

On Saturdays, my coworkers and I typically attend house parties and drink until the early hours of the morning. Unfortunately, this often leads to a hangover the next day, and I end up wasting time in bed feeling unwell.

Honestly, I wasn't too concerned about the alcohol or house party scene. My main motivation was to see if there were any single girls there, but most of the time, it turned out to be a sausage party. 😢

Anyway, I decided to stop hanging out with my coworkers. Don't get me wrong, they're great and kind people, but they're too content with where they are in life, and they don't want to make any changes.

At that point, I’ve optimized my life to where I can focus to learn a new skill, spend more time reading books, connect with like-minded individuals online, and I have no friends IRL. Haha (dying inside)

The story didn’t end there, I picked up a few freelancing gigs editing video. I found a new hobby of going to garage sell and hunt for items that can be resold on eBay for a lot more money. My life trajectory shifted to the right direction after that.

If you’ve made it this far, just remember.

As humans, we have monkey brains that can be easily distracted. But fear not! To achieve meaningful work, get into the flow state, and focus on what truly matters, just take a look at your environment. Design it to support your goals and make it effortless to do what you're meant to do.

To create a perfect environment for productivity and success, ask yourself these questions:

• What are the distractions in your living spaces?

• Where do you spend the most focus and attention?

• Who do you spend time with?

Alright I’m out y’all.

Justin ”sell your TV now” Nguyen.

P.S: Feeling so inspired lately, and I want to pass it on to you. No matter what you're pursuing, keep pushing forward. There may be tough days, but don't give up. Believe in yourself, you're closer to your goals than you think. Keep going, you've got this!