– There's a conspiracy. It's been going on for hundreds of years. If you work hard, you'll succeed. If you work hard, you'll be happy. The reality is that you
and I both know lots Of people who work really hard
and they don't get results. I've got hacks to give you an hour a day Of your time back and to
give you twice as much energy In the time you do spend at work. (urgent music) Throw away your to-do list. It is the worst possible
thing for your psychology. It is a source of constant stress And I used to manage these
in my career and at home. And you can almost not be happy, Because as soon as you
finish the first thing On the honey-do list, Then there's another thing
on the honey-do list. What I have done religiously While building a hundred
million dollar company From scratch is I never had a to-do list. What I had was a calendar And I decide when I'm going to do it. When I decide I'm going to
do it, and I put the time On the calendar, and if
it's not on the calendar That means I don't have time to do it And it's not going on a fricking list. No to-do lists. Ever. (upbeat tribal music) There's a certain type of
meditation where you kneel And you look down at the ground And that puts your brain
in a certain state. Neuroscientists have known For quite a while that the direction
In which your eyes look affects
your neurological patterns. So what I've been doing For a decade now is I have
my monitor not just mounted At eye height, but mounted up here. I have one monitor here and one up high So that instead of spending
my day hunched down, I spend my day looking
up and with a window When I can arrange it,
so that I can look out. Just having the ability to
move your eyes up instead Of down has made a huge
difference in my focus. Bonus points, if you
have one monitor close And one monitor several feet away, Which is something else to do,
because if you want to focus, Wouldn't changing your
focus help a little bit. It turns out that helps too. (upbeat tribal music) One of the most effective things to get Into your operating system To calm yourself down is
called the box breath. The Navy Seals and Special
Forces operators have used this For a long time to calm themselves, Even in combat situations,
which are probably Only slightly worse than
your work situation feels. It's called a box because
each side of the box is part Of the breath and they're
all the same size. Say you breathe in for
five seconds like this. One, two, three, four, five. Then you would hold for five seconds. One, two, three, four, five. And then you breathe out
through your nose slowly. One, two, three, four, five. Now you hold empty for five. One, two, three, four, five. And then you breathe in
again on the same count.
Do that four or five times. Most people who start doing this When your lungs are empty for five seconds Your operating system is telling
you you are going to die. You will not die if your lungs
are empty for five seconds. It just feels that way. You're teaching the little alarm systems In your body to not go off all the time When there's no cause. That means when you're In the boardroom and
someone's yelling at you, You can take the heat, literally.
