Robin Sharma’s number one tip to be highly productive

International bestselling author and leadership expert, Robin Sharma is known to inspire people to do their best and achieve their goals in life. In a recent interview with us, when we asked Robin about his tips for people to be more productive he shared that he doesn’t believe in the hustle-and-grind culture. Instead, “it’s not about how long you work, it’s about how intensely, intelligently, and wisely you work.And if you want to have a long career without burning out then I think recovery is very important,” Robin Sharma said.
He also shared that one needs to be a “professional sleeper” in order to stay happy and focused in life.
Elaborating his view point, Robin told us, “Well, I’m not a subscriber to the hustle and grind culture. In ‘The 5am Club’ there’s actually a model called the twin cycles of elite performance. And what I believe is when you work you should work intensely, swiftly, deeply. And that’s the high excellence cycle. But after that the key to longevity as a performer is recovery. And so, if all we’re doing is working we’re actually depleting our mental focus, our creativity and our productivity. As a matter of fact, the hustle and grind culture comes from the factory era. If we worked longer on the factory we’d be more productive, we’d make more widgets. But we live now in the intellectual era, the cognitive era, the information era, the digital age! And so I believe, just my personal opinion, it’s not about how long you work, it’s about how intensely, intelligently and wisely you work. And if you really want to have a long career without burning out then I think recovery is very important. “
He further added, “So, of course, hard work does have a bad name these days and I think hard work is really important. You can’t build a great company or a great team without hard work. Look at the great artists– hard workers. But if you really want to be super productive, get really good at resting, be a professional sleeper, enjoy time with your family as well, so you don’t lose the sparkle in your eye and then you come back to work and you’re fresh and you do better work.”

When we asked him to share his tips of staying centered throughout the day, considering the many distractions we have in our lives, he the author-leadership expert answered, “Well, one thing, and you’re not going to be surprised that I mention it, but it’s becoming a member of the 5am club. Millions of people across India have read the ‘5am Club’ book, and it’s taught them the 20-20-20 formula, and it’s taught them the power of getting up early. In India, part of the culture in many ways is, I believe the word is Brahma Muhrat. And this idea of getting up early, doing your prayers or meditation or visualization because the impact of the prayers or reading is much more profound at that time of silence. We live in a world where there’s just so much noise, and there’s so much stimuli. And so joining the 5am club and giving yourself time from 5am to 6am, what I call the victory hour, and exercising and writing in a journal and all the things I talk about in the book is really very powerful to use your word, to be grounded. Because then we go out in the world and we’ve worked on our mindset, we’ve prepared ourselves physically, we’ve connected with some wisdom, we’ve written in a journal, for example, we’ve done a prayer to center us. And then we go out in the day and we’re not reactive; we’re living on our terms. So the morning routine is incredibly powerful.”
Sharing further, he said, “The second thing would be, you know, as simple as it sounds, remembering that an addiction to distraction is the end of your creative production. And turning off your phone and doing the real work versus fake work. And understanding that each day really is a gift. As simple as it sounds, each day is a gift! No one knows what tomorrow brings. And the hours we waste, we never get back. And life goes back very quickly. So what is your information diet? What is the content that you’re studying? When you’re at work, are you doing real work or are you doing fake work? Turning off your phone, setting a series of boundaries and protocols to use technology as your servant rather than allowing it to be your master. And then in my books, like in ‘The Everyday Hero Manifesto’, that’s my latest book, there’s a lot of tools on how do you create a work environment and work routines and life routines that will help you be much more productive, but also much more relaxed.”