Getting More Done Without Hacks

Ever find yourself reading about “life hacks”?

Those moreish articles and videos that claim to help you get more done, in less time, with less effort?

I’ve only ever found one life hack worth following.

The discipline of practice:

That blog post that used to take you 4 hours to write will only take you 1, with practice. Not because you found the right ‘swipe file’ online, or ‘template hack’, or because you spent more hours reading about new organizational tools. The way to write faster is to write more often. This is post 679 of this daily post, it’s not the only content I produce, I’ve never missed a day, and it barely makes a dent in my day. Practice is what made that happen.

That sales process that used to return 10% close rate will return 80%, with practice. Not because you listened to more podcasts or read more posts. Any great sales team will tell you the magic is in the role-play, or ‘practice’ as we’re calling it here. Scripts melted into your mind, rebuttal a natural part of you, allowing your conscious to focus on engaging people with a fiduciary responsibility to listen and lead people. Practice makes that happen.

Those live talks you deliver that make you want to cancel or throw up, will become effortless, with practice. Not because you watched more TED talks or went to more events. But because you practiced your material to the point you can deliver it at a second’s notice. And because you practiced being live in front of others without a safety net.

Time spent looking for “life hacks” could have been spent doing the hard work most “life hack” websites exist to distract and excuse you from: the discipline of practice.