We are all guilty of wondering how some individuals seem to be able to get so much more done in a day than we do.
As someone who studies the routines and habits successful individuals use each day, I’ve noticed the individuals in Silicon Valley seem to be constantly pushing boundaries forward. Who else will get your burrito delivered to your front door via a drone?
Wondering what keeps these folks going to achieve such a high output, I decided to ask.
I’ve spent the past month interviewing 15 startup founders to dive into the habits, tips, and hacks they use that keep them productive and motivated each day. Some have sold companies for over eight figures, and many have featured their products and services in top-tier publications.
The interviewees and links to the fantastic things they are working on:
Will Bunker –Co-Founder @ Match.com, GrowthX Academy
Sam Parr – Founder @ The Hustle.
Neil Patel – Forbes Top 10 Online Marketer. Founder @ Quicksprout, KISSMetrics
Luke Williams – Founder @ Blue Sea Studios, 2-minute revolution
Dennis Yu – #1 Facebook Ad Expert in the world. Founder @ Blitzmetrics
UJ Ramdas – Co-Founder @ Intelligent Change. (5-minute Journal).
Ameer Rosic – Co-Founder @ BlockGeeks.
Mike Brcic – Founder @ Sacred Rides, The Social Entrepreneur
Sol Orwell – Co-Founder @ Examine.com, SJO.com
Dave Burns – Co-Founder @ Singularity Growth Accelerator
Josh Fraser – Founder @ Torbit (Acquired by Walmart), Din, EventVue
Lea Von Bidder – Founder @ Ava
Floyd Marinescu – Founder @ InfoQ, QCon Conferences
Josh Fechter – Head of Growth @ GrowthX Academy
Kumar Thangudu – Founder @ LinkTexting, GrowAmp
Name the top 1 to 3 habits that help you stay highly productive and motivated daily.
I use three specific tactics each day to prepare my body and mind. These are sitting meditation, regularly moving my body through working out, walking and yoga, and bulletproof tea for sustained energy.
Dave Burns
Proper sleep pattern is critical to me. Sleep quality impacts everything you do; why would you mess around with this? I also ensure I keep an avid curiosity by reading stimulating things and expressing gratitude by spending time with my family.
Ameer Rosic
I start and end each day writing down what I am grateful for in the Five Minute Journal. This helps keep everything in perspective. I also use the Productivity Planner to plan my entire day and meditate regularly.
UJ Ramdas
Regularly going for walks helps clear my mind and push out the noise.
Will Bunker
I use conscious focus and then relaxation. I do a block of 30-90 minutes of heads-down work, then take a break of roughly 30 minutes. REAL-focused work is compelling, and most people never do that. I’m not a big fan of grinding, as your throughput and quality suffer greatly.
Sol Orwell
I distill all tasks into a top 10 ranking of importance for the day. I then start at the top and do just that task till completion before going on to the next.
I also regularly review tasks and push them to a later date if they are less urgent. I have folders of driven functions that I never look at until that date, which takes those tasks totally out of my consciousness till then. This allows total focus on current top action items.
Creating this backlog of less essential tasks also lets your staff know exactly what they should work on when their time frees up. The question of them asking, “what do I do?” doesn’t come up. Instead, they always come to me with multiple options and recommendations. This exercises their judgment and eventually leads to them being able to handle all decisions independently without consulting me.
Luke Williams
For me, it is critical to get a good night’s sleep. I threw away my alarm clock! Along with this, I also emphasize getting regular exercise (using running or climbing) and reading regularly to improve my mind continually.
Josh Fraser
Gratitude to start the day; exercise sometime during the day, having a full breakfast.
Dennis Yu
I optimize my nutrition intake daily to avoid the energy crash that can happen. For me, this means I avoid carbs most of the time. Serotonin is a hormone secreted by carb intake and generally one you want to avoid when trying to get things done.
I also avoid alcohol. In my younger days, I abused this a little too much. However, I’ve since given up alcohol (about three years ago) because the hangover and side effects impacted my entire week. I just wasn’t able to perform as effectively as I do now.
Sam Parr
I use meditation and then map our One-Page Strategic Plan. This informs and breaks down my daily schedule into 1/2 hour chunks.
Mike Brcic
I start each day prioritizing fitness and meditation. I work out in one form or another every morning and meditate daily. My workouts alternate between several options, so each morning feels interesting: kettlebells, weights, kungfu, a 1 hr walk, ecstatic dance, or a qi gong + pranayama set (for lazy mornings).
Floyd Marinescu
I walk 2-3 hours daily, write four hundred words each day and tell two people I appreciate them.
Josh Fechter
I use many digital tools to stay hyper-productive at the keyboard. My three favorite tools are Instapage.com for making marketing pages, TextExpander for speeding up any actions on the keyboard, and FoxType for ensuring I send polite emails.
Kumar Thangudu
I wake up in the morning, check my schedule for the day, and make a specific to-do list of what I want to achieve that day. It ensures I stay focused. I don’t only do this for each day but also weeks and months. This is so I always have targets for a given week and month and work towards fulfilling them.
Sometimes stepping out of the office and working from a different place helps. A change of scenery keeps things fresh. I like sitting in a nearby coffee shop to prepare for important meetings.
Lea Von Bidder
I approach the day with massive organization, knowing what my assistant needs to accomplish. I work out every single morning before starting my day and then spend some time getting dressed up. We all feel more confident when we look good, noticeable in how we approach the day. I spend a large chunk of my day calling (actually calling with a phone) and connecting with other entrepreneurs and business partners. This helps me provide value where the need is and build potential deals. I’ve made many close friends this way, and I find it keeps things exciting and worthwhile.
Neil Patel
Do you have any specific morning routine you follow to prep you for your day?
Hell yes. I wake up, make myself Bulletproof tea, meditate, do various weirdly effective journaling practices, and meet with my team. Dave Burns
I wake up and drink one litter of filtered water to rehydrate and kick start my digestion. I then turn on my espresso and sit underneath my infrared light while doing my Five Minute Journal. Ameer Rosic
Here is the exact routine I follow each morning. Wake up. Five Minute Journal. Make bed. Cold shower. Supplements. Brush teeth. Do pull-ups. Stretch. Meditate—plan the outflow of the day. Eat breakfast. Head out to get some work done! UJ Ramdas
Yes, it’s about 90-120 minutes starting at 5/5:30 am. In order: Vivid Vision review/affirmation, yoga, meditation, journaling, set daily schedule, read 20 pages, do 1/2 hour on a passion project. Mike Brcic
Wake up, meditate in bed a bit, work out, shower, eat a healthy breakfast, read for 10-20 min and then go to work. Floyd Marinescu
Check emails and Facebook mastermind groups I manage, eat oatmeal and peanut butter, drink coffee, and then walk for an hour and a half. Josh Fechter
I do a series of active stretches on my bed for some time. You can’t start a day with loose hips! Sam Parr
I have a set routine to start the day. I read my favorite politics site (www.electoral-vote.com), then take a two-minute cold shower while blasting some Skrillex, take my meds (yay, genetic disorders), and go for a little walk while sipping my can of coke zero. I get home, do the 5 Minute Journal, and am just rearing to crush it by then. Sol Orwell
Set my priorities for 20 minutes at the start of the day so I know exactly what to do. Dennis Yu
I have a boot-up and shutdown list. Boot-up includes reflecting on the top item to move my company forward now or what’s been causing the most stress. The plan is then to address this immediately. I practice inbox zero and empty my inbox from top-to-bottom; clear any residual notes from yesterday; do quick checks of the Asana task system and Slack messages; and pull top items from task folders and organize them. After this, I turn on Do Not Disturb for Slack and my phone and start my focus block. I prefer four continuous hours uninterrupted. Luke Williams
Every morning, I wake up and do workouts with the Freeletics app on my iPhone. Kumar Thangudu
Name one thing you couldn’t get through each day without.
Mindfulness. Dave Burns
Seeing my family. Ameer Rosic
Meditation & Journaling. UJ Ramdas
Reading. Mike Brcic
Meditation. Floyd Marinescu
Walking for at least 30 minutes. Josh Fechter
Diet Root Beer. The Hustle
The 5 Minute Journal. Sol Orwell
Proper sleep. Dennis Yu
Boomerang Extension for Gmail. Luke Williams
1Pass – A tool for managing all my login info. Kumar Thangudu
Chocolate. Ava
Monster Energy. Will Bunker
Purpose. Josh Fraser
A Green juice. Neil Patel
Several tools were mentioned throughout the interview. To make it easy here, they all are.
- 5 Minute Journal
- The Productivity Planner
- Instapage
- Text expander
- Fox type
- Freeletics
- Asana Tasks
- Slack
- 1Pass
- Bulletproof Tea
