In the non-stop quest to ever improve productivity and make the most of the precious time we have in this world, I submit to you to the concept of “Three to Thrive” – an amazing tool that was developed by Tim Ferriss and Tony Robbins.
Use this simple tool and watch your productivity increase by 300% or more.
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Three to Thrive – Origins
I first heard of the Three to Thrive concept when I read Tim Ferriss’ Tools of Titans book – he was talking with Tony Robbins about Morning Routines and during the discussion Tony talked about something called ‘Three to Thrive – a technique he uses to improve his focus on what’s important each day. Tony’s Three to Thrive list is comprised of the “three things that he’s going to make happen each day.”
As Tony explained to Tim…
“It’s important to visualize the list to and see it as though it’s already been done.”
Tim Ferriss further expanded what makes the Three to Thrive concept so powerful…
“If you win the morning, you win the day.”
How to Create YOUR Three to Thrive List
Let’s not over-complicate things here. If you want to use the Three to Thrive technique is very simple — look at your To-Do List, identify 3 items that have a high ROI, and focus on completing these 3 tasks TODAY. Do this each day and watch your productivity (and results!) skyrocket.
Tips about Three to Thrive:
What’s a “High ROI” item? There are a number of ways to answer this question.
I like to ask myself, “if I invest the time to do this task, will it give me a good return for the time I spent on it?”
Alternatively the famous time management book “The Time Trap” recommends you consider the relative Importance and Urgency of a Task to determine it’s priority.
Tim Ferriss takes this a step further and recommends you ask yourself the question, “If I do this task, will it make other tasks on my to-do list unimportant or no longer necessary?”
Do your Three to Thrive tasks as soon as you can during the day.
This isn’t rocket science – similar to the concept of “Eat That Frog” if you can focus on getting your Three to Thrive tasks done as early in the day as possible, you’ll increase your odds of winning the day.
Handy To Do List Cheat Sheet.
If you want to see the time management cheat sheet I use to prioritize my tasks, head over to my home page and collect the cheat sheet as one of the cool freebies I give away to all my readers. Click my pic below…
More about Tony Robbin’s Morning Routine
If you like the Three to Thrive concept and want to expand it further, check out more about Tony Robbin’s Morning Routine.
Tony’s AM Ritual includes 3 parts – and the Three to Thrive concept is one of those parts.
His full routine includes a focus on Gratefulness, God, and Three to Thrive list. Basically he spends about three minutes meditating on each of these bucket items.
You can also listen to Tim’s podcast episode #253 where he talks about his morning routine and others from his friends (including Jocko Wilcox, Jaime Foxx, Seth Godin, and others).
My S-M-A-R-T Morning Routine
I created a Morning Routine based on the concepts of Tony Robbins and Tim Ferriss that not only incorporates the Three to Thrive tip, but also is focused specifically on helping ‘worker bee’ type people like me be able to incorporate an AM Ritual into our daily activities but do so in as little as 30 minutes. Read about it here:
If you are looking for a simple tool that is easy to apply to your daily life AND that will give you measurable improvements in your productivity, then start incorporating Three to Thrive into your daily routine.
Give it a try and let me know if it helps you.
If you have other ideas, please share them with us so we can all learn together.
Public Speaking… Losing Weight… Closing a sale… Hitting a Curveball… The list goes on…
All of us face difficult challenges in our lives and that’s not likely to change anytime soon. Unfortunately, all too often we allow the illusion of difficulty to discourage us — which in turn leads to feelings of frustration, causes us to complain, lose focus, and makes us just want to give up.
But what if there was a set of powerful tools that would allow us to consistently overcome our challenges?
The good news is that five such tools exist, and more importantly, YOU already possess them! In this article, we’ll discuss each of these skills and how you can apply them to make your life better.
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5 POWER-ful Tools to Overcome Life’s Challenges
Tool #1: The Power of Your Mind
It all starts here. If you believe something is too difficult, then you’re setting yourself up for failure before you even begin. You know the old adage from Confucius, “the man who thinks he can, and the man who thinks he can’t, are both right.” Which one do you want to be?
OK, so you have a task that seems difficult, maybe even impossible at first glance. Sure you could allow that thinking to control you — sending you careening down the path of disappointment. But why not change your mindset? Why not take control of the situation with your mind. Here’s how…
Step 1: Recognize that Difficulty is just an illusion because…
Step 2: Take action. Stop thinking about how hard the task it and just get started. The sooner you DO something, and focus your attention on the task, the sooner you can stop letting fear of the task control you. This action could be as simple as putting together a game plan, writing that first line of your story, or trying your first pushup — it doesn’t matter what you do, it just matters that you DO.
Step 3: Keep taking consistent, focused action on the task until after you cross the finish line. Maintain your mental focus on action and two things will happen. First off, there won’t be any room in your mind for the Illusion of Difficulty to take root. Secondly, your actions will move your closer to your goal. As you begin to recognize that you’re actually ‘doing it’ (whatever ‘it’ may be), you’ll gain the confidence you need to conquer your mental dragons and complete your quest.
Good news – you already possess the power of your mind!
Remember, when you were a baby, you couldn’t walk; there was a time as a kid when you didn’t know how to tie your shoes or add 2+2, and once upon a time you didn’t even know how to read. But you found a way to overcome each of those obstacles, didn’t you? That’s because when you were a kid you didn’t let your mind discourage you because you didn’t know any better — you simply kept trying and believing.
Maybe it’s time to rediscover that belief in yourself?
Tool #2: The Power of Preparation
When you invest the time to build a solid foundation, you provide yourself with the building blocks needed to overcome both simple and complex challenges.
Wait, isn’t taking time to plan just delaying action? Actually no. I would submit to you that the process of planning is very action oriented. Planning is itself a task — a very important one because it provides us with a roadmap to reach our goals.
Furthermore, when you focus your mind on building a good plan, you’re actively seeing yourself overcome difficulties and ultimately achieving your goal —this is because the very nature of planning requires that the final step is the successful execution of your goal. Seeing this on paper can be a powerful catalyst, propelling you forward with confidence to take further action. Armed with your plan, that action will be focused on the right tasks needed to overcome any obstacles that stand in your way.
So you wanna hit that curveball? Then learn (and practice!) the basics of hitting: having a balanced stance, how to swing the bat correctly, and of course watching the ball all the way to the bat. These simple things are easy to overlook but critical to success. Sadly one of the biggest fundamentals of hitting that is rarely even taught nowadays (at any level) is how to ‘bunt’ a baseball — a skill that absolutely requires you to learn how to focus and watch the ball hit the bat in order to succeed. Unfortunately, with less time devoted to practice because of the pressures of immediate competition, coaches tend to take shortcuts on fundamentals like bunting, proper base running, and even using two hands to catch. That’s a shame because the loss of these basic skills in a player’s talent foundation (i.e. a lack of proper preparation!) leads to problems later.
Don’t let this happen to you. Whether you’re trying to hit a ball or land a new job, always invest the time to build a good plan. It’s often the difference between success and failure.
Tool #3: The Power of Simplifying Things
ANY challenge that appears complicated CAN be simplified. The key is to break it down into smaller “bite-sized” chunks so you can take a step-by-step approach.
Wanna lose weight? Starving yourself (i.e. trying to do it all at once) rarely works. Instead, come up with a plan that simplifies the process. Recognize that you can’t climb the mountain overnight, but you can take the first step, and the next, and the next. Rather than focus on the giant, seemingly out of reach, I’ll-never-get-there goal, instead focus on the little things you can do.
Build a SMART (1) plan whose blueprint is a series of small steps, that if done correctly, will by definition, lead to the achievement of your goal. Your steps may include portion control, reducing some of your junk food, adding in some physical activity, working with a partner or coach for motivation, etc. By following a gradual, methodical, building block process based on smaller Oh-I-can-do-that steps, you will reach your weight loss goal over time. (1: SMART stands for ‘specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound’).
Better still is this — by using a series of smaller steps, you’ll be creating a series of habits that will, in turn, result in a lifestyle change. Why is this important? Because that lifestyle change will ensure that your bad eating habits don’t rebound later, so you can continue to live in your success zone.
Source: Pixabay/RyanMcGuire CCO Creative Commons
Also, more steps give you more opportunities to celebrate success, which in turn makes you feel better about yourself and inspires you to keep going. Before you know it, you’ll reach your goals.
Tool #4: The Power of Advice
There is no need to try to solve every problem by yourself. If someone else has already invented the wheel, then use their wisdom and move on. Don’t waste time because your pride won’t allow you to ask for help.
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened ~ Jesus, The Gospel of Matthew (7: 7–9)
Need to solve the Pythagorean Theorem for your geometry class? If you don’t understand the math text, seek guidance from your teacher, tutor, fellow students or even sources like The Khan Academy or YouTube — the answers are out there, all you have to do is ask.
Need to close more sales at work? Stop doing the same old thing if it’s not working. Instead, try reading a book (Zig Ziglar’s Secrets of Closing the Salewould be a good start), investing in a sales training course, and/or finding a mentor (and then mimic what they do). Arm yourself with wisdom and then practice, practice, practice. You’ll gain the skills and confidence you need to succeed — and in sales, the mental game is 90% of the battle.
Tool #5: The Power of Action
Although we’ve already talked about Action, it’s such a powerful tool (perhaps the most powerful!), it really needs its own section.
President Teddy Roosevelt said, “Do what you can, with what you have, wherever you are.”
The message is clear — you can’t get anything done unless you “Just Do It.”
Whatever your goal, don’t wait, get started by taking action (any action) today — you’ll be one step closer to your goal.
Source: Pixabay/Robinsonk26 CCO Creative Commons
Afraid of public speaking? Here’s your first step: stand in front of a mirror and just read a book. (Surely you can do that, right?) Next time, casually talk to yourself in that same mirror. (Also doable). Then write a few notes on a card and use that to speak to Mr. Mirror again. Then try it live with your pet. Then one friend. Then two. And so on. In no time at all, you’ll be delivering a keynote address to a group of 500!
Is life difficult?
Yes. And it will continue to be because that’s just how it goes.
BUT — can you overcome any challenge?
Yes, yes, and double-plus-yes!
I believe you can do it. Now it’s time for YOU to believe in yourself as well.
BONUS — A Competitive Edge?
I’ll leave you with one final thought — sadly most people won’t take the time to overcome their difficulties. That’s a shame, but it’s also an opportunity… for you.
Once you start using these 5 POWER-ful tools to consistently overcome life’s difficulties, you’ll be giving yourself a competitive advantage — once you can hit that curveball, or deliver a good speech, or get your weight under control, or close more sales, you’ll make yourself more valuable to your team, your company, and yourself. Success begets more success and before you know it you’ll be living your best life now. That’s pretty freakin’ awesome!
As Albert Einstein said, “In the middle of difficulty, lies OPPORTUNITY.”
My question to you is this – what current challenge are YOU facing and can you use these POWER-ful tools to turn it into an opportunity?
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It’s Fast, it’s flexible and it will supercharge your life – it’s The SMART Morning Routine!
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Morning Routine – The Problem
Most AM Rituals require 2-4 hours to complete – most working men and women don’t have this kind of time in the morning. Do you?
Morning Routine – The Solution
The SMART Morning Routine can be completed in a little as 30 minutes and still provide the majority of benefits of longer rituals. How does that sound?
The Dilemma of The Working Class
Morning Routines are all the rage these days – Tim Ferris, Hal Elrod, Benjamin Hardy and many more profess their greatness. Quite frankly there are a LOT of great AM Rituals on the web and I’m thankful to these key opinion leaders who’ve shared their ideas.
Unfortunately what I noticed is that many of the most popular morning routines require a long time to complete – that’s a big problem for working men and women like me who still have 9–5 type jobs, families, and a host of demands on our time.
So what do you do when you still want to enjoy the benefits of a morning routine but don’t have the time?
Simple – create a “S-M-A-R-T” Morning Routine.
The SMART Morning Routine is an AM Ritual for the rest of us : one that fits our busy lives AND still provides us the key benefits of the Morning Routine exercise.
Don’t get me wrong, I would love to be in a position where I can spend 2–4 hours every morning turning myself into the Uber-Human of my dreams. Who wouldn’t want to meditate for 30–60 minutes, workout for an hour, spend another hour thinking about a bucket list item, spend another 1.5 hours being creative, and taking time to enjoy a nutritious breakfast? I’d love the luxury of being able to do all those things, and if I did, I’m 100% certain my life would improve.
But let’s face it, most of us ‘worker bees’ are not yet in a position to spend 4 hours each morning on our AM Rituals — we need routines which are both realistic and achievable for us. We need a Morning Routine that is S-M-A-R-T (specific/simple, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound).
In this article I’ll share my exact plan for how to create your own SMART Morning Routine.
Morning Routine – The Video
The SMART Morning Routine – A Summary
The SMART Morning Routine involves starting the day with as little as 30 minutes of alone time designed to take your productivity to the next level and beyond.
It’s kind of like Abraham Lincoln’s advice about chopping down a tree (you remember that saying, right?)
“Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend the first four sharpening my ax.”
In this case, the ax to be sharpened is YOU – and we’ll do it in a lot less time too!
By taking just a half hour so-so and doing these two big bucket items, the SMART Morning Routine leaves you a ‘complete’ person, eager to attack the day because you have already completed a few tasks that made you feel great AND you have a clear-eyed vision on what you want to do. Thus you can immediately move forward — already in a highly productive mindset. You feel like you are already a success and that confidence is half the battle to a winning the day.
The SMART Morning Routine
The SMART Morning Routine Put Me Back on Track
I had a big problem last year.
I let myself get uber-busy in with “busybody work” and for a time it took me off my life’s path. Thankfully I read a book called Tools of Titansby Tim Ferris and the wisdom there set me straight (Thanks, Tim!).
I was somebody who already had a morning routine, but over the years it got less and less productive because it lacked balance (it was essentially all work-focused and not ‘me’ focused). I used Tim’s ideas to reset my routine and eventually develop the “SMART AM Ritual.”
Now, by consistently completing the SMART Morning Routine, I’m supercharging my productivity (for work, play, and life) while also actively making myself a better person again.
The result: I’m back on track to My Life’s Journey.
The SMART Morning Routine
My S-M-A-R-T Morning Routine involves 6-7 steps and 30-60 minutes depending on how I feel each morning. It’s highly flexible so I encourage you to modify it to meet your own goals.
Here’s what I do…
1 — Control…Something
(Time Investment: 1–2 minutes)
One little thing — it doesn’t have to be perfect, and it doesn’t matter what it is — just get it done.
It could be making a bed, it could be organizing your desk, it could be anything.
It takes all of 1–2 minutes but…it’s one thing DONE.
This is especially helpful for Type-A personalities — when you can control what you can control, and get that 1 easy take completed first thing in the morning, it becomes a success (dare I say “S-M-A-R-T?”) building block that propels you forward into the day — and it makes you feel like “Yes, I can do this!”
And just like that Task #1 is done!
2 — Prime the Body
(Time Investment: 3–5 minutes)
First I do a round of Sun Salutations — this simple yoga routine takes just a few minutes and starts the process of connecting the body with the mind. BTW if you are new to Yoga and want some guidance, there is a great FREE app called “Track Yoga” — it will guide you through the Sun Salutations (with pointers on how to do it right). As a side note, Track Yoga is one of the recommended tools in my 2018 Essential Guide to Awesomeness.
Bonus Tip: Although I’d love to be able to go outside to do my Sun Salutations, that’s not realistic for me yet so I have a couple pics of sunrises hanging on my office wall — they are pics I took myself and they bring me joy by reminding me of special moments in my life. Here’s one…
Next, I do 10 reps of something — pushups, jumping jacks, air punches. Just 10. It’s not a workout, it’s just to get the body ready to go — kind of like priming an engine before you start it. You’ll be surprised how this gets the blood flowing in the right direction.
(OK, for you Seinfeld fans, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a shout out to Kenny Bania who famously said on the show, “I start out with curls. That’s good for the bicep. I do 10 reps, 2 sets…” After all, everything relates back to Seinfeld, right? Apparently even the Morning Routine).
Bonus – CinnaButter Coffee is a great way to improve your Intermittent Fasting results too!
3 — Add some Caffeine
(Time Investment: 0)
One cup of black coffee (with cinnamon) does the trick for me. It allows me to keep my intermittent (read: 14–16 hour) fasting going while giving me the energy I need to move through the morning. (Why cinnamon, you wonder? Cinnamon is a natural blood sugar regulator).
This single cup of coffee gives me energy that lasts until I break my fast around 10 am (from about 6 pm the night before). Quick note — the time ‘cost’ is zero because you drink the coffee while doing the remaining tasks.
4 — Prime the Mind
(Time Investment: 10–15 minutes)
I’m all for wisdom. I try to be consciously open to acquiring wisdom from trusted sources (and that includes my own mind). Ever since reading Tony’s Awaken the Giant Within years ago, I’ve been a fan of journaling. I believe in Tony’s adage…
“If you life is worth living it’s worth recording.”
Unfortunately in recent years I let the ‘chores of life’ get in the way of my journaling — foolishly believing that “I didn’t have time to journal” (ah, big misconception — as the Buddhist would say, ‘if you don’t have time for journaling, then you need to journal right now”). Thankfully Tim’s Tools of Titans book reminded me of the benefits and now I’m back with a vengeance.
The Morning Journal is a KEY Part of the AM Ritual
My current version of AM Journal varies depending on the day.
First I write in my journal.
Sometimes I remind myself what am I grateful for (opportunities, something from yesterday, something beautiful I see, etc). Sometimes it’s thinking about specific positive-focused questions like…
“What would make today great?”
“What would set me up for success?”
Other times I write to just clear my mind of a problem or even complaina bit about something to release my frustration (it helps!). When I do this exercise I try to focus on ‘free form’ writing — don’t think, just write — let your mind release its contents (kind of like when Hooper and Chief opened up the guts of the shark on “Jaws”). You never know what you’ll find, but it’s amazing what’s in there. (And no, I haven’t found a license plate from LA yet).
Other times I don’t write in my journal, but instead, exercise what Tim calls the “Idea Muscle” — basically think of a question like…
“What Makes me Content?”
“What’s my Bucket List now?”
“How can I better focus my time to spend more of it on my life goals?”
“How can I spend money to save time?”
And then think of 10+ quick answers/ideas for these questions.
After the journal writing, I think of 3 Affirmations for the day.
These are one liners that I want to speak to myself that focus me for the day. Here are some from yesterday…
“I am vibrantly healthy in mind, body, and spirit.
I am happy — I smile a lot and am content with life.
I don’t need lots of money, possessions, or career accolades to be happy — I don’t need recognition from others to be happy — I am happy because I am alive, my family loves me, and the world is a beautiful place with lots of things to do.”
Finally, I incorporate Tim/Tony’s “3 To Thrive” productivity tool.
Click this pic to read more about the “Three to Thrive” concept
What is Three to Thrive?
Three to Thrive involves writing down 3 action items that are the most important things for me this day. 3 items that, if I accomplish these but nothing else, will still make the day a ‘win.’
It goes without saying that the sooner in the day you start working on your 3 items, the better chance you have to be successful — having this focus early on in the day, can set you up for success.
Once I have this done (and it sounds like a lot but only takes about 10–15 minutes) then I really start focusing on my breathing.
I began this a bit earlier with the sun salutations but now I take it to the next level — breathing deeply while repeating my affirmations (3+ times for each one) and then continuing the breathing exercise while I visualize the “3 to Thrive” actions as already completed.
Let’s spend a moment on this because it’s kind of important. It’s one thing to write down a few affirmations and goals for the day (and if you are not already doing this then just adding them to your morning routine can make a difference), but if you want to get to the next level, then…
Just as importantly as identifying these affirmations and goals, is taking a few minutes to visualize yourself ‘living’ them.
Here’s what I mean:
For the affirmations, use the breath to make the affirmations feel real inside you, as a part of you, nay as ALL of you. Be the affirmation.
For the goals, take some time to focus on each goal, understand why it’s important to you, and then use the breath to get your mind to focus on what it will feel like after you have achieved your goals for the day (“I’m Batman!”).
This psycho-cybernetics step is one of the keys to success because by putting yourself in the ‘already achieved’ mindset half the work is done — the first step on your journey has already been taken, the rest is just continuing the inertia in the same direction until you cross the finish line again (a finish line you’ve already crossed in your mind). You’ll be surprised how this little tweak in the process can rocket your accomplishments to success because of the consistency is adds to your productivity!
Click this pic to learn 5 “POWER-ful” tools to overcome life’s obstaclesClick this pic for 79 Affirmations you can use to change your life
5 — Prime the Soul
(Time Investment: 5–10 minutes)
While continuing the breathing routine, I’ll now complete the process of connecting the body and mind with the soul by ‘seeking wisdom’ from external sources. Here I like to read a chapter from Proverbs and one of The Gospels, and then a verse from The Tao Te Ching. All the while I am focusing on calm breathing.
It’s kind of like an active meditation experience. It’s the top of the pyramid of the ‘priming’ stage and makes me feel connected to (as Douglas Adams would say), Life, the Universe, and Everything.
6 — Pursue Your Passion NOW
(Time Investment: 10–30 minutes)
Like many of you I have a passion, one of my Legacy Life goals is writing.
It’s a passion that brings me contentment, excitement, and makes life fun.
What do I write about?
So far I’ve written a biblical ‘end of the world’ novel called The Last Temptation of John, a non-fiction book on how Minecraft teaches life lessons with my son Jax called Diary of a Minecraft Dad, and a non-fiction book about investing in options with my friend Michael Thomsett (the world’s #1 writer on options education) called The Options Alchemist.
I’m currently writing 2 more books. One is a book about the life lessons I’ve learned from my Yorkshire terrier Sassy (who passed away from the world much too soon) — her book is calledA Life Worth Living. The other is a series of fantasy novels (think JRR Tolkien meets The Bible meets conspiracy theories) called A Grim Future?
If you’d like to read any of them, I’d be happy to give you a complimentary copy — just use my contact form and let me know which one you’d like to read.
The point is that even though writing is very important to me, I kept allowing it to take second place to the typical day-to-day tasks that we worker bees face all too often.
As a result, my writing floundered.
Luckily I realized that if I add it to my morning routine, I can make sure I get a chance to do it every day. Here again, I’m borrowing wisdom from Tim Ferris..
Even if I only write 2 ‘crappy’ pages per day it’s still a win.
Why? because it gets my writing muscle exercised and gives me a chance to write a lot more too. Even if I only write for 10 minutes, I can still get 2 crappy pages in — and that’s a win because it means I’m still making progress, 2 pages at a time. Better yet, I’ve found that just getting started often leads me to continue to write beyond just 10 minutes — sometimes I write more during the AM Ritual, sometimes I write later in the day.
The point is that I get so excited by the process of writing every day that I stay ‘in the zone’ far more often than I ever did before. That’s an even bigger win!
What’s YOUR Passion?
Whatever it may be, make sure your SMART Morning Routine includes some time for it.
7 — 3 To Thrive Completed?
(Time Investment: 2–3 minutes)
This is actually a question I circle back to later in the day.
I like to come back to my AM Journal at the end of the day (or I sometimes do it as part of the AM Journal the following day) and evaluate how I did — just a quick sentence or 3 to follow-up on the day and see if I did what I set out to do or if I missed the mark (and why), so that I do better tomorrow.
This is the full circle technique that is the beginning of the Am Ritual for the next day of the journey.
And that, my friends, is the SMART Morning Routine?
What do you think?
Concerned about your time?
I can appreciate that. Here’s my advice.
First off, if you are keeping track the total time investment for the SMART Morning Routine is 31–63 minutes. Surely that is realistic and achievable for you, right?
If you do not currently have this time in your busy schedule, then I would challenge you to do what I did to make time: as cliche as it sounds, all you have to do is get up 30–60 minutes earlier.
I’ll be honest with you — for the first 47 years of my life, I hated getting up early. If I was up before 7 am I was grumpy. But, I decided to go all in on the Morning Ritual Tim suggested, and to give myself time, I started getting up at 630am.
What do you know, it worked for me. Now I am so in love with this routine (because I can SEE the results) that I usually get up at 6 am — and I usually can’t wait to get out of bed!
You’ll be surprised at how much your productivity for the entire day improves when you invest just 30–60 minutes in some morning “ME” time.
Following this process has led me to dramatic improvements in my productivity of important tasks (AKA the 3 to Thrive items), my writing (much more regular), reduction in stress, and giving me a reason to get up earlier to attack the day.
I’m grateful to have been exposed to this wisdom and I wanted to share it with you too in the hopes that it will make your life better too. Obviously, your routine won’t be the same as mine, but perhaps I’ve given you some ideas to add to your own ritual. If so, that’s a win in my book.
The SMART Morning Routine – It’s Not Rocket Science
No, but it’s simple, it’s quick, it’s incredibly easy to do AND if you follow this plan consistently, it can make a real difference for you — even if you are still a busy worker bee like me.
Summary: Save time (and money) with Google Keep’s Voice Transcription Capabilities and File Sharing
As always, my goal is to share practical wisdom you can use to make life easier. Here are a couple more tips…
Use Google Keep as your voice recorder and save time because the file can be instantly exported to a Doc/Word file with no file conversion time (ah, that’s huge).
Additionally, you can capture all these voice memos to your heart’s content and they’ll be instantly available for follow-up on all your devices.
My Dilemma: I Found Myself in Need of a Voice Recorder.
Like you, I am always on the lookout for ways to increase my productivity. I have a lot of drive time at work (often four hours per day or more) and to make the most of it I listen to lots of podcasts.
We probably listen to many of the same ones (Ferris, Robbins, Goins, etc) and that’s all well and fine, but what I found is that just passively listening to these recordings was doing myself a great disservice — there’s a lot of wisdom being shared by these thought leaders, yet I wasn’t retaining enough of it so I couldn’t take action on it later and actually benefit from the knowledge.
Taking handwritten notes while driving obviously wasn’t an option, so I looked into buying a voice recorder that would allow me to capture tidbits and ideas I could follow-up on later. Unfortunately, I didn’t like what I found…
The Problem with Voice Recorders
Minor: They are expensive: $50–100 or more depending on the features you want.
Minor: You can’t see what you recorded during the process.
Big: You take extra time to download/convert the voice file to a word/doc file.
BIG: Voice recording is all they do.
Enter Google Keep
Just in case you are not familiar with Google Keep…
It’s marketed as a note taking app.
It’s not new (it was launched 2013), but not a lot of people I know use it. Sadly, Google Keep is often overlooked in favor of other more ‘robust’ apps like Wunderlist, Evernote, and others. While those other task tools may be more powerful than Google Keep, I found that I didn’t need all their extra features, didn’t want to pay for them, and didn’t want to invest the time necessary to learn them. I just wanted something that works and “G-Keep” hit the mark for me.
What’s great about Google Keep for new users is that it has an easy to understand, minimalist interface, and that means pretty much a zero learning curve.
Although it’s considered a minimalist app, G-Keep is a little beast that offers a set of powerful tools that make it a super effective for reminding you to get things done. You can use Keep to create lists, store pics/files/more, collaborate with others on action items, and much more.
Here’s what I was already doing with Google Keep
For years I’ve been using Keep to create a series of ‘to do’ lists (shocking, I know). It’s very effective for this purpose and what’s great is that my lists are automatically shared between all my mobile and home devices. As we speak I currently have 7 widgets on my phone and 10 active lists. These include work reminders, home projects, shopping lists, voice recording notes, my 3 to Thrive lists from my SMART Morning Routine, reminders on wisdom tips I want to share with my sons, blogging ideas, and more.
I use the G-Keep Android widget to SHOW my to do lists on various home pages of my phone so that I have them ‘always up’ and thus always on my mind. This lets me SEE the tasks so I can be reminded to DO them.
I use the checkbox feature on G-Keep to turn my to-do lists into action items so they are easy to remove from view once complete. You can also use G-Keep in paragraph form for standard notes — for example when you are doing the voice recording.
As shown in the pic, you can use G-Keep similar to Evernote or Dropbox and store files and share them with others. I work in the medical field and there’s a lot of complex terms, etc to remember…
But what about the Voice Recording?
This is something I only recently discovered with G-Keep as a capability. Now obviously it’s not rocket science and maybe you already knew this, but honestly it was new to me (wait, maybe I shouldn’t I admit that).
Specifically, when I found myself in need of a voice recorder, rather than buy yet another device, I tried using G-Keep as my de facto voice recorder in lieu of getting a dedicated one — it exceeded my expectations for this purpose!
G-Keep is an effective speech-to-text voice recorder.
Suddenly all that podcast wisdom had a place where I could capture it…and easily follow-up on it later. My 4+ hours of drive time was no longer a chore — dare I say I began looking forward to it? (Well, let’s not go that far).
G-Keep is easy to use as a voice recorder. If you know how to type a text, then you already know how to take a note in G-Keep. Additionally, if you know how to push the microphone button on your text keyboard, then you already know how to take a voice-to-text note in G-Keep. Like I said, there’s no learning curve!
Also G-Keep is free — you don’t have to spend money buying a dedicated voice recorder. (Send your donations to The Human Fund please — you’re welcome, George).
Key Features of Google Keep for Speech-to-Text Usage
You can use G-Keep in hands-free mode while driving. (Thanks to its integration with the “OK, Google” Assistant). Just say “OK, Google…Open Google Keep.” Then speak your note.
Using G-Keep as your voice recorder means you don’t need to carry around yet another device.
G-Keep will save you tons of time because it automatically transfers all your speech-to-text notes to your other devices. As soon as the note goes in G-Keep it’s available on all your connected devices (phones, tablets, Chromebooks, Mac, etc).
G-Keep can save you even more time because all your notes can be instantly converted to Google Docs/Word files. You don’t have to do any extra steps (for example if you used a traditional voice recorder, you’d have to possibly convert the file format, download it yourself, etc). With Keep it’s already done. Print your voice notes out, send them to someone else, etc. It’s so easy.
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Today’s life lesson was inspired by Tony Robbins (author and motivational speaker) who once said, “If your life is worth living, it is worth recording.”
Remember Your Nursery Rhythms…
I’m sure you’ve heard the nursery tale about the race between the “Tortoise and the Hare,” right? You know the one where the rabbit races off as fast as his legs will carry him, while the turtle just plods along as slow as a snail. What happens? The rabbit gets tired and has to rest in the middle of the race, while the turtle keeps going at his own pace and eventually passes the rabbit and wins. This is the epitome of our lesson – slow and steady wins the race – and it applies to all areas of your life.
Ideas for YOU to Use This Wisdom…
Want to invest your money in stocks? Sure you can choose to put it all in risky stocks that may give you the highest returns, but odds are that you will only end up losing it all. You’d be better off finding investments with less risk – even those these might not offer the highest return potential, over the long run, you’ll likely end up with more money.
Going to Vegas to gamble? Well if you must, at least choose the games that give you some decent odds. Vegas is built on all the losers at high-risk, low-return games like Keno, Slots, and The Wheel of Fortune. Instead educate yourself a bit and play games like Blackjack, Craps, and Roulette – certain methods of playing these games will at least give you a fighting chance.
Have to complete a term paper? Don’t do a rush job at the last minute or do some half-baked paper as soon as you get the assignment. Instead, spend a little time in research, get a plan, and do it little by little over time.
In all of these cases, slow and steady is the best method. Can you think of other examples?
But Wait, There’s More…
That quote from Tony Robbins requires a bit of follow-up. If you’ve read any of his books you’ll know that Tony often recommends you keep a journal to record your life. I’d definitely encourage you to do that. After all, you’ve heard the old adage “if we don’t learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat it.” If you keep a journal you’ll be able to learn from your mistakes and also take advantage of your successes. So do yourself a favor and keep a journal. Some ideas for things you might write:
Ask yourself – Did I do my best today?
The top 3 things you enjoyed/learned/are thankful for/etc. about the day
Your hopes, dreams, and goals
Little things that you noticed that made you smile
What you learned from the day
What you plan to do tomorrow/next week/month/etc.
Whatever makes you happy!
It doesn’t really matter what you write as far as someone else is concerned, it only matters that you write what YOU care about. It’s doesn’t necessarily have to be a “dear diary” situation (although that’s ok too), instead it’s more of a journal of learning – so that you can discover what’s causing you to miss your goals (so you can stop doing it) and also what’s going well (so you can keep doing it). That’s how you live your best life possible via the slow and steady wins the race method. So good luck and start writing!
As always, my goal is to share practical wisdom you can use to make life easier. Here are a couple more tips…
Just in case you are not familiar with Google Keep…
That Helpful Dad 