productivity principles

I’m going to show you the habits that will either make you angry or set you free. The choice is yours. Because honestly, most of you already know how to study a lot or work hard. Hardcore studying is not the reason you’re not where you want to be in life. The real reason is that you don’t understand how to take control of your time and squeeze everything possible out of it.

That’s exactly what the top 1% of CEOs, students, and athletes do. The top 1% achieve more in one hour than you do in ten. And until you learn to master these exact skills, you’ll always be chasing them. In this article, I’m going to show you how.

The principle is simple: If you want to achieve something, don’t build habits. Build systems.

That brings us to the first point. There is someone out there who is ten times more successful than you. Not because they’re smarter, but because they’ve learned how to apply “no” correctly. A sword is sharp not because metal is added, but because the excess is removed. Its power comes from subtraction, not addition. Likewise, a warrior doesn’t win by swinging wildly, but through precision. The top 1% don’t win their day through overtime. They win through focus.

They protect the first two hours of their day. Those are their power hours. How you start determines how your day unfolds. If you let yourself drift in the morning, the day is already lost. I’m not saying you need a five-hour morning routine with 15 perfectly planned steps. But those first two hours must be protected. No phone. No artificial dopamine. No distractions. This hour becomes your mental armor and influences your neurochemistry for the entire day.

Point number two: If you want to be more disciplined than 99% of people, you must master dopamine. The reason you don’t finish your work is not laziness or lack of discipline. It’s that your brain is overstimulated. When forced to choose between a book and your favorite series, you’ll likely choose the series. That’s because your dopamine baseline has been recalibrated.

To fix this, you need to retrain your brain. Build three short “boredom windows” into your day. Ten minutes without stimulation. Walk without music. Sit in silence. Do deep work without background noise. Simply exist without input. When you learn to tolerate boredom, you become dangerous to your old self.

The third principle: The top 1% design their defaults. They don’t live reactively. They decide once and eliminate repeated decision-making. Standard breakfast. Standard gym time. Standard outfits. Standard evening routine. Every decision consumes mental energy, whether you notice it or not. This is called cognitive load, and top performers reduce it intentionally.

Plan your next day before going to sleep. Write down what needs to happen. Your subconscious processes it overnight, and you wake up knowing exactly what to do. If you constantly need motivation, your systems are weak. Motivation fades. Systems remain.

When it comes to sleep and productivity, most people think they have a time problem. In reality, they have an energy problem. The top 1% optimize their energy cycles. They sleep consistently. They eat foods that energize rather than drain them. They get real daylight. They surround themselves with people who give energy instead of taking it. This week, remove one “energy vampire” from your life. It could be a person, a habit, or even certain foods.

Point five: Stop learning like everyone else. What separates average people from high performers is their ability to spend less time learning while retaining more. The biggest time drain in life isn’t doing the task. It’s the time spent preparing to do it. If you learn how to shrink that gap, you gain an unfair advantage.

Point six: The best focus on identity, not habits. Your brain cannot fully distinguish between imagination and reality. It follows what you repeatedly believe. Instead of asking, “What do I need to do to be fit?” ask, “What would a high-performance athlete do in my position?” When you adopt an identity, the behaviors follow naturally.

Instead of saying, “I’ll try to read ten minutes a day,” say, “I’m someone who never lets a day pass without reading.” Identity shapes motivation, which drives action. Change your self-image, and you change your life.

Finally, treat your calendar like a crime scene. Your calendar tells the truth. Every hour you spend is a trade. Look at your week honestly. Would someone in the top 1% live like this? Track your time for one week. Categorize work, study, leisure, and wasted screen time. You’ll quickly see where your leaks are.

Once you know these seven productivity principles, the next question becomes: What will you do with this new power? The best investment, especially when you’re young, is your results in school. Your results open doors. That’s a fact.

Life is nuanced. There is no single perfect path. You must find the one that works for you.