How Millionaires Plan Their Day (My Everyday Go-To)

After finishing college, I had a hard time being productive.

Gone were the days where someone else structured my schedule. It was up to me now.

After much searching and experimenting (with ideas that didn’t seem to work) I found some effective tools to get me and keep me on track in regards to productivity.

I needed it, badly.

Fast forward to today, it still surprises me how many grown adults are winging it. They’ve got no real system for prioritizing and executing on things that will actually move the needle in their life.

So today I’m going to share a relatively unknown tool that’s worked well for me. Who knows, it might just work for you too.

This is for all of you who have ever felt guilty about what you didn’t get done today… asked yourself “what did I actually do today?”

…or just deep down know you could be a better steward of your time (but don’t really know what to do about it).

And for those of you don’t want to fall into the trap that many do (repeating the same year over and over) you’ll especially want to read until the end as I’ll share a pro tip on how to reduce the “dumb tax’ so many of us pay for not using a tool like this.

Without further adieu I introduce to you the “HPA 1-Page Productivity Planner”

No, not my own creation but the creation of Brendon Burchard, a world-renowned peak performance trainer.

Nearly every single day for the last 8+ years, I’ve filled out a fresh piece of paper with the categories you see on the sheet.

Funny story about that…

Early on in this process, Sarah told me it’s ‘a waste of paper.’ I half-jokingly snapped back:

“I’d rather waste paper than waste my life.”

While not my proudest husband moment, I think I had a fair point.

One of my former mentors used to say that there’s three kinds of people in this world:

1) Those who make things happen

2) Those who watch things happen

3) Those who wonder, “What happened?!”

Don’t be the third type.

If you’re reading this newsletter, I assume you’re the type of parent who wants to be intentional about the direction of your family lineage.

You want to give your kids to have a better life than you had growing up.

But are you setting an worthwhile example of being on purpose?

With cheap dopamine available nearly everywhere (at a mere press of a button or swipe on the phone) it’s easy to let a day go by without taking care of the things that move the needle forward for your family.

Believe me, I get it.

Side note - I know some people love to do everything digitally. Maybe I’m old school, but there’s just something about writing things down on paper.

So I challenge you to give it a serious shot.

Not forever, just for 30 days. Keep what works for you, throw out what doesn’t.

How do you use this 1-Page Productivity Sheet, you ask?

Rather than me explaining it all to you here, watch Brendon Burchard’s video on “How Millionaires Plan Their Day” HERE

When you use it as instructed, it’s tremendously effective.

Again, I’d suggest testing it out yourself for a solid month. New habits can be challenging to develop, so maybe you fill it out the night before you go to bed before you turn on Netflix….or in the morning before you have your coffee (on second thought, maybe some of you would be better filling it out AFTER coffee).

Once you get that down, you can decide if you want to go to the next level (this is my personal add on).

Finish each day by writing down everything you did that day ON THE BACK OF THE SHEET. 

This might seem like overkill – but there’s two specific reasons for doing so.

#1 You become aware what you did with your time that day.

If you take the time to write down what you did that day in detail, you’ll see where you time is invested (or wasted). Time audits can be super powerful.

For people who care about improving, you’ll probably get sick of writing down “spent 45 minutes scrolling Instagram”

You’ll also start seeing patterns in what you’re doing.

If the best way to change your life is to change your daily routine…then of course that all starts with awareness.

#2 (Pro Tip) You can reflect on your year, with accuracy

Wisdom doesn’t come with experience, it comes with reflected upon experience.

This is why the majority of the population pay so much “dumb tax” – the cost of making the same errors over and over again.

So in attempt to mitigate the amount of dumb tax I pay - I lock myself in a room (usually the day after Christmas) along with the 365 individual sheets I’d filled out over the course of the year.

I go back over each page, seeing what went well, where there’s room for improvement, which habits were helpful, which weren’t, general patters, etc. And more specifically - my growth, who I connected with/invested in, where I added value to other people, quality time spent with loved ones, which activities helped and hurt my business, finances, etc.

Write down what you noticed. Look for opportunities to get better.

(Yes, this takes time and serious mental effort – that’s probably why most people don’t do it).

Skip all the New Year’s resolutions that you won’t keep and do this one reflection exercise. You’ll gain much more insight into what makes sense to implement or eliminate…

Because nothing changes until your daily routine changes.

So…if you don’t currently have some sort of system to prioritize and execute the most important things in your life, start with the next step and print out your first 1 (or 30 pages) of the HPA Productivity Planner and give it a serious go. It doesn’t have to be perfect, just start.

Just remember that it’s better to “waste” the paper than to waste your life : )

Until next time, own what matters!

Brian, Sarah, Riser & Haven

P.S. If you haven’t answered life’s most important question, anything else we talk about is irrelevant. So consider watching a few minutes or more HERE.

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