The Secret Productivity Trick Used By Sylvester Stallone And Many Others.

I love researching and discovering ways highly productive people get their work done each day. How they focus on what’s important when there are so many distractions trying to get their attention, and ultimately, what it is that enables them to achieve such elevated levels of success.

One thing I have noticed about these people is they don’t use the latest elaborate apps. Most use the built-in apps on their phones, such as a calendar and Google Keep or Apple Notes. Many use a simple paper notebook and a pocket diary.

And let’s be honest, if we think about it, what more do you need? A calendar to give you your schedule and a way to make a list of the things you must do and collect your ideas.

I’m a firm believer in learning from the most successful people. After all, these people have done it. They’ve broken through barriers, followed their dreams and got a lot done along the way.

Earlier this year, I saw an interview Sylvester Stallone did with Tony Robbins and Sly, who explained his writing process.

He’s always collecting ideas onto scraps of paper, and for the screenplays themselves, he writes them out manually at his desk at home. So, nothing elaborate there.

To get the work done, he sits down and bangs out the work. He knows there are no shortcuts. The only way to write a screenplay is to write a script. So, turn off all notifications, lock the doors and write the screenplay. Simple really.

Woody Allen writes all his screenplays using an old typewriter in an upstairs room at his home. Once again, all his ideas are scribbled down on scraps of paper.

It’s funny how all the things we are told not to do, incredibly productive people do. David Allen’s book, Getting Things Done, goes on at length about how scribbling things down on bits of paper is not effective, yet the people getting results and churning out hits like Rocky, Annie Hall, and Midnight in Paris ignore this advice.

Picasso was an artist, and guess what he did all day? He worked on his art. Doors locked, phone off the hook (no mobiles in those days) and complete and total focus on his art. No elaborate tools. Just bits of paper strewn all over his studio with ideas and sketches.

It’s glaringly obvious that you have to commit to total and uninterrupted focus if you want to succeed at something. Without that focus, you spread yourself too thin and fail to accomplish anything.

And it’s never about the tools. New tools will do nothing to make you better. New tools will distract you and take your focus away.

I’ve heard all the stories and excuses about how these successful people are different and lucky, and the one about all a person needs is this new app. They’ll miraculously become more productive, yet those new apps never do make you more productive. They prevent great work from being produced.

Why is that?

Well, if you go back to the way Sylvester Stallone and Woody Allen do their work, it’s the process of doing their work. When Sly wrote Rocky in the early 1970s, computers were colossal things that just about fitted into a room. The personal computer wasn’t even a tickle in Steve Jobs’ mind. So, the only way to write a script was to pick up a pen and a piece of paper and write it or type it. Woody Allen began his illustrious writing career by typing out his scripts, which he still does today.

Both Sly and Woody Allen found a process, it worked, so they stuck with it. They know it’s not about the tools or apps; it’s always about the process. Their process might seem old-fashioned today, but they’ve achieved a lot more than you have with that process.

The most productive people I know have been using the same tools for years. They know them inside out, and those tools get the work done.

The world’s top chefs do not change their knives for the latest knives with the newest non-slip handles or colours. They stick with the knives they’ve used for years. They’re comfortable with the weight and feel of the old handle, the sharpness and shape of the blade they’ve been personally sharpening for years. At the end of service, they lovingly clean them.

Jim Rohn said: “Success leaves clues”, and it does. Whatever it is you want to achieve in life, someone somewhere will have done it before you. If you’re going to become more productive, get more work done in less time so that you can enjoy your life, then you will never find the answer in the newest productivity app in the App Store.

You will find what you are looking for in the process you use to get your work done. It will be found in sticking with one app and learning how to use it properly. You will never become more productive if you constantly change your productivity apps, wasting time figuring out how to do things you could do with the old app that the new app doesn’t do.

One of the reasons why there was so much pushback when Evernote released Evernote 10 last year was that most of their users were long-time users who had a process in place. Evernote 10 broke that. It wasn’t because Evernote 10 was terrible. It looked great, and the Evernote team’s intentions were honourable. It’s just they misunderstood their users.

If you enjoy playing around with the latest productivity toys, go ahead, play. But don’t delude yourself about doing it to improve your productivity. New tools will not do that. Only the process you adopt will do that for you, and that requires a tool you know inside out.

Thank you for reading my stories! 😊

My purpose is to help as many people as I can live the lives they desire. To help people find happiness and become better organised and more productive so they can do more of the important things in life.

If you would like to learn more about the work I do, and how I can help you become better organised and more productive, you can visit my website or say hello on Twitter, YouTube or Facebook and subscribe to my weekly newsletter right here.