Killing it with Kagan: Week one.

My first week of living by Noah Kagan’s advice has drawn to an end. I decided to start small with my testing – and so far, so good.

The key things that I tested were:

  • Morning Routine
  • Nightly Note-Cards
  • Following Through
  • Goal-setting.
  • Action-biased.

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Morning Routine:

Noah’s morning routine is pretty simple and highly effective: Make your bed, Do Pushups, Journal, Learn Something, Read yearly goals and personal mantra, and daily gratitude.

This routine has been really effective – and on the day that I did miss it, I noticed the significant difference.

I think the key is in the balance, you’re getting a great blend of accomplishment, mental and physical movement, motivation and get a chance to clear your mind before the day begins.

Nightly Note-cards:

If you struggle with knowing what to do with your day – especially if you’re stuck doing online university at the moment – a nightly note-card / index card can be a great way to move forward.

Doing it the night before prevents any worry in the morning and helps me prioritise what my targets are through the day. I limit myself to the 5 most important items for the next day.

The nightly-note card is best used with the next point: following through.

(As a side note, I have also been using the website, committo3.com, with my friend Elijah who recommended it – which allows me to prioritise even further. Basically, we both set 3 things each day and check them off on the site when we complete them. A great way to keep accountable.)

Following through:

Noah has mentioned this several times, most notably in his millionaire habits video. I’m starting small with this one and trying to build it into a habit. Quite simply, just follow through on what I say that I am going to do.

To really kick-start this habit, my rule has been to ensure that each of the five items on my notecard are completed that day – no matter what obstacles I encounter.

The benefits to it are great:

  1. Develops momentum.
  2. Reduced stress – I worry less about the tasks since I know that I am going to get them done, no matter what.
  3. Prioritising more – Knowing that I might have to force myself to get something done means I have only been putting down my highest-importance tasks.
  4. Clearer intentions – This one is quite simple, but I have taken away any ambiguity with my directions. I know exactly what I need to do so I can get it done quicker.

The only drawback to this has been if my day gets busy and I find myself up late working to complete the tasks. Definitely be paying greater attention to Noah’s advice on time-management and productivity next week.

Goal-setting:

I completely redid my goals when I started this experiment. I’ll share them at a later date but the system I adopted came from a couple of Noah’s videos (here and here).

A few of the key things that stood out to me

  • Have a Yearly Word. This helps make decisions, goals and plans far more effective and in line with what you’re trying to do.
  • North Star Metric. Noah spoke about the power of having a North Star Metric for business to ensure you’re heading in the direction that you want. I’ve applied this to my personal goals as well.
  • Deadlines + Rewards = Fulfilment. That’s a very simple formula that I am adopting. All of my goals have the same deadline but different rewards. It helps add motivation to each and every one of them.
  • Categories. For me, I broke mine into Work, Personal, Health, Relationships and University. It helped me ensure that I was achieving a balance moving forward and actually aiming for the things that I want to achieve in each area.

Action-biased:

This is more of a mindset than a strategy or tactic. Noah is HUGE on Action and it makes sense – there is no progress without action. Kyle, author of the Pocket Guide to Action writes, ​​“Inaction is the cancer that will eat away at your soul until it is gone. That’s scarier than anything.”

For me, I started adopting it by launching this experiment before I was ready. I wanted to spend a lot longer planning and researching (read: procrastinating). To counter that, I sent an email to Noah Kagan, and once he gave his greenlight for this idea, I launched straight into it.

I am planning on using this action-based process for any other projects / ideas I pursue throughout this experiment.

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That’s all for Week One. Overall thoughts? It’s definitely been great – my productivity has increased and I’m really looking forward to testing more and more over the coming weeks.

Thanks for reading.

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