How to be so productive it feels illegal

Are you constantly busy but still feel like you’re not getting enough done? In this episode, I’ll show you how to become more productive, eliminate distractions, and get more done in less time using the 80/20 Rule, task batching, and the Pomodoro Technique. I’ll teach you how to focus your energy on what actually moves the needle, train your brain to develop deeper focus, and stop confusing being busy with being productive. Freedom Live is a 3-day live experience in Austin designed to help you break through what’s keeping you from your next level. Get $100 off your ticket: https://robdial.short.gy/freedomlive The Mindset Mentor™ podcast is designed for anyone desiring motivation, direction, and focus in life. Past guests of The Mindset Mentor include Tony Robbins, Matthew McConaughey, Jay Shetty, Andrew Huberman, Lewis Howes, Gregg Braden, Rich Roll, and Dr. Steven Gundry. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Let's talk about Angie. Angie's been connecting homeowners with skilled pros for over 30 years, and they've made it easier than ever to tackle home projects. Their nationwide network has experts in everything from plumbing and landscaping to roofing, remodels, and more. You can read verified reviews and requests and compare quotes to find your best price. So join the millions of homeowners who use Angie for the projects that matter. Download the Angie app today or visit Angie.com. Making hiring decisions on my own means I'm often the only person weighing each candidate and deciding who's the right fit. Having a partner who understands what I'm looking for and can challenge my thinking would make the process much stronger. Hiring for a small business is hard. LinkedIn Hiring Pro acts

• 0:43Speaker 00

  like a helpful hiring partner. Chat with it about what matters most. Compare candidates side by side and share feedback like I want someone with more hands-on experience. Hiring Pro adjusts and surfaces candidates who fit your needs. With 88% of small businesses trusting LinkedIn's recommendations, you can feel confident in your hiring decisions when using LinkedIn Hiring Pro. Get started by posting your job for free at LinkedIn.com/dial. Terms and conditions apply.

• 1:09Speaker 01

  Gifts mean more when they have the power to unwrap more of who you are. This Black Friday, give a gift that goes beyond the box. The Dell XPS 13 laptop is the thinnest, lightest XPS laptop yet, with a long battery life, beautiful design, and powerful performance with Intel Core processors. The XPS laptop unlocks more of what you love. Plus, at Dell.com, you'll find perks like Dell Rewards, fast free shipping, and flexible financing, and big savings on monitors and accessories. Head to Dell.com/deals. That's Dell.com/deals.

• 1:48Speaker 00

  Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I am your host, Rob Dial. If you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another episode. And if you're looking to get to your next level, and you realize that it's not found in another strategy or another book, it is only found by you conquering the version of you that is holding yourself back. And you need to be at my live event called Freedom Live this December. We're going to find out exactly where you want to be in life, why you're not there yet, and then the unconscious patterns and fears and limiting beliefs that are capping your success without you knowing it. So if you want to live up to your full potential, but you don't know how to break through, come to my event. Go to FreedomLive2026.com.

• 2:30Speaker 00

  There's currently a $50 off coupon on that website. Once again, it's FreedomLive2026.com. Today, I'm going to be talking to you about how to be more productive, how to get more done in less time than you have been your entire life. And let's, let's be real here, just me and you, right? You know, you waste a lot of time, right? Like, you feel like you're busy. But I know, and you know, that you kind of waste a lot of time sometimes. Look at your screen time on your phone. That'll give you a pretty good idea of about how much time that you waste. We all do it, though. It's not just you. So don't worry about it.

• 3:06Speaker 00

  Time or lack of time is not the enemy. It's really lack of focus and lack of priority that is really the biggest enemy here. It's not time itself. It's that you're not focused, and you're not prioritizing everything that's the most important. And all of that turns into you not being as productive as you want. And listen, we all want the perfect life. You're here. You're listening to this podcast episode because you want to be better. You wouldn't listen to a podcast called The Mindset Mentor unless you knew there was something inside of you that you wanted to improve, because you knew if you improved, your life would improve. So that means there's a part of you that wants to improve your life. But

• 3:46Speaker 00

  we all get the same 24 hours in a day. That will never change. You cannot control time. You can't control how much time you get. The only thing that we can control is how productive you are in the amount of time that you're able to work. I like to think of time like a container. You can't make the container bigger, but you can be more intentional about what you put in that container itself. And so today, we're going to dive into three different steps, three different things that I use in my life I've been using for years that helped me get way more done in less time. And I'm going to teach you some stuff that's based off of psychology and neurology and studies to teach you that these things

• 4:28Speaker 00

  actually work in your lives, so that you can have a really clear understanding of how to leverage these three techniques to help you get more done. Let's dive into it. Technique number one, I guess you could call it, is something that's called the Pareto Principle. It's called the 80/20 Rule. And I learned this probably 20 years ago at this point. Our brain has a limited capacity to process information. You can't just throw a million bits of information and just hope that it all goes through. And so with that, we also have very limited energy throughout the entire day. And so the question I always think about is, okay, I've got very limited energy throughout the day, and I've got limited

• 5:07Speaker 00

  processing from my brain. So how can I make sure that in the moments when I sit down to get work done, that I'm moving the needle as much as I can, and I'm pulling the biggest levers in my life and in my business that I can? How can I bring as much brain power to what matters most? And let me tell you this, I'm just going to be fully honest with you. I make to-do lists. I have never, in my entire life, ever finished a to-do list. I don't, I've never finished it. But what I do is I focus on the things that are the most important. That's where the 80/20 Rule really comes in. What you're doing is you're focusing on a thing that's called cognitive budgeting. Like money, your mental energy

• 5:51Speaker 00

  needs to be spent on what gives you the highest return, not what's easiest just to cross off of your to-do lists. So taking charge of what you dedicate your time and attention to. Attention is a currency. And so where you spend it determines your life's trajectory. And so the Pareto Principle, or it's also called the 80/20 Rule, says that 80% of your results in anything come from about 20% of your efforts. That means 20% of your tasks on your to-do list will produce 80% of your progress. Okay? 20% of your clients will create 80% of your income. Like, if you look at a business and you just look

• 6:34Speaker 00

  at, okay, this business has 100 clients, there's 20 of them that bring in the most revenue. So if I'm a smart business owner, I should really focus on developing the best relationship with those top 20, knowing that they're bringing me 80% of the revenue. 20% of your habits in your life shape 80% of your life. So you've got to start to think about this. If I make a to-do list with, with 14 things on it that have to be done today, what are the most important 20% on there? Because those most important 20% are the ones that are going to move the needle in my life the most. So instead of trying to do everything, which I know there's so many people that are planners and to-do listers

• 7:15Speaker 00

  that want to get everything done, and then when they don't, because it's actually impossible, they get stressed out. So instead of trying to do everything, I don't care about doing everything. I want to focus on doing the right things. That's how you get more done in less time with way less stress. What we want to do is we want to identify and concentrate on the tasks that yield the most significant results in our life, in our businesses, in our fitness, in our diet, in our relationships. By focusing on the critical 20% of tasks, we minimize the distractions in our life, and we optimize our cognitive resources, which are very, very limited throughout the day. And so research in behavioral economics

• 7:57Speaker 00

  confirms this, and it confirms that not all effort in your life is equal. Often, we confuse being busy with being productive. When you look at it, when you think it's your, your busy versus being productive, it's like when you finish a day, you worked your ass off all day long, and the end of the day, you lay down your couch, you're like, God, I still don't feel like I did anything. Lots of times, because you're focusing on just crossing things off your to-do list and being busy versus being productive, when in reality, what we're doing, in those cases, we're usually avoiding the deep work that really moves the needle in our life. And so how do you use the 80/20 Rule to enhance your productivity? You make your to-do list. And in your to do list, you identify the high impact tasks. And we will be right back.

• 8:42Speaker 00

  I used to take a whole bunch of different supplements every day. And honestly, it was a lot to keep track of since starting I am eight. I've simplified my routine so much. I just have one daily drink and I'm done. The problem with supplements is you think you need a cabinet full of them to feel your best, but you don't. I am eight is the way to simplify your supplement routine once and for all. I am eight's daily ultimate essentials has 16 supplements, replacing 90 ingredients across nine major organ systems in one drink for $2.61 a day. I am eight has made my daily routine so much simpler. Instead of keeping up with a bunch of different supplements, I just have my daily I am eight, and it feels good knowing I'm keeping my routine simple and consistent.

• 9:23Speaker 00

  Go to I am eight health.com slash mindset mentor right now and use code mindset mentor for a free welcome kit, five free travel sachets plus 10% off your order. That's code mindset mentor at I am eight health.com slash mindset mentor code mindset mentor at I am eight health.com slash mindset mentor. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Lessons move quickly this time of year. IXL aligns with what kids are learning in school so they can practice the same concepts they're covering in class and keep pace with confidence. IXL is an award winning online learning platform that helps kids truly understand what they're learning, whether they're building math confidence, strengthening reading and

• 10:08Speaker 00

  writing skills, or reviewing science concepts. From pre K through 12th grade, IXL offers personalized interactive learning that adapts to each child's level and pace. Now that the first quarter is underway, I want to make sure my child feels confident with what they're learning. I like that IXL gives instant feedback and clear explanations is organized by grade and skill and makes it easy to track progress while staying aligned with what they're learning in school. Make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and the mindset mentor listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at IXL.com slash mindset mentor. Visit IXL.com slash mindset mentor to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.

• 10:53Speaker 00

  For kids, summer means freedom and as adults, summer still means freedom thanks to Mint Mobile's summer sale. Right now, all of Mint's plans are $15 per month, even unlimited. Free yourself from big wireless and switch to Mint for high speed data and coverage on the T-Mobile 5G network. My experience with Mint Mobile has been really simple. The setup was easy. The service has been reliable and I love that I'm getting what I need without over complicating my phone plan. To get your new wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month, go to mintmobile.com slash mindset mentor. That's mintmobile.com slash mindset mentor. Cut your wireless bill to 15 bucks a month at mintmobile.com slash mindset mentor. That's it. There's no catch upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for 12 months.

• 11:38Speaker 00

  Plan required $15 per month equivalent taxes and fees extra. Initial plan term only greater than 50 gigabytes may slow when network is busy includes up to 20 gigabytes hotspot capable device required availability, speed and coverage varies. See mintmobile.com. And now back to the show. Those are often the ones that we avoid. We procrastinate, we feel resistance towards, right? We usually don't do them because they demand more from us. They usually demand more brain power, more effort, more focus, but they usually bring the biggest ROI. And so the first step to implement the 80 20 rule is to determine which of these tasks contribute the most significant amount to our goals, the ones that align with our long term success.

• 12:20Speaker 00

  You create a list of all of the tasks and what you do is you circle the ones that are the most urgent and important to achieving your goals. And what I recommend is you ask yourself this question. If I could do only one thing today that would create the most impact in my life, what would it be? That's usually part of your 20%. And so what I do every single day, I've said this for years is I will make my to do list. I take an index card, a three by five card. I write number one, the most important thing that needs to be done today. I write number two and I write number three. I rank my three most important things. I throw my to do list off to the side and I don't look at it usually ever again the rest of the day. And I put that index card in my back pocket and I just focus on taking action number one.

• 13:04Speaker 00

  If I just get the number one thing done every single day, usually over the course of a year, that's a very productive year. That's the first thing. Make sure you're prioritizing correctly using the 80 20 rule. The second thing is something that's called batching. Batching is really taking things that are kind of like very similar or the exact same thing and doing them all at once, like once a week, putting them all together. Because your brain, what happens is it thrives on rhythm. When it gets into a flow, it wants to stay in that flow. And when you're batching and putting all of these tasks together, and I'll explain exactly how to do this and what it means. It reduces some of that's called context switching and it protects your deep focus zones that you get into.

• 13:48Speaker 00

  So for me, creating content is one of the things that is most important for me, creating these podcast episodes, creating reels for Instagram and creating anything else that we need to create for my business and marketing and all of that. So I want to focus on putting as much effort as I can. I want as much of my brain powers I can into that. So today, woke up, did my morning routine, did everything that I needed to with the family, with the baby, all that stuff. And then I plan two podcast episodes back to back, and then I record two podcast episodes back to back. And then if I need to record reels, I'll usually plan and record four, five, seven reels for the day and then record them. Because when I'm in that creative headspace, I want to stay in that creative headspace

• 14:30Speaker 00

  versus record a podcast episode today and then record another one on Wednesday and record another one on Friday and record one on Saturday. I'm like, no, no, I want to take my energy since I'm in this flow and continue to stay in the creative space. So that's what I do for my creativity for times when I need to sit down and work and really get things done and have zoom meetings. That's usually the way like my Monday, Tuesday is my coaching sessions that I have for like mindset university and, and all of that. And also my zoom calls and my team, my Wednesday, Thursday, Friday are my creative days to create stuff. And the energy is tends to flow better when you do that. So maybe you don't have work days and then creative days, but what would you be able to batch together? What would you be able to, to use? Cause your ideas kind of stack.

• 15:16Speaker 00

  And when you do that, your execution becomes easier because you're not going from this thing to another thing to another thing. And they're all completely unrelated. So I recommend you figure out what you can batch together. And then what you do is you spend as much of your time as possible in that deep work, working on just a couple of things that are all very related. And it's just allows your brain, because creativity is one part of your brain. Focus and execution and being productive and, and thinking about business and numbers and analytical is another part of your brain. How can you use parts of your brains batch them all together to get things done? So that's number two is to batch. And then number three is when you're sitting down to work, use something that's called the Pomodora technique. The Pomodora technique is very, very simple.

• 16:01Speaker 00

  You sit down, you have a timer. If you've ever been on a zoom call with me, I usually show it. I have a timer that lives on my desk and the timer will time for 25 minutes. The Pomodora technique is 25 minutes on, five minutes off, 25 minutes on, working on one thing and one thing only, five minutes off. And the reason why is because this is the thing that's called single tasking. People think that they should multitask. They, people are like, I'm a great multitasker. There's really detrimental effects of multitasking. There was a study that was done by researchers at Stanford University that found out that people who are heavy multitaskers actually perform worse on tasks that require attention and memory than those who focus on one task at a time.

• 16:46Speaker 00

  And the reason why is because their brain struggle to filter irrelevant information and they're more likely to make mistakes, even when they thought they were being efficient. And so when you look at multitasking, multitasking is you switching from one task to another. You're never doing two things at the exact same time because your brain can only focus on one thing. So when you do the Pomodora technique, what you're doing is you're going, okay, I'm going to focus on one thing and bring as much of my brain power as possible to getting this one thing done. Would you really want to bring 50% of your brain power to trying to do something? No, you want to bring a hundred percent of your brain power. How do you do that? You focus on one thing and one thing only. So what I recommend is you sit down at your desk. If you're going to do some deep work for a Pomodora technique and you sit down at your

• 17:30Speaker 00

  desk, you put your headphones on, you have your coffee, you have whatever it is you need. Put your headphones on, you're noise cancelling, you zoom out of the entire world and you're literally just in this one thing. And all you start doing, you put on your timer, you work for 25 minutes on that one thing and then take five minutes off. Here's what's really important. The reason why it's important to take five minutes off is first off, the first couple of times you do this, I will tell you, it was a complete struggle for me to get to 25 minutes without my brain wanting to go everywhere. My brain would want to go here and here and oh my God, I gotta do this. I gotta text this person back and I've gotta make sure that I do this thing. What you're doing is you're trying to train your brain to shut the hell up, right? Like our brains are so all over the place. And so when you first try to take your brain and say, sit down and do one thing,

• 18:15Speaker 00

  your brain's gonna fight. It's like a monkey that just wants to throw crap all over the place. And you're like, nope, you gotta sit down. You gotta, it's the same way that you train a dog. Dog pees inside, you take him outside, pees inside, you take him outside. You do this enough times that the dog goes, oh, okay, I pee outside. The same way where it's like, oh, when I sit down to work, my brain eventually goes, oh, okay, yeah, that's what we're doing. We're being productive. And what you're doing is you're doing 25 minutes on, five minutes off. The five minutes off, you don't wanna look at your phone. The best thing that you can do is try to rest your brain. How do you do that? Two ways to do that. Go outside, sit on your backyard furniture, or sit on a park bench, whatever it is, and just allow your brain to wander. Just look at trees, just do whatever it is that you can do.

• 18:59Speaker 00

  Next best thing that you can do is just close your eyes and just do some breathing for five minutes until your timer goes off. You're giving your brain a full-on rest in those in-between stages. Full-on rest. The worst thing you could do is look at your phone. There's a whole lot of reasons why. I write about it inside of my book of the reasons why you shouldn't look at your phone in the in-between time of a Pomodora technique. But 25 minutes on, five minutes off is what you should know. Then you can go into something that I put inside of my book that's called Pomodora Plus. Is, it used to be a struggle for me to get to 25 minutes. Now I can breeze to 25 minutes. And so what I started doing is I went from 25 minutes on to 30 minutes on, to 35 minutes on, to 40 minutes on, to 45 minutes on.

• 19:42Speaker 00

  So now my Pomodora techniques is 45 minutes on, 10 minutes off. Which is crazy because it shows you that focus is a skillset, something that you can build over time. And that worked exactly for me. It was hard for me to get to 25 minutes. Now 45 minutes is usually my sessions that I do. You're focusing on one task and one task only. Multitasking is not a skill. And the more that you do it, the more that you fragment your focus and dilute your results. And so if you want to be more focused and get more done, focus on these three things. Number one, the 80/20 rule, the Pomodora, excuse me, the Pareto Principle. 80/20. 20% of what you do brings 80% of your results in your life. 20% of the actions you take bring you 80% of your money.

• 20:27Speaker 00

  The second thing is you batch as many tasks that are similar as you possibly can. And the third thing you should do is use a Pomodora technique to make sure that you focus as much of your brain power to getting your most important things done anytime that you sit down to get them done. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, once again, like I said, this is exactly what I'm gonna be diving into in a much, much, much deeper way over the course of three days at Freedom Live in Austin, Texas. It is going to be live, in person, Austin, Texas, December 3rd, 4th, and 5th. If you wanna learn more about it, you can go to freedomlive2026.com. Once again, freedomlive2026.com. And with that, I'm gonna leave you the same way I leave you every single episode. Make it your mission to make somebody else's day better. I appreciate you and I hope that you have an amazing day.

• 21:20Speaker 02

  This podcast is supported by Nurtac ODT, Remedy Pant. We know you didn't ask for an interruption, but migraine doesn't wait for the right moment to interrupt either. It just barges in, takes your time, and throws everything off. So when migraine takes your time, take Nurtac. It's for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura in adults. Nurtac can provide pain relief in two hours, which can last up to two days. Ask your healthcare provider if Nurtac is right for you because your time is for you, not migraine. Don't take if allergic to Nurtac ODT. Allergic reactions can occur even days after use. Get help right away for trouble breathing, rash, swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or throat. High blood pressure and Raynaud's syndrome can occur. Get help for high blood pressure, numbness, coolness, pain,

• 22:04Speaker 02

  or color changes in fingers and toes. Common side effect is nausea. For full prescribing information, call 1-833-4-NUR-TAC or visit Nurtac.com. All right, back to your podcast, playlist, or whatever's keeping you going today.

• 22:19Speaker 03

  Introducing Fidelity Trader Plus. With customizable tools and charts you can access across all your devices. Try our most powerful trading platform yet at fidelity.com/traderplus. Investing involves risk, including risk of loss. Fidelity Brokerage Services, LLC, member NYSE, SIPC.

• 22:35Speaker 04

  What do I gift my mom and nieces? Walmart has top brands you know, like Ninja, Disneyland. Oh, dad loves music. Sonos can bring his songs to life with sound that hits just right. And my coffee-obsessed bestie? The Longy Brews Coffee, right for mornings extra bright. All those great brands at Walmart? Who knew? We knew, now you do too. Shop gifts, no love at Walmart.