Productivichi: Unleashing Your Productive Power

By Chi Lung Yung

ProductiviChi is about unleashing your productive power. This is achieved by taking three steps. The first step is named Charge. With this step, you charge up your physical, mental and emotional energy levels to have increased capacity for productivity. The second step is Focus. By focusing your increased energy and productivity capacity, you turn those into power. This is done by gaining control over your state of mind. The third step is called Unleash. Here you unleash your new power to align your actions, state of mind, habits, beliefs, identity and your entire being with your goals. Follow these three clearly explained steps successfully and you will be on the path of mastering your productivity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Aug 13, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504987400

Chi Lung Yung

Chi Lung Yung has a wide and varied background, including Chinese martial arts, business, and coaching. Chi Lung began studying martial arts at eight years old and continued studying; he developed into a world-class wushu athlete. Wushu is an aggregate combination of all the Chinese martial art forms, better known as kung fu. At his competitive peak, Chi Lung was ranked sixth in the world and won the national championship many times over in the Netherlands. In 2013, he was appointed the national coach for the Netherlands wushu team. In his short tenure, he took the team from relative international obscurity to podium positions at both the World Championships and Youth Olympic Games in 2014. The other side of Chi Lung’s experience is in business. Chi Lung has been working as a management consultant for a global financial institution and was a TEDx speaker at an ING event. Chi Lung is a lifelong learner and has studied human performance for more than fifteen years. The methods in the book ProductiviChi were developed through his studies of human performance and his expertise in business and martial arts.

Book preview

PRODUCTIVICHI®

Unleashing Your Productive Power

Chi Lung Yung

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AuthorHouse™ UK

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403 USA

www.authorhouse.co.uk

Phone: [phone]

© 2015 Chi Lung Yung. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/13/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8739-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8738-7 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-8740-0 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Introduction

Part I—Charge

Why Managing Your Energy Is Important

How Do You Manage Your Energy?

Energy Follows a Rhythm

Ultradian Rhythms

How To Manage Your Energy

Three Sources of Energy

Physical Energy

Mental Energy

Emotional Energy

Summary

Part II—Focus

The Importance of State Management

The Conscious Mind versus the Subconscious Mind

State Control

Flow

Summary Focus

Part III—Unleash

Habits: A Strategy for High Productivity

Beliefs: The Power Behind Productivity

Identity: The Mastery of Productivity

On The Path of Mastery

Resourcefulness and Courage

Summary Unleash

About the Author

To my kind, loving, amazing wife, Suet Huy,

my supportive parents, and my wonderful younger sister, Jenny.

I couldn’t have written this book without you.

Thank you for believing in me and for your loving support.

Introduction

"24/7, fast food, on the go, ASAP, rush order"…

These are all common expressions today, and they remind us of how drastically our lives are changing. We are rushing through life—overwhelmed, swamped, and out of breath. We push ourselves relentlessly, stretching our days to compensate for our perceived lack of time. We make so many sacrifices to keep up the pace, snatching time from sleep, time off, or family time to make ends meet.

Why do we do it? To put it simply: we want to get as much done as possible so that we can lead a happy and healthy life, including more quality time with our loved ones. Do you see the irony here? Time is the one thing everyone is starved for. Managing time is our top priority—but should it really be?

What many of us don’t realize is that productivity is not just a matter of time management. Time is just one of the resources you need to manage in order to be productive. Energy, an often-forgotten resource, is much more important.

Picture this concept through the lens of an athlete—it is as if we want to run as fast and as long as possible without taking care of our physical fitness. We try to push on, regardless of our weight, physique, or stamina, regardless of how much strength, agility, and endurance we have. We don’t sleep enough, and we don’t even stop to drink water along the way. Instead of listening to our body’s needs, we just start running a nonstop race, hoping to reach the finish line. You would never run a race like that, right? So why are you living your life that way?

Most people want the results that come from being productive. And they focus on the results directly. I, however, believe that setting up the processes that naturally produce these results is a much more effective way to get the results you desire. The external results in life are just reflections of the things on the inside—how well you have developed your skills, plus your capacity, beliefs, and character. That is what I call having inner game.

What do I mean by that? Think of the results you want to achieve as apples on a tree. What should you do if you want to harvest the biggest and the juiciest apples from your tree? Would it make sense to water only the apples or to expose only the apples to sunlight? Or would it make more sense to take care of the tree as a whole, watering the roots, supplying the soil with nutrients, and exposing the entire tree to sunlight? The answer is obvious. When you take care of the tree, good apples will naturally and inevitably come.

This book focuses on the inner game of productivity: what makes it possible for you to be productive in the first place, why it works that way, and how you can apply it. The numerous exercises included in the book will help you put what you learn into action.

ProductiviChi consists of three parts. Applying even one of these three processes will skyrocket your productivity. Incorporating all three will make you as productive as you can possibly be. We will explore each of the three stages one by one:

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The first step is to charge your power, which means optimizing your energy capacity on all levels. Next, you will need to focus that power, which means getting into the right state of mind to perform. Finally, when you have charged and focused your power, you need to unleash that power for full productivity.

Before we jump in, a brief word on how this book came about. One of my many coaching clients, Michah, first suggested that I write a book on the techniques I was using in my coaching sessions. Thank you, Michah. You and all my other clients have been pivotal in developing these ideas, and I am grateful for each and every one of you.

Now let’s get started!

Part I—Charge

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To be productive, you need to have sufficient energy. Even when you are efficient, you will probably not perform effectively or get things done without enough energy. Part I of this book is about charging your energy. Once you understand the principles of how energy works, you can easily apply them to your life. As a result of charging your energy well, you can get more things done in less time.

Why Managing Your Energy Is Important

The energy of the mind is the essence of life.

—Aristotle

I remember one of the first workshops on communication I taught. I had a lot to teach—and only eight hours to do so. I decided to be very efficient and give as much information during those eight hours as possible. Because of my enthusiasm for the topic, we took only one break, for lunch. As you might guess, I lost most of my attendees halfway through the workshop. Why? They enjoyed the session, but after a few hours of nonstop information, their minds were full.

Remember, I was trying to be efficient. But by not giving their minds any rest, I wasn’t being very effective. In other words, though I may have managed everyone’s time very well, I didn’t manage anyone’s energy levels well at all. After such a long session without a break, their minds became tired. And as their minds grew weary, attendees began to slouch down in their chairs. The energetic spirit and enthusiasm they all brought at the start of the session simply disappeared. If I had included two short fifteen-minute breaks during those eight hours, the participants would probably have gained twice as much benefit from the workshop.

I learned something that day: the key to high performance is having enough energy to be productive. If you manage only your time, you will not be very effective. Imagine what happens when you are really tired. When you have to use all of your remaining energy just to keep your eyes open, how productive can you truly be? Even the most efficient time-management skills or tools will not take you far in that situation.

To understand these ideas more thoroughly, imagine the following scenarios during a boxing match:

1. Imagine two boxers with equal technical skills, but one of them is physically stronger than the other. Who do you think will win?

2. Again, imagine two equally skilled boxers, but one has more endurance. After each round in a fight of five rounds, Boxer A loses 30 percent of his energy, while Boxer B loses only 20 percent of his energy. Who do you think will win in this scenario?

3. Finally, imagine two equally skilled boxers who both lose 30 percent of their energy after each round in a fight of five rounds. During each break between rounds, Boxer A regains 5 percent of his energy, while Boxer B only regains 2 percent of his energy. Which boxer do you suppose will have the upper hand in the final round?

An athlete’s technical skills are called outer game: the exterior qualities that can be observed with the eyes, like physical ability and technique. The skills needed to perform optimally in the first place happen on the inside, like having the energy to perform and the right state of mind. This is called inner game. Just having the best technical and physical skills in the world alone will not make an athlete a world champion. If an athlete doesn’t have the stamina to endure or doesn’t have a winner’s mind-set, it will not be easy to win in sports. That is why world-class athletes train more than just their physical capabilities. A very important part of training is also eating the right foods, sleeping well, and having training schedules that optimize technical skills, physical strength, endurance, and recovery.

When you want to be as productive as you can possibly be, you have to be more like the world-class athletes. Besides having the outer game, you also need to have the inner game. When people want to be more productive, many of us think about time-management. While time-management does help us become more productive, without the capacity to perform, it isn’t likely you will get much done. To be productive in the first place, you need energy. That is why energy is an essential ingredient in being productive.

Energy and time are two resources for productivity, but they are distinct in function. Time flows in one direction only, irreversible, and it cannot be replenished. Time doesn’t bend or stop; it flows in a straight line onward and onward. This is the primary reason why time is so precious to us. Once time is gone, it is gone—you can’t get it back. Perhaps even more important is the fact that we all receive a limited amount of time. Our inability to control time defines our lives.

Energy, on the other hand, doesn’t flow at a fixed rate like time. Unlike time, energy can be replenished. Energy follows a wave pattern, as opposed to the linear pattern of time. Energy can be exerted and recharged. The catch is that since energy can’t be seen (unlike the physical tracking of time that clocks allow), we neglect to manage our energy. Instead, we make managing time our top priority!

Managing your energy is at least as important as managing your time. If your goal is to be able to work when you are sixty, this becomes even more important. The age of retirement increases more and more. With the ever-growing demand on us in this stressful society, the time to act is now. If you don’t take care of your energy today, the capacity you have later will only diminish.

How Do You Manage Your Energy?

When you manage your energy well, you feel invigorated. Manage it badly, on the other hand, and you risk burnout—a problem facing more and more people in this hectic age.

Not many people manage their energy well. We’re good at spending our energy, but we forget to recharge when necessary. Think of energy in terms of a battery—if the battery is full, you can use it. You can’t, however, draw energy from an empty battery. Moreover, if the battery is not fully recharged after a full use, the capacity of the battery diminishes over time. But if you use it fully and recharge it fully, you get optimal usage from the battery.

The human body is similar to a battery. When we start out our day, we have more energy. During the day, the things we do cost energy. We eat food, and our battery gets recharged a bit. But when we do more activities, that once again cost us energy. When we use our energy well, we spend all our energy and recharge it fully for the next day. If we don’t manage it well, working without sufficient rest, eating junk food, and pulling all-nighters, for example, our bodies send up red flags, telling us to recharge. If we ignore the red flags and push on, the body is forced to try harder, sending even stronger signals. This state of affairs can even lead to burnout, or, worse, death.

In 1969, a twenty-nine-year-old man who worked in the shipping department of Japan’s largest newspaper company died suddenly of a stroke. It was the first reported case of what would eventually be labeled karoshi, or death by overworking. This phenomenon was finally taken seriously in the 1980s, after several high-ranking business executives in their prime years suddenly died without any signs of illnesses.

Bad energy management leads to low energy, burnout, or, in worst-case scenarios, to karoshi. But effective energy management leaves you feeling empowered, vital, and strong. Since most of us will have to work until we are at least sixty years old (depending on the country you’re in), it is of vital importance that we learn to use and replenish our energy effectively now.

Expending energy is a good thing. It is just like your muscles—when you train them, they become stronger. The same holds true for energy. You can train your energy to have increased capacity. But you have to fully recharge energy first, before you use it. Most people think that using a muscle makes it grow stronger, but this is not entirely correct. It is actually what happens after you use the muscles—during what is called the recovery period—that muscles become stronger. When you use your muscles (for example, in weightlifting), you tear your muscles. But when you let them rest, they repair and grow stronger.

But let your muscles rest too long, and they will grow weak. This is known as atrophy. When people who have broken a knee take the cast off after a month or so, they find that their knees and leg muscles have grown weak. That is because they didn’t use that leg for a month, relying instead on the other leg and crutches. Not using muscles leads to atrophy, while overusing muscles leads to strained or torn muscles. Muscles only grow stronger when the periods of use and rest are in balance.

The same concept is true for energy. Overuse your energy and you burn out your battery. Underusing energy results in a battery with less capacity to charge. It is only by pursuing the right balance between expending your energy and recovering intermittently that you can optimize your battery’s performance for maximum productivity.

Take the online energy survey at www.productivichi.com.

What is your energy level? This survey at www.productivichi.com gives you insight in your energy level and which energy source needs attention.

Energy Follows a Rhythm

Spring is here, yet again—these are the words that cross my mind while I sit here writing. Sitting beside the window, which opens up to my backyard, I’m able to marvel at my laziness when it comes to gardening. I was supposed to plant a butterfly bush in the corner of the yard. Random wildflowers now grow in all directions in the corner. These flowers started growing only a month ago, with the arrival of the new season.

But why are there flowers only in spring and summer? Why not in autumn and winter? Does the soil grow tired of creating these magnificent plants? They say that plants need perfect conditions to grow and that soil needs the right amount of nutrients, moisture, and minerals. But could that just be nature’s excuse to give soil a rest when it gets tired of growing things? Why not have flowers all year round?

The answer, of course, is that nature works in cycles. The seasons, crop cycles, day and night, earth’s revolutions, earth’s circulation around the sun, and the appearance and disappearance of random wildflowers in my backyard—everything nature does happens in cycles.

The same logic holds true for the body. Mother Nature was kind enough to manufacture human bodies following the same cyclic rhythms and patterns as the rest of nature. Just as nature goes through the yearly cycle of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, our body also follows a biological cycle. Women’s monthly menstrual cycles are the most well known human cycle, but