Matt Hogan's Blog

How To Get A 200%+ Return On Investment With Your Time

Published on October 28, 2023

I went to bed early last night.

About an hour earlier than usual.

And what never ceases to amaze me is how much more productive I feel, how much better my self-control is, and how much clearer my mindset presents—all from just a one hour investment.

Which is exactly what we should be looking at going to bed earlier as.

As discussed in yesterday’s piece, more awake hours ≠ more productivity / more joy / more living—per se. It’s more quality hours (not quantity) that leads to that.

And what I’m noticing in my own life, today particularly, is that the move from 7 hours of sleep to 8 hours causes more good in awareness, clarity, and productivity than the move from 8 hours of sleep to 7 hours causes good in extending length to “do more stuff.“

In other words, let’s say an hour less of sleep causes a 12.5% dip in general functionality across the board (if eight hours = 100% recharge, then one hour = 12.5% of that recharge).

That 12.5% dip then affects the rest of my 17 hours in the day that I’m awake.

And a 12.5% reduction (in awareness, clarity, and productivity) over 17 hours amounts to 2.125 hours in total lost time (17 x .125 = 2.125 hours)!

So, how do you get a 200%+ return on investment with your time…?

Go to bed an hour earlier.

P.s. I also published: A Wise Woman’s Advice To A Young Man Whose Life Was “Full Of Pain” [Excerpt]

Being Awake ≠ Feeling Alive

Published on October 27, 2023

One of my associates made a comment that if you wake up two hours earlier every day for 12 years, you’ll get back an entire year of your life.

And while on the surface this sounds great—it completely disregards the state of mind you’ll be in with two less hours of sleep every day for 12 years.

I mean, how many people in today’s world already aren’t getting enough sleep as is? I’d be willing to bet that more aren’t than are. Subtract two more hours from their already insufficient sleep totals and you have a recipe for complete misery.

This is not the direction our sleep conversations should be heading.

Enough already.

What we need to discuss aren’t ways we can subtract sleep to add mere quantity to our total lifespan… what we need to discuss are ways we can add sleep—to at least, you know, maybe hit bare minimums—so that we can add quality to our lifespan.

Being awake ≠ feeling alive.

Feeling alive comes from quality consciousness… from a quality awareness… from a quality presence. Not from barely conscious… highly caffeinated awareness… and a miserable state of presence.

…Which by the way, isn’t even to make mention of the fact that insufficient sleep will very likely shorten lifespan. And how unfortunate would it be if what was subtracted was more than the year you were trying to gain—in misery nonetheless—and it was all for nothing?

Don’t get it twisted; don’t be mislead by the hustle homies; don’t miss the forest for the trees…

Quality is the name of this game we call life.

The Formula Forward

Published on October 26, 2023

We align ourselves with what serves us first, so we can best serve those who we most align with second.

This is the formula forward.

Many people try to reverse this formula and align themselves with what best serves others first and then only serve themselves with whatever time/energy is left over and after the fact.

The reason this strategy doesn’t work (maybe less optimally… maybe not at all) is because serving others is an infinite and endless loop.

You could very well give every ounce of time and energy you have to the people closest to you and still be met with this black hole of insatiable needs and desires.

Not only is this incredibly exhausting and demoralizing… but debilitating.

We must remember: so long as we’re willing to give time and energy, so too will others be willing to take.

Think about it. Time and energy are our life’s most precious resources. And whenever another person gives us some of theirs, not only is it an invaluable investment but an affirmation of worth of ours.

And while this sounds like a wonderful gift to give to those closest to us, it completely disregards the person who’s closest…

Yourself.

If you aren’t willing to invest any of your most precious resources into yourself, how can you expect your ability to serve to grow? This is no different than an investment account.

No continued investments? No continued growth. Plain and simple.

And the time to invest isn’t after all of your money has been spent. It’s first and foremost—automatically preferably—so that your growth is guaranteed irrespective of the “market conditions” of those whom you’re most aligned to serve.

Cancel Them All

Published on October 25, 2023

A modern day savings trick in a world obsessed with subscriptions: cancel them all… and obsess over one at a time.

This is a trick I’ve been applying to my own life as of late.

Netflix, Disney +, Paramount +, HBO/Max, Showtime, Hulu, Peacock… each service makes you believe you’re missing out if you aren’t subscribed to them. And they do this by advertising the heck out of their blockbuster (oh, the irony) shows, creating irresistible offers, and making you feel like their service will give you access to the media that most of your friends will be talking about.

The reality is… it’s all media brainwashing.

You don’t need all of them all at once—it’s preposterous to even consider how many options that gives you access to when it actually comes time to sit down and pick something to watch.

No.

It’s time to take a new approach.

One that’s not only better for decision making, but for your wallet, too.

That’s right: cancel them all and obsess over one at a time.

And when you’re out of options on the one (if ever), cancel that service and switch to another. The beauty of the hyper competitive subscription space is that you can almost always cancel anytime with no fees and the other services will roll out the red carpet to get you back.

Wash; rinse; save; repeat.

Life’s Memory Thief

Published on October 24, 2023

Want to get some of your favorite life memories stolen?

…Give in to inertia.

Let the feeling of being stuck… keep you stuck… and withheld from experiencing the world in the way you originally planned… hoped to… dreamed you would…

Inertia is the ultimate memory thief.

It creeps up on you, slowly weighs you down, and sabotages plans.

Unless you stop it.

Or should I say… keep things moving to avoid coming to that crippling stop altogether.

Break inertia by taking that initial step as soon as you can… by sticking to your plan(s)… by giving yourself the kick in the ass you’d wish you’d gotten when you gave into inertia before and missed out on something grand that you wish you hadn’t.

And keep that momentum moving forward—however slowly—in the right direction…

…The direction of what could undoubtedly amount to be, your life’s favorite memories.

P.s. I also published: Letting Your Bow Relax—A Short Story About Not Being So Serious All Of The Time

Inconvenient and Unpleasant

Published on October 23, 2023

Remember from a few days ago when I said, if it can go wrong it will?

Well today I got a flat tire while driving.

I was 16 minutes away from home, 35 minutes from my mechanic, an hour out from changing it myself, and several hours out from getting the car towed/fixed/back on the road.

None of these were convenient options.

…When is getting a flat tire ever convenient though, eh?

Very fortunately for me, just as I was rolling up my sleeves to change it myself… I saw a car shop just down the road.

I slowly drove there and they very kindly got me patched up and back on the road within 30 minutes.

It couldn’t have been a more ideal situation for a thing gone wrong.

This is a rarity, though.

Usually, things only continue to complicate after the initial inconvenience. Which is why I’m suggesting, yet again, you meditate on solutions to things that could very possibly go wrong in your life. Some starter ideas:

Flat tire with no cell reception… do you know how to change it yourself?
Lost your phone and all the information on it… do you have a backup?
Your basement flooded… are really important items stored off the ground?
A pipe burst and water is spewing everywhere… do you know where the main shutoff is?
Somebody breaks into your home and steals the five most valuable things laying out in the open… do you have a safe?

While it might feel inconvenient or unpleasant to reflect on this now… imagine how much more inconvenient and unpleasant it’ll be when you have to figure it out after the fact.

Take Care Of Your Room(s)

Published on October 22, 2023

I’ve been trying this new strategy where, every Sunday, I set aside a few hours to deep clean/revamp one specific room.

This week it was my work room.

Not only did I declutter my desk, throw away a ton of crap, rearrange the furniture/decor, and give everything a good wipe down… but, I also bought and installed this clean, 5-tier floating corner bookshelf.

Why? Because I like the way it looks plus it’ll give me more room to organize the crap I don’t want to throw away.

And here’s the thing… liking the way things look and feel in your environment improves the way you feel and look at things while in it.

The degree to which this is true varies person to person. Some people seem to be strongly affected by the environment’s look and feel and some seem to carry on irrespective of it.

But, in my observation, seemingly unaffected doesn’t mean unaffected.

In my own life, I’ll occasionally recognize a psychological weight that’s being held by a task I’m leaving undone. One I keep putting off, that I know I’m putting off, that requires a little more time than I usually have, which is the excuse I always use, that results in this drag that, when I notice it, definitely affects the way I feel.

And then there are times when I walk into a room—like my work room after my work on it—and instantly notice a lightness… an excitement… a sense of relief… which, I know continues even after I’ve become used to the changes.

This is all to say: take care of your environment and your environment will take care of you.

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