⚡️ Today’s level up ⚡️
Today’s edition breaks down how to pull off a month’s worth of work in a single day.
Let’s go!
Read time: <9 minutes
If you missed last week, read it here.
What is the One-Month Day?
If you’re a long-time reader, you’ll know I advocate for setting up a proper operating rhythm through strategic commitments you put on the calendar each year, month, week, and day.
These routine commitments are a foundational element to sustaining peak performance without burning out (the hallmark of an effective personal operating system).
As a seller or entrepreneur, it’s important to remember that you’re a mental athlete.
To produce outsized value and create lasting impact, you must systematically channel your brain power toward the right work that moves the needle while consciously repairing, restoring, and recharging your brain to repeat high performance at a varied pace.
Since yesterday was the first day of the month and a Monday, it was the perfect day to try a slight variation to my normal monthly update. I wanted to try something I learned from Rian Doris, co-founder and CEO of Flow Research Collective, called The One-Month Day.
Warning: it’s not for the faint of heart. However, it does allow you to do an incredible amount of key knowledge work in a single day, and it will permanently redefine what productivity means to you.
According to Rian’s own experience and the neuroscience-based protocols he and Steven Kotler have developed for Accenture, Audi, and the U.S. Air Force, The One-Month Day compresses 30 days of output into 11 hours.
How does it work?
So how exactly is it possible to accomplish a month’s worth of work in a single day? Let’s run the math…
Doris says “research suggests that the average knowledge worker does real work for only 2.3 hours per day, or about 46 hours per month. In contrast, research by McKinsey has shown that executives can increase their productivity by up to 500% when in a flow state.”
Popularized by positive psychologists Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and Jeanne Nakamura, flow state describes a feeling where, “under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.”
Doris goes on to further explain, “Flow state is a potent mix of brain chemicals – dopamine, norepinephrine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin that directly enhance our performance and this neurochemical change is highlighted in research conducted by Arne Dietrich of the American University of Beruit:
– Dopamine + Norepinephrine = Sharpen focus and boost pattern recognition & motivation
– Endorphins + Anandamide = Increase endurance & creative thinking
– Seratonin elevates our mode & helps us stick to challenging tasks
When you consider these neurological shifts, it’s easy to see how a 500% productivity boost is possible. But Doris contends that 500% might actually be conservative. He goes on further to explain “We have seen elite performers match a full-time day in just 60 – 90 minutes of dedicated time spent on the right work in a flow state.”
When you do the Flow State Stacking, which the One-Month Day is built on, you can see how 500% producivity is inevetiable. But let’s be conservative and assume a 400% increase in productivity, or a 4x improvement. That looks like this:
According to Doris, to make the One-Month Day a reality, it requires the 4 pillars of flow:
1| Remove All Flow Blockers. Flow blockers make tapping into flow impossible.
Worst Flow Blockers: Lack of sleep, distractions, and lack of clarity.
2| Increase Your Flow Proneness. This is your tendency and ability to get into flow.
3| Make Expert Use of Flow Triggers. The preconditions that launch you into a flow state.
Top Flow Triggers: Clear goals, challenge-skills balance, and immediate feedback.
4| Enter and Exit The Flow Cycle Multiple Times in the Day. Through active recovery you ensure your brain can sustain the neurochemistry of flow for the entire day.
Design your own One-Month Day
Here’s how to bring it all together to design your own One-Month Day. It starts with good preparation.
My experience and tips running a One-Month Day
I went for it, although I made some tweaks:
– I woke up at 8:00 AM and did a brief “warm-up”
– I started at 9:00 AM and ended at 12:00 AM
I followed the 3-1-3-2-2-3 Flow-Recovery Block Stacking. Here are my takeaways:
Preparation
I was looking forward to trying this for about a week. I had it planned out on the calendar, told my wife, and had my desk ready to go. All of my meals were planned, and my Sunsama was set up and ready to go with the various blocks. My recovery sessions were planned as well.
Sleep and recovery the night before
I didn’t go to bed hungry (I ate, albeit a light meal, within 3 hours before going to bed), but I did go to bed blind (with a face mask, as a I usually do), cold (temp low and ceiling fan on), but did not put in ear plugs (deaf).
I only got 88% sleep need and my HRV was not up for the day. I could have planned better from a physical perspective and recommend you keep an eye on your WHOOP for few nights prior, avoid alocohol, and take it easy with activities the day before.
Execution
I was able to work the One-Month Day exactly as I had planned. I didn’t struggle from an energy perspective as I was working through the stack. It really helped to have my phone in the other room, as I tend to get pulled into checking LinkedIn during downtime and breaks. Also being concious of my recovery sessions really helped too.
Otherwise, except of the amout of work, it’s not all that disimilar to how I operate normally.
Output
Since this was my first time running a One-Month Day, I worked on catching up on my Annual Review that I hadn’t finished, worked through a complete financial audit from last year, and finished my Annual Strategy. I definitely see how this could be an integral part of my normal operating ryhtym and look forward to experimenting with new goals in the future.
Recovery
I defintely felt it today. Normally, I would have slept in this morning to recovery better, but had to get up for a personal appointment. Here’s how Rian suggests you recover and try working the One-Month Day into your workflow:
That’s a wrap. What do you think? Are you willing to give the One-Month Day a try? Let me know how it goes!
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