BRETT GOLDSTEIN’S PRODUCTIVITY SECRETS

If I’m acting, I’m fucked. It’s a 5 a.m. pickup, so I get up at 4:30. I jump in the shower and go to work. In the car I might try to meditate for 10 or 20 minutes. If I’m not acting, then I get up around 8 a.m.

First thing he does in the morning (if he’s not acting)

I always try to do a workout; if I don’t, it haunts me all day. There’s a mums’ gym around the corner. I do 45 minutes of high-intensity circuit training with a trainer. Or I’ll do weights or run for 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the time I have. Then I’ll eat something.

What motivates him

Deadlines. Love a deadline. Give me a fake one. I believe anything can be done in a short amount of time. Give me six months, and I’ll procrastinate until the night before. I use the notes thing on my phone. I’ll have an idea in bed or the shower and while I’m driving, and I’ll think, Fuck, be sure to write that down. For stand-up, I write words on my arm, to remind me of other options. I was reading Fast Company’s Janelle Monáe story about productivity, and she was talking about Slack. I don’t know what Slack is.

How he recharges

It’s becoming harder, but I like seeing a couple of movies a week at the cinema. It’s like meditation to me. I go to early shows, preferably alone, wearing a hoodie, in case I want to cry.

What he lets slide without feeling guilty

Not much. If I have things in my head that I didn’t do, I’m fucked. People are always telling me, ‘Don’t answer the phone after 10 p.m.’ And I’m like, ‘I hear you, you’re absolutely right,’ but if I don’t answer the phone, the thing won’t get done. So my rule is to always answer. I did choose this life, after all, of being on call 24/7, particularly when you’re working from London with people in the States.

I use it to post my podcast. I try not to look at social media otherwise. I don’t want it. I hate it. End of days.

Best habit

Free writing, where you force yourself to write quickly, without stopping, for six pages— psychopathic, mad shit to clear your brain. Within that mess, you’ll find something that is the spark of an idea, and then you improvise off that.

It’s a way of bypassing your subconscious so some magic will happen.

Time he goes to bed

Very late. That’s when I panic write. But I’m bad at sleep—it’s not a skill I’ve developed. My brain never stops.