Boost your productivity with this Ancient Indian Method

This post originally appeared on the Stayuncle Blog

How can that freaking guy achieve so much? He runs a business, his own art gallery he gets to attend all those parties, he never fails an evening visit to the basketball ground, I keep seeing him on those royal parties at Hilton and yesterday I saw him volunteering in that charity center in the outskirts. Doesn't he also has 24 hours per day just like the rest of us?

Good question. The same will lead you to an amazing answer that Yes, some people may have more than 24 hours a day. At least virtually.

WoooW Wait. We are entrepreneurs. WE would k.k.k.. Kill for any productivity pill we could swallow or hack we could experiment on ourselves

Do you want to know where is the sense of this and how the same can be done? Let me take you on a time travel all the way to ancient India, back around 3rd century BC

A brilliant teacher, philosopher, strategist and and master mind emerges. With cunning, and clever political maneuvers he manages to defeat the powerful Nanda dynasty and facilitate the creation of Magadha, the most powerful and first ever recorded by history Indian empire.

His name is Kautilya, also known as Chanakya or Vishnu Gupta in ancient India.

Sakatala, an unhappy royal minister, introduced Chanakya to the Nanda king, knowing that Chanakya would not be treated well in the court. Insulted at the court, Chanakya untied the sikha (lock of hair) and swore that he would not tie it back till he destroyed the Nanda kingdom.

He is credited for the establishment of the initial postulates of the Indian classical economy through his most famous work of art, the Arthashastra (The science of Economics/The science of Wealth)

The Arthashastra is a beautiful and also highly structured text which described the model of an ideal state as imagined by Chanakya. It covers every possible area of governing a state, and the rights and duties of every participant of a Kautiliyan state from the courtesan to the King.

Here is where our interest about the Arthashastra intensifies (not for the the courtesan, you… )

The same also offers a detailed recipe of how a King should organize his day to day life as a governor of an empire in a dedicated chapter called Duties of a King.

This chapter perhaps hides one of the oldest recipes for personal productivity, because it was in Kautiliya’s best interest to ensure intelligent, productive, healthy and ever energetic statesman who will deal with the matters of the empire

If a king is energetic, his subjects will be equally energetic. If he is reckless, they will not only be reckless likewise, but also eat into his works. Besides, a reckless king will easily fall into the hands of his enemies. Hence the king shall ever be wakeful. He shall divide both the day and the night into eight nalikas [1.5 hours], or according to the length of the shadow cast by a gnomon standing in the sun: the shadow of three purushas (3/4 inches), of one purusha (12 inches), of four angulas (3 inches), and absence of shadow denoting midday are the four one-eighth divisions of the forenoon; like divisions in the reverse order in the afternoon

In other words a daily schedule of a king should look something like this:

Daytime:

• 5:30AM – 7:00 AM Receive reports on defense, revenue and expenditure

• 7:00AM – 8:30AM Public audiences, to hear petitions of city and country people

• 8:30AM – 10:00AM Personal – bath, meals, study

• 10:00AM – 11:30AM Receive revenue and tribute; appoint ministers and other high officials and allot tasks to them

• 11:30AM – 1:00PM Write letters and dispatches; confer with councilors; receive secret information from spies

• 1:00PM – 2:30PM Personal – recreation, time for contemplation

• 2:30PM – 4:00PM Inspect and review forces

• 4:00PM – 5:30PM Consult with Chief of Defense

• Sunset: 5:30PM Prayers

Night time:

• 6:00PM – 7:30PM Interview with secret agents

• 7:30PM – 9:00PM Personal – bath, meals study

• 9:00PM – 1:30AM Retire to bed chamber to the sound of music; sleep

• 1:30AM – 3:00AM After waking to the sound of music, meditate on political matters and on the work to be done

• 3:00AM – 4:30AM Consult with councilors; send out spies

• 4:30 – 6:00AM Religious, household and personal duties; meetings with his teacher/advisor on rituals, purohita, personal physician, chief cook and astrologer

• 2:30PM – 4:00PM Inspect and review forces

• 4:00PM – 5:30PM Consult with Chief of Defense

• Sunset: 5:30PM Prayers

Is this a jammed agenda or what?

The schedule designates approximately 1 – 1.5 hours of time for each one of the activities including time for personal studies and art.

Out of 24 hours the king gets around 6 hours of sleep + relaxation + personal studies, which even today it is proven to be an optimal time an adult person would need to get a good rest.

In this way, the king is exposed to diverse stimulus which would further encourage his growth and intelligence while keeping him knowledgeable, alert, mindful, energetic and yet pleasant and fresh.

You may not be a king and most of you may not be able to jam your agenda so many activities that would contribute to your bottom line (rather be lazy than trying to keep yourself artificially busy and focused on unimportant matters).

Depending on your position and status in life you may easily be able to divide your 24 hours in this way and allot important things for each one of 1-1.5 hours chunks.

I have found this approach to be profoundly wise and effective which is why I have started with the practice since 1st of January 2015

Here is how my schedule looks like:

• 5:30 – 7:00 Wash, brush and yoga

• 7:00 – 8:30 Reading

• 8:30 – 09:30 Shower, breakfast, email and social media updates check

• 9:30 – 11:00 Writing

• 11:00 – 14:30 Business Meeting, Outdoor, Lunch, Work

• 14:30 – 15:00 Getting in touch with people I have neglected

• 15:00 – 17:30 Work

• 17:30 – 18:30 Yoga, meditation, breading exercises

• 18:30 – 20:00 Work

• 20:00 – 20:30 Dinner, surfing, social networking

• 20:30 – 22:00 Work

• 22:00 – 23:00 Writing

• 23:00 – 00:00 Reading

• 00:00 – 00:30 Setting up agenda for next day, meditation

• 00:30 – 05:00 Retire with the sound of music (just like a king:-)

Of course the same is not strictly frozen to these activities. Depending of the time of the week I allotted time for travel, volunteering training etc.

Here it is. Notice that the true power of this method does not lie in the way your structure your activity inasmuch as it lies in your ability to adhere to the time slots you have allotted for each activity.

Of course some activities make sense to be executed in a certain time of the day. It is a well known teaching of Ancient India confirmed by modern science that yoga and meditation are best to be done at dawn, daybreak at midnight.

I was in dilemma what to put first for the morning, reading or writing, until one of my favorite bloggers, James Altucher mentioned that his morning agenda includes reading from 5:30 onward for the next 3 hours.

Note down that this schedule includes:

• 8.5 hours for direct business related activities and work

• 2.5 hours for yoga and meditation which I consider extremely important for healthy body and mind

• 4.5 hours for personal studies and relaxation

• 2.5 hours for developing another skill or hobby, in my case writing

• 6 hours of sleep and relaxation

This type of schedule was realistic for Chanakya because the same involved hard work + body and mind balance building which would make the organism strong and able to cope without challenges and hazards.

If you plan to experiment with the same try to structure it in the same way keeping in mind that you must be regular with your physical exercises as well. else you may easily overdose or simply loose will power as it happens all the time.

Do you think this schedule is possible and doable for you? How many out there are already adhering to a similar one? Do share your thoughts...