I have a few tests I use to gauge life decisions: One is called the “Quitting Test.”

Basically, how you feel immediately after you quit your job reveals whether or not it was the right decision.

And the last time I quit my job, I had a smile on my face.

That was a good sign.

I left Equinox Fitness for the last time on November 4th, 2013 and felt like kissing everyone on my way to the parking structure. I had absolutely no backup job lined up, but at that moment, I couldn’t give a shit less.

It’s been over 17 months after that Monday evening and it’s been an incredible ride ever since. Most importantly, it’s been an enormous test in self-discipline. Every so often, people ask how I structure my day working from home without (a) getting cabin fever and (b) getting fired from all my projects.

Well, it’s been a learning process, for sure, but I’ve been amazed as to what I’ve learned in terms of productivity and life.

Here are the seven most powerful lessons. Enjoy.

Motivation Is Overrated

How do you get motivated or organized working from home?

There’s a myth that you have to “get motivated” to do work, otherwise it won’t be done. Checks won’t be made. Bills won’t be paid. And, soon, you’ll get evicted and end up eating out of your neighbor’s garbage.

What people often forget, however, is that there’s a lot of fun and joy in work.

No one has to put a gun to my head to do what I do. If anything, I have curb myself from working 7-days-a-week (which happens a lot). If you feel unmotivated day after day, maybe it’s a wakeup call that you simply don’t like the work you do.

Also, rather than focusing on motivation, a stronger approach has been to build the right habits to support the right life. Sure, they weren’t easy to build, but if I kept focusing on “getting motivated,” I would’ve gone broke months ago.

(Keep reading to learn the habits.)

With The Right System, You Can Double (Or Triple) Your Productivity

It’s insane how much more productive you can be working from home.

In-fucking-sane.

At an office (or gym), there’s no reward for increased productivity. Most of the time, you’re paid based on how long you’re there, not how much you get accomplished. You’re valued on how many “hours you put in,” not how many hours you save. (Exceptions include: commission-based work or equity stakes.) Thus, everyone’s day seems to last roughly eight hours to match the typical 9 to 5.

Truth is, working from home allows me to be hyper-productive. The process is simple:

Pick one to two high-priority tasks and do them first.

Do your most-important and highest-leverage tasks first thing in the morning. Don’t check your email, dick around on Facebook, or read/watch the news until it’s finished.

For me, that could range from outlining an article to drafting an important email (which I write outside of my email folder) to designing sales copy. If I don’t do anything else but those 1 – 2 tasks for the entire day, I’ll be happy — that’s how important they are. Once I knock them out, it’s usually around 11am. Then, I can check email knowing that anywhere from 50 – 70% of my workday is done.

It’s Absolutely Normal To Feel Alone

Back in late-June, I walked into a quant coffee shop in the Plateau area of Montreal. Soon, I struck a conversation with a French woman next to me who rented apartments on Airbnb and worked as a freelance editor. We laughed and chatted for a while and I asked how she liked it. Her answer was very typical:

She loved it, but she felt alone at times.

Which is why she typically came to coffee shops to get work done.

For as crappy my job was in the gym, I missed the socializing after I quit. There were good jokes, a few good coworkers, and even better gossip. Eliminate that, however, and suddenly the world seemed very very quiet.

Fear not. It’s normal.

There’s a BIG difference between being “alone” and “lonely” — you can be alone and feel lonely or you can be alone and NOT feel lonely. The choice is yours. For me, because I can’t get shit done at home, I like to work from local, independent coffee shops or bookstores. (Places like Starbucks and Coffee Bean, however, boast an unusual and distracting crowd.) Best of all, the patrons are often freelancers themselves so it’s a good place to meet new people and break the monotony of a solo work day.

Also, I haven’t perfected this yet, but another option is to work while traveling. Going to New York, Toronto, and Montreal last year was for fun, yes, but it was also a test to see if I could do great work on the road. There were some kinks — like scheduling a workout that could take up to three hours due to walking there, working out, showering, walking back, and eating — but things smoothed out in Montreal because I had eight full days to spend there.

You Probably Haven’t Defined What You Want In Life

For all the shit we talk about working ridiculous hours or having things “hold us back,” once we actually get free time, most of us — including me — have no fucking clue what we really want to do with it.

Huh?

Seriously. Think about it. What would you do, day-to-day, hour-to-hour, if you could leave work at 12pm everyday?

Sure, I said the same things everyone else does: “Travel! Write! Blog! Exercise! Learn an instrument! etc.”

But when I finally had free time, I really didn’t know what to do. I mean, you can only exercise so many days and there’s only so much money you can spend visiting places, taking lessons, or playing golf.

After a while, I found myself working even though I already finished work. I even started checking email several times an hour, which is ALWAYS a bad sign.

Now I’m way more focused with my time because I only have five life goals — once I finish my work, I can direct my attention to achieving them. This also gives me “the carrot” to stay focused during my work blocks.

Don’t Like a Task? Hire Someone Else To Do It

For $12/hour, I hire a virtual assistant to do a lot of my grunt work for Growth Addiction.

I see $0 in revenue from it, but it’s a passion project so I could care less about spending some bucks. My logic is: I spend money on worse things.

I’ve only begun to dabble in this, but having someone assume the unavoidable drudgery could be huge in business and life.

Set A Timer

This comes from several different productivity experts, but I never work without a timer. Why the hell does a timer improve productivity?

First, it tells you when to stop. I usually set 45 minutes on my iPhone and work until it rings. When my timer buzzes, I’ll finish my last thought and stop. Maybe I’ll get more coffee, read a funny article I saved, or — gasp!— check Facebook. (It’s like a little recess.) Then, after a few minutes, I reset the timer and go again.

Second, it helps you keep track of time. If I forget to set a timer, I have no idea how long I’ve worked on a certain project. I could have just spent 70 minutes on a task and I wouldn’t know until I looked at a clock. Timers force you to look at the elapsed time, not the time of day, which is far more important in productivity.

The lengths of the blocks depend on you. I’ve seen 25 minutes, 50 minutes, and even 2 hours. There’s no “right answer.” Play around and see what works best.

Want Awesome Days? Build A Great Morning Routine

My morning work routine is basic: I get ready, skip breakfast, and instead, drink a large glass of water. Then I go to a coffee shop, sip on a delicious cup or fresh-brewed coffee, and work. I complete all my most-important tasks first and usually don’t eat breakfast (err, lunch) until 1 or 2pm.

This may or may not work for you.

I know some people who turn homicidal without breakfast. I know others who like to get up at the crack of dawn. (“Cbf that!” as the Australians say.) However you organize your day, it’s up to you.

Just be cognizant of your willpower and limited cognition. Don’t waste your time thinking up some elaborate breakfast or fumbling around with ambiguous tasks like social media or email. Hit your top priorities and the rest will follow.

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Of all the people I’ve ever met who “work from home,” everyone shares these concerns and complaints. Yet none of them would ever want to got back to an office. Not one.

Nor would I. I’d take the aloneness any day.