Not Today
The 9 Habits of Extreme Productivity
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Summary
When life dealt them a cruel hand, Erica and Mike Schultz transformed adversity into a powerful guide for living with purpose and productivity. In "Not Today," they weave their personal odyssey—caring for their critically ill son, Ari, while sustaining a burgeoning business—into an inspiring manual for mastering time and energy. Through the heartache and hope of their journey, the Schultz family unearths the secrets of "The Productivity Code," a revolutionary approach to achieving more with heart and integrity. Learn how to fortify your focus, disrupt negativity, and set meaningful boundaries. This book isn't just about managing time—it's about reshaping life’s chaos into a canvas for fulfillment and joy. Discover the nine transformative habits that defy distraction and fuel a vibrant existence, all while honoring what truly matters. "Not Today" is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and a roadmap to living fully, even in the face of life’s fiercest storms.
Introduction
In the sterile corridors of Boston Children's Hospital, where hope and heartbreak dance together in an endless waltz, Mike and Erica Schultz discovered something unexpected amid their greatest trial. Their five-year-old son Ari, born with a complex heart condition, was fighting for his life while they juggled the impossible demands of caring for him, raising two other children, and keeping their business afloat. Sleep-deprived and emotionally drained, they found themselves living in a constant state of crisis management, yet somehow achieving more than they ever had before. What began as survival tactics in a pediatric cardiac unit evolved into a revolutionary approach to productivity that would transform not just their work, but their entire understanding of what it means to live meaningfully. Through extensive research involving over 2,300 professionals worldwide, they uncovered the habits that separate the extremely productive from everyone else, habits forged in the crucible of their most challenging moments. This journey reveals how the deepest struggles can become our greatest teachers, showing us that true productivity isn't about doing more, but about choosing what matters most. When time becomes precious and every moment counts, we discover not just how to work better, but how to live with intention, purpose, and profound gratitude for each day we're given.
The Diagnosis: Finding Purpose in Crisis
The ultrasound screen flickered with images that would forever change the Schultz family's trajectory. At eighteen weeks into what had been a joyful pregnancy, Erica lay in the examination room watching the technician's increasingly concerned expression as she captured frame after frame of their unborn son's heart. What should have been a routine gender reveal transformed into a medical emergency when doctors diagnosed their baby with critical aortic stenosis, a life-threatening heart defect. The diagnosis came with a vocabulary lesson in terror: hypoplastic left heart syndrome, fetal echocardiogram, possible fetal demise. Their son would need experimental surgery while still in the womb, followed by multiple open-heart operations if he survived to birth. The odds were stacked against them, with only a 70 percent chance their baby would be born with a functioning heart, and a 10 percent risk he wouldn't survive the prenatal intervention at all. In that moment of devastating uncertainty, Mike and Erica faced a choice that millions confront in different forms: allow circumstances to define them, or discover what truly matters when everything else falls away. Their story illustrates how crisis becomes the ultimate teacher, stripping away everything nonessential and revealing the core of what we're capable of achieving when purpose becomes crystal clear and every action carries profound meaning.
Hospital Halls: Building Systems Under Pressure
Living full-time in a pediatric intensive care unit while running a growing business presented challenges that no time management course could have prepared them for. Between Ari's medical procedures, caring for their other children, and maintaining their company, Mike and Erica discovered they had to fundamentally reimagine how work gets done. The constant interruptions of hospital life, from medical rounds to emergency procedures, demanded a level of focus and efficiency they had never needed before. Mike found himself working from family lounges and cafeterias, using noise-canceling headphones to create invisible boundaries in the most distracting environment imaginable. Erica learned to batch her most important tasks into precise windows when Ari was stable, transforming brief respites into periods of intense productivity. They developed systems for rapid task-switching while maintaining deep focus, turning the chaos of hospital life into a laboratory for peak performance. What emerged from these impossible circumstances was a profound realization about the nature of productive work. When every minute is precious and interruptions are constant, you learn to distinguish between what feels urgent and what truly matters. The pressure of their situation became the catalyst for developing habits that would later prove transformational not just for them, but for thousands of professionals seeking to reclaim control over their time and attention in an increasingly demanding world.
Beyond Survival: Creating Sustainable Success
As Ari's condition stabilized and their systems solidified, the Schultz family discovered something remarkable: their crisis-born productivity methods were not just survival tactics, but sustainable approaches to excellence that continued working even when life returned to relative normalcy. The habits they had forged under extreme pressure proved to be the foundation for unprecedented professional success, including multiple bestselling books, global business expansion, and recognition as industry leaders. Their research revealed that the most productive people share specific behaviors that seem almost counterintuitive to our always-on culture. Rather than working longer hours, they work more intentionally. Instead of saying yes to every opportunity, they ruthlessly protect their time for what matters most. They understand that sustainable high performance requires not just focused work periods, but deliberate recovery and activities that genuinely refuel their energy and passion. The transformation extended beyond professional metrics to encompass their entire approach to living. They learned to identify and maximize what they call "treasured time" alongside their productive work hours, recognizing that true productivity serves life's deeper purposes rather than consuming it. This holistic view of productivity challenges the conventional wisdom that success requires sacrifice, instead demonstrating that the highest achievers are those who integrate meaningful work with meaningful rest, creating sustainable rhythms that support both exceptional output and profound fulfillment.
The Legacy: Lessons in Time and Meaning
When Ari passed away at five years old, his parents faced the ultimate test of everything they had learned about resilience, purpose, and the precious nature of time. In their darkest hours, the systems and mindsets they had developed became lifelines, helping them navigate grief while honoring their son's memory through continued service to others. Their research and methodology had already helped thousands of professionals transform their productivity, but now it carried deeper significance as a testament to Ari's enduring impact. The data from their study of over 2,300 professionals revealed stark differences between those who achieve extraordinary productivity and everyone else. The highest performers don't just work differently, they think differently about time itself. They view each hour as an investment opportunity, carefully choosing activities that align with their deepest values and long-term goals. They have learned to say no with grace and conviction, protecting their energy for what truly matters. Most significantly, they understand that productivity without purpose is merely busyness in disguise. The extremes of hospital life had taught the Schultz family that when time is genuinely limited, every choice becomes intentional. This intentionality, once developed, doesn't disappear when circumstances improve. Instead, it becomes a competitive advantage and a source of profound satisfaction, enabling them to achieve more while feeling less stressed, more connected to their values, and more present for the people and experiences that bring meaning to their days.
Summary
From the sterile halls of a children's hospital to boardrooms around the world, this extraordinary journey reveals that our greatest challenges often contain our most powerful lessons about what truly matters. The systems born from crisis and refined through extensive research demonstrate that extreme productivity isn't about grinding harder or sacrificing more, but about achieving crystalline clarity on what deserves our precious time and energy. The most profound insight emerging from both personal experience and rigorous data analysis is that sustainable high performance requires integration rather than separation of work and life priorities. When we learn to protect time for what we treasure while maximizing the impact of our professional efforts, we discover that productivity becomes a source of fulfillment rather than exhaustion. True productivity serves our deepest values, enabling us to contribute meaningfully while remaining present for the relationships and experiences that give life its richest texture. The legacy of this journey extends an invitation to reconsider our relationship with time itself. Each day offers the choice between reactive busyness and intentional impact, between scattered effort and focused excellence. When we embrace the habits of the extremely productive while keeping purpose at the center of our choices, we honor not just our professional aspirations but our fundamental human need for meaning, connection, and the quiet satisfaction that comes from knowing our time has been well spent in service of what matters most.
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