The One Mental Shift to Unlock Your Productivity
moving beyond excuses to meaningful action
Do you admire online productivity gurus — the fancy notion templates and productivity hacks? They seem to be in complete control over their lives.
They seem to have figured productivity out.
Or have you ever admired that friend you have?
Boundless energy for the hard things, chores, work, studying, socializing — and still energetic at the end of the day?
What divides us from the productive and energetic bunch?
How do they always seem thrilled to begin working?
In three phases, I’ll give you the motivation to do the same.
Phase #1: Destroying Your Excuses
You think they are special.
Oh, they were born with special talents, blessed to be motivated machines.
Their brain chemistry is just different.
They’ve been super productive since childhood.
Well, it’s obvious that they know a productivity secret that I don’t.
Nope. I do not want to hear any of it.
Bottom Line: Whatever your excuse to distance you from success is probably made up.
You don’t need any fancy method to be motivated, or a naturally motivated brain.
Being productive and motivated requires only one mental shift (read on).
Phase #2: Understanding our love for progress + Hate For Regression
Humans love progress. Our brains light up really bright when we progress. That’s why going backwards sucks so much.
That’s why we feel so good when we build wealth by saving, and feel bad when we fall into debt.
That’s why we feel so good during a productive day, and feel bad when we haven’t achieved anything.
That ‘feel good’ feeling from unproductive activities is actually an imaginary, instantly gratifying dopamine monster. When you stop feeding the beast, everything crashes.
Let’s explore one of my unproductive days. I started this day by waking up late (a byproduct of my late nights), trudging drowsily toward my desk.
There lay my monitor screen, full HD and all that. I then watched Gaming YouTube videos one after another. I felt guilty, but couldn’t stop.
A long watching spree later, I headed to lunch feeling resigned and unmotivated. Guess what? The whole day went on without me accomplishing anything.
This ‘spree’ lasted for two weeks.
At that time, I assumed that Minecraft and YouTube were my hobbies and passions. I felt like I really wanted to do it. Surely it was my life’s calling?
In reality, they are all mindless activities, or compulsions.
Companies spend millions upon millions every single year perfecting their advertisements (aka. compulsions) of a good life if you choose the path of quick and easy stress relief.
The truth is, you’re going nowhere with this. You’re going backwards with every new YouTube binge.
Your brain is rewiring itself, thinking that you are, and are meant to be a failure.
We’ve got to get ourselves out of this rut.
Phase #3: Harnessing meaningful activities
Here’s the key mental shift:
Begin doing things that you REALLY want to be doing.
‘You want to be doing’ does not mean brainwashing yourself in compulsions.
It does not mean drowning in instant, easy, dopamine.
Meaningful activities:
- Align with long-term goals
- You know that they are good for you
- Give you a sense of progress and growth
- When you think about them, you REALLY want to do them
Soon, your dopamine receptors recover and you find worthwhile enjoyment in meaningful activities.
At first, working will feel terrible.
These activities will feel like chores. As you learn to admire the satisfaction of achieving your goals, you’ll not only do those activities, but love doing them.
Some examples of these things (for me) are:
- Writing
- Studying
- Listening to Podcasts
- Socializing
Reflect on activities that are meaningful to you. Use the above criteria of meaningful activities as guidance.
I’ve begun to cherish that feeling of progress towards meaningful goals.
Remember this simple mindset shift.
It’ll change your approach to work forever.
Mark Manson, #1 NY Times bestselling author:
What self-care actually looks like: doing the unpleasant, unsexy habits that make everything else possible. Go to bed at a reasonable hour. Stay in on a Wednesday night. Pay off your credit cards. Floss. It’s not sexy, but it has to be done.
Thanks for reading!
