I Tried Optimising for Fun—Here’s What Actually Happened.
Plus another rant about phones...
Productivity advice for the week:
Optimise for fun.
One of the first productivity books I read was Ali Abdaal’s book “Feel Good Productivity”, which, if it had to be summarised into one sentence, would be this:
We are more productive when we are having fun.
The majority of our gains in work, side projects and creative activities are when we’re having fun.
But the question is: how do we make things fun?
Well, it’s dependent person to person, task to task.
For some it can be putting some epic music on in the background.
For others it could be trying new workspaces, coffee shops or libraries.
Or for others it may be using the adventure principle and treating each day like an adventure.
Whatever it is, find what works for you.
Simply ask yourself:
What would this look like if it were fun?
The reason optimising for fun is so important is the concurrent benefits of sustainability.
Whatever your motivational Instagram videos tell you, you won’t be able to sustain 5 hours of sleep and 19 hours of work each day.
Making things fun makes them sustainable.
Sustainability creates results.
Make your tasks fun.
Make your life fun.
Make your routine sustainable.
Organisation advice for the week:
Your Phone is Destroying Your Productivity.
Yes, I am back with another rant about phones.
However, this week I am back with a real-world study from a real-world scientist. (Yeah, I’ve done my research.)
Before I get onto that, I wanted to quickly talk about a trick I have been doing when I am working creatively at home.
I have been giving my phone to my housemates and asking them to hide it in their room.
It has been working wonders, because, as you’re about to see, leaving your phone face down can still have detrimental effects.
A study done by Shalini Misra found that even when our phones are faced down, we habitually check them 3 times every 5 minutes.
Let that sink in.
3 times every 5 minutes.
Now the study was done in the context of social interactions, but the effect still looms large on our productivity.
How much more would you get done if you were able to lock into a task for 45-90 minutes without your phone constantly grabbing your attention?
“Can’t I just turn my notifications off?”
If you’ve ever been on a plane (where there’s usually no wifi), you find yourself and others habitually clicking on social media and apps which require wifi.
Most of the time we don’t check our phone because of a notification but in search of one.
Leaving your phone across or out of the room will do wonders for your productivity.
No email or message can be left for at least an hour.
Prioritise your creative and social endeavours.
Word of the week:
Vituperative = Bitter and abusive.
Quote of the week:
“Are you always this cheerful?” the Times asked. “My expectations were reduced to zero when I was 21. Everything since then has been a bonus,” he replied. - Stephen Hawking