how to be productive when you don't feel like it

Everybody has moments of productivity, but the key to accomplishing the most challenging goals in life is tapping into consistent productivity, even when you don't feel like it. That's when you need it the most, because usually, people don't feel like it roughly all the time. That's why people call it the grind, or the hustle, or the climb, if you're Miley Cyrus. It usually feels like going against the grain, but there are methods to make being productive significantly easier at the drop of a hat. First step, pick up the hat. You're gonna put it on your head, and now it's all nasty. The biggest reason people are unproductive tends to be distraction. Uh, hey, are you paying attention right now? Oh, sorry, I just, my bad. In the modern age, everyone has a phone, tablet, laptop, TV, all grasping at your attention, so it makes sense that attention is much more scattered these days. People often find themselves watching video after video, hypnotized by their phone. If this is you, watching this video, I mean, you can finish this video. One more couldn't hurt. But afterwards, you can try a couple quick solutions, like putting your phone in another room. Wait, whose phone is this? I live alone! Or using your phone's Limit Screen Time function, and having someone else lock it with a password. Because if you're anything like me, you also click Ignore Limit absolutely every time. I also recommend charging your phone overnight, either in another room, or at least across the room, beyond arm's reach from your bed. This will help you avoid starting the day immediately on your phone, which not only sets you up for a worse day, but it also increases the chances of you dropping the phone on your face and breaking your nose, also known as getting Owen Wilson'd. Wow. Another tip is to watch my video on phone addiction. It sounds counterintuitive that my advice to be less distracted is another video, but someone once told me, you gotta fight fire with fire. I should warn you, that rule doesn't actually apply to fire, so be careful. My extensive knowledge of Pokemon has taught me that water is actually a lot better at beating fire. It's also taught me that girls don't like it when the guys they date have extensive knowledge of Pokemon. When it comes to productivity, a lot of people feel a heavy resistance to getting started on the work they know they should be doing. This experience is outlined in the book The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, and in it, the author talks about what he calls resistance, which is an invisible force that stops you from doing important work, and it shows up as procrastination, fear, self-doubt, distractions, perfectionism, or pffftttt for short. You have to expect it, and know that it's resistance you're fighting against, not some inability within yourself to do good work. You are absolutely capable of productive hard work, you just have to use the right methods to beat resistance. It's kind of like in Pokemon Season 1, Pikachu didn't listen to Ash at first, but Ash didn't give up and tried lots of different ways to make it work. In the end, he did have to risk his life to make Pikachu realize he was a good dude, but since then, their relationship has flourished. In hindsight, I realize Ash didn't really risk his life because he's survived countless deadly attacks and has been 10 years old since 1997, so clearly, Ash is an immortal being. I wonder if Pikachu realizes that their relationship sits on a throne of lies. You sit on a throne of lies. One of the methods I use to work against resistance is the 5 second rule. This is not the rule where if you drop food on the ground and pick it up within 5 seconds, you are then allowed to give yourself a preventable disease. In the 5 second rule, you count down from 5, and right when you hit 1, you immediately just start the task you need to work on. This helps me overcome hesitation and distraction by triggering a physical response before my brain can talk me out of doing work. Finding excuses is something my brain is usually very good at. Another useful method is setting a timer. When I have a hard time getting on task, I set a physical timer for 10 minutes. I tell myself, all you need to do is work for 10 minutes. That makes it easier for me because then, the task feels way less daunting. It isn't a whole essay or presentation, it's just 10 minutes of work. Once the 10 minutes are up, I can usually just put the timer down and keep working. Some people use the Pomodoro method of setting a 25 minute timer followed by a 5 minute break, which is great for continuous sessions, but for the very first work session, I'd recommend a quick 10. Sidenote, I find it very useful to use a visual timer so I can process the amount of time elapsed just by how much color is left without having to get numbers involved, which tend to jumble up my brain. I think I might have ADHD. It's said that most writers don't like writing, they like having written. Tim Ferriss, author of The 4-Hour Workweek and man crush for every guy who has ever wanted to start a podcast, has a writing strategy where every day, he says his only job is to produce two crappy pages of writing. It doesn't have to be profound or brilliant, two pages just have to be creative. With that as his goal, he's often able to overcome writer's block, write two pages without judgment, and then continue to write far beyond that. Sometimes he does just write two pages and nothing more that day, but his average output is significantly higher over a long period of time because he's able to consistently overcome the difficulty of starting. With this two crappy pages strategy, he's gone on to write five books that were all number one New York Times bestsellers. He's also inspired over a thousand men to start podcasts about cold showers. So overall impact on the world, net negative. Breaking the inertia of what you're currently doing to take on a task that you think is challenging is what causes a lot of resistance. So it's all about bypassing that response with the five second rule, setting a timer, two crappy pages, or even just changing your environment. Sometimes I go to a different room or even face a different direction, and mentally I feel immediately more refreshed. Get out of my apartment! I think this is why when I was a kid, my dad would always go out to grab cigarettes. He just needed a change in environment, and I am confident that one day he'll come back home. Changing your environment releases dopamine in the brain, and one of dopamine's functions is to make you more alert to scan the new environment. This also gives you more focus, which you can tap into for a quick productivity boost. This is why a lot of people are more productive in cafes, libraries, or co-working spaces. They're leaving behind all the automatic triggers of the room that fog their mind and they're starting fresh. Some people need to feel fresh because of distractions or even past traumas. Luckily, I don't have any past traumas, because he's coming home. He's coming home! I'm also very productive in public spaces because people are all around me, and I'm usually just trying to convince them that I am a normal person. But when I'm home in my room, it's a little different. A core concept that applies to productivity is the do-something principle from Mark Manson, who is the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Gosh Darn. A lot of people wait for inspiration to push them to getting work done, but motivation is unreliable. Kind of like Brock from Pokemon, who was so busy chasing the ladies, he even leaves the group to get with Professor Ivy, a Pokemon breeder. Breeder? Brock, you hardly know her. Instead of waiting for motivation, it's important to realize that action isn't just the effect of motivation, it can also be the cause of motivation. Productivity is a cycle, and you don't have to wait for the motivation, you can circumvent the cycle and create it yourself by taking action. You just have to start by doing something. It can be small, it can be busy work. Just do something, as long as it moves you forward in some way. Doing something will naturally generate motivation, and you can harness that reaction to take action, which will create more motivation, and the cycle can continue. And the prophecy will be complete. Technically, watching TV is something, but it'll set you back. Even if you're watching a banger movie like Elf. Hi buddy, hope you find your dad. A quick tip is to start with a couple very doable things on your to-do list. Doing those first and crossing them off is a good way to quickly build some momentum to then do bigger and bigger things on your list. Here are some more tips that can help make it easier to spark the cycle. A lot of the time, you lack clarity, not discipline. The general idea of doing work can be daunting, but when each specific task is laid out, it feels much more manageable and you know exactly what needs to be done to make progress. This is why it's important to have very clear, specific to-do lists. We already talked about having one or two easy things on your list to cross out early on. However, super long to-do lists can lack priority and be unrealistic, so you want to limit it to three to five specific doable tasks. You also want to circle the one most important thing in your list and do it before any of your other challenging tasks. There are a bunch of books about this idea, like The One Thing and Eat the Frog, that essentially just talk about the value of having one clear priority and taking care of it as early as possible, before your willpower drops and before the day gets away from you. Hey, get back here. Don't do that again, okay? Okay. A time management technique that has completely revolutionized my productivity is time blocking. This is where you divide your day into blocks of time dedicated to a specific task or activity. I do all of my time blocking on Google Calendar, and essentially, it's a color-coded visual representation of my to-do list. A lot of to-do lists can be overly ambitious, and time blocking allows you to really see what tasks you can reasonably fit into a day. Time blocking makes it extremely clear. From this hour to this hour, I will be working on this task. From 7am to 10am, I set up my dad's room for when he comes back. From 10am to 7pm, I'll be watching Pokemon reruns. From 7pm to 10pm, I'll be arguing with my girlfriend because of how much Pokemon I watched today. You see, this way, it'll be crystal clear why we should break up. Cal Newport talks extensively about time blocking in his book, Deep Work. Deep Work is actually the title of his Premium Only fans account. When you're time blocking, it's important to overestimate your time. If you think it'll take 15 minutes to do a task, just set 30. That way, if in the middle, you're hungry and decide to eat some chicken wings, you're still on track. And if you do end up only taking 15 minutes, now you're ahead of schedule. It's a win-win. Except for the chicken. It's a pretty clear loss for the chicken. My last productivity tip is to prime your mind for success. A lot of people binge TikTok for hours, then try to study right after, and are surprised their gelatinized brains don't feel like buckling down to do some work. That's not a lack of talent or motivation. It's being mentally burnt out before you even begin. If your muscles have been fed nothing but syrup and prime energy all day, you're not going to be able to immediately start hitting PRs. If you want to prime yourself for productivity, I usually find that taking a walk is an absolute game-changer for me. It helps reset a lot of the mental fatigue and scattered focus issues that I have. Look at Ash Ketchup. He literally traveled across the entire Pokemon world on foot. You would think he'd just call an Uber or ride one of his Pokemon. But no. He force-gumped it all the way around the globe, and look at him now. An immortal Pokemon master who has transcended death and is biologically infinite. In the end, productivity isn't about being a robot. It's about being more effective in less time. It's not about endless grinding. It's about creating the freedom and time to live a life you actually enjoy. It creates space for hobbies, rest, quality time with loved ones, rewatching Pokemon the first movie even though it makes you cry every single time, or trying to find your dad even though it makes you cry every single time. And remember, if you don't feel like being productive, go ahead and take a nice walk. But be careful where you're walking, because you don't want to walk into something and accidentally break your nose. Ow. Son? Dad?