Over the past few years I’ve examined hundreds of different routines. And unsurprisingly I’ve noticed that most successful and productive people all have one. However, most of the time, the only thing that those routines have in common is that they are completely unique and can’t be replicated.
That’s because each one of us has unique goals, the work we do is different, we have individual obligations, varied energy levels, the way that we handle stress is non-identical, and so on and so forth. For those reasons, the best routine isn’t the one you can copy, but rather, one that you create for yourself. And that’s what we’ll tackle in today’s video.
But more specifically, we’ll look at how to construct a productive routine for yourself if you’re someone who doesn’t feel like doing much, is often unmotivated or would rather just chill. Not everyone wants to build an empire and be a productivity machine, and that’s ok. So essentially what we’ll be looking at is how to construct a routine that will help you get the most out of your time, without putting in too much effort.
After all, being productive isn’t necessarily about spending more time working, but rather about being in a proper mental state when you are working, in order to be more efficient, faster and of course, to enjoy doing it. However, to do that, you first need to be able to even start doing your work. And if you fall more on the lazy side, that can be particularly difficult.
Anyone who has had to do any sort of demanding work, knows about something called The Resistance. It’s that feeling when you know what to do and how to do it, but you don’t feel like doing it, because it might seem too difficult or you’re just not in the mood. Most of the time that’s the biggest obstacle you need to overcome.
But once you do start, it’s so much easier to keep on going. And I’m sure you’ve noticed this as well. How many times did you tell yourself you were going to do something, but it seemed like such a big task that you didn’t even bother starting?
But once it got to a critical point and you did start, you wondered why hadn’t you done it sooner, as it wasn’t as bad as you had thought it would be. Starting is hard, continuing is easy. But, I actually found a solution for this resistance that we all sometimes feel towards work.
All you need to do is construct a ritual for your routine. Let me explain. You might’ve heard of a term called Pavlovian conditioning before.
It’s named after a Russian physiologist Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, who studied how different stimuli create a response. His famous research involved dogs. When Pavlov presented food to the dogs, he noticed that they would salivate more than they usually did.
It was an unconscious, instinctual response. But Pavlov then decided to do something different. He added an additional stimulus to the whole process.
Before feeding the dogs, he would now always ring a bell. After doing this several times over many days, the dogs started to salivate in response to the bell alone. They learned that the bell was now a signal for food.
And they would actually unconsciously salivate every time the bell was rang, even if no food was presented. Simply because they became conditioned to do so. And similarly, just like Pavlov conditioned his dogs to salivate in response to the bell alone, you can condition yourself to begin work.
Of course we’re not dogs, and we won’t unconsciously start working just because a bell was rung, but we can come close by connecting different stimuli together and thus making starting easier. So let me give you a concrete example on how this can be accomplished. This is actually my very own little ritual that I use to ease myself into writing scripts for these videos and it helps me make the process more effortless.
I begin by preparing some green tea. Then, I put on a very specific music track that I only listen to before writing. While I’m drinking tea and listening to music, I read whatever I wrote the previous day.
That’s it. That’s the ritual. It’s not complicated.
But every single time, without even thinking about it, I start writing, because I find some mistake that needs correcting or I get an idea for a better sentence. And that’s how I ease myself into this particular work. The most important part here for me is to read what I previously wrote.
Because that’s what actually tricks me into writing. But it’s the combination of tea and music that I’ve become conditioned to, that allows me to do that more easily. And these types of associations are more powerful than you might realize.
I was once taking a walk and just listening to my music playlist on shuffle. However, that very specific song that I use for my pre-writing ritual started playing. All of a sudden I was thinking about writing, was getting new video ideas, etc.
. The association has become just that strong over time. Just like Pavlov’s dogs, I became conditioned to respond in a certain way, when a particular stimulus was presented.
I basically created my own bell. I’ve since removed that song from my playlist of course, as I only want it to be associated with work, but it’s an interesting look at how our brains connect things and if done properly, it can be used to our advantage. And I urge you to construct a similar ritual.
It can include anything. Maybe moving your laptop to a specific spot you only use for work, doing a particular set of tasks beforehand as I do, like listening to music and drinking tea, or it could be putting on a particular set of clothes that are associated with what you want to do. The whole point is to create a connection between a stimulus and your further actions.
But make sure the stimulus isn’t something that’s difficult to do and that it’s only connected to what you want it to be connected with. After all, the whole ritual should serve as a way to ease yourself into more demanding work, and should not be difficult itself. Now that you have your ritual set up, you should use it whenever you want to get into a work mood.
But if you want to get the most bang for your buck, there’s something else you can combine it with to get compounding results. What you want to do is identify when you usually do your best work. This requires a bit of experimentation and self awareness.
There may be certain times of the day, when you’re simply able to be more productive. During those times, you can get more done, the quality of your work is better and you actually feel great doing it. You want to identify those peak times of the day.
Of course this might vary depending on what type of work you want to do. For example, when doing mundane boring tasks, mornings might be better for you. And when doing more creative tasks, afternoons or evenings might work best.
Or vice versa. To find that for yourself, I suggest running a series of experiments. For 1 week, try to incorporate and do your most important and hardest work only in the mornings.
Then for the next week switch it to the afternoons. And for the last week, try it in the evenings. How long you’re going to work is up to you, the point is just to get some data so you can identify when you feel most in the zone.
A few questions to ask yourself and keep track of are: When are you most energized and motivated? When are you able to get more done and when does working feel less difficult? Is it at a specific time of the day?
Is it before or after a certain activity? And vice versa. When do you feel the most sluggish, fatigued, unmotivated or when does it feel like you’re getting nothing done?
Look for patterns that emerge, by either keeping a journal or tracking it on your phone. And once you identify your optimal time, you want to protect it. Going forward, that is going to be your most valuable part of the day and you don’t want cheap pleasures to get in the way of it.
Unfortunately, that period of time when work feels easy or easier, is also the time when instant gratification tends to feel more fun. That’s why you want to protect that time frame at all costs, as it’s very easy to fall prey to other temptations. Just something to be mindful of going forward.
Note that over time as your life circumstances change, your routine will change as well and will need adapting and refining. 10 years ago, when one of my close friends was working a regular 9-5 job, he found that in order to get other things done, it was best for him to do all other non-job related work in the mornings. Otherwise he would be simply too tired and too exhausted from his regular job to do anything productive after coming home.
But later on, when he quit that job in order to pursue his new business, he had more freedom to choose when to work, and he found out that he does his best work in the afternoons, more specifically, around 6 hours after waking up. So now he makes sure that that time is protected and he plans his day accordingly around it. Once his circumstances changed, his optimal routine changed as well.
And as time goes on, I’m sure it will change even more. Refining a routine is a never-ending process and even I still haven’t fully figured mine out, as new elements are constantly being introduced. But it’s consistently getting better and better, which is all that really matters.
Now if you’re able to do both of these things, that is to create your pre-work ritual and find your peak hours, you can increase your productivity exponentially. You’ll get more done with less time, less effort and less energy expended. But I want to mention one last thing that can be helpful on your journey.
And that is focusing on the process, rather than the end result. Yes, having specific goals is great, but it’s the systems you build that actually get you there. You might’ve noticed how simple my pre-writing ritual is.
Drnk tea, listen to music, read what you wrote. Does it sound complicated in any way? No, it doesn’t.
If my goal was to write a new video script every time, that would be much more intimidating. And I would be less likely to start because of it. Instead, I focus on the process, as I know that as long as I can start writing, I’ll eventually get to the end goal, which is to write a full video script.
This is just a slight mindset shift, but it can be really beneficial, since it helps deconstruct and minimize the size of the task, and makes you focus on the immediate steps you take, rather than being constantly reminded how you haven’t reached your big goal yet. In other words, your objective should be to just show up every day. It’s not to achieve any particular goal, but to be consistent and do something in that direction.
The process will get you there, whether you even have that big end goal or not. You just have to trust it. That’s how you build the habit of productivity, and step by step, day by day, you make yourself better than yesterday.
