The Productivity Hack That Made Me Better at My Job — And Beyond
Improve your way of life with one step
Activation energy is key.
This is a slept-on concept that more people need to know about.
Bad habits form because distractions are readily available at all times.
keep reading to learn how to purge bad habits from your system and accomplish more daily without realizing it.
What you don’t know kills you (literally)
Activation energy is the amount of energy it takes to start something.
The higher the activation energy for a given activity, the harder it is to start it.
One example includes filming a Youtube video. If your goal is to film once a week, it doesn’t seem like a lot until film day.
You need to set up the proper lighting
It would help if you made yourself look presentable
You need a script to read from
You need to make sure the camera batteries are charged and the lens cap is off
Those steps are enough to make the average person put aside the task until the following week. And when the next week comes — it’s the same story.
Making a Youtube video requires high activation energy.
On the flip side
Most things that aren’t conducive to productivity or even physical health are low activation energy activities.
Think about how easy it is to drive to Mcdonald's after work to pick up dinner. It’s quick, cheap, and you don’t even have to leave your car. You don’t have to do any dishes either, so you have more time to spend on another low activation energy activity like watching TV or playing video games.
Big companies prey on those susceptible to low activation energy pursuits, and their goal is to make you forget about your goals.
Jeff Chan writes:
“I have lots of life goals, both short-term and long: I’d like to work on my side projects, become a better writer, read great books, run faster, get stronger… Yet I’ve always struggled to avoid the siren call of social media, video games, and other empty calorie activities.”
Jeff and I are on the same wavelength. We want to be better at so many things, but the better we get, and the more activities we want to improve upon, the harder it gets.
One simple step that purges your “empty calorie” activities
iPhones have a clever little function called “Downtime.”
You can find it in the settings →Screen Time section. It’s a way to manage your endless scrolling habits; I know it’s something I struggle with.
Here’s what I do:
I disable access to all social media apps, the internet, Youtube, and games from 10 PM to 10 AM.
I wake up around 7:30 AM for the workday and want my first two hours of work to be my most productive. So, keeping distractions locked away for those first two hours of the day is vital.
I do, however, keep any applications I need for work, such as Slack, and email, open so my coworkers can reach me.
The other function is that 10 PM lockup. I have a problem staying up too late watching Youtube on my phone, and that blue light isn’t helping me fall asleep any faster.
The phone is locked up, helping me sleep earlier, and that alone has played a significant factor in my overall productivity in the mornings and mental health.
I wake up feeling fresher because I sleep as I used to as a kid before phones were a thing.
Take it a step further, and set an app limit. This way, you’re forced into spending only an hour on TikTok if you usually spend two.
Use these tools to your advantage. Take back your life.
One thing leads to another
Learning to lower the required activation energy for specific tasks is how you level up in life.
You don’t have to look at it as self-improvement either. To accomplish most things, you don’t have to take cold showers or give up coffee cold-turkey. You need to put systems in place to make things happen.
I’ll refer to my Youtube and Mcdonald's examples.
When Youtube film day comes around, everything should be ready to go ahead of time. What I mean is that ideas don’t appear on the spot. Sure, they can, but that doesn’t mean you should use them.
You should store it in the bank for the next film session. Your plan is everything. Hollywood studios don’t show up on a random set expecting to film a blockbuster. They plan the whole thing weeks, even months before shooting.
When filming a Youtube video, you connect a cord directly from your camera to your computer so the footage goes straight to your desktop. You can use OBS software and start shooting with the click of your mouse.
Now for McDonald’s.
Here’s your health and fitness lesson for the day. Once again, a plan is everything. Making a plan is the lowest effort activity too.
A prevention plan looks like making a grocery list of ingredients to pick up over the weekend for simple meals to cook and clean. Search “one-pan recipes,” and you’ll see what I mean.
When the time doesn’t seem on your side, the best thing you can do is think about your future self.
You know you better than anyone.
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