Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You

by Ali Abdaal

feeling good boosts our energy.

feeling good reduces our stress.

success doesn’t lead to feeling good. Feeling good leads to success.

Curiosity doesn’t simply make our lives more enjoyable. It also allows us to focus longer.

if we want to harness the revolutionary effects of play, our second step is to seek out fun everywhere we go.

What would this look like if it were fun?

Enjoy the Process, Not the Outcome

Csikszentmihalyi argued that if we can we learn to focus on the process, rather than the outcome, we’re substantially more likely to enjoy a task.

No failure is ever just a failure. It’s an invitation to try something new.

approach things with a sense of adventure. When you step into the right ‘play personality’, every day abounds with opportunities to see life as a game, filled with surprises and side quests.

Failures are only failures when you think they are – and not every problem need be approached with such a straight face.

‘What would it look like if I were really confident at this? What would it look like if I approached this task feeling confident that I could do it?’

Learning through doing is one of the most powerful forces in human psychology.

Shoshin refers to a state of mind in which we approach every task and situation with the curiosity, openness and humility of a beginner.

shoshin can have a remarkable impact precisely because it allows us to see things afresh.

When we can’t take ownership of the situation, we can still take ownership of the process.

FiletOfFish1066 had realised that he might not have ownership over what he did as he had to do what his boss said. But he chose to take ownership over how he did it.

There’s almost always a way for us to own the process of a task, even when the outcome has been determined by someone else.

When you think you’ve communicated plenty, you almost certainly haven’t.

The unblock method encourages us to understand why we’re feeling bad about work in the first place.

The second is to reduce your fear. Our fears are often blown out of proportion. Ask yourself these questions to prevent yourself from catastrophising: will this matter in 10 minutes? Will this matter in 10 weeks? Will this matter in 10 years?

Breaks aren’t a special treat. They’re an absolute necessity.

The greatest cause of burnout isn’t exhaustion. It’s low mood. If you can make yourself feel better, you won’t just achieve more – you’ll last longer, too.

By doing less today, you can do more of what matters to you tomorrow.

Our second kind of burnout relates to rest time. Depletion burnouts result from not giving yourself enough time or space to truly recharge. The solution: understand how to rest in a way that energises you.

A second solution is to spend time in and with nature. Even a tiny amount of greenery can have a transformative impact. So take a walk, even if it’s a short one. And try bringing nature indoors – whether that’s a new house plant or just the soundtrack of some birds chirping.

Intrinsic Motivation. ‘I’m doing this because I love the process as an end in itself.’ People who highly rated this statement have high intrinsic motivation.