3 ways to be satisfied with your daily productivity
3 ways to be satisfied with your daily productivity
It's too easy to feel like you're not getting enough done, and that's what prevents you from getting more done
Before we get into the email, I have an announcement!
One of my favorite photos of all time is this one of a skater at Venice Beach, and I launched a T-shirt with it!
Made of super-soft cotton, it’s available in black or white. It ships internationally.
€29.90 in France, and €34.90 everywhere else 👇
I’ve found it so easy to fall into a trap of constantly being dissatisfied with the way I’m spending my time, and I know that many of my peers feel the same way — no matter how much time you spend working, it just never feels enough. Sounds familiar?
And this ends up creeping into other aspects of life as well. When you feel constantly dissatisfied, it’s not easy to feel free – and it’s not easy to feel creative. At least not for me.
How do I deal with this?
The Reitoff Principle™️
This term was coined by Ali Abdaal. The idea is basically that if you’re ‘not feeling it’ some of the days, which for me happens many days, just “write off” those days.
Actively decide that you’re not going to get anything productive or useful those days/those evenings after work.
By doing that, instead of procrastinating working and procrastinating having fun at the same time, and doing low-value activities like scrolling Instagram and TikTok, you can actually focus on resting yourself well without guilt.
It’s about setting your intentions and following through.
The Daily Highlight
This is from a book called Make Time by Jake Knapp. The idea is to start each day by setting a “highlight” for that day — something that you will do or achieve that day.
It has to be only one highlight. A single thing that you have to get done.
And when you achieve that thing, you’ll know you achieved your highlight. And you can feel satisfied knowing that you did.
For example, I set the daily highlight for myself today, to finish writing this newsletter. And by the time you read it, I’ll have achieved that. Done!
It’s again about setting your intentions and following through.
Understanding Your Energy Capacity
We underestimate what we can achieve in a year but we overestimate what we can get done in a day (I forget where I read this, but it’s not mine).
Get real with yourself. Figure out what your true daily capacity is, and figure out what times of the day your energy is at its peak, and develop your work schedule around that
Being a “morning person” or “night person” aren’t the only options. Personally, I’m an afternoon person. My most productive hours are between 2–5pm.
If you’re in the business of doing high-value, mental-energy-intensive work, it’s more important to manage your energy than it is to manage your time. 3 hours of deep work is more valuable than 8 hours of unfocused work.
Video of the week
I released an apartment tour video on my channel, showing what my apartment looks like and what I’ve done with it.
Thanks a lot for reading, and feel free to hit reply or comment down below with your thoughts!
— Mayank