I don’t think there is one.
Anything we add (pomodoro method, standing desks and coffee with butter and/or coconut oil) is kind of a signal. It’s a way of telling ourselves and maybe a few others, that we care about productivity/health/posture/caffeine, because we’re doing this thing that’s been shown to help.
And, sometimes they do help. Maybe structurally, and, sending ourselves a signal, or reminder like this, can work too. We can trick ourselves, if only for a while.
How about instead of stacking a new “hack” on, we ask some different questions?
Why don’t we try to feel out where our “lack of productivity” (or usually, lack of focus on the task we want to do) comes from initially?
Here are 5 steps to go right to the core.
- Choose one thing you want to do. Write it down. There are two sides in that – firstly is “choose,” because there’s infinite options (email, work, another coffee…). Why are we choosing the one we have chosen? What’s it for? Secondly, is the “one thing” part – because while you might be able to juggle a few tasks for a bit, when we pick just one, there’s “more attention and less tension.” – The upside here outweighs fooling ourselves we can handle six jobs at once.
- Pay full attention to the task. Because, why not? We chose the task for a reason – so even though attention is a little expensive to “pay,” it’s likely worth it.
- When the mind wanders or we end up lost in something else… Come back to the task. How do we catch it wandering? Practice. Holding the phone or finding a bunch of tabs open in Chrome are probably two ways of telling.
- Repeat number ‘3’ a billion times. There are some notorious meditation retreats they used to run in Thailand. I’m not sure if they still do them now. 90 days of meditation, with sitting practice from 3:00am to 11:00pm, two small meals per day. At day 45, they start a one-week stint with zero sleep. Throughout this time an instructor will tap them on the back with a stick to keep them present in a room, because the hallucinations get to be too much. I figure if they can get through this 90 day stint and keep bringing the attention back to the task of breathing, you and I are capable of a few hours of bringing it back to the job we want to do.
- Understand our distractions. When we get distracted looking something up, what’s that for? When we stop to scroll on the phone, what’s that for? Is it because we’re afraid of completing the main task? Is it because we needed a break? And if so, what’s the best way to do the break? Only when we see our actions and behaviour from an outside position, can we start to unravel some of the loops we create.
Productivity hacks, a new podcast on habits and other ways to avoid looking at what’s actually happening, and why-we-choose-what-we-choose feel great. Long term though, they tend to lead to more of the same and are only as helpful as our underlying awareness.
Asking the questions, getting clear on intent, observing our patterns and starting to understand more about ourselves, is usually far more helpful.
[Shoutout to Larry Rosenberg in his book “Breath by Breath” for the inspiration on this one]
