B. Feel-Good Productivity

Feel-Good Productivity

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Highlights

Boxing Day, — location: 48

I remembered some words of wisdom from my old tutor, Dr Barclay. ‘If the treatment isn’t working, question the diagnosis.’ — location: 53

feeling good boosts our creativity – and our productivity. — location: 86

According to the broaden-and-build theory, positive emotions ‘broaden’ our awareness and ‘build’ our cognitive and social resources. — location: 90

When we experience positive emotions, we build up a reservoir of mental and emotional resources that can help us in the future – resources like resilience, creativity, problem-solving skills, social connections and physical health. — location: 94

Positive emotions are the fuel that drives the engine of human flourishing. — location: 98

feeling good boosts our energy — location: 108

feeling good reduces our stress — location: 125

feeling good enriches your life — location: 143

Success doesn’t lead to feeling good. Feeling good leads to success. — location: 153

play holds the key to true productivity, partly because it provides a sense of psychological relief. — location: 245

Life is stressful. Play makes it fun. — location: 249

adventure, it turns out, is the first major ingredient of play – and perhaps of happiness. — location: 259

the first way to harness the potential of play is to integrate adventure into our lives. — location: 267

When you take on a different persona, you start to find adventure. — location: 287

Choosing your ‘character’ doesn’t mean reinventing your personality overnight (nor pretending to be a goblin in front of your colleagues). Rather, it means identifying the type of play that most resonates with who you are, so you can choose a type of player to embody. — location: 288

The 8 Play Personalities — location: 297

The Collector loves to gather and organise, enjoying activities like searching for rare plants, or rummaging around in archives or garage sales. The Competitor enjoys games and sports, and takes pleasure in trying their best and winning. The Explorer likes to wander, discovering new places and things they’ve never seen, through hiking, road tripping and other adventures. The Creator finds joy in making things, and can spend hours every day drawing, painting, making music, gardening and more. The Storyteller has an active imagination and uses their imagination to entertain others. They’re drawn to activities like writing, dance, theatre and role-playing games. The Joker endeavours to make people laugh, and may play by performing stand-up, doing improv, or just pulling a lot of pranks to make you smile. The Director likes to plan, organise and lead others, and can fit into many different roles and activities, from directing stage performances to running a company, to working in political or social advocacy. The Kinesthete finds play in physical activities like acrobatics, gymnastics and free running. — location: 299

Reflect on which of these characters you identify with most, and try to approach your work as if you are that character. — location: 309

Identifying and exploring our play personalities helps us reclaim some of the adventure that defined our childhoods – a time when feeling good was the norm, not the exception. — location: 314

Curiosity doesn’t simply make our lives more enjoyable. It also allows us to focus longer. — location: 338

Every day as I sit down to work, I look at my calendar and to-do list, and I ask myself: ‘What’s today’s side quest going to be?’ — location: 344

By adding a side quest to your day, you create space for curiosity, exploration and playfulness – and could discover something amazing and totally unexpected along the way. — location: 348

if we want to harness the revolutionary effects of play, our second step is to seek out fun everywhere we go. — location: 367

In every job that must be done, There is an element of fun. You find the fun and snap! The job’s a game — location: 381

‘What would this look like if it were fun?’ has now become a guiding question in my life. And it’s surprisingly easy to draw upon. Think of a task that you don’t want to do right now, and ask what would it look like if it were fun? Could you do it in a different way? Could you add music, or a sense of humour, or get creative? What if you set out to do the task with friends, or promised yourself a treat at the end of the process? — location: 398

Enjoy the Process, Not the Outcome — location: 404

For play to flourish, we don’t just need to seek out adventure and find fun. We also need to try and create an environment that’s low-stakes and that fosters relaxation. — location: 456

success isn’t down to how often you fail. It’s about how you frame your failures. — location: 476

These supposed failures are not really failures, they’re ‘data points’ that we need to figure out how to succeed. — location: 479

No failure is ever just a failure. It’s an invitation to try something new. — location: 494

‘Don’t be serious. Be sincere.’ — location: 509

the most fun people to play games with are people who play sincerely. — location: 521

when you feel like your work is draining or overwhelming, try asking yourself, ‘How can I approach this with a little less seriousness, and a little more sincerity?’ — location: 526

IN SUMMARY Seriousness is overrated. If you want to achieve more without ruining your life, the first step is to approach your work with a sense of play. There are three ways you can incorporate the spirit of play into your life. First, 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. Second, find the fun. Remember Mary Poppins: there’s an element of fun in every task, even if it isn’t always obvious. Try asking yourself what this would look like if it were fun, and then build your projects around the answer. Third, lower the stakes. Failures are only failures when you think they are – and not every problem need be approached with such a straight face. So what would it mean to approach your work with less seriousness and more sincerity? — location: 543

Power is our second energiser; a crucial ingredient in feeling good and being productive. — location: 590

Feeling confident about our ability to complete a task makes us feel good when we’re doing it, and helps us do it better. — location: 615

Bandura argued that it’s not just our abilities that are important in human performance and wellbeing; it’s how we feel about our abilities. — location: 619

Believing you can is the first step to making sure you actually can. — location: 622

the things you say often become the things you believe. — location: 637

My favourite method involves what I call ‘flipping the confidence switch’; in other words, challenging yourself to behave as if you’re confident in your task, even if you’re not. — location: 652

Next time you’re feeling like a task or project is particularly difficult, ask yourself, ‘What would it look like if I were really confident at this?’ — location: 666

In the words of Bandura, ‘Seeing people similar to oneself succeed by sustained effort raises observers’ beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to master comparable activities to succeed.’ — location: 697

If they can, you can too. — location: 710

enactive — location: 728

Japanese word shoshin, which roughly translates as ‘beginner’s mind’. Shoshin refers to a state of mind in which we approach every task and situation with the curiosity, openness and humility of a beginner. — location: 744

By letting go of the idea that we know everything, or somehow should, we actually feel more powerful. In this way, shoshin can help us approach challenges with a greater sense of curiosity, humility and resilience – and help us to learn. — location: 762

the people who had to teach others about a subject would learn the material better themselves. The researchers named this phenomenon the ‘protégé effect’. — location: 780

As the philosopher Seneca said, Qui docet discit – ‘He who teaches learns’. — location: 786

You don’t need to be a guru. You can just be a guide. — location: 794

Deci and Ryan argued that when people feel they have power over their own actions, they’re much more likely to be intrinsically motivated to engage in them. — location: 819

When we can’t take ownership of the situation, we can still take ownership of the process. — location: 854

salience — location: 901

‘Have to’ is coercive language that makes you feel powerless. ‘Choose to’ is autonomy-affirming language that makes you feel powerful. — location: 903

IN SUMMARY ‘Power’ is a scary word, but it doesn’t have to be. When we say the second energiser is power, we don’t mean exerting control over others. Here, we simply mean feeling empowered to take your job, life and future into your own hands. There are three ways you can increase your sense of power, starting now. Begin with confidence. We think our confidence is fixed, but actually it’s extremely malleable. So why not try ‘flipping the confidence switch’ – and playing the role of someone who’s already filled with self-belief? Next, level up your skills. Ask yourself: if I were completely new to this task, what would this look like? And how can I start teaching others even though I’m not an expert yet? Finally, see what you can do to take ownership, even in moments when you don’t have as much control as you’d like. Remember, if you can’t choose what you work on, you can still choose how you work on it. The outcome isn’t always in your hands. But the process, and certainly your mindset, often is. — location: 910

‘energy vampire’, — location: 930

relational energy provides us with our final energiser: people. — location: 939

Teamwork is as much a psychological state as a way of dividing up tasks. — location: 971

Competitor mindset Comrade mindset ‘You win, I lose’ ‘You win, I win’ ‘My success’ ‘Our success’ ‘I rise by outdoing others’ ‘We rise by lifting others’ — location: 997

When the going gets tough, it’s better to have friends to lean on than enemies to lord it over. — location: 1004

Synchronicity makes us want to help others. And it makes us want to help ourselves. — location: 1020

When we work in synchrony with other people, we tend to be more productive. — location: 1022

if we want to harness the feel-good effects of people, try to find people with whom to work in sync — location: 1024

the ‘helper’s high’ wasn’t just a feeling. It was a powerful tool for growth, social change and, I would add, feel-good productivity. — location: 1048

By stopping what you’re doing and offering help to people at random, you can boost your endorphin levels and help yourself work harder. — location: 1059

Benjamin Franklin effect’. It suggests that when we ask someone for help, it’s likely to make them think better of us. — location: 1086

First, we need to get over our reluctance to ask. — location: 1093

people are more eager to help than you think. — location: 1093

Second, frame the request in the right way. — location: 1096

Finally, make sure you’re using the right language. Avoid using negative phrases — location: 1100

emphasise the positive reasons for why you’re going to that specific person — location: 1101

When framed correctly, asking for help makes the person you’re asking feel as good as the help makes you feel. If you want to harness the power of the Benjamin Franklin effect, you should do everything you can to ask without any sense of a quid pro quo. — location: 1104

When you think you’ve communicated plenty, you almost certainly haven’t. — location: 1114

A Swedish proverb says: ‘A shared joy is a double joy; a shared sorrow is a half sorrow.’ — location: 1121

Here are how these four different responses would look like: — location: 1136

Cheerleader Charlie: An active-constructive response would be something like ‘Wow, that’s great! You’ve been working so hard for this. I knew you’d get it!’ Easy-going Emma: A passive-constructive response would be some kind of understated response, like giving them a gentle nod and smiling, then saying, ‘That’s good news.’ Envious Ethan: An active-destructive response would be some kind of response that undermines your flatmate’s success: ‘Oh, does that mean you’re going to be too busy to hang out in the evenings and on weekends then?’ Self-centred Sam: A passive-destructive response would basically ignore your flatmate’s good news: ‘Well, you won’t believe what happened to me today.’ — location: 1137

how participants responded to their partners’ good news was the strongest predictor of how long they’d stay together and how happy they were in those relationships. — location: 1147

being able to celebrate people’s wins matters. And the best way to do so is to adopt an active-constructive approach to all good news. — location: 1148

recall to the sharer of good news how you’ve actively witnessed the process that led to the good news. — location: 1152

show your optimism for how this good news might shape their future (without overburdening them with high expectations). — location: 1154

Overcommunication won’t just inspire them. It will inspire you too. — location: 1158

The reason for all this lying is that honesty often feels like a lose–lose situation. We lose if we’re too honest because we come across like a jerk. But we also lose if we’re not honest because we feel resentful about being stuck in a situation that we’re not ok with. — location: 1172

Being radically candid doesn’t mean making the issue personal, it doesn’t mean assuming you know best, and it doesn’t mean saying whatever pops into your head. It does mean sharing your opinions directly, not talking badly about people behind their backs, and giving your co-workers insight into what’s going on in your head. — location: 1177

root your analysis in objective, non-judgemental terms. — location: 1190

Second, focus on the tangible results of what’s gone wrong. — location: 1193

Finally, turn your attention away from the problem and towards the solution. Provide alternatives of what you’d like to see happen. — location: 1196

Offering alternatives focuses the discussion on possible solutions to the problem and helps the other person avoid feeling personally criticised. — location: 1200

IN SUMMARY Life is more fun with friends around. That’s why our third energiser is people. There are some people who naturally uplift our energy – the trick is finding them. That starts with becoming a team player. Try treating the people you’re working with as comrades rather than competitors. Building connections with people is also about lending them a hand. This cuts both ways; not only do we too rarely help others, we also too rarely ask for help. So try asking: what can I do to brighten someone else’s day? Finally, remember the most oft-forgotten truth about human interaction: when you think you’ve communicated too much, you probably haven’t communicated enough. Is there a piece of information you’re hoarding that might just make someone else’s week? — location: 1204

The unblock method encourages us to understand why we’re feeling bad about work in the first place. — location: 1266

Often, the reason we don’t make a start is because we don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing in the first place – a mystifying fog has set in around us. I call it the fog of uncertainty. — location: 1292

‘uncertainty paralysis’. It happens when we become overwhelmed by the unknowns or the complexity of a situation, leading to an inability to act. — location: 1294

We overestimate what’s at stake. — location: 1307

We become hypervigilant. — location: 1308

We stop recognising safety cues. — location: 1309

We become avoidant. — location: 1310

Overestimation. — location: 1315

Hypervigilance. — location: 1316

Unrecognition. — location: 1317

Avoidance. — location: 1319

If we don’t know why we’re embarking on any given project, it’s near impossible to get on with actually doing it. — location: 1326

before embarking on a new project, I ask myself the first commander’s intent question: ‘What is the purpose behind this?’ And I build my to-do list from there. — location: 1363

if it is really worth doing, all that why-ing should lead you back to your ultimate purpose, as laid out in your commander’s intent. — location: 1401

Asking ‘why’ repeatedly reminds us of what we should really be focusing on – and allows us to home in on it. — location: 1403

It’s based on what I call NICE goals. Near-term: Near-term goals ensure that we’re concentrating on the immediate steps we need to take along our journey. They help us avoid being overwhelmed by the bigger picture. I find that a daily or weekly objective is the most helpful time horizon. Input-based: Input-based goals emphasise the process, rather than some distant, abstract end-goal. Whereas an output-based goal would home in on the end result – ‘Lose 5kg by the end of the year’, ‘Hit the bestseller list with my book’ – an input-based goal would focus on what we can do in the here and now – ‘Go for a ten-minute walk everyday’, ‘Write 100 words each morning for my novel’. Controllable: We want to focus on goals that are within our control. ‘Spend eight hours a day on my novel’ probably isn’t something you can actually do, since many external factors would have to come together for such an input to be possible. Setting a more genuinely controllable goal (like allocating twenty minutes per day to the task) is far more realistic. Energising: We’ve already discussed plenty of principles and strategies for making our projects, tasks and chores more energising. Is there a way to integrate play, power and people into the goals you set yourself? — location: 1456

SMART Goal NICE Goal Fitness Lose 20 pounds within the next three months. Exercise for 30 minutes daily, focusing on activities that are enjoyable and manageable. Career Get a promotion to a senior management position within two years. Dedicate an hour each week to improving one key skill or networking with industry professionals. Education Complete a Master’s degree in two years. Spend 30 minutes each day reviewing course material and work on assignments in manageable chunks. — location: 1470

the crystal ball method is most powerful when you drill into a few simple questions – ones that I’ve taken to asking my team, and which I encourage them to ask me too. Imagine it’s one week later, and you haven’t actually started the task you intended to. What are the top three reasons why you didn’t get to it? What can you do to help mitigate the risk of those top three reasons derailing you? Who can you ask for help in sticking to this commitment? What action can you take right now that will help increase the odds that you’ll actually do the task? — location: 1490

If you don’t know when you’re doing something, chances are you won’t do it. — location: 1511

the best formula for implementation intentions is a conditional statement: ‘If X happens, then I will Y.’ — location: 1534

You no longer need to think about when you’ll do it. You just do it. — location: 1545

By carving out specific chunks of time for different activities, you’re ensuring that you have time for everything that’s important to you: work, hobbies, relaxation, relationships. — location: 1559

Level 1 is to time-block specific tasks you’ve been avoiding. — location: 1566

Level 2 is time-blocking most of your day. — location: 1570

level 3, time-blocking your ‘ideal week’. — location: 1575

IN SUMMARY We get procrastination wrong. All too often, we approach procrastination by treating the symptoms rather than the underlying causes. And all too often, those causes relate to our mood: when we feel bad, we achieve less. So the unblock method is about establishing what’s really blocking your good mood – and finding a way to eliminate it. The first emotional barrier is the simplest: uncertainty. The solution? To gain clarity about what you’re actually doing. That involves asking ‘why?’ and then using this to figure out your ‘how’. Next, ask ‘what?’. That means an alternative approach to goal-setting. Forget SMART goals. What you need are goals that feel NICE (near-term, input-based, controllable and energising). Last, ask ‘when?’. If you don’t know when you’re going to do something, chances are you won’t do it. One solution is to use implementation intentions – where your common daily habits become triggers for the things you intend to work on: for example, if I brush my teeth, then I’ll stretch my hamstring. — location: 1587

illusory — location: 1616

It isn’t lack of talent or inspiration that’s holding you back. It’s fear. — location: 1625

Getting to know our fears is the first step towards overcoming them. — location: 1646

masochism. — location: 1654

This technique is called ‘affective labelling’. Put simply, it’s the act of putting your feelings into words, which forces you to identify and get to know the sensations you’re experiencing. — location: 1665

Just as a negative label can amplify our fears, a positive label can overcome them. — location: 1702

cognitive reappraisal’: changing the interpretation of a situation so that we feel better emotionally. — location: 1741

the thing you’re feeling so bad about probably won’t matter that much in the future. — location: 1743

the 10/10/10 rule. Ask yourself: — location: 1745

try asking yourself: ‘How confident do I actually need to feel to just get started with this? Could I just get started even though I’m feeling unconfident?’ — location: 1785

Make a start. You won’t need to get perfect for a long time yet. — location: 1790

When you’re trying something new, the idea that you should only begin when you feel confident to begin is a blocker all of its own. The solution? Just do it, even if you feel like you’re doing it badly. — location: 1793

The truth is, everyone is concerned mostly about themselves, and how they’re coming across. They’re not spending much time (if any) thinking about us. — location: 1843

the spotlight effect can be reduced with a simple reminder that, well, no one cares. And when fear is holding you back from doing something, this can be profoundly liberating. — location: 1844

When we embody the traits of a fearless, confident alter ego, we can tap into a reservoir of courage and determination that we might not feel our regular selves possess. — location: 1870

I find it helpful to create a mantra or affirmation: a short, empowering phrase that represents your alter ego’s mindset. Repeat this mantra to yourself when you need a boost of courage or motivation. I am confident. I am fearless. I am unstoppable. — location: 1884

IN SUMMARY Our second emotional blocker is even thornier: fear. If you’ve ever put off applying for a daunting job or asking someone you like on a date, you’ve encountered this particular monster. The solution isn’t to get rid of fear, though – instead, it’s to develop the courage to face up to it. That courage comes from three sources. The first is to understand your fear. Ask yourself: why have I not started on that task or project yet? What am I afraid of? Where does this fear come from? 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? The third is to overcome your fear. If you’re scared of what other people think, remind yourself that most people are not, in fact, thinking about you. We’re a self-conscious species, but we’re not usually a judgemental one. — location: 1889

default choices. This is the automatic outcome if you don’t make a choice actively. — location: 1953

tweak your environment to make the thing you want to make a start on the most obvious, default decision. — location: 1956

Adjusting your environment helps tilt your actions towards the right decision, the one you actually want. Not the bad decision you take without thinking. — location: 1964

CBA, or ‘can’t be arsed’. — location: 1970

The five-minute rule is a simple but powerful technique that encourages you to commit to working on a task for just five minutes. The idea behind this rule is that taking the first step is often the most challenging part of any task. During those five minutes, you focus solely on the thing you’re avoiding, giving it your full attention. Once the five minutes are up, you can decide whether to continue working or to take a break. — location: 1975

It’s crucial, however, that you don’t force yourself to carry on working, otherwise the five-minute rule would become a misnomer. So the remaining 20 per cent of the time, I genuinely do allow myself to stop after five minutes. — location: 1984

We need clear, concrete steps to take, rather than distant, abstract goals. Otherwise we might do nothing at all. This bias to action is the second way to overcome inertia. We’ve talked about reducing the energy it takes to get started, but now you need to take an actual first step. — location: 2004

Pychyl’s method is a way of turning the abstract bias to action into a concrete next step. — location: 2017

tracking your progress helps you identify any areas where you may be falling behind, or where you need to make adjustments. — location: 2045

progress-tracking can help you celebrate your wins, large and small. — location: 2047

Dishoom, my favourite Indian restaurant in London. — location: 2049

Tracking your progress provides you with tangible evidence that you’re moving towards your goals. — location: 2053

The Reddit forum r/GetMotivatedBuddies — location: 2077

accountability partners have a second, even more powerful effect. They weaponise our sense of duty. — location: 2083

First, find your buddy. — location: 2092

Buddy duly found, next agree on what accountability culture you want to create. — location: 2096

I find that the best accountability buddies meet five criteria: being disciplined (they must stick to what you’ve agreed to), challenging (they know what it means to help you move on to the next level), patient (they don’t jump to conclusions or rush you into making decisions), supportive (they’re there with words of encouragement) and constructive (they must know how to give you honest feedback and constructive criticism). — location: 2098

Finally, discuss the accountability process in a little more detail. — location: 2102

Find the Win. It involves celebrating something, however small, and however unrelated to your work. I like to use the format: ‘I didn’t do X, but I did do Y.’ — location: 2127

You can focus on the small losses. Or you can celebrate the small wins. — location: 2134

Procrastination isn’t something we can always control. Forgiving ourselves is something we can. — location: 2135

IN SUMMARY Our third emotional blocker is the commonest of all: inertia. When you’re doing nothing, it’s easy to carry on doing nothing. And when you’re working, it’s much easier to carry on working. But there are some simple ways to battle through. Look for the frictions in your life: what obstacles are preventing you making a start? And how can you get rid of them? The best antidote to doing nothing is simply to do something. You can take action by first defining your next step and then tracking your progress, so you’re surrounded by tangible evidence that you’re moving towards your goals. The final step is the kindest: creating systems that can help you support yourself long-term. Above all, cut yourself some slack and celebrate the small wins. — location: 2139

overexertion burnouts. — location: 2189

depletion burnouts. — location: 2192

misalignment burnouts. — location: 2194

Overexertion burnouts, I realised, come from the negative emotions that arise when we do too much, too fast. We accept more work than we can do, and fail to take the breaks in our working day that we require. We sprint all the time. — location: 2219

Do less, so that you can unlock more. — location: 2221

‘People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on,’ he said. ‘But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are … Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things.’ — location: 2228

If you want to move a dream into your active investments list, you need to make sure you’ve got the time and energy to invest in it. When you’ve got a large degree of choice in what you could be doing with your time, it makes it a lot harder to commit to something in a given time slot. — location: 2271

Sustainable productivity means recognising the limitations on our time. Everybody has them. — location: 2277

If it isn’t a ‘hell yeah’, it’s not worth doing. — location: 2289

reneging. — location: 2303

Every time you’re presented with a request for a few weeks’ time, think: ‘Would I be excited about this commitment if it was happening tomorrow? Or am I only thinking about saying “yes” to it because it’s easier to make it a problem for my future self?’ — location: 2304

hand, the erosion of our abilities when we change focus too often comes from what scientists call ‘switching costs’. — location: 2322

the goal is to spend most of our time focused on just one task – but not beat ourselves up if we occasionally lose concentration. — location: 2328

When you put your guitar in a distant corner of the room, you’re much less likely to pick it up than when it’s in front of the TV. When it comes to fending off distraction, we can invert this logic, creating obstacles that stand between you and the tasks you don’t want to divert your attention. Think of it as adding friction. — location: 2333

distraction isn’t always the end of the world. In fact, the most productive people tend to be those who get a little distracted – but don’t allow it to derail their productivity. — location: 2360

Failing with abandon is a common reason we waste vast amounts of energy. The key thing is getting back on course. — location: 2375

Give yourself permission to be distracted. — location: 2379

I often recite the mantra ‘Begin again’ when I find myself getting distracted. It’s a powerful reminder. Don’t fail with abandon. Regardless of how you’ve done – or how you think you’ve done – you can always return to what matters. — location: 2384

So the last step to conserve your energy is even simpler than the first two: find moments in your working day to do nothing. And embrace them. — location: 2407

schedule time into your calendar to do nothing. And schedule more of it than you think. — location: 2412

Breaks aren’t a special treat. They’re an absolute necessity. — location: 2447

There’s a joy to some distractions. Think of them as short, sharp invitations to pause – like Nhat Hanh’s awakening bell. Life isn’t about maintaining focus all the time. It’s about allowing space for little moments of serendipity and joy. — location: 2470

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. Our first kind of burnout arises from overexertion. The solution: do less. There are three ways to do less in practice. The first is to stop yourself from overcommitting. Limit the list of projects you’re working on and get comfortable with saying ‘no’. Ask yourself: if I had to pick only one project to put all my energy into, what would that be? The second way is to resist distraction. Ask yourself: can I uninstall social media apps on my phone so that I can access them only through my web browser? How can I correct course and restart if (or, more realistically, when) I get distracted? The third way is to find moments in your working day to do nothing. Ask yourself: am I treating breaks as a special event rather than a necessity? And what could I do to take more of them? — location: 2474

we can also burn ourselves out in our time away from work. — location: 2503

Try this simple experiment. Set a timer for five minutes and make two lists. The first is a list of things you tend to do when you’re feeling drained of energy. The second is a list of things that tend to actually recharge that energy. — location: 2507

First, creative activities unlock our sense of competence. — location: 2529

Second, creative activities play to our feelings of autonomy. — location: 2532

Third, creative activities give us a feeling of liberty. — location: 2536

And finally, creative activities help us mellow. — location: 2539

How can we maximise the potential of these creative hobbies? The trick is to ensure that they remain just that: distinct from your work, with no clear end point and no stress. To this end, it can be helpful to make sure that your hobby has clear boundaries. Establish specific times for your creative activity, and distinguish it from your work and daily responsibilities. Try dedicating a particular room or space to your hobby, turning off work notifications during your creative time, or setting a regular schedule for when you’ll engage in your chosen activity. — location: 2558

continually remind yourself that the hobby should be enjoyed for the process, rather than any kind of high-stakes goal. As you paint, play or build, remind yourself that this is an arena in which quality doesn’t matter. — location: 2563

Above all, resist the urge to turn your hobby into ‘work’. — location: 2566

If you want to properly recharge, you need to maintain areas of your life in which personal advancement doesn’t feature at all. — location: 2570

A CALM project can be almost anything creative that has a clear end point. — location: 2581

Whatever your project, when you build a community around your project you harness the recharging power of people. — location: 2589

Nature replenishes our cognitive abilities and boosts our energy. — location: 2609

simply putting a photo of the natural world on your bedside table will have a recharging effect. — location: 2627

Mindful activities are great, but they’re mind-full. They require us to consciously direct our awareness towards specific things. That means that they need a certain input of energy to be effective. — location: 2668

ablutions. — location: 2681

Since we usually can’t remember what we were pondering in our daydreams, it’s difficult to imagine that anything beneficial could result from it. We imagine wrong. Doing nothing can be surprisingly productive. — location: 2693

The Reitoff principle is the idea that we should grant ourselves permission to write off a day and intentionally step away from achieving anything. For many of us, the challenge of rest lies in the act of stepping back from the things we think we should be doing. We’re conditioned to value self-control, grit and persistence. We equate rest with laziness, weakness or failure. — location: 2715

By doing less today, you can do more of what matters to you tomorrow. — location: 2724

IN SUMMARY 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. The best way to rest is all about feeling calm. Or rather, CALM. Find an activity or project that makes you feel Competent, Autonomous, Liberated and Mellow. 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. Not all rest needs to be so strategic, however. Sometimes, the most energising thing you can do is to do nothing at all. By doing less today, you’ll feel better tomorrow. — location: 2728

Not all extrinsic motivation is inherently ‘bad’. — location: 2777

relative autonomy continuum’ (or RAC): — location: 2794

External Motivation. ‘I’m doing this because important people will like and respect me more if I do.’ People who highly rated this statement have high external motivation. Introjected Motivation. ‘I’m doing this because I’ll feel guilty or bad about myself if I don’t.’ People who highly rated this statement have high introjected motivation. Identified Motivation. ‘I’m doing this because I truly value the goal it’s helping me work towards.’ People who highly rated this statement have high identified motivation. 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. — location: 2795

We can plot these four forms on a spectrum from less to more autonomous. — location: 2802

The best predictor of their performance was the specific kind of extrinsic motivation they drew upon when their intrinsic motivation waned. — location: 2809

the only type of extrinsic motivation that corresponded with greater happiness was identified motivation. — location: 2814

Misalignment burnout arises from the negative feelings that arise when our goals don’t match up to our sense of self. We feel worse – and so achieve less – because we’re not acting authentically. — location: 2820

When we think about death, we get a clearer view of life. — location: 2836

At your funeral, even your co-workers would be unlikely to say, ‘He helped us close lots of million-dollar deals.’ They’d talk about how you were as a person – your relationships, your character, your hobbies. — location: 2871

Your Current Path: Write out, in detail, what your life would look like five years from now if you continued down your current path. Your Alternative Path: Write out, in detail, what your life would look like five years from now if you took a completely different path. Your Radical Path: Write out, in detail, what your life would look like five years from now if you took a completely different path, where money, social obligations and what people would think, were irrelevant. — location: 2894

Values affirmations make our most abstract ideals real. And they boost our confidence along the way. — location: 2933

We’ve got three for Health (Body, Mind and Soul); three for Work (Mission, Money, Growth) and three for Relationships (Family, Romance, Friends). — location: 2951

the final ingredient in alignment involves a mindset shift: from thinking about our values at the level of lifetimes and years, to thinking about our values at the level of daily choices. — location: 3002

Whenever I sit down to begin work, I open up that Google Doc and scan through it to remind myself what my 12-month celebration looks like. Then, under each of the areas of health, work and relationships, I choose one subcategory to focus on. — location: 3029

identify an area of your life where your actions feel particularly unfulfilling. — location: 3052

If you were to change one – just one – independent variable in your life, what would it be? And what effect do you think it would have on your situation? — location: 3062

Step three is the most crucial: execute. Make a change. — location: 3067

For this to work as an experiment, it’s important that your change is localised. If you dramatically transform every sphere of your life, you won’t know what’s driving any changes in your mood and sense of alignment. — location: 3068

IN SUMMARY Misalignment burnouts arise when we spend time on goals that don’t match up with our sense of self. Overcoming misalignment is a lifelong task; one that requires us to continually work out what really matters to us, and change our behaviour accordingly. There are some surprisingly simple ways you can work out what matters to you today. First of all, look to your long-term future. Try envisioning yourself on your deathbed. Morbid as it sounds, this is the best way to give you a clearer view of what you want from your life right now. Next, think about your medium-term future. Reflect on what accomplishments you’d want to be celebrating in a year’s time. Then ask yourself: what does that 12-month celebration mean for my actions this week? Last, you should be ready to think about your short-term future. Because the good news is, you can take a step to alignment right now. What are three actions today that might take you a little step closer to the life you want in a year? — location: 3079

it’s only by adopting an experimental outlook that you can hope to learn the secrets of feel-good productivity. — location: 3109