🚀 Productivity Porn vs. Reality
Or why you're not productive enough...
👆🏼You can listen it, up here 🎧
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👥 Active users: 1490
📝 New Developments: read books page 📖
⏰ Time it took to write: 8 hours 28 minutes
It's time to clear the air! 🥛
Why does everyone want to be more productive? 🤔
And what are the factors that make most people feel the opposite...
But before we get started, let's look at... 👀
🚀 How's the challenge?
📈 The numbers continue to rise
Fortunately, we are on a good streak right now, so our numbers are approaching an "All Time High" or the highest ever. However, we also see that if we were growing at this rate, we would NOT reach 10,000 users by the end of the year! ❌
Therefore, we need to brainstorm new tactics and strategies that could increase the number of users in large numbers! 🧠
If you have any creative ideas for this, don't hesitate to drop me a message on Instagram. 📮
👾 Discord server is spinning at 100%
Zsolti has a huge role in this, simply every time I've visited so far, someone has been chatting in the sound room. There has been:
♟ Chess tournament
❓Q&A with the OM team
♻️ And also, a Habit Building Workshop
Congratulations to Zsolti and thank you all for your participation! You really make this server what it is! 🙏🏻
In the coming months, we will work to bring the server to as many young people as possible and build a serious community here, just like we did at Imperial NFT! 👥
💸 We have successfully switched to Stripe
This was a big fear of mine, because switching to a new payment system is never easy. There are always problems that no one expected. 🧐
But not now! Because Edu speedrunned the whole thing and took care of everything. All we need now is an in-app cancel button and we're good! ⚡️
🎨 We are done with a lot of Design
Which will be coming to App soon!
🔐 We will be redesigning the Login page,
📖 There's going to be a section for books you've read,
🔥 And of course, the Streak system, but that will take longer!
And then we can get started! 🏁
Probably the easiest question to get started on this topic...
💭 Why does everyone want to be "productive"?
Nowadays, more and more extreme views like "Hustle Culture" or "Rise and Grind" are starting to spread around the world. The problem is that they have been taken to such extremes that many people are going crazy. 😵💫
People are calibrated by default to always want more. And there are people who are willing to work for those results. 💪🏼
As we want to achieve more and more, it costs us more and more work. 😪
We can balance this in 2 ways:
🅰️ We hire new people who can complement us
🅱️ We work harder to do the extra work
Because this particular "Hustle Culture" is not aimed at Billionaire CEOs, in the vast majority of cases, our people can only take the 🅱️ option.
And that brings us to the subject of "Productivity" - in plain English "Increasing Efficiency". ⚡️
Our little man realizes that he needs to increase his efficiency, so he starts to explore these ways. And it doesn't take long before he stumbles upon an inexhaustible supply of "YouTube Productivity"! 🧟♂️
💡 Side note: I really like Ali Abdaal, by the way, but he has 1 or 2 videos that really take people in that direction... unfortunately!
He'll throw himself into a plethora of videos like this and similar. 🏊🏼♂️
Video after video and new techniques after new techniques. ♻️Hoping that "This will..." will bring the desired results. 😩
However, the sad answer is that he just fell into the dark world of "Productivity P0rn". 🌚
"Productivity P0rn: The phenomenon where a person strives to be more and more productive and efficient, but succeeds in doing the opposite because the videos/podcasts are so distracting that they take their attention away from the things that really should have been done."
Somewhat related to this is "Productive Procrastination", where you put off doing something important just because you feel you're not ready, so you keep watching instructional videos and training yourself - indefinitely - but you don't start.
Back to the story...⏮
To give you an everyday example, it's a bit like when you want to go fast in your car, you push the accelerator a thousand times, the engine is revving at 6,000x, but you can't shift into 2nd gear. 🏎
Congratulations! 👏
So, you've achieved that you didn't go fast and you didn't even do the engine much good. 😮💨
(Parenthetical note, this is how burnouts happen most of the time)
And now you can legitimately ask the question:
"But then again..."
🧐 How can you be "productive" too?
The devil is in the details, so we need to understand the basics first! 👹
Increasing efficiency is nothing more than getting more things done in the same amount of time. How can you get more done in the same amount of time? 🤔
By focusing more on the task at hand and not letting yourself get distracted. 👁
"But what if I can do more things at the same time?"
Well, my friend the problem is that the more things you do at the same time, the more the quality of your tasks deteriorates. I'll show you how:
This brings us to "Focusing", which is the most basic law, but don't worry, I'll show you some specific tips at the end of the article. 👀
📕 Book recommendation. The book "FLOW" by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi helps you exactly how to get into this extra focused "mode"! I think it's one of the few books that I can say is a basic work on the topic of Productivity! Of course, it's also up in the BookBase! 🎧
You can see here that the better you can focus on a particular thing, the better-quality work you can get out of your hands and of course the faster you can get it done. ⏱
The problem is that in recent years, humans have deteriorated their ability to focus to such a degree that, according to Microsoft's latest research, a Goldfish can focus on a given thing for 9 seconds, while today's humans can only focus for 8. So, a Goldfish can focus longer than the average human! 🐠
"Okay thanks Kristof that's much better, you can finally show me something useful..."
Don't worry, we'll get there soon! 😉
Now that we know that focusing is so important, we just have to decide what to focus on! 🧐
2 laws will help us with this:
"Pareto principle (80/20 rule): this principle states that 80% of the results come from 20% of the work invested."
"The law of priorities: this law states that we should focus on the most important tasks first and avoid being distracted by less important tasks."
We need to find the 20% that gets us 80% of the results. I'll give you an example!🔍
📕 Book recommendation: Gary Keller's masterpiece, "The One Thing", shows and supports with concrete examples why it's worth focusing on 1 thing and why it's not good to do 2-3 things at once! You can find it in the App!
So now we have 1 area we've chosen, it's time to break down this big area into small tasks. ⛳️
Another 2 laws will help us here, I promise they won't be complicated:
"Parkinson's Law: this law states that the work to be done, always expands to fill the time allotted for completion exactly."
"The Law of Three: This law states that we should focus on ONLY three important tasks each day, thereby avoiding being overwhelmed by a long to-do list."
(I need to improve a bit on that one myself)
📕 Book recommendations: David Allen's "Getting Things Done" is also a basic work, with practical examples of how you can actually get your tasks done! Now I'm surprised, but it's also up in BookBase, there are slowly so many books that I really can't keep up.
"Okay, enough with the laws really..." 😡
Since there aren't any more laws, plus I'm tired of writing the theoretical stuff, it's time to get into the concrete practical examples. 🪓
✅ What exactly do you do?
Edu and Kokesz showed me a framework back in 2022 on how they solve certain problems and it worked so well that I've stuck to it ever since. 🧲
Of course, with a little tweak. 🛠
This framework will ensure that you NEVER fall into the dark trap of "Productivity P0rn"! It also applies all the above laws. 😱
So...
[ ] Step 1, find a problem you want to solve. 🔍
🦤: In my case it was the BookBase email and notification system.
😅 Fun Fact: I put the dodo emoji on myself because everyone on the team has an animal emoji and, like a good leader, I chose it last... and it stayed... but I've grown quite fond of it since!
[ ] Step 2, set a deadline. 📆
🦤: I have it set for this week and I'm doing pretty well with it.
[ ] Step 3, start solving it with the knowledge you already have. 🧠
🦤: I started applying the knowledge I already have, thus avoiding productive procrastination. And I got quite far in it, as I was able to write down the campaign types.
📕 Book Recommendation: One of my favorite books on this topic is Cal Newport's "Deep Work". Here the author tells you that you can work 2 hours a day, if you can do it with full focus, you will achieve much more than those who work 8 hours a day. Now I write this blog in 2-hour blocks. I've just started the 4th block, but I'm slowly finishing the Blog! It's also up in the App and if you only want to read 1 book on this topic, let it be this one!
[ ] Step 4, when you encounter a problem, look for a solution to that specific problem. But only that! 🔍
🦤: I wasn't sure if I was thinking right, so I checked with other similar Apps to see how they do it. So, my Google search became quite specific: "Duolingo Lifecycle Marketing Automation Campaigns"
[ ] Step 5, build on what you have learned. 🧱
🦤: I realized I hadn't thought of 2 types, so I added those to my list and moved on. I didn't let the other "useful" articles distract me.
[ ] Step 6, repeat from step 4 until you have solved your problem! ♻️
And now for the...
🧰 Tips and Tricks
But listen carefully because I'm just going to throw these out there! ✨
Write down a maximum of 3 important tasks per day.🌞
By doing this, you are paying attention to "The Three Laws". This way you won't fall into the trap of being discouraged by a big to-do list.
Have a weekly to-do list. ✅
Not just daily, because that way you'll have a better overview of your week and can adjust your tasks.
Each week should have 1 main focus, 1 problem you're working on at the time. 🎯
That way you know what you're working towards and it's harder to get distracted.
Keep 3 and only 3 lists: a To-do list, a Watch list and a To-do list. 3️⃣
The To do List is where you put all the things you "must" do - commitments, obligations, things you need to get done. ✅
On the Watch List are all the things that are happening in your life that you need to follow up on, that you need to wait for someone else to contact you about, that you need to remind yourself of in the future, or that you need to remember for someone else. 👀
Everything else goes in the Later list - anything you might want to do, or will do if you have time. 🔜
If it doesn't go on any of these three lists, it disappears.
The next is "Structured Procrastination". 😉
You'll like this one.
I took this straight from the brilliant mind of John Perry, Stanford philosophy professor. The essence of Structured Procrastination is to never fight your tendency to procrastinate - instead, use it to your advantage to get other things done. There's usually something you need to do in a day, but you don't do it because you're procrastinating. While you're procrastinating, do some other things instead. 🤯
As John says, "The to-do list that you have in your head will be in order of importance. The tasks that seem most urgent and important will be at the top. But further down the list, there are also worthwhile tasks that are worth doing. Completing these tasks will be a way to avoid having to do the things higher up the list. With such a proper task structure, procrastination can become useful. In fact, the procrastinator may even find, as I have done, that... he can get a lot done." 🤔
📕 Book recommendation: Here's a book that does the opposite, but I'll explain this strategy in case it helps someone else. Brian Tracy's book "Swallow the Frog" is exactly what he says, that we should do the hardest tasks in the morning, because from then on, all our other tasks will seem easy. I'll add that I'm like that most of the time, but there are one or two days when I prefer to use the above tactic!
Strategic Incompetence. 😜
Perhaps one of the simplest techniques, yet very effective! It's the best way to never be asked to do something again if you completely screw it up the first time. 😌
Always have an ear- /headphone with you. 🎧
One of the best and easiest ways to avoid annoying people is to plug your ears. ❌ For some reason, people feel much worse if you are interrupted while wearing headphones. 🫢 A lot of times people will walk up to you, start to say something, notice the headphones, apologize and walk away (don't know how many times I've used this in the gym). 🏋🏼♂️ And here's the best part: you don't actually have to listen to anything. 😅 In fact, you don't even have to plug your headphones into anything.
And finally, put your phone on "Do Not Disturb" mode. 🌙
90% of calls can be completely avoided and handled with 1 chat head switch. On your iPhone, you can set it to transfer your "Favorites" calls and hang up all others automatically. 😉
However, if someone calls you 2x in 3 minutes, it will be perceived as important and will let you through! Maybe this will save you the most time! ⏱
And I'll leave you with this thought at the end:
"The vast majority of the time, you will be successful not because you excel at something, but because you did it long enough to become outstanding."
🎙 Podcast shows are a great example of this:
90% of Podcast broadcasts don't make it to 3 episodes, the other 10% 90% don't make it to 20 episodes. So, if you do 21 episodes, you're already in the Top 1%. 😲
💡 Side note: The OM has 296, just to keep us informed. And we are not listened to because I had such an outstanding talent for Podcasting, but because I did it long enough to make enjoyable Podcasts!
Special thanks to Paul Graham, as one of his articles inspired me a lot on this topic back in the day. 🙏🏻
I don't know what I would have given to have read these 10 years earlier, but it sure could have shortened a lot of years on my journey!
I hope it was useful for you too! 🙏🏻
Send it to a friend, help at least this much in their journey too! 📨
🔥 Challenge
The biggest CHALLENGE for me right now is figuring out a new marketing strategy, as it's already clear that at this rate of growth we would NOT reach 10,000 users by the end of the year. ❌
So, we need to change, I'm not sure what or how yet?
But I need to think of creative ways that can introduce BookBase to a lot of new people at once! Influencer marketing isn't a bad start, but I'd like to paddle into slightly more creative waters.🤩
💡 Side note: If you know of an influencer whose audience would be a perfect match for BookBase, don't hesitate to drop me a line anyway and we'll get in touch.
🏆 TikTok Challenges could still be good, we're experimenting with that right now. It can reach a lot of people and psychologically some people love Challenges!
Yes, you can see that I didn't come up with the most creative ideas...😪
You need to brainstorm, sit down for 2-3 hours with a pen and paper and think of some possible solutions. I'm thinking we could even do this together on Discord! 🤝
💡 Side note: If you have any ideas here, don't hold back, because I'll appreciate 1-1 good ideas in abundance! 😉
📖 What did I just read?
I continued reading Ryan Holiday's new book "Calling for Courage". If you're someone who struggles with self-doubt, this book might be a perfect choice for you.
It didn't give me that much, as I've been trying to incorporate courage into my life since I was young.
However, the stories that are included and the writing style is something phenomenal! ⭐️
I've also read a couple of blog articles on "Lifecycle Marketing", but only when I was stuck on something. 🔄
Interesting, but somehow, I always found the answer I was looking for after 1-2 articles. ✅
And before that, when I was reading and reading, there were 10-20 articles that were no good and I kept going on and on. ❌
📕 Book recommendations: Greg Mckeown's book "Insight" helps us do just that, to recognize what is essential information and what is not. Of course, it's much more complex than that, but it helps a lot! It's also up in the BookBase! 🎧
🎧 What have I just listened to?
I was in Philosophy again, this time we were talking about Tibetan philosophy. 💭
I liked how the author divided the path to knowledge into 3 halls. 🔇
1. Hall of Ignorance, where people are entertained and most of them are stuck here for the rest of their lives. 🤔
2. The Hall of Learning, where there are lots of flowers and people hop from one to the other and dabble in a little bit of each subject. 📚
3. The Hall of Wisdom, where you can go if you let go of all the shallow knowledge and dig deep in one area. 🧠
It was simply brilliant and I can really identify with that!
Also, something I haven't listened to yet but was recommended is Iman Gadzhi's new 3-part Document series. I've heard very good things about it so far, it's quite extreme but has useful information. 🎥
✍🏼 Top quote
"My goal is no longer to get more done, but to get less done by default." ~ Francine Jay
"It's not that I'm smarter than anyone else, it's that I tend to stay with problems longer, so I find better solutions to them." ~ Albert Einstein