Productivity is the biggest myth of the internet age.
I was thought about setting neat little timetables and planners for making the most of my time.
I was convinced that doing multiple tasks at once will make me more efficient.
But as most of you can agree it never brings the satisfaction that we craved.
And for that I decided to finally take a brutal look at what productivity is actually all about.
Here's what coming for this letter:
- The three big myths that you need to avoid heading into the future of productivity.
- Dr. Andrew Hubermann's revolutionary routine.
- The three stages to becoming more productive in 2025.
If you're an athlete or a professional looking for a head start, you can learn more here on how you can create a 7-day action plan for this letter that is personalised to your own needs and goals.
The 3 Myths Of Productivity (That You Need To Avoid)
From all the productivity experts I've seen on Youtube, they're advice comes down to three things:
Work that "feels fun"
We're often told to find work that feels like play as an excuse to skip over the uncomfortable, quiet, but important duties.
This brings up my point: What are your priorities? What are your values?
For the people who have their boundaries well defined, you would know that skipping around to always to do the fun work is a nightmare.
At times (if not all the time) we need carve out space to do what nobody else is doing.
Scheduling your life around your calendar
Now, you can't carve space to think when you have an overbooked calendar.
How are you supposed to know what is important to you when every hour of your day is appointed to something and someone else?
It didn't get any easier for me when I started studying in campus. I was given an assignment to complete each week with penalty points for late submission.
When I sat down to write my morning brief, I realised that I haven't taken the time to assess my calendar. I had no routine and my time was basically up for grabs.
For a long time, that was my life. I lived from moment to moment. I personally didn't like the idea of time blocking every hour of my life.
But as I continue to study the most productive thinkers today -- people from Cal Newport to Alan Watts and Ryan Holiday -- the real problem became clear.
We don't lack time, we lack priority.
Among the high-performers that I mentioned one man has clearly become a powerful force in the realms of neuroscience.
A man that can help us all understand how to become more productive and efficient.
Before I move on, there is one more problem that I would point to every productivity guru I see on the internet.
Automated to-do lists and tasks
People truly overcomplicate what productivity is all about.
We've already taken a look at the cost that our culture is having on our calendars.
But I think everyone can agree with me that it has also become an obsession with all the tools that are somehow supposed to make you more productive.
For many people this is their biggest recurring expense too.
Just look at what the average knowledge worker needs to manage on a day-to-day basis:
- Updating status for projects and tasks on Notion
- Cross channel those updates onto Slack and WhatsApp
- Reaching out to contacts and anlysisng reports on Hubspot
- Setting up links for meetings and inquiries on Calendly
- Create your own notes for those meetings on any other random app you can think off.
To give you an idea as to how much you might be spending there seems to be many professionals now who can't afford thier jobs any longer despite a healthy income stream of £25,000/month.
I'm probably going to talk about this in depth in the following weeks.
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Okay, so at this point we can all agree that designing a life where your work aligns with your unique signal is the way forward.
I've taken Dr. Andrew Hubermann as my model for this because he brings neuroscience in a very accessible way.
In the next section I'm going to introudce a process that has been made popular by Hubermann's morning routine.
In a nutshell, it involves the following steps:
- Avoiding caffeine when you wake up
- Naturally increasing you dopamine levels
- Creating time for deep work
- Engaging in non-linear based activities
A Guide To Productivity (With Dr. Andrew Hubermann)
According to Hubermann, there are three phases to optimizing your life:
- Morning: The time where your cyrcian rythm is naturally at it's highest
- Linear: The time set for priority-driven work
- Non-linear: The time set for lesiure and divergent thinking.
The process that I'm about to show you brings those three parts into one seamless routine that I call the 'limitless routine'
Essentially, the idea is that you don't look at your work and your life as separte from each other.
Instead, you rely on neuroscience and other skills like psychologhy to understand how they are related from each other.
Let's see how this plays out in real time:
1. The Morning Sprint (6:00 AM - 9:00AM)
I usually start my mornings by waking at 6am and immediately drink water to prepare for a workout
During the summer months I would go out for a long run or do some sprints up the mountian hence the name.
But when you live in London and it's -3 degrees you can be sure that you would not see me rushing outdoors despite what addicts claim about the "benefits of cold exposure"
Instead, I've taken the more efficient approach of compound exercises in the mornings.
Since it's winter right now in the UK, this means pushups, squads, pull-ups, and deadlifts.
The point is that you want to avoid taking caffeine when you wake up to naturally raise dopamine levels throghtout your day.
Hubermann argues that 1-2 hours before taking coffee will help you avoid the 'afternoon slump' that we often find ourselves in.
It also encourages you to align your work when your cyrian rhytm is high.
I personally don't think that waking up at 4am to stare at computer when the sun is not out yet is optimal. Sure, you might get a lot done when the world is still asleep but that has to do more with your industry than how your body has been designed to work.
If we are truly looking to be productive then blocking 1-2 hours in the morning to give back to our bodies is optimal.
That said, you have a few options here:
- Walking
- Cold showers and plunges
- Calisthentics
- Weight lifting
- Forest bathing
Basically anything that gives you direct contact with sunlight and keeps you moving is good.
2. Deep Work (9:00am - 1:00pm)
After my workout I'll take a quick shower (sometimes cold showers) and head straight to my desktop to start my workday.
Here's how it goes:
- Open my note-taking app and review my top project for the week
- Break down the problem into small segments (This becomes my "to-do" list for the week)
- Search for tutorials, articles, and courses that I can implement directly to what I'm working on.
- When I see results I use the project as an outline for finding clients and building an audience.
That might sound like a ton of work, but I usually get this done within 3-4 hours a day.
My intention was to keep this blog away from any business-oriented content since I'm going to be covering that in the following weeks.
I don't write about business in the corporate sense because it forces you to optimize your life for pay.
If you're optimising for money, then your work is closely related to your outputs. You're going to need to play the game. You're going to need to chase validation and recognition for people to give you what you want.
That's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. Money is necessary tool for surval.
But just remember that the money game is an infinate one. There is no end to treadmill becuase you can always print more money. I'm sure I don't have to remind you what this does to your long-term productivity and health.
In the end, you're going to need to optimise for something outside money. That's my aim every time I site here to work.
At any given point in time I make sure that I have one big project or goal that I'm actively worknig towards.
In most cases it's going to be a goal that I can break down arithmetically into monthly, weekly, and daily goals.
This essentially becomes a to-do list that I can timeblock to my claendar for priority.
Finally, with pen and paper, I review my priorities and make the necessary adjustments as life unfolds.
3. Non-Linear Activities (2:00pm - 7:00pm)
Now comes my favourite time of the day.
Ironically, it's the time where my whole life and business depends on.
It's also the time where people skip and forget most.
And that's why I think that deep down nobody is competing with me.
Nobody has the same curisioities and interests as me.
Here I just give myself permission to do anything for it's own sake.
This can be anything from reading to sports to painting to cooking.
Past 2:00pm my work shifts from goal-oriented to artistic.
Okay, this letter is getting a bit too long.
I was just going to start talking about how my life and work come together into one.
But I'm sure you get the gist now at this point.
I'll save the rest for the upcoming letters (remember to subscribe to get notified over email)
And that's everything on this one. Thank you for reading.
- Michael
