How To Unlock INSANE Productivity Even If You're Lazy

Over the past few years I’ve examined  hundreds of different routines. And unsurprisingly I’ve noticed that most  successful and productive people all have one. However, most of the time, the only thing that  those routines have in common is that they are completely unique and can’t be replicated.

That’s because each one of us has unique goals, the work we do is different, we have individual obligations, varied energy levels, the way that we handle stress is non-identical, and so on and so forth. For those reasons, the best  routine isn’t the one you can copy, but rather, one that you create for yourself. And that’s what we’ll tackle in today’s video.

But more specifically, we’ll look at how to  construct a productive routine for yourself if you’re someone who doesn’t feel like doing much,  is often unmotivated or would rather just chill. Not everyone wants to build an empire and  be a productivity machine, and that’s ok. So essentially what we’ll be looking at is  how to construct a routine that will help you get the most out of your time,  without putting in too much effort.

After all, being productive isn’t  necessarily about spending more time working, but rather about being in a  proper mental state when you are working, in order to be more efficient, faster  and of course, to enjoy doing it. However, to do that, you first need to  be able to even start doing your work. And if you fall more on the lazy side,  that can be particularly difficult.

Anyone who has had to do any sort of demanding  work, knows about something called The Resistance. It’s that feeling when you know what to do and  how to do it, but you don’t feel like doing it, because it might seem too difficult  or you’re just not in the mood. Most of the time that’s the biggest  obstacle you need to overcome.

But once you do start, it’s so  much easier to keep on going. And I’m sure you’ve noticed this as well. How many times did you tell yourself  you were going to do something, but it seemed like such a big task  that you didn’t even bother starting?

But once it got to a critical point  and you did start, you wondered why hadn’t you done it sooner, as it wasn’t  as bad as you had thought it would be. Starting is hard, continuing is easy. But, I actually found a solution for this resistance that we all  sometimes feel towards work.

All you need to do is construct a  ritual for your routine. Let me explain. You might’ve heard of a term called  Pavlovian conditioning before.

It’s named after a Russian physiologist  Ivan Petrovich Pavlov, who studied how different stimuli create a response. His famous research involved dogs. When Pavlov presented food to  the dogs, he noticed that they would salivate more than they usually did.

It was an unconscious, instinctual response. But Pavlov then decided to do something  different. He added an additional stimulus to the whole process.

Before feeding the dogs, he would now always ring a bell. After doing this several times over many days, the dogs started to  salivate in response to the bell alone. They learned that the bell  was now a signal for food.

And they would actually unconsciously  salivate every time the bell was rang, even if no food was presented. Simply because they became conditioned to do so. And similarly, just like Pavlov conditioned his  dogs to salivate in response to the bell alone, you can condition yourself to begin work.

Of course we’re not dogs, and we won’t unconsciously start working  just because a bell was rung, but we can come close by connecting different  stimuli together and thus making starting easier. So let me give you a concrete example  on how this can be accomplished. This is actually my very own little  ritual that I use to ease myself into writing scripts for these videos and it  helps me make the process more effortless.

I begin by preparing some green tea. Then, I put on a very specific music track  that I only listen to before writing. While I’m drinking tea and listening to music,  I read whatever I wrote the previous day.

That’s it. That’s the  ritual. It’s not complicated.

But every single time, without even  thinking about it, I start writing, because I find some mistake that needs correcting  or I get an idea for a better sentence. And that’s how I ease myself  into this particular work. The most important part here for me  is to read what I previously wrote.

Because that’s what actually  tricks me into writing. But it’s the combination of tea and  music that I’ve become conditioned to, that allows me to do that more easily. And these types of associations are  more powerful than you might realize.

I was once taking a walk and just  listening to my music playlist on shuffle. However, that very specific song that I use  for my pre-writing ritual started playing. All of a sudden I was thinking about  writing, was getting new video ideas, etc.

. The association has become  just that strong over time. Just like Pavlov’s dogs, I became  conditioned to respond in a certain way, when a particular stimulus was presented. 

I basically created my own bell. I’ve since removed that song  from my playlist of course, as I only want it to be associated with  work, but it’s an interesting look at how our brains connect things and if done  properly, it can be used to our advantage. And I urge you to construct a similar ritual.

It can include anything. Maybe moving your laptop to a  specific spot you only use for work, doing a particular set of tasks beforehand as I  do, like listening to music and drinking tea, or it could be putting on a particular set of clothes  that are associated with what you want to do. The whole point is to create a connection  between a stimulus and your further actions.

But make sure the stimulus isn’t something that’s  difficult to do and that it’s only connected to what you want it to be connected with. After all, the whole ritual should serve as a way to ease yourself into more demanding  work, and should not be difficult itself. Now that you have your ritual set up, you should  use it whenever you want to get into a work mood.

But if you want to get the  most bang for your buck, there’s something else you can combine  it with to get compounding results. What you want to do is identify  when you usually do your best work. This requires a bit of  experimentation and self awareness.

There may be certain times of the day, when  you’re simply able to be more productive. During those times, you can get  more done, the quality of your work is better and you actually feel great doing it. You want to identify those peak times of the day.

Of course this might vary depending  on what type of work you want to do. For example, when doing mundane boring  tasks, mornings might be better for you. And when doing more creative tasks,  afternoons or evenings might work best.

Or vice versa. To find that for yourself, I suggest  running a series of experiments. For 1 week, try to incorporate and do your most  important and hardest work only in the mornings.

Then for the next week  switch it to the afternoons. And for the last week, try it in the evenings. How long you’re going to work is up to you, the point is just to get some data so you  can identify when you feel most in the zone.

A few questions to ask  yourself and keep track of are: When are you most energized and motivated? When are you able to get more done and  when does working feel less difficult? Is it at a specific time of the day?

Is  it before or after a certain activity? And vice versa. When do you feel the most sluggish, fatigued, unmotivated or when  does it feel like you’re getting nothing done?

Look for patterns that emerge, by either  keeping a journal or tracking it on your phone. And once you identify your optimal  time, you want to protect it. Going forward, that is going to be your most  valuable part of the day and you don’t want cheap pleasures to get in the way of it.

Unfortunately, that period of time when work feels easy or easier, is also the time when  instant gratification tends to feel more fun. That’s why you want to protect that  time frame at all costs, as it’s very easy to fall prey to other temptations. Just something to be mindful of going forward.

Note that over time as your  life circumstances change, your routine will change as well  and will need adapting and refining. 10 years ago, when one of my close  friends was working a regular 9-5 job, he found that in order to get other things  done, it was best for him to do all other non-job related work in the mornings. Otherwise he would be simply too tired and too exhausted from his regular job to  do anything productive after coming home.

But later on, when he quit that job  in order to pursue his new business, he had more freedom to choose when  to work, and he found out that he does his best work in the afternoons, more  specifically, around 6 hours after waking up. So now he makes sure that that time is protected  and he plans his day accordingly around it. Once his circumstances changed, his  optimal routine changed as well.

And as time goes on, I’m sure  it will change even more. Refining a routine is a never-ending process  and even I still haven’t fully figured mine out, as new elements are constantly being introduced. But it’s consistently getting better and  better, which is all that really matters.

Now if you’re able to do both of these  things, that is to create your pre-work ritual and find your peak hours, you can  increase your productivity exponentially. You’ll get more done with less time,  less effort and less energy expended. But I want to mention one last thing  that can be helpful on your journey.

And that is focusing on the  process, rather than the end result. Yes, having specific goals is great, but it’s the  systems you build that actually get you there. You might’ve noticed how simple  my pre-writing ritual is.

Drnk tea, listen to music, read what you wrote. Does it sound complicated in any way? No, it doesn’t.

If my goal was to write a new video script every time, that would be much more intimidating. And I would be less likely to start because of it. Instead, I focus on the process, as I  know that as long as I can start writing, I’ll eventually get to the end goal,  which is to write a full video script.

This is just a slight mindset shift, but it can  be really beneficial, since it helps deconstruct and minimize the size of the task, and makes  you focus on the immediate steps you take, rather than being constantly reminded how  you haven’t reached your big goal yet. In other words, your objective  should be to just show up every day. It’s not to achieve any particular goal, but to  be consistent and do something in that direction.

The process will get you there, whether you even have that big end goal or not. You just have to trust it. That’s how you build the habit of productivity, and step by step, day by day, you make yourself better than yesterday.