Edge 17 - Why everyone’s missing the point regarding productivity

What I’m Reading

I’m reading about Monero. It’s the most established privacy-centric cryptocurrency. Contrary to popular belief, Bitcoin transactions are not anonymous, with every transaction viewable by anyone on a public ledger. The transaction volume for Monero has been growing much faster than Bitcoin in the last 5 years in percentage terms, which I expect to continue as more concerns around capital controls arise worldwide.

Resource of the Week

It’s 2022. If you’re using the internet with a laptop or computer without any AdBlock, please consider it. I’ve used uBlock for ages. It’s very, very popular and does the job. It even gets rid of those annoying YouTube ads before and during videos. I promise you won’t go back. (Of course, you can toggle it on and off to support your favourite creators).

Quote

You have three faces. The first face, you show to the world. The second face, you show to your close friends, and your family. The third face, you never show anyone. It is the truest reflection of who you are.

Japanese Proverb

Thoughts

As a consequence of modern day life, many of us are always looking for ways to be more productive. To the point that there’s a whole industry out there with hacks, tips, and tools that promises to help us eke out that extra little bit of efficiency. I used to be a sucker for that stuff. In a way, the nerd inside me still loves finding a new tool.

Whereas if you asked the average person what’s the single most important factor for not getting as much stuff done as they would like to, the answer is almost always one thing—more time.

However, I think almost everyone is missing the point. More time would be nice, but for the vast majority of people, that additional time would just be deployed procrastinating. Be honest, how efficiently are you really utilising your time currently?

Having more tools and time is treating the symptoms, not the cause. There’s this long-held stereotype that people who procrastinate are lazy. This is just not true. Our brains are complex systems. In the book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’, the author discusses classifying our brains into System 1 and System 2. System 2 is our ‘thinking brain’, which we associate with our personality, intelligence, concentration and decision-making ability. Whereas System 1, also called the ‘automatic system’, is responsible for our impulses and emotions, it’s designed to act quickly and involuntarily but also less accurately. It’s excellent for responding to direct threats such as a tiger chasing you or gathering food when we’re hungry, but horrendous for the nuances of modern day life. That’s where System 2 comes in. But note that System 1 is far more ancient and the base from which System 2 evolved.

All this to say that we are basically a slave to the more primal parts of our brains. To succeed, we have to work with it instead of against it.

So going back to procrastination, it’s all about our deep-seated emotions or how it makes us feel. In essence, instead of finishing the looming report, it feels safer and more comforting to watch Netflix. System 1 is just doing its job and protecting you. But why? Why does doing that report feel bad? Asking these questions to myself revealed a lot. I found it was my relationship with failure. In the past, I had put a tonne of effort into various projects, grinding and forcing my way through. When the results were not as I had envisioned, I was disappointed and inadvertently avoided that feeling in future by procrastinating. Realising this, as time went on, I went from a hyper goal and outcome-oriented approach to now enjoying the process. Instead of asking what I need to do to achieve x. It’s more about how can I make this fun and sustainable.

So ask yourself, what’s your reason? How does it make you feel? Why does it feel bad? Is it temporary or are you on the right path?

Ten years ago, I would’ve dismissed this stuff as too softy softy. But understanding how we work, emotionally is so important, and it’s a constant work in progress for me.

Let me know what you think about this. Feel free to hit reply or drop me an Insta DM. I respond to all emails and messages.

Have a good week!

Hans