Listening to this podcast opened my eyes to how I search for and implement all kinds of productivity hacks, hoping that it will alleviate the need to overcome the discomfort of getting straight to work and getting shit done. This is why Nir Eyal refers to time management as pain management. At the end of the day, we need to toughen through the pain and get shit done.
For instance, I recently started time blocking, and it didn't help as much as I expected. The problem wasn't the technique itself, though. I mistakenly shifted the responsibility of completing the task to the hack, sub-consciously thinking that as long as I time block, my to-do tasks will complete themselves. Although it may sound obvious in hindsight, I realized that I've been using productivity hacks as a mechanism to bypass the discomfort of actually getting work done, which of course, didn't lead to any results.
We can follow daily routines that inspire action and create systems for productivity, but we have to build self-discipline and do what we set out to do when it comes down. Focusing on that has been the biggest help for me this month. I didn't try training self-discipline or wiping out all productivity habits either (sometimes they help); I just let them be and took action.
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