I get down on myself when I set my mind to do something and fail to follow through.
I tell myself to get up early while the house is asleep to write a post and make a video. But I end up staying up late working or playing or both and when I wake up I have a headache.
Plans get sidetracked by an interesting video that diverts thoughts, a difficult conversation sabotages a state of flow, or I engage in socials longer than intended.
While it may help to know I'm not alone, I want to rise above the mean, subdue my animal brain, and maximize the use of that lovely prefrontal cortex.
This is partially a letter to myself and partly a list of things I do to set myself up for success.
Our goal is to avoid agonizing defeat.
First, I imagine the pain of not following through as vividly as possible. I imagine all the people I will let down, the goals that will never be realized, and the personification I will not know if I fail to follow through.
The next step is to be honest about the tasks that can be reasonably accomplished in a given amount of time.
There's only so much time in a day and so much energy available to expend.
There are tricks that can be employed to get the most out of a day. For example, avoiding context-switching helps the brain stay in a state of flow.
Context-switching is what it sounds like. You can imagine cruising in a vehicle at highway speeds. That's the state of flow. Unexpectedly there's halted traffic and you've got to pump on the brakes. When you get going again, it takes a moment to find your pacing. The car starts and stops, bouncing you and your passengers a bit. After a while, you get back to highway speeds, but the memory of the sudden stop lingers. That's the context switch.
Removing distractions and blocking chunks of time for singular activities reduces context switching.
However, even with all the productivity tricks to be found on the Huberman podcast, your brain will only provide so much energy on any given day.
It's important to know what you can expect from yourself on any given day.
If you want more, then you've got to submit to the discipline of consistent training to extend your abilities.
Set yourself up for success. For example, if you want a productive "tomorrow" avoid substances that will alter your mood or have lingering effects the following morning.
Put yourself to bed at a respectable hour to ensure a complete night's rest.
Set an alarm that's out of reach so you must get up to turn it off.
Declare a law for yourself stating, "We don't go back to bed."
Instead, do a few jumping jacks to get your blood flow going and drink a cool cup of water. Take a cold shower (and Tylenol for the headache) if you have to!
During the day, establish a routine that enables you to achieve your goals.
If you find that several tasks are left incomplete at the end of the day, but you gave it your all. Then you're expecting too much of yourself in a single day.
You can train yourself to make faster decisions. You can document your processes and look for ways to automate repetitive tasks that don't require manual labor. But again, at some point, you're going to need to manage your expectations and adopt a longer perspective.
It's all too natural to focus on the day-to-day. Sometimes it's healthy to check in on the quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year trajectory.
Keep training yourself. The more you do a task, the more efficient you become at it. Identify the most important tasks that need to be accomplished in order to achieve your goal and say no to everything else.
And keep in mind, most of those other things will be "good" things that you may want to do. But if they're not setting you up for the best success then they can become a sap on your energy and a hindrance toward achieving your greatest goals.
If any of these points seem promising to you, let me know. And if you have methods you've put in place to make the most of your time that I didn't print, then please share what you do!
If you're looking for a community that will encourage you to achieve your greatest potential and support you in your projects, then consider joining LBS: The Learners and Builders Society.