The Unintuitive Solution to Your Productivity Problem
If you have a productivity problem, I’ll bet any amount of money that you’re in this cycle:
You feel behind, inadequate, and crappy about yourself
From that place, you make an aggressive plan to “catch up” and “correct what's wrong” asap
After making the plan, you feel temporarily hopeful and in control — this plan is the solution! You’re going to get back on track!
But then, you struggle to follow through on that aggressive plan. Not because there’s something wrong with you but because the plan is just not realistic.
Not following through makes you feel MORE behind, MORE inadequate, and MORE crappy about yourself
And you do it all over again. Those feelings keep you stuck in a vicious cycle.
Here’s what the solution is NOT.
The solution is NOT to find new tactics. You don’t need…
A new task management system
An external deadline
An accountability buddy
A pomodoro timer
Or any other productivity hack
The solution is also NOT to “be more disciplined,” “improve your focus,” or “grow your willpower.”
You cannot discipline and willpower your way through a plan that is literally unrealistic for where you currently are.
The problem is not YOU. The problem is your unrealistic plan.
The solution is to get into THIS cycle.
Change your story about yourself. Notice all the ways you ARE on top of things and ARE good enough. Recognize how incredibly capable and productive you already are.
From that place, make a realistic, doable plan that fully accounts for your time, energy levels, and emotional bandwidth. A plan rooted in what IS — not in what you WISH.
Knock the doable plan out of the park. You can’t help it! It’s just so easy and obvious!
Feel even more certain that you’re on top of things, are good enough, and are a capable and productive person.
And do it again. Keep building on this virtuous cycle.
Here are the two reasons people struggle to get into this virtuous cycle.
Blocker 1: Your brain will think it’s dangerous to change the story about yourself.
Your automatic brain is convinced that being mean to yourself is helping you.
It’s made the connection that “I was mean to myself…then I started doing stuff.”
So it assumes that if you’re nice to yourself and recognize all the good things you’re doing...you’ll do nothing.
But here’s the connection your automatic brain hasn’t made: Being mean to yourself is fueling boom/bust cycles that ultimately aren’t moving you forward.
You do a ton of stuff! You burn yourself out and give up. You feel bad about giving up. You do a ton of stuff! You burn yourself out and give up. You feel bad about giving up. Rinse and repeat forever. 🔄
Your automatic brain is too much of an un-self-aware, short-term thinker to realize this.
That’s okay. That’s why you have a more sophisticated deliberate brain as well, which you need to activate to solve this problem.
That discomfort from your automatic brain is totally normal — AND it’s not a valid signal that you need to listen to. It’s just a little bit of “animal brain discomfort” that you need to manage.
And I promise you that it will go away once your automatic brain sees the evidence that this new strategy is working.
Blocker 2: You will feel disappointed when you look at the realistic plan.
Your brain has gotten used to making an aggressive plan and feeling that temporary sense of hopefulness and control.
The first several times you make a truly realistic plan, here’s what your brain will tell you: “That’s it?? That’s not nearly enough!! You’re never going to get there with these tiny, insignificant steps.”
And you’ll probably feel things like annoyance, disappointment, frustration, or defeat to go along with those thoughts.
Once again, those are totally normal signals from your brain…
AND they’re not valid, truthful signals that you should listen to. It is a cognitive illusion, not the truth.
Because the truth is that small, doable plans create consistency and momentum.
And consistency and momentum WILL get you to your goals — much faster than your current boom/bust cycles.
Your automatic brain may not believe that. And that’s okay. This is just another bit of “animal brain discomfort” to manage in the short-term…
…until your brain sees the evidence and gets it.
Here’s why it’s way easier to retrain your brain and get into these virtuous cycles WITH a coach than without one.
I’m going to say something very blunt.
If you knew how to…
Recognize the vicious cycle you’re currently in
Retrain your brain so you can get into the virtuous cycle
Maintain the virtuous cycle even when life throws new obstacles your way
You would have already done it.
And if you haven’t already done it, the only thing standing in your way is a knowledge gap or a skill gap.
There’s something you don’t yet know or there’s something you don’t know yet how to DO.
That’s it.
And the last thing I want is for you to be wandering around in the dark, blindly trying to figure out what that gap is and how to fix it.
I know you can figure it out by yourself.
It’s just so dang inefficient when you could be working with a coach who can quickly identify the gap and easily help you close it.
Because I don’t want you to be solving this productivity problem forever.
I want you to knock this out as efficiently as possible so you move on to bigger, better things.
Your time — and your life! — is too wild, precious, and short for you to waste it reinventing the wheel when you can lean on someone else’s expertise and get there faster because of it.
Imagine this being DONE.
What would your life look like?
What else would you be able to focus on?
How would you feel?
What new possibilities would open up for you?
Just live for a few minutes in that vision of the future…
And then come talk to me, and let’s make a plan to get it done.
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