Enjoying The Journey and Feeling Good About It
Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal (summary)
My thoughts: I’ve been watching Ali on YouTube for many years and through this videos, he inspired me to start my own channel and this website. When I heard of his book release, I was eager to read it and glean even more insights into this whole concept of Feel Good Productivity. At first, I thought the book would be about how to get more done (i.e. become a productivity robot) but it really ended up being a guide on how to live life and how to make the most of it. How to get started, keep the momemtum going but also how to take breaks and recharge. The exercises and experiments provided in this book are some I’ve used before and found extremely helpful so I hope that you, the reader, gain something from this summary as well!
Introduction
Positive emotions broaden our awareness and build our cognitive and social resources
Broaden (immediate effect): when we’re feeling good, our minds open up, we take in more information and we see more possibilities around us
Build (long-term effect): when we experience positive emotions, we build up a reservoir of mental and emotional resources that can help us in the future (resilience, creativity, problem solving skills, social connection, physical health)
Positive emotions are the fuel that drives the engine of human flourishing
Feeling good boosts our energy, made up of four hormones:
Endorphins: released during physical activity, stress, or pain
Serotonin: connected to mood regulation, sleep, appetite and overall feelings of wellbeing, gives us energy to tackle tasks
Dopamine: “reward” hormone, linked with motivation and pleasure and its release provides a satisfaction that allows us to focus for longer
Oxytocin: “love” hormone, associated with social bonding, trust, and relationship-building
Feeling good reduces our stress (see picture below)
Feeling good enriches your life (see picture below)
“Success doesn’t lead to feeling good. Feeling good leads to success”
Part 1: Energize
Chapter 1: Play
Create an Adventure
Life is stressful. Play makes it fun. If we can integrate the spirit of play into our daily lives, we’ll feel better - and do more too.
202 NYU experiment: those who had more adventurous experiences (new route to work, trying a different coffee shop) - felt more happier, excited and relaxed
Experiment 1: Choose your Character (by finding a character type that resonates with you, we can start to take on a “play personality” that frees up our sense of adventure
The Collector: loves to gather and organize
The Competitor: enjoys games and sports
The Explorer: likes to wander and discover new things
The Creator: finds joy in making things
The Storyteller: active imagination and uses this to entertain others
The Joker: endeavors to make people laugh
The Director: likes to plan, organize and lead others
The Kinesthete: finds play in physical activity
Experiment 2: Embrace Your Curiosity
Curiosity doesn’t simply make our lives more enjoyable. It also allows us to focus longer
Think of daily life as containing a series of side quests. “What is today’s side quest going to be?” (i.e. spend a few hours working in a coffee shop, or explore something else)
Find the Fun
Seek out fun everywhere we go
Experiment 3: The Magic Post-It Note
“What would this look like if it were fun?”
Think of a task that you don’t want to do, and ask what would it look like if it were fun? (Could you do it in a different way, could you add music, a sense of humor or get creative?)
What if you did it with friends, or promised yourself a treat at the end of the process?
Experiment 4: Enjoy the Process, Not the Outcome
Mihaly Czikszentmihalyi (pioneer of “flow” state): if we can focus on the process, rather than the outcome, we’re substantially more likely to enjoy a task
With a little creative thinking, you can find joy in any process, however mundane it might seem
Lower the Stakes
When we’re stressed, we’re less likely to be playful. And as a result, our creativity, productivity and wellbeing tends to suffer too.
For play to flourish, we need to try and create an environment that’s low takes and fosters relation
Experiment 5: Reframe Your Failure
Success isn’t down to how often you fail - it’s about how you frame your failures
No failure if ever just a failure - it’s an invitation to try something new
If we reframed our learning process so that we weren’t so concerned with failure, how much more could we learn?
Think of failures as data points (i.e. if you’re in a job you don’t like, it’s not a failure but rather a data point to show what career you don’t want)
Experiment 6: Don’t Be Serious, Be Sincere
There’s a difference between being serious and being sincere (i.e. you don’t want to play Monopoly with someone who’s just obsessed with winning, you want to play with someone who is sincere - they play properly but can also joke around)
When you feel like your work is draining or overwhelming, ask: “How can I approach this with a little less seriousness, and a little more sincerity?”
i.e. when approaching a project at work: focus on the process of completing each task, seek input and collaboration of others
Chapter 2: Power
Boost Your Confidence
Believing you can is the first step to making sure you actually can
The higher our confidence is in our own abilities - the higher our self-efficacy - the great those abilities become
Experiment 1: The Confidence Switch
Simply by becoming your own hype team can help to impact your own productivity
Ask yourself: What would it look like if I were really confident at this? What would it look like if I approached this task feeling confident that I could do it?
Kinda similar to fake it till you make it
Experiment 2: The Social Model Method
Vicarious mastery experience: you witness you hear about someone else’s performance related to a task that you’re going to undertake, which boosts your confidence
Seeing people similar to oneself success by sustained effort raises observers’ beliefs that they too possess the capabilities to master comparable activities to succeed (i.e reading books, listening to podcasts, watching videos of people going succeeding in the areas you want to can help)
If they can, you can too
Level Up Your Skills
Enactive mastery: refers to the process of learning through doing. The more we do something, the greater our sense of control.
Experiment 3: The Shoshin Approach (“beginner’s mind”)
Approach every task and situation with the curiosity, openness and humility of a beginner (a beginner is more likely to try new things out, even if they fail and make mistakes)
By letting go of the idea that we know everything, or somehow should, we actually feel more powerful
Experiment 4: The Protégé Effect
Seneca: Qui docent disci - He who teaches learns
People who teach others, learn the material better themselves
If you’re concerned that you’re not “qualified” enough - remember that the people we learn best from are often the ones who are just a step ahead of us in the journey
You don’t need to be a guru, you can just be a guide
Take Ownership of Your Work
Intrinsic motivation: comes from the inside, driven by self fulfillment, curiosity, and a genuine desire to learn —> substantially more powerful and lasting, can be built up
Extrinsic motivation: comes from the outside, driven by pay-raises, material rewards and social approval
When people have power over their own actions, they’re much more likely to be intrinsically motivated to engage in them (i.e. why we hate being micromanaged by our bosses and parents)
Sometimes there is nothing you can do to have control of the situation but we often have more agency than we realize
Experiment 5: Own the Process
When we can’t take ownership of the situation, we can still take ownership of the process (Reddit employee automating his boring job, couldn’t change the job but changed the process)
There’s almost a way for us to own the process of a task, even when the outcome has been determined by someone else
Experiment 6: Own Your Mindset
Change your thinking from “I have to” to “I get to”
Switching your mindset from “have to” to “choose to”, boosts sense of control, power, and what you are capable of
Victor Frankl: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way”
Chapter 3: People
Relational energy: the positive feelings and sense of increase resourcefulness experienced as a direct result of an interaction with someone else
Find Your Scene
Genius of the collective scene = scenius
Experiment 1: The Comrade Mindset
Teamwork is as much a psychological state as a way of dividing up tasks
Think about the people you’re working alongside as part of your team
Try to move focus away from the column on the left to the right - feeling as if you’re part of a team of people working on a task makes people more motivated to take on challenges
Experiment 2: Find Synchronicity
Synchronicity makes us want to help others and it makes us want to help ourselves
When we work in sync with other people, we tend to be more productive
Feel the Helper’s High
When we help others, our brains release a flood of chemicals that create a natural high (oxytocin can last for hours, even days, after the helping)
Experiment 3: Random Acts of Kindness
By stopping what you’re doing and offering to help people at random, you can boost your endorphin levels and help yourself work harder (I.e. paying it forward, write a thank you note)
Experiment 4: Ask for Help From Others
Asking for help from others can actually be a gift to them, rather than the burden we usually assume it will be
Benjamin Franklin effect: when we ask someone for help, it’s likely to make them think better of us
People are eager to help
Overcommunicate
When you think you’ve communicated plenty, you almost certainly haven’t
Experiment 5: Overcommunicate the Good
Swedish proverb: A shared joy is a double joy; a shared sorrow is a half sorrow
Share positive news, and react to positive news in an energizing way (i.e. expressing pride and happiness for the other person’s accomplishments fuels a positive interaction and bolsters the relationship)
Four different responses - be a Cheerleader Charlie!
Overcommunication won’t just inspire them - it will inspire you too.
Experiment 6: Overcommunicate the Not-SoGood
2002 UofMassachusetts study: 60% of people lie at lease once in an average 10-min conversation
Lying - even with good intentions - has a physiological effect. When we lie, the limbic system (responsible for the fight-or-flight response) lights up
Be candid (genuinely caring about the person that you’re speaking to) instead of honest (which implies that you know the truth)
How to deliver bad news: 1) Root analysis in objective, non-judgmental terms, 2) Focus on the tangible results of what’s gone wrong, 3) Focus on the solution, provide examples of what you’d like to see happen
Part 2: Unblock
Chapter 4: Seek Clarity
When motivation fails, where do we turn? The opposite of motivation: discipline - taking action despite how unmotivated you are
Motivation method = make ourselves feel like doing the thing
Discipline method = ignore how we feel and do it anyways
Unblock method = encourages us to understand why we’re feeling bad about the work in the first place - and tackle the issue head on
The Fog of Uncertainty
Uncertainty paralysis: the reason we don’t make a start is because we don’t know what we’re supposed to be doing in the first place (i.e. a mystifying fog has set in around us)
There are a handful of processes that reinforce the loop between uncertainty, anxiety and paralysis:
1. Overestimation: We overestimate what’s at stake - someone who’s already anxious will think that the uncertain event is going to be worse than it already is
2. Hypervigilant: We become hyper vigilant - sending that something negative might happen, out safety antennae prick up to the sign of any potential danger
3. Unrecognition: We stop recognizing safety cues - because we’re hyper vigilant to threats, we’re not able to clam down when there really is no danger
4. Avoidance: We become avoidance - our brains encourage us to adopt behavioral and cognitive avoidance strategies, to get us out of these as soon as possible
Ask “Why”?
Auftragstaktik: German mission-type tactics that prioritized a clear sense of why over an excessively detailed sense of how
Experiment 1: Using Commander’s Intent
Figure our your why - this will make it possible to pivot and work out an alternative “how” if things go wrong
What is the purpose behind this
Experiment 2: The Five Why’s
Asking why and getting to the root cause reminds us of what we should really be focusing on
Ask “What”?
Once you know why, you need to figure out a detailed action plan
Experiment 3: NICE Goals
You might know what your ultimate “why” is, but without a clear-end goal, you’ll struggle to work out how to get there
In school, we were taught to make SMART goals but one issue with these is tunnel-vision: we become overly focused on achieving a very specific end-goal and may lose sight of other key factors
If we obsess over a goal, we lose track of the intrinsic pleasure that might come from a task
NICE Goals:
N: Near-term: ensure that we’re concentrating on the immediate steps, helps us to avoid being overwhelmed by the bigger picture (daily or weekly)
I: Input-based: focuses on what we can do in the here and now (go for a walk, write 100 words)
C: Controllable: focuses on things that are in our control (do 20 minutes per day)
E: Energizing: integrate play, power and people to make it more enjoyable
Examples:
SMART: Lose 20 pounds within the next three months
NICE: Exercise 30 minutes daily, focusing on activities that are enjoyable and manageable
NICE goals boost your energy and your feel-good productivity but won’t ruin your life if you fail to hit them
Experiment 4: The Crystal Ball Method
A pre-mortem: identify the big obstacles to your goals before they have derailed your plans
Imagine it’s one week later and you haven’t started - what are the top 3 reasons you didn’t?
What can you do to help mitigate the risk of those reasons?
Who can you ask for help in sticking to this commitment?
What action can you task that will increase the odds that you’ll do the task?
Ask “When”?
How often have you considered embarking on a task and thought “I don’t know how I’d find the time?”
If you don’t know when you’re doing something, chances are you won’t do it.
Experiment 5: Implementation Intentions
If you decide beforehand when you’re going to do something, you’re much more likely to do it
The best formula - If X happens, then I will Y (When I get home from work, I will workout”
You no longer need to think about when you’ll do it - you just do it
Experiment 6: Time Blocking
Put everything in a calendar and allocate times
Level 1: time-block specific tasks you’ve been avoiding
Level 2: time-block most of your day (7-8 exercise, 8-9 breakfast, 9-11 intense work etc)
Level 3: time-block your “ideal week” - identify what’s important you and ensure there’s time in the week for each of them
Structure gives you more freedom - by carving out specific chink os time for different activities, you’re ensuring you have time for everything that’s important (work, hobbies, relaxation)
Chapter 5: Find Courage
Why do some people dare to do things that most of us would never dream of? It isn’t lack of talent or inspiration that’s holding you back - it’s fear.
Fear is another negative emotion that blocks our productivity and impedes our feel good hormones, clouds our thinking, and problem-solving. Procrastination is natural in the face of fear.
When fear places a lock on our abilities, courage holds the key
Know Your Fear
Getting to know our fears is the first step to overcoming them
Experiment 1: The Emotion Label
Affective labelling: the act of putting your feelings into works, which forces you to identify and get to know the sensations (i.e. I feel anxious that the tarantula will jump on me). This increases our self-awareness and recuses our rumination
Identify where the fear is coming from - a me vs them fear (me fear: associated with your perception of your ability, them fears: associated with how other people will react to what you do)
Experiment 2: The Identity Label
Sometimes our fears not about our specific abilities, but more about our identifies (i.e. I’m not a runner)
Labels become a self-fulfilling prophecy - bad labels can amplify our tears but positive labels can overcome them. If we can our labels, we can often change our behavior.
Reduce Your Fear
When we’re scared, we become paralyzed
Experiment 3: The 10/10/10 Rule
One of the reasons that fear is so paralyzing is that we tend to catastrophize (I.e. a minor setback can derail your life)
Try cognitive reappraisal: changing the interpretation of a situation so that we feel better emotionally - the main goal is to shift our perspective on n event, though or feeling, allowing us to experience a more positive emotional response
Will this matter in 10 minutes? 10 weeks? 10 years?
Experiment 4: The Confidence Equation
Sometimes, the fear is that we’re not good enough.
Self Confidence = Perception of Ability - Perception of Standards
If we believe our ability is higher than the standard needed, then we’re confident
Ask yourself “How confident do I actually need to feel to get started with this?”
Make a start - you won’t need to get perfect for a long time
Overcome your Fear
Sometimes we don’t start on something because we’re afraid others will notice - our mistakes, small missteps, our worst qualities. When we look at ourselves, things seems a lot bigger and more important than they really are.
Experiment 5: Stop Spotlighting
We think people are constantly watching us but everyone is concerned mostly about themselves, and how they’re coming across. They’re not spending much time (if any) thinking about us.
Remember: no one cares!! (No one cares if the first Youtube videos are bad, no one cares if the blog posts are ramble)
Experiment 6: The Batman Effect
Having an alter ego (Sasha Fierce for Beyonce, Sasha Carter for Adele)
Think of something you’ve been putting off, think of an alter ego who would have no trouble with it, step into your alter ego and create a mantra that represents their mindset (i.e. I am confident, I am fearless, I am unstoppable)
Chapter 6: Get Started
Newton’s discoveries (i.e. the law of inertia): It takes way more energy to get started than it does to keep going. When you’re doing nothing, it’s easy to carry on doing nothing. And when you’re working, it’s much easier to carry on working.
Reduce Friction
Experiment 1: Reduce Environmental Friction
Engineer your environment to reduce friction and make it easier to get started (I.e. if you want to start working out, lay out your gym clothes the night before)
Otherwise you’ll go back to your default choices: the automatic outcome if you don’t make a choice actively
Experiment 2: Reduce Emotional Friction
It’s not sure the environment that makes it difficult, it’s your mood.
5 minute rule: start working on a task for just 5 minutes and give it your full attention, afterwards, you can stop if you want but most of the time, you keep going.
Take Action
Experiment 3: Define the Next Action Step
When you’re procrastinating, ask yourself “What’s the next action step?” (I.e. if you’re procrastinating doing yoga, roll out the mat. If you’re procrastinating studying, get out the textbook and notes)
This takes your mind off the long-term goal and focuses our minds on the more achievable, small steps.
Experiment 4: Track Your Progress
Tracking progress, whether through writing down progress goals, or writing down output goals, dramatically increases your changes of actually attaining that goal
Why? Because it helps identify areas where you may be falling behind or may need to make adjustments. It can also help you celebrate wins (i.e. after 50 workouts, or 10 books read)
Provides tangible evidence that you’re moving towards your goals
Support Yourself
How to stop procrastination once you’re already gotten started and then reached a stopping point? Supporting yourself
Experiment 5: Find an Accountability Buddy
When we find a partner to hold us accountable, we’re much more likely to overcome inertia
People boost our feel-good emotions and make us want to get started (i.e. easy to skip a gym session when it’s only you, but not when you promised a friend)
Find a buddy, agree on the accountability culture (disciplined, challenging, patient, supportive, constructive), and agree on how they will keep you accountable (i.e. weekly check in?)
Experiment 6: Forgive Yourself
When we don’t follow through on a task, we beat ourselves up about it which drives self-loathing and spirals
Find the win: you can focus on the small losses, or you can celebrate the small wins (i.e. I missed my workout but I did get an extra hour of sleep which I needed)
Part 3: Sustain
Chapter 7: Conserve
Burnout: feels of energy depletion or exhaustion; increased mental distance from one’s job, or feelings of negativism or cynicism related to one’s job; and reduced professional efficacy —> not related by how much you’re working, but by how you feel
There’s no use being productive and getting things done, if it’s not sustainable
Overexertion burnouts: happens by simply taking on too much work
Depletion burnouts: happens because there hasn’t been enough time to rest (and recharge the mind, body and spirit)
Misalignment burnouts: happens because efforts have been put into something that doesn’t bring you joy or meaning, and it’s worn you down (I.e. being suck in a job)
Overexertion Burnouts and How to Avoid Them
I.e. Lebron James has been able to be in the game for so long because he walks on the court (vs running around)
Conserve your energy and do less, so that you can unlock more
Do Less
I.e. a friend schedules dinner next week, the same time as a work deadline. You say yes because you think you’ll be done in time, but you’re behind on work and can’t go.
We suffer from overcommitment - we say yes to things in the present but in the long term, they’re going to grind us down
Experiment 1: The Energy Investment Portfolio
Get a clear sense of where your energy is actually going
Make a list - List A with all the hopes, dreams and ambitions. List B with all of the active investments (i.e things that you’re doing right now) that are bringing value to you
It’s a good idea to keep list B in the single digits
We tend to think we can do everything, but the List B will show you that there are limitations on our time
Experiment 2: The Power of No
If it isn’t a “hell yeah”, it’s not worth doing
Remember that everything has an opportunity cost - for everything that we say yes to, there’s something we’re saying no to. (i.e. a promotion at work means more money but less time at home with family)
Resist Distraction
Multitasking is bad but if there’s a healthy level of distraction, our productivity levels are actually higher.
Experiment 3: Add Friction
I.e. Uninstall or log out from whatever social networks so that when you want to access the, you have to redo all the steps to sign in
Experiment 4: Correct Course
I.e. Just because you spend 5 minutes doomscrolling, doesn’t mean that you have to continue for the next 3 hours
Think of distraction as a temporary veering off-track, not as an indication that it’s time to abandon your plans altogether
Give yourself permission to be distracted
Break More
People who seem to get the most done are often those who take breaks
Experiment 5: Schedule Your Breaks
Schedule time into your calendar to do nothing - and schedule more of it than you think
To conserve our energy levels during work, we need to find ways o replenish our energy
Breaks aren’t a special treat. They’re an absolute necessity.
Experiment 6: Embrace Energising Distractions
Unplanned rests can be beneficial (I.e. awakening bell in Plum Village - the unexpected ding would cause people to stop what they were doing and encourage them to be present)
Life isn’t about maintaining focus all the time - it’s about allowing space for little moment of serendipity and joy
Chapter 8: Recharge
Sometimes, when we want to relax, we end up doomscrolling and get sucked into an endless vortex of negativity. We think we’re resting but it doesn’t feel like it at all.
Try making two lists, one of things you do when you’re feeling drained of energy and one of things that actually recharge you.
What we automatically do when we’re feeling drained versus what would actually rejuvenate us are very different
How can we break the self sabotage cycle and start engaging in activities that actually make us feel good?
Recharge Creatively
Creative activities (writing, drawing, making something) are likely to make us relax
CALM activities make us feel good
C: Competence - we feel like we’re gaining new skills and get a boost of energy
A: Autonomy - we feel a sense of ownership (i.e. if you’re painting, you have control over it)
L: Liberty - helps us to properly disengage from your work (i.e. when playing the guitar, your mind is 100% on that)
M: Mellow - creative activities are realized and low stakes (i.e. knitting with lo-fi music in the background)
Experiment 1: Calm Hobbies
Having calm hobbies and making sure that there’s no end point in sight, and no monetary benefit
Have clear boundaries (i.e. dedicate a space for it, turn off notifications when you’re doing it, have a specific time blocked out for it)
Hobbies should be enjoyed for the process, rather than any kind of high-stakes goal
Experiment 2: Calm Projects
Undertake a project with a definite end and beginning - i,e. If you like photography, take one photo everyday for a year
Recharge Naturally
Patients with a hospital room that faced nature (even if the room had a painting of nature), experienced less anxiety, required few doses of pain medications and recovered more quickly
Nature replenishes our cognitive abilities and boosts our energy
Experiment 3: Bring in Nature
Have plants, a small garden or even a picture of nature in your space
Listening to nature sounds (i.e. rainforest sounds) can help top
Experiment 4: Take a Walk
Even a 10 minute walk around the block and be enough to change the day and reset your mind
Recharge Mindlessly
Sometimes we don’t want to recharge creatively or with a project - we just want to veg out. In short doses, this can be okay.
Experiment 5: Let Your Mind Wander
Doing nothing can be surprisingly productive - i.e. think about how many amazing ideas you have in the shower
Try doing weekly chores without listening to anything (music, podcasts, nothing)
Letting your brain wander can also help solve problems with perspectives you didn’t realize you had
Experiment 6: The Reitoff Principle
Definition: we should grant ourselves permission to write off a day and intentionally step away form achieving nothing
Short-term unproductive-ness gives us time to reset and recharge
By doing less today, you can do more of what matters to you tomorrow
Chapter 9: Align
There are two types of motivation - intrinsic and extrinsic
Intrinsic: you’re doing something because it feels enjoyable
Extrinsic: you’re doing something because of an external reward (making money, or winning a prize)
Not all extrinsic motivation is inherently bad, there are three types:
External motivation: I’m doing this because important people will like and respect me more if I do
Introjected motivation: I’m doing this because I’ll feel guilty or bad about myself if I don’t
Identified motivation: I’m doing this because I truly value the goal it’s helping me work towards
Intrinsic motivation: I’m doing this because I love the process as an end in itself
The only type of extrinsic motivation that corresponded with greater happiness was identified motivation
How to avoid misalignment burnout? To work out what really matters to you and align your behavior to it
The Long-Term Horizon
When we think about death, we get a clearer view of life
Experiment 1: The Eulogy Method
Ask yourself: What would I feel good about someone saying in my eulogy?
This helps us figure out “What do I value?” From other people’s perspective
What does the life you want people to remember in a few decades mean for the life you should build now?
Experiment 2: The Odyssey Plan
Reflect on these questions (from the Design Your Life course at Stanford) and write out what your life would look like if:
Your Current Path: you continued down your current path
Your Alternative Path: you took a completely different path
Your Radical Path: you took a completely different path, where money, social obligations and what people would think, were irrelevant
The Medium-Term Horizon
Values affirmations make our most abstract ideals real - and they boost our confidence along the way
Experiment 3: The Wheel of Life
Ask yourself: To what extent do I feel like my current actions are aligned with my personal values?
This can help to give clarify on what you value the most and where you need to work on
Experiment 4: The 12-Month Celebration
Imagine it’s 12 months from now and you’re having dinner with your best friend. You’re celebrating how much progress you’ve made in the areas of life that are important to you over the last year.
Look at the values you identified in the Wheel of Life and write down what progress you want to have
i.e. Body - In the past 12 months, I’ve found a workout routine that resonates with my lifestyle and have lost 15 pounds
Ask yourself: If I want to make the 12-month celebration a reality, what do I need to do over the next year to get there?
The Short-Term Horizon
When people make decisions that align with their personal values and sense of self - they aren’t just happier; they’re more engaged with the tasks before them.
With the right tools, we can subtly shift ourselves back towards the things that matter the most
Experiment 5: The Three Alignment Quests
Each morning, choose three actions for the day ahead that will move your a step closer to where you want to be for your 12-month celebration
i.e. Gym session, catching up with friend, make progress on blog
Experiment 6: Alignment Experiments
Alignment experiments can help you test theories about what might bring you closer to alignment in your day to day decision making
1. Identify an area in your life where you feel unfulfilled (i.e. a lawyer who works long hours and its taking a toll on their personal life)
2. Generate a hypothesis (I.e. adjusting work hours will lead to a better balance between work and personal life)
3. Execute and see what happens!
The journey to alignment is a never ending process and we must be willing to iterate.
Conclusion
Don’t rote learn your way to feel-good productive - embrace your way
If you can tap into what makes you feel the most energized and alive, you can get anywhere and enjoy the journey too