Book 2 Post 2

The book I chose was Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You by Ali Abdaal. The book focuses on sharing Abdaal’s approach to his life and his 3 part method which works towards “feel-good productivity” or empowerment by positive energizers. 

By reading this book, I had hoped to learn how to improve my productivity when it comes to tackling my school work. As I mentioned in my last post, I tend to have intermittent bursts of productivity, procrastination, intense work, and super severe burn out. I have been trapped in a positive feedback loop of me not managing my time well and being unproductive, sleeping later and later until it became normal to get 3-5 hours of sleep a day, being unfocused in classes, falling behind in content and spending hours trying to catch up and do homework, being inefficient in trying to catch up, and starting the cycle all over again. From this book I hope that I will learn how to break the loop and improve my productivity and overall lifestyle.

(Paragraph Summary - I want to learn how to be more productive and reduce the time I spend on school work and increase the time I can spend on self care in the form of sleeping.)

The first thing I got out of it was the idea of taking tasks less seriously and pushing yourself to imagine you are playing with things rather than just studying or completing  a chore. By acting like 1 of 8 character types (collector, competitor, explorer, creator, storyteller, joker, director, and kinesthete) and infusing the personality of the play type into your work, you can find enjoyment in what you do. 

Another thing that I actually got out of it was the idea that I may benefit from studying more with others instead of always opting to study on my own as Abdaal explains that working in sync can help some people stay energized. 

My favorite part of the book was when Abdaal reminds readers that “ the most oft-forgotten truth about human interaction: when you think you’ve communicated too much, you probably haven’t

communicated enough. Is there a piece of information you’re hoarding that might just make someone else’s week?” because this was something I learned from one of my best friends in high school. She was a great communicator and would always take the time to stop and compliment people on anything ranging from their outfit, jewelry, hair, and more. It was something that brightened my day and as a result, I try to share that joy with others by being extra verbal about a friend or classmate’s new necklace or cute outfit whenever I remember to. 

My take away from the first part of the book is that productivity is about more than the time or amount of effort you put into a task. It is about your attitude and mindset going into your task, both of which can be affected by your surroundings and the people you surround yourself with. 

The second part of the book explores procrastination's role in productivity. Abdaal in particular highlights the importance of one’s mindset and treating the underlying causes instead of the symptoms and working your way up from smaller goals that feel less overwhelming and that you can build upon to get started on

The third part of the book (and third key takeaway) is on how to sustain your productivity and avoid burnout. My main takeaway from this section was that burn out is more about your mood, meaningful rest time, and approach to your future planning in the long, medium, and short term. By being conscious of these factors you can be more conscious of your personal burnouts and better equip yourself to avoid them.