--- published: true title: "How To Trick Yourself to be Productive When You Don't Want To Be" image: afternoon-walks permalink: /weekly-review-11 description: "There is a system to be productive regardless whether my mind feels like it or not (Weekly Review #11)" image-attrib: >- Ayo Ayco. Throughout the workday I look forward to my day's reward: an afternoon walk with the family category: personal --- Much of my productivity system is hinged upon the idea that our mind has an active state (the smarter, more productive, and energetic state) and a passive state (the dumber one which tends to be on auto-pilot). Knowing this, we want the active--the smarter--mind to decide on things... schedule and organize things... so that we could enter a passive "auto-pilot" state without feeling guilty. How, you ask? Have you ever put your keys in a place that would be easy to find in a time and place you need it the most? For me, this is usually just before the door so I can easily grab it before heading out. That's a common example of an application of this principle. You actively "put things" in place to be reminded on them "in a time and place you need them the most". Now how do I apply this on my projects? A lot of ways actually, but here's one example… I have a labeled important notes that I want to be reminded of with "daily", "weekly", "monthly" so that I can set recurring reminders on my calendar to read them on the times I want to be reminded. These important notes contain various things from practical actions like organizing projects to abstract ideas like maxims/affirmations/truths I want to habitually get reminded of. This note-labelling and recurring reminders are just some of the practical applications that helps me make sure my passive mind state can be free to run in auto-pilot. It clears up some space in my head and trust that I will get reminded of the important things when I can handle them in the future. With more headspace, I can make sure I will be able handle tasks that are already processed, organized and clarified when and where I can best handle them--regardless whether my mind feels like it or not. What are some things you do to "trick" yourself into being productive?