It's cool that you've been able to re-introduce discipline in a way that feels healthy!
Until recently, I had a productivity system of calendar reminders and "nudges" (emails to myself, post-its, etc) that I would follow to structure my days. I used this system for about a decade. It's hard to remember the exact origin but I'm 99% sure it was an amalgamation of techniques I adopted from GTD, Atomic Habits, etc.
Then last month, I was reflecting on this system and realized that I was being quite cruel to myself. I would always accomplish a lot every day, as well as do several things for which I didn't have reminders, like being physically active, journaling, and eating healthy. But I would also pile on other goals, like side projects and improving relationships (e.g. call a family member every week), with this system, but I'd often feel drained and just not do them.
Through some journaling, I started to realize I'm constantly trying to optimize everything around me. I would read books like Atomic Habits and think "ah, finally, the perfect framework/approach to be even more productive and effective". I started calling this approach "directionless optimization".
There seems to be a strong current of discipline/hustle culture in social media, and it is indeed good advice for some people, but I'm realizing it has not been the right advice for me recently. I'm already quite disciplined. And when I apply that discipline toward a direction, I get good results. I'm realizing that I'm currently in a phase of searching for new directions, which is inherently messier and harder to systematize that habits or discipline (if you have any good book suggestions lmk).
It's still too early to say where I'll end up, but it's been nice to give myself some breathing room. It's weird how even if you are objectively a very disciplined person, and your friends compliment you for being disciplined, you can read one of these productivity books and think you are extremely undisciplined and need tons of improvement.
Thanks for the great post - it was really encouraging to read something related to a topic I've been thinking a lot about recently!
My God, this is fucking amazing!
It's cool that you've been able to re-introduce discipline in a way that feels healthy!
Until recently, I had a productivity system of calendar reminders and "nudges" (emails to myself, post-its, etc) that I would follow to structure my days. I used this system for about a decade. It's hard to remember the exact origin but I'm 99% sure it was an amalgamation of techniques I adopted from GTD, Atomic Habits, etc.
Then last month, I was reflecting on this system and realized that I was being quite cruel to myself. I would always accomplish a lot every day, as well as do several things for which I didn't have reminders, like being physically active, journaling, and eating healthy. But I would also pile on other goals, like side projects and improving relationships (e.g. call a family member every week), with this system, but I'd often feel drained and just not do them.
Through some journaling, I started to realize I'm constantly trying to optimize everything around me. I would read books like Atomic Habits and think "ah, finally, the perfect framework/approach to be even more productive and effective". I started calling this approach "directionless optimization".
There seems to be a strong current of discipline/hustle culture in social media, and it is indeed good advice for some people, but I'm realizing it has not been the right advice for me recently. I'm already quite disciplined. And when I apply that discipline toward a direction, I get good results. I'm realizing that I'm currently in a phase of searching for new directions, which is inherently messier and harder to systematize that habits or discipline (if you have any good book suggestions lmk).
It's still too early to say where I'll end up, but it's been nice to give myself some breathing room. It's weird how even if you are objectively a very disciplined person, and your friends compliment you for being disciplined, you can read one of these productivity books and think you are extremely undisciplined and need tons of improvement.
Thanks for the great post - it was really encouraging to read something related to a topic I've been thinking a lot about recently!