You struggle with being productive. So you decide you need to establish a routine for yourself. You get real gung-ho about this routine — this is going to be the thing that changes everything! But then you fail to stick to it. So you flagellate yourself for that failure and decide what you need is a different routine. But then you don’t stick with that routine either. The cycle then repeats itself, leaving you no more productive than you were at the start.
My guest, Madeleine Dore, found herself stuck in this cycle. So she decided to start interviewing successful creative types to get their secrets to an optimal routine. Yet these folks would confide to her a different secret: they actually didn’t have a routine either.
Madeleine has come to believe something that I’ve discovered too: routines aren’t all they’re cracked up to be and you can actually still be very creative and productive even if you go about each day in a looser, more ad-hoc fashion.
Today on the show, I talk to Madeleine, who’s the author of I Didn’t Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt, about how the all-or-nothing thinking which surrounds routines can actually sabotage our effectiveness. We then discuss alternatives to keeping a strict routine that still allow you to get stuff done, including moving to a “portable routine,” taking advantage of “splodge time,” and embracing cycles and seasons in your work. We also discuss other ways to let go of unuseful productivity guilt, including setting realistic expectations and not eating the frog first.
Resources Related to the PodcastThe 3 Musical Geniuses Behind the Most Popular Jazz Album of All Time
A Butler's Guide to Managing Your Household
Down With Pseudo-Productivity: Why We Need to Transform the Way We Work
The 5 Factors for Crafting Simple (Read: Effective!) Messages
The Misconceptions of HIIT (And the Role It Can Play in Your Fitness Routine)
The Making of a Stoic Emperor
The Secrets of Supercommunicators
7 Journaling Techniques That Can Change Your Life
Busting the Myths of Marriage — Why Getting Hitched Still Matters
Chasing Shackleton — Re-creating the World’s Greatest Journey of Survival
Night Visions — Understand and Get More Out of Your Dreams
Shakespeare on How Leaders Rise, Rule, and Fall
Launch a Million-Dollar Business This Weekend
The Case for Minding Your Own Business
The Mundanity of Excellence
A Guide to Protecting Yourself Against Unexpected Violence
Come Alive Again by Having More Fun
An Insider's Guide to the Rise of the American Mafia
How Curiosity Conversations Can Supercharge Your Success
Feeling Depressed and Discombobulated? Social Acceleration May Be to Blame
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West