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 Naturalist’s Art of Animal Encounters
The Power of Keeping Your Mouth Shut in a World That Won’t Stop Talking
A Kantian Guide to Life
Finally Follow Through
Bat Bombs, Truth Serums, and the Masterminds of WWII Secret Warfare
Anxiety Is a Habit — Here's How to Break It
The Fitness Supplements That Actually Work
The Essential Framework for Understanding The Art of War
Why You Like the Music You Do
Authority Is More Important Than Social Skills
Throw a 2-Hour Cocktail Party That Can Change Your Life
The Myths of Trauma
Leadership Lessons from a Disastrous Arctic Expedition
Jane Austen for Dudes
Get a Handle on Your Shrinking Attention Span
The Survival Myths That Can Get You Killed
Escape the Happiness Trap
Dante's Guide to Navigating a Spiritual Journey
Move the Body, Heal the Mind
Kit Carson's Epic Exploits
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West