A Highly Counter-Intuitive Thing About Productivity I’ve Noticed

The busier you are, the freer you are

When my full-time job started, contrary to what I expected, my writing process actually got easier.

In just the first half of the weekends, I’m able to get my entire writing done. And the weekdays are for leisurely editing and publishing. Earlier, I would sit staring at my laptop all day, every day, and still produce the same output.

To top it all off, I have a lot more leisure time than I used to. Not to mention the fact that I’ve become more consistent with working out as well. In simple words — I’ve become busier and freer at the same time.

As paradoxical as it sounds, the lesser time you have, the more productive you can be. This is due to Parkinson’s Law which states:

Work expands to fill the time allotted to it

In our daily lives, we all experience this law’s effects — be it the assignment you got done at a breakneck speed just before the deadline or the article you leisurely rewrote the entire day only to end up with the initial version.

In my case, with my job devouring a sizeable chunk of my time, I was forced to eliminate all the “fluff” from my writing such as intermittent YouTube, checking my stats, switching between drafts, etc.

Work is like gas — the same gas trapped in a small 2L cylinder can also pervade an entire room. Wielding this property is the key to revolutionizing your productivity.

And I want to share 2 ways to do just that.

Actively Procrastinate

Thanks to all the self-help porn, procrastination is viewed as the arch-nemesis of productivity.

This is true only for the “traditional” kind— planning something, not doing it, and miserably going to bed. The other kind, active procrastination isn’t the enemy of productivity but rather the other side of the same coin.

Active procrastination is when you deliberately put off something and pick it up only close to the deadline. Basically, riding the waves of the last-minute rush. But the catch is that — in the meantime, you don’t binge Rick and Morty but instead do something else productive.

Here, “productive” is something you define. For me, even things like phone calls with certain friends, reading fiction, napping, and thinking in solitude are productive.

Since leisure is crucial for productivity, things that recharge and rejuvenate you are also productive.

The best way I’ve found is to alternate leisure times with large tasks and batched small tasks. With this — I’m able to work in short bursts of high focus and recharge myself soon after.

Notice how I don’t define time stamps or durations. That’s because I don’t believe in time-based routines. What I do believe in is managing energy.

When bursting with energy, I can rip write two drafts in less than an hour, but even one can seem like an ordeal when yawning exhaustedly.

So, finally, procrastinate but actively — determine roughly how long each task takes, sort according to the closeness of the deadlines, and pepper in leisure times.

A word of caution. This is effective only for those that can work well under pressure. If you’re someone that gets anxious or stressed out, it’s better to stick to the drawn-out planned style of working.

What About the Tasks that Don’t Have Deadlines?

There, I read your mind. It’s all fun and dandy when your tasks have hard-set deadlines like project reviews, assignment submissions, or proposal deadlines.

But with things like writing or working out, there clearly are no deadlines. So you create them a.k.a set imaginary deadlines.

But just saying, “I will do this before 6 PM today” is unlikely to be that powerful. At 6 PM, you shrug it away with an “Ah! Never mind. I’ll do it at 8 PM.” Then the next day and so on. So you need to get a bit creative here.

In other words, you need to add accountability. If you work out, call up your gym partner and decide a time. Even if you have a mind to postpone, your partner might not agree so you’re more likely to stick to it.

Similarly, with writing, you can use ColdTurkey writer to lock your PC until you meet a word or time goal — it’s either bang your head on the wall or write. Another idea is video calls with your writer friends where y’all have your cameras off and write.

If you’re a YouTube creator, you can tell your subscribers that the next video will be up in a certain number of days or hours.

All in all, for any task, with online communities, coaching services, and restriction-based apps, you’ll be able to set imaginary deadlines that feel concrete.

Final Words

Remember inertia from middle school physics? — an object at rest tends to stay at rest and one in motion tends to stay moving.

It’s the same here. When you’re busily working, the inertia of productivity will keep you productive. And when you’re on the couch, you will stay on the couch.

So, keep moving and let the inertia handle the rest.

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