I was recently interviewing Olga for a podcast and she said something very profound which didn’t register with me at the time. She said that we need to frame our situation in a positive and realistic light.
The example she gave was instead of saying I’m never going to complete this, you should say, it will take as long as it takes.
At first this seems quite underwhelming. A positivity guru would surely get you to say something like I will do this faster than humanly possible.
But statements like this can often be overblown and pretty empty. They can give you a boost but the also set you up for quite a serious fall if you don’t live up to them.
It takes as long as it takes does two things:
- it is inherently positive. It states that whatever it is will get done.
- It also completely embodies the reality of being consistently productive which is this,
Productivity happens when you are being your least productive.
i.e. what are you doing when you are being least productive? Most people are doing nothing, productive people are doing something.
When you don’t have time to write an unproductive person writes it off (too many writes in there right?).
A productive person will write for 10 minutes if that is all the time they have. This is not sexy but it is where the real gains in productivity are made.
I need you to understand this and believe it because it will change your life.
If you believe it then the next time you are stuck for time, you will fight for your 10 minutes of productivity instead of thinking that it is not worth it.
Why is it worth it?
Because you don’t come off the wagon. Because your mind set is strong and focussed on achieving your goals.
Think about the last time you procrastinated or where unproductive. Now imagine if instead of that, you actually achieved 10 minutes of writing per day instead?
The benefits seem obvious when you look at this way but this is really only the tip of the iceberg. You see, when you keep up a low, basal level of productivity during your unproductive times, you never stay in a rut for long. It is really motivating to make these small gains when you don’t feel like doing anything.
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