Productivity

For most scientists, bringing play into lives holds the key to true productivity. I learned from Ali Abdaal's revolutionary book Feel-Good Productivity how Richard Feynman came to work out quantum electrodynamics from playing with throwing plates up in the air, watching the wobbling plates. 

According to Ali Abdaal, seriousness is overrated. If we don't want to ruin our lives, the first step is to be less serious and reduce the power of fear. 

Well, that's comforting. To cite one of the rules he suggested, Ali Abdaal's 10/10/10 rule is worth remembering. That refers to three simple questions we can ask ourselves after setback. Say, you fail your first driving test. Or, you don't get hired for a job. Will this matter in 10 minutes? Maybe. We might feel a bit down. Will this matter in 10 weeks? Probably not (because you are going to apply to a bunch of other jobs or have booked another test by then). Will this matter in 10 years? Definitely not.

But again, he does not ask us to look too far ahead for everything. Looking too distant might not be easy for improving productivity. A short-term horizon or near-term goal is more likely to boost our energy. Instead of focus on "lose 20 pounds by the end of this year", we can look closer and strive for "exercise for 30 minutes daily".

The long and short of it is that we try to look distant if we get bogged down, and look closer if we want to get started.