My 3 Oddly Specific Ways To Build Focus When I Feel Like Vegging Out đ„
I promise these work. (kind of)
Lately, Iâve been dreaming about becoming a vegetable. đ„
How nice would it be to relax, chill out and let the world move around me? Unfortunately, becoming a vegetable doesn't help me get anything done that isn't related to photosynthesis, so this isn't an option.
Or like how my other friend likes to put it:
âWhy canât I just lay naked in the ocean and never worry about bills again?â
Yes, Dana. Why canât we??
As creators itâs easy to feel like weâre running in a perpetual rat race, stuck on the content treadmill, and all of our creativity is being wrung dryâŠ
When really we just need to take a fucking break.
But what happens when your âbreakâ turns into a 1.5 week long Netflix binge thatâs devolving into mega-procrastination?
Well⊠thatâs when you hit deploy on one of these bad boys:
1.Listening to Maurice Ravelâs Bolero on Repeat đ»
I stole this tip from a viral self-improvement reddit post and itâs been my saving grace ever since high-school.
When shit hits the fan, I sit down to do one task and play this song. Usually Iâm procrastinating on a piece of writing so this has been my go-to focus hack for writing essays, papers, and articles.
Best Practice:
Right click on the video and click âloopâ.
Choose one task to do.
Donât stop until you finish or your eyeballs turn into dried up raisins.
Repeat until you go mad.
Fun fact: The insane repetitive nature of this song was a sign of Ravelâs deteriorating mental condition that caused him to obsess over certain artistic motifs.
2. Clean-Crastination đ§č
Sometimes the best way to get something done is to not do it at all.
Seriously! This tip never fails me.
But before I give away the focus hack first you need to know why we procrastinate:
One of the most powerful theories that explain why procrastination happens is this thing called "Self-Worth Theoryâ.
Basically psychologists think that the main reason why we put off doing tasks isnât because weâre lazy sacks of shit.
Itâs because we think weâre lazy sacks of shit, which makes us subconsciously avoid a tasks.
If we think weâre going to fail at something weâre more likely to do it half-assed or not at all⊠in other words procrastinate.
You could be delaying that important tasks because of:
Fear of failure
Fear of looking stupid
Anxiety around not âfeeling enoughâ
Low self-esteem
Low confidence in a certain area
Okay so whatâs the best way to overcome procrastination?
Cleaning!
When I get into a funk itâs usually because my environments is a mess. And when my environment is a mess, my internal world is a mess as well.
The 2 plates of left-over croissants sitting on top of the stack of unread book next to my desk are not doing any justice for my psycheâ nor are the heaping pile of clothes strewn across the bedroom floor.
Sometimes the best way to get that âcreatorâ energy going is to declutter and clean.
Best Practice:
Set a 10-20 minute timer.
Clean whatever you see in front of you. Donât worry about being productive just worry about cleaning whatâs in front of you.
Make sure you have a bag ready to declutter and throw away things.
The point of Clean-Crastination isnât to deep clean your house, itâs about building up your self-esteem by doing something simple and easy so that youâll get in the right mindset when it comes to finishing your work.
I recommend watching this TED Talk on Self Worth Theory that has over 2.8 million viewsđ
3. Destroy Your Desktop đŁ
Are you guilty of having 20+ tabs open on your browser?
or having multiple windows running when youâre trying to get something done?
What about multi-tasking by watching a YT video, checking your email, and being on Twitter at the same?
Do you find it hard to get back to the tab youâre looking for because the top half of your screen looks like a digital caterpillar?
Hereâs my advice for all you serial accordion tab folksâŠ
START A NEW DESKTOP.
Instead of deleting your tabs, create an entirely new desktop to do your work in.
Best Practice:
Keep your work to 2-3 tabs.
Name your desktops for a specific purpose or task â Essayâ â Trip Planningâ
4 finger swipes left and right create a new desktop
4 finger swipes up show you all the desktops
I was going to find some insightful quotes to put under this tip but instead I asked ChatGPT to channel Leonardo da Vinci to tell me what he would say on the subject.
Hereâs what I got:
âA crowded canvas is like a noisy room - it distracts from the true message of the painting." - Leonardo da Vinciâs doppelganger
Hereâs my version for the modern creator:
âA crowded desktop is like a noisy room- it distracts from the true message of the writing.â
Thatâs it for today, see you next week!
-Brian âDa Vinciâ To
Build In Public
Hereâs the latest ( and hopefully) last preview of the AI guide!
Iâve added some swanky new AI photos to encapsulate the analogies of each chapter.
Iâve added a TON of ChatGPT pictures to show you how they work
Only problem that I have to solve now is⊠how do I launch this thing so that it can get a lot of traction?
Iâve been procrastinating on this project for nearly 2 months and now that Iâm finally finished with it⊠it feels weird.
Almost like I never expected to finish it at all. (Perhaps thatâs perfectionism).
Iâm afraid that people have forgotten about it, and that the whole thing may flopâŠ
but Iâm also excited because launches come only once in a blue moon!
One Dope Link
Thereâs really only 2-3 AI Writers that I would actually ever use SudoWrite is one of them.
The ability to quickly generate 3-5 cards without an AI prompt makes this a way better writing tool than ChatGPT.