Feel-Good Productivity summary

If all this talk of feel-good productivity is sounding a little too woo-woo, fear not. There’s actually solid biological science that supports its existence. 

As mentioned in the introduction, the first force responsible for preventing productivity – of both the feel-good and hustle culture variety – is low energy. 

Most often, like many people, you attempt to compensate for your lack of vitality with caffeine, sugar, and other external stimulants as you go about your day. But, as you’ve no doubt experienced first-hand, these short-term fixes can only do so much.

But there’s an alternative that’s also more sustainable, a cocktail readily available to you at any time: your hormones. Endorphins, dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin all naturally flood your body with the physical and mental energy to accomplish more. And – here’s the kicker – feeling good is what releases them.

Fortunately, there are three accessible strategies you can employ to get these feel-good hormones circulating. Abdaal calls these the three “energizers”: play, power, and people.

Play points to what you’d expect: injecting more fun and adventure into your days. Yes, life is inherently stressful but not every moment requires straight-faced seriousness. Instead, you can approach life with a spirit of sincerity – still caring deeply while allowing space for laughter and lightness. Remember, your life is the quintessential journey. You’re supposed to embrace, enjoy, and explore it, not soberly suffer through it.

Abdaal’s second energizer, power, refers to a different type of power than the one you likely think of first. Instead of power over others, this kind of power is power over yourself. It’s the sense of personal empowerment in your own life.

Personal empowerment can still be attained even if your external circumstances seem to suggest otherwise. For instance, you might not get to choose what you work on in your day job, but you can always choose how you work on it. With a spirit of play, perhaps.

The third and final energizer, people, alludes to what you intuitively know: the individuals you spend the most time with matter, both for your mood and productivity.

The obvious implication is that you need to surround yourself with more cheerleaders than vampires – people who lift you up rather than drain you out. If you don’t already have such folk around you, you can lead the charge by modeling a dynamic of camaraderie rather than competition or conflict.

At this point, the link between your energy, mood, and productivity should be somewhat clearer, and you’ve probably got a few ideas as to how you can incorporate more play, power, and people into your daily life. But here are a few of Abdaal’s mini experiments to throw into the mix.

When faced with a tedious or undesirable task, ask yourself, How can I make this fun? When attempting something overwhelming or anxiety-inducing, try, What would this look like if I was the world expert at it? And, when feeling detached or isolated, consider who you could turn to for help on the specific issue. Asking someone for advice or support can, paradoxically, be just as much a gift to them as to you!

So although you now have the energy to execute, it still might not be that simple. In the next section, you’ll discover what might be blocking this energy from freely manifesting.