Last updated Unknown

Status: Tags: Links: Ali Abdaal’s Productivity Skillshare Class Video Project

Ali Abdaal Productivity Masterclass Skillshare Class Script

Introduction

Lesson 2 - Reflective Practice

At the end of each lesson, he gives the reader some questions to think about, and I think this is where 50% of the course’s impact comes from. I would say answering these questions is the most important part, as this reflection period helps you learn from your previous experiences and plan future improvements.

Lesson 3 - The Productivity Equation

• Our productivity is based on various factors. To simply put, Ali states that Productivity = Useful Output / Time x Fun Factor
• A mental model for productivity is the pilot, plane and engineer

  • The pilot plans the direction and course of the plane

    • It represents the Useful part of equation
    • 10% of the time
    • Planning our day
      • ex) Making a to-do list in the beginning or end of the day

  • The plane has to make sure it stays on track

    • Output part of the equation
    • Should be 80% of the time we spend
    • Actually progressing towards our destination

  • The engineer keeps things efficient and optimized

    • Time part of equation
    • 5-10% of the time
    • Makes sure the plane is staying efficient

Pause the video right now and answer the following question,

• What do I struggle with most of all? The pilot, plane, or engineer? In what ways?

13 - Fun Factor

• It is unhealthy and unsustainable to do something we don’t like just for a future reward
  • If you’re not enjoying something, you can either stop doing it or make the process more fun
    • Methods of adding fun include listening to music, making the activity social, or switching up your environment
      • It may not be as productive, but your increase in enjoyment outweighs the decrease in productivity
  • If you’re still having trouble, Instead of saying that you have to do something, say you get to do something
  • Happiness correlates with success, so it’s important we put our enjoyment as a priority
    • Constantly smile and think positive thoughts

Pause the video right now and answer the following question,

• What do I have to do in my days that I’m currently not enjoying? If I had to how would I make this stuff more fun?

4 - The Myth of Not Having Time

Ali debunks three obstacles that hinder our productivity: a lack of time, a lack of motivation, and multitasking

First off, we are in control of our time; it’s not that we don’t have time, it’s that we are not properly managing it

• We think we don’t have time because we prioritize other things instead. The fact is, there are 24 hours in a day, and we have virtually complete control over how we spend it.
• Time management is like a muscle; the more we exercise it, the more efficient and effective it becomes

Practices:

• Consider tracking every minute of your day

Pause the video right now and answer the following question,

• What am I currently avoiding using the phrase, “I don’t have the time”

5 - The Myth of Motivation

• When wanting to do something, we start off with a thought, which then turns into an action
• Motivation lies in between the two, and is what gets us to start doing things
  • However, relying on motivation is ineffective since we have to actually feel like doing something before doing it
    • This makes motivation ineffective for long-term or unrewarding goals since motivation is based off of positive feedback
  • Fortunately, we can replace motivation with discipline, a more consistent reason to get things done. We can build discipline by focusing on the action or the outcome
  • To romanticize the action, we can
    1. Find ways to make it more fun
       • Gameify it through statistics and seeing improvement
         • ex) Listen to music while studying
    2. Worsen consequences of inaction
       • Make it more risky
       • ex) Put money on the line
  • To envision and better desire the outcome, we can
    1. Create feedback loops through gamification
       • Gamifying processes to shorten the feedback loop
    2. Make the outcome more appealing and clarifying
       • Looking at people who have “made it” to give us a reason to do the same

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• What’s a goal I want to achieve?
• How can I make the process more pleasurable?
• Can I increase my odds of hitting the goal by putting money on the line?
• How can I make the outcomes more tangible and desirable?

6 - The Myth of Multitasking

• When we switch from various tasks, we leave a bit of our attention on the things we were previously working on
  • Thus, we can never fully focus on a task when we are doing other things as well

Flow

• Flow is an optimal state of consciousness when we perform and feel our best.
  • Our lack of attention residue allows us to achieve flow state, so it is important to minimize distractions. We can do this by
    • enabling do not disturb on our devices, or working in a peaceful environment
    • It is our choice to be distracted, and we can just as easily choose to not acknowledge or encourage distractions
• Flow state only happens when we are fully focused on something that is challenging yet interesting
  • To make things interesting, we can switch up our environment or methods of doing a certain activity, like switching up your workout routine
  • To ensure something is challenging, we can pursue things in the stretch zone, things that are a bit outside of our comfort zone but are not impossible
    • ex) When studying exam, ask yourself what concepts you would have to revisit if you were to take the exam the following day
    • ex) When running a business, ask yourself what skills can help propel success or what actions can provide the most value

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• What’s one (or more) situations when I was in my flow state?
• What circumstances and mindsets led to that?
• Can I manufacture those condirtions for other stuff I need/want to do?

7 - Parkinson’s Law

• In contrast to the three obstacles of productivity, Ali provides three tips for productivity
• Work expands to fill the time that we allocate to it
  • Having more time to work on something allows for procrastination
• An extreme way of utilizing this law is to create a 10 year plan, then think about how you’re going to achieve it in 6 months
• A less extreme way is to give yourself artificial deadlines that are shorter than the actual deadline. This helps prioritize the important parts and kickstart our mind into work mode

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• Make a list of 3-4 long-term tasks you want to do
• What would you do if you only had half as long to do them?
• What about if you had to do them in the next 24 hours?

8 - Pareto’s Principle (80/20 Rule)

• Pareto’s principle states that 80% of the outputs come from 20% of the input

  • ex) 80% of the marks come from 20% of the course content
  • It’s important to find out and put your focus on the 20%
  • Helps us think about what things we need to focus on and what things aren’t as necessary
  • By optimizing our efforts, new time we gain can be used on other parts of our lives

• We can put this into practice by giving up perfectionism to achieve greater value

  • ex) Instead of perfecting each paragraph when writing a paper, make a rough draft and continually revise it

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• What 20% of my work is driving 80% of my “useful output”?
• What’s taking up 80% of my time but not contributing much to my outcomes?

9 - Newton’s First Law of Motion

• An object is at rest or travelling at a constant velocity unless it’s acted on by an external, imbalanced force
  • It takes effort to start, but once we start making progress, it’s easier to continue staying productive
  • A common practice is the 5 minute rule; if we’re struggling to do something, just try doing it for 5 minutes
    • You’ll have either invested enough effort to might as well continue, or you would have realized that it wasn’t as dreadful as you thought
  • Another practice is to develop keystone habits, habits that are simple but provide gateways for productive opportunities. Examples include putting on gym clothes to encourage exercise, or cleaning your desk to encourage studying

Pause the video right now and do something you have been procrastinating on

10 - The Power of Habit

• Habits are tiny changes we can make in our lives that compound and yield great rewards. To put it into perspective, if we were to improve ourselves by 1% every day, we would have improved 365% by the end of the year
  • ex) Hiding our phone when we wake up/go to bed helps us waste less time
  • By adopting new habits, we also gradually adopt a new identity
    • Once we have our new identity, it becomes harder to do things that don’t align with it
      • ex) Mindless social media scrolling would not feel satisfying for a productive person
      • Additionally, building productive habits becomes easier since it reinforces our identity
• If you struggle to maintain a habit, consider putting money on the line or having someone hold you accountable

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• What 3 things would boost my productivity if I made them a habit? How can I help make those habits stick?

11 - Productive Downtime

• It’s important to make the most out of the random downtime we have throughout the day
  • We can replace mindless social media scrolling with effortless and quick work
    • ex) Drafting a paper or doing flashcards while in transit
  • To plan your productive downtime, consider having a “daily highlight” that you want to achieve in a day, or consider creating a daily to-do list that you can chip away at throughout the day
  • It’s important to experiment with the amount of downtime we give ourselves to see what works best for us
• To commit to this change, make these methods of productive procrastionation more accessible than unproductive procrastination

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• What are some chunks of the day in which I find myself wasting time in way I’d rather not? What can we do to make better use of the time?

12 - Productive Procrastionation

• If you’re a content creator, you can productively procrastinate by finding value in the media we consume
  • When watching your next video, you can pay attention to a Youtuber’s editing styles, or a video’s method of delivering information
  • The same can be applied to reading articles or reddit posts by taking notes of the sayings or ideas that resonate within you
• You don’t need to be productive during your breaks, but they should still have meaning in them. Make sure that the time you spend on procrastination is truly fun or helpful

Pause the video right now and answer the following questions,

• What items on my bucket/task list can I procrastinate my way to progress on? How so?

Congratulations, you learned virtually everything mentioned in the course. There might have been some things I missed, but when following the 80/20 rule, it doesn’t really matter. If you found at least one word of advice to be useful, consider liking the video to help my channel out.

What I learned

Ali and Incorporation

First off, Ali isn’t some innovative productivity prodigy that invented all of these things, he’s merely an avid productivity enjoyer that has learned and tried out various different techiniques of productivity. It definitely takes time and effort to cultivate all these different ideas and practices, but his success in general shows the effectiveness of these principles if you truly incorporate them into your life. This is the reason why I think majority of the course’s value comes from the reflective prompts, so if you still haven’t done a single one, I recommend you start them right now. You’ve probably heard these ideas a couple of times already, but nothing’s going to change until you actually take that first step. I’m personally guilty of not taking action too, so I’m using the production of this video as a commitment to start taking action.

Value

I’ve consumed a concerning amount of books and productivity videos, so I already knew most of the stuff here and have already started to do things like form habits, reflect on my experiences, and properly prioritize my goals. I’ve also already known about Parkinson’s law and the 80/20 rule a few times, but it wasn’t until this course where I realized their importance in my productivity. If this is your first time diving into the world of productivity, his course does a great job of mentioning and explaining some of the more prominent fundamentals. Fortunately, even if you know all of these things, it’s nice to have a little refresher from someone else’s point of view.

Anyways, that’s it from me.

References:

Created:: 2021-06-10 20:36