5 Surprisingly Productive Things to Do When You’re Bored

Summary

In this video, Ali shares five surprisingly productive activities to utilize spare time effectively. These include expressing gratitude through messages, weekly reflections for goal alignment, meditation with Headspace, maintaining relationships with a personal CRM, and engaging in creative projects like podcasting. These practices aim to enhance intentionality, enjoyment, and overall well-being.

Takeaways

• 😀 Gratitude can be powerfully expressed and experienced by writing out a message to someone you're thankful for, even if you don't send it.
• 📝 Sending thank you notes or messages can be a high-impact use of spare time, fostering positive relationships and personal satisfaction.
• 🤔 A weekly reflection, taking about 20 minutes, can significantly enhance productivity by aligning your actions with your goals and intentions.
• 🧘‍♂️ Meditation, even just for a few minutes daily, can be a surprisingly productive activity that contributes to overall well-being and focus.
• 📱 Using a personal CRM (Customer Relationship Management tool) can help maintain and strengthen relationships by keeping track of important details and reminders.
• 🎙️ Recording a podcast with a friend or family member can be a meaningful way to connect and create lasting memories without the pressure of an audience.
• 🗑️ Tidying up your space for a few minutes can greatly improve productivity and mental clarity by reducing clutter and creating a more organized environment.
• 📝 Journaling is a highly productive activity that can lead to self-discovery and personal growth, offering insights into one's thoughts and feelings.
• 🎉 Celebrating wins, even small ones, is an important part of personal productivity, helping to maintain motivation and a positive outlook.
• 🔄 Reflecting on challenges and making action plans for improvement is a key component of a productive weekly reflection routine.
• 🔗 Maintaining strong relationships becomes more difficult with age, but using tools like a personal CRM can help systemize thoughtfulness and connection.

Q & A

What is the main focus of Ali's video?

The main focus of Ali's video is to discuss five surprisingly productive things that one can do with their spare time.

How does Ali define productivity?

Ali defines productivity as using our time in a way that is intentional, effective, and enjoyable.

What is the first productive activity Ali suggests in the video?

The first productive activity Ali suggests is expressing gratitude by writing a message to someone you are thankful for.

What is the purpose of sending a message of gratitude as suggested by Ali?

The purpose of sending a message of gratitude is to acknowledge and appreciate someone who has positively impacted your life, which can lead to a deeper connection and a more fulfilling experience.

What is the second productive activity Ali discusses in the video?

The second productive activity Ali discusses is conducting a weekly reflection to review the past week and plan for the next week.

What are some of the questions Ali asks during a weekly reflection?

Some of the questions Ali asks during a weekly reflection include: aligning with annual goals and quarterly quests, reflecting on the good and great things that happened, identifying challenges and action points, organizing the next two weeks, and determining the top three outcomes for the upcoming week.

What is the third productive activity Ali recommends in the video?

The third productive activity Ali recommends is meditation, which can help build a daily meditation practice and improve overall well-being.

Why does Ali suggest using a personal CRM for maintaining relationships?

Ali suggests using a personal CRM to keep track of important details about friends and family, such as birthdays and life updates, which can help maintain strong relationships as life gets busier.

What is the fourth productive activity Ali proposes in the video?

The fourth productive activity Ali proposes is recording a podcast with a friend or family member, which can deepen connections and provide a platform for meaningful conversations.

What is the fifth productive activity Ali talks about in the video?

The fifth productive activity Ali talks about is tidying up your space, which can lead to a less cluttered and more focused mind, making it easier to engage in productive activities.

What is the additional productive activity Ali mentions at the end of the video?

The additional productive activity Ali mentions at the end of the video is journaling, which can help uncover new insights and realizations about oneself.

Outlines

00:00

🌟 Boosting Productivity with Gratitude and Reflection

In the first paragraph, Ali introduces the video's theme of using spare time productively. She shares her perspective on productivity as intentional, effective, and enjoyable time use. The first productivity tip is expressing gratitude by imagining what to say to someone you're grateful for and then typing out a message to them, potentially sending it. Ali emphasizes the positive impact this has had on people's lives. The second tip involves a weekly reflection exercise that includes aligning with annual and quarterly goals, reflecting on wins and challenges, organizing the next two weeks, and setting top outcomes for the upcoming week. This practice is said to be transformative for personal and professional life.

05:00

🧘‍♂️ Meditation and the Power of Personal CRMs

The second paragraph begins with Ali discussing the benefits of meditation, highlighting Headspace as a valuable app for building a daily meditation habit. She mentions her personal use of meditation and introduces a 'Feelgood Productivity' collection on Headspace. The paragraph then shifts to discuss the concept of a personal CRM for maintaining relationships. Ali explains how using a CRM can help track important dates and details about friends and family, sharing her personal method of using Apple Notes and the benefits of doing so. She also introduces Dex, an app that helps manage personal relationships more systematically.

10:01

🎙️ The Unexpected Productivity of Podcasting with Friends

In the third paragraph, Ali talks about the unexpected productivity of starting a podcast with a friend or family member. She shares her personal experience with her brother and the joy they found in creating a podcast without the pressure of monetization or viewership. Ali suggests that podcasting encourages deeper conversations and can be a low-friction activity, even if it's just a single episode or a casual chat recorded on a phone. She also mentions the benefits of using platforms like Riverside for remote recording and the value of such an endeavor in deepening connections.

15:02

🤳 Video Diaries and the Impact of a Tidy Environment

The fourth paragraph explores the idea of recording a video diary as a means of self-reflection and connection. Ali suggests that the act of recording oneself can lead to insights and realizations that might not surface otherwise. She then transitions to discussing the importance of a tidy environment for productivity, explaining how clutter can hinder focus and calmness. Ali shares her personal strategy of spending a few minutes tidying up her space to create a more conducive atmosphere for work and relaxation.

📓 Journaling for Self-Discovery and Productivity

In the final paragraph, Ali wraps up the video with a mention of journaling as a highly productive use of time. She refers viewers to another video that provides powerful journaling prompts designed to facilitate self-discovery and personal growth. Ali emphasizes the transformative potential of journaling, suggesting that even a few minutes spent on this activity can lead to significant insights about oneself.

Keywords

💡Productivity

Productivity in the video is defined as using time in a way that is intentional, effective, and enjoyable. It's not just about work but encompasses all aspects of life that matter to the individual. The video suggests that productivity can be increased through various activities that may not be work-related, such as expressing gratitude and reflecting on personal goals.

💡Gratitude

Gratitude is highlighted as a powerful tool for enhancing personal well-being and relationships. The video encourages viewers to express gratitude by writing messages to people they appreciate, which can lead to transformative experiences and strengthen bonds, as exemplified by the interactive exercise described in the script.

💡Weekly Reflection

Weekly reflection is presented as a method for enhancing productivity by spending 20 minutes reviewing the past week and planning for the next. It involves aligning with annual goals, celebrating wins, identifying challenges, and organizing the upcoming weeks, which helps in maintaining focus and direction in one's life.

💡Meditation

Meditation is introduced as a practice that can build a daily routine aimed at improving mental clarity and overall well-being. The video mentions the use of the Headspace app for guided meditation, emphasizing its role in fostering a sense of calm and focus, which indirectly contributes to productivity.

💡Personal CRM

A personal CRM, as discussed in the video, is a system for managing personal relationships outside of a business context. It involves keeping track of important dates, such as birthdays, and noting significant updates about friends and family to maintain strong connections over time, which is crucial as life gets busier.

💡Podcast

Podcasting is suggested as a creative and engaging way to connect with friends or family members. The video describes the process of recording a podcast as a low-friction activity that can lead to deeper conversations and strengthen relationships, providing an example of a spontaneous podcast with a team member.

💡Video Diary

A video diary is proposed as a means of self-expression and introspection. The act of recording oneself talking about personal thoughts or experiences can provide a unique perspective on one's life, offering insights that might not arise through other forms of communication.

💡Environment

The environment is discussed in terms of its impact on an individual's mindset and productivity. A tidy and organized space is linked to a clear and focused mind, with the video recommending regular tidying as a quick way to enhance productivity and create a conducive space for work or relaxation.

💡Journaling

Journaling is highlighted towards the end of the video as a powerful tool for self-discovery and personal growth. It is described as a practice that can yield deep insights about oneself, with the video suggesting that even a few minutes of journaling can be highly productive.

💡Intentional

Intentionality is a recurring theme in the video, emphasizing the importance of purposefully choosing how to spend one's time. Whether it's expressing gratitude, meditating, or tidying up, the concept of intentionality underpins the idea that productivity is about meaningful actions that contribute to one's well-being.

Highlights

Productivity is defined as using our time intentionally, effectively, and enjoyably.

Five ideas for productive activities during spare time are introduced.

Expressing gratitude to someone who has positively impacted your life can be life-changing.

The act of writing a gratitude message can be therapeutic and strengthen relationships.

Weekly reflection is suggested as a tool for assessing past performance and planning for the future.

Questions for personal weekly reflection are provided to guide goal alignment and review.

Meditation, sponsored by Headspace, is promoted as a method to enhance productivity and well-being.

Headspace offers a Feelgood productivity collection to support the development of healthy habits.

Maintaining strong relationships is emphasized as crucial, especially with age and increasing responsibilities.

A personal CRM is introduced as a strategy for managing and maintaining personal relationships.

Using a CRM for personal contacts can help remember important details and maintain connections.

Recording a podcast with a friend or family member is suggested as a way to deepen connections.

The podcast format encourages open and expansive conversations that might not occur otherwise.

Keeping a video diary is an alternative for self-reflection and can provide insights into personal thoughts.

Tidying up one's space can lead to a more organized mind and enhance productivity.

Journaling is highlighted as a powerful tool for self-discovery and personal growth.

10 powerful journaling prompts are mentioned as a resource for transformative self-reflection.

Transcripts

okay so in this video we're going to

talk through five surprisingly

productive things that you can do with

your spare time hey friends welcome back

to the channel if you're new here my

name is Ali I'm a doctor turned

entrepreneur and I'm the author of The

New York Times bestseller Feelgood

productivity which is about how to do

more of what matters to you now when we

think of being more productive it's very

easy for us to think that that's just

work rated but the way that I would

personally Define productivity is that

productivity is about using our time in

a way that's intentional effective and

enjoyable so if like me you often find

yourself with some spare time here and

there in between things you want to be

productive in that time but you don't

necessarily want to do work then here

are five ideas five ideas for

experiments that you can try out in your

life I find these five things to be

needle moving for my own energy levels

they help me feel more refreshed and

recharged and these are generally

productive things that I find really

helpful to do when I've got spare time

okay so the first thing on the list is a

little bit Rogue but this is something

that I often get people to do when I do

talks and events and it takes just a few

minutes but people have cried as a

result of doing this people have said

that it's changed their life in various

ways maybe it's a little bit hyperbolic

but

basically try this right now this is

going to be a bit a bit interactive I

want you to close your eyes and I want

you to imagine someone that you feel a

sense of gratitude towards if you could

say something to them what is the thing

that you would say to that person as an

expression of your gratitude towards

them or towards how they've helped you

in your life then what I ask people to

do at these events is I say okay

everyone now get out your phone and open

up WhatsApp or iMessage or whatever and

put in that person's thing and just type

out the message to that person and type

out what you would say to them and you

don't have to send it but it's just you

know it's just nice to type it out and

then once they've all done that I say

okay everyone once you've done that

could you please sit down cuz I get

people stand up while doing this blah

blah blah and then I say and now feel

free to send the message I'm not saying

you have to I can't tell you what to do

but feel free to send that message of

gratitude and about 80% of people in the

room will send that message and I will

look around and people will come up to

me afterwards and they'll be like oh my

God I'm so I'm so grateful sometimes the

friend will reply there and then being

like OMG this this message brought me to

tears thank you so much blah blah blah

blah blah blah not once has anyone ever

received a negative response as a result

of this message of gratitude and message

of thanks and it's something that is so

easy to do it takes two 3 minutes out of

your time when you're bored when you're

instead of scrolling to just go through

your contacts and send a nice thank you

message to someone I like doing thank

you notes as well I have like a little

thank you note stationary thing which is

currently downstairs with some stamps

where I had a birthday party the other

day I recently turned 30 and so people

gave me a bunch of gifts and people came

to the party so one of these days

hopefully I'm just going to go around

and just write a small little

handwritten thank you notes but it

doesn't have to be as high friction as

mailing snail mail to someone it can

just be sending someone a thank you

message and that is one of the most

productive things you can do with your

time all right productive thing number

two that you can do with your spare time

is something that I actually do with

students of productivity lab which is my

community for people who want to double

their productivity and we do this every

single week and the people who attend

this event and do this thing it takes 20

minutes to do but but people have said

oh like oh my God this has been the most

productive thing I've done all week this

has been the most productive thing I've

done all year we get a lot of very

hyperbolic comments about this specific

thing and this thing is a weekly

reflection where you spend 20 minutes

reflecting on how your last week has

gone and making a little bit of a plan

for the following week so there are a

handful of questions that I do in my

personal weekly reflection these are the

questions we take students through in

productivity lab if you're interested in

productivity lab you can find a link

down below but the questions are as

follows number one align so the first

one is what are our annual goals and how

are they going and the second one is

what are our quarterly quests and how

are they going so annual goals are like

what are my goals for the year and

quarterly quests are basically what are

my goals for the quarter but I call them

quarterly quests because the whole

philosophy of feeli good productivity

which is my book about how to be more

productive in a way that feels good in

case you haven't read it the whole idea

is that if you can find a way to make

your work feel good then productivity

takes care of itself so instead of qu

calling them quarterly goals or

quarterly objectives I call them

quarterly quests cuz it just makes it a

little bit more fun but what are our

annual goals and what our quests and how

are they going secondly we are

reflecting what were the good and great

things that happened last week now this

is really nice this is where I just

spent 3 minutes going through my

calendar from the week before racking my

memory and thinking what were the wins

what can I celebrate especially you know

if you watch this channel you're

probably kind of like me you're probably

an overachiever you're probably very

good-looking as well and you know it's

easy for us to just keep on marching on

and on and on especially if you're

interested in productivity like I am and

it's easy for us to keep marching on and

forget to celebrate the wins which is

why asking this question every week week

what were the good and great things that

happened last week it's a really nice

way of reminding ourselves about how far

we've come the next question is what

were last week's challenges in what ways

did we not act in line with our

intentions for the week and what would

we like to change if anything next week

this is a bit of a mishmash of one

question but it's essentially getting at

challenges and then action points next

we have organize look ahead to the next

2 weeks does anything need scheduling in

the calendar or any tasks need adding to

our to-do list and this is where I look

ahead and I see okay cool I don't have a

gym session there or there or let me

actually do a date night over there or

maybe next Wednesday let go visit my mom

and have dinner with her and just

looking forward two weeks and just doing

a little bit of a plan for your work but

also for your life maybe even more

importantly is a super productive thing

you can do and then the final question

is what are our top three outcomes for

the upcoming week if the week ahead was

going to be a great week what would be

the top three things we'd accomplish

let's make sure those are in the

calendar and again this is just useful

to align to what are the most important

things you want to be working on the

following week and then just making sure

they're in the calendar because if it's

not in the calendar it's unlikely to get

done this weekly refle is just an

absolutely gamechanging thing to do

every week if you forget you know

sometimes I forget to do it which is why

we've create a productivity lab where we

do it with people together and

facilitated session but you can do it on

your own it takes about 20 minutes you

can put some nice background music on

and I guarantee if you do a weekly

reflection you will not regret that use

of 20 minutes of your time and it's way

more productive for your work but also

for your life and your health and your

general well-being and also for your

relationships If instead of spending 20

minutes scrolling Instagram you instead

spend 20 minutes on a weekend or on a

Friday reflecting on on your week and

making a plan for the following week now

one very productive thing that you can

do with your spare time is in fact

meditation and that brings us on to

headspace who are very kindly sponsoring

this video headspace is an absolutely

amazing meditation app that can help you

build a daily meditation practice

whether you need support as you navigate

life events or handle daily life or just

become the best version of yourself

headspace can help you out and I've

personally been working my way through

the introductory course in meditation

which has been a really great

introduction to the value and the point

of meditation so I personally like to do

just a 5 minute meditation first thing

in the morning before I do my journaling

and before I get my coffee but I've also

now collaborated with headspace and

there is now a feel-good productivity

collection on headspace which can help

you on the path to building healthy

habits to boost your productivity and

efficiency in particular I think you'll

really enjoy the stuff around the value

of play play as it relates to

productivity like finding ways to enjoy

the work that we're doing in that heads

space content collection we've got a lot

of good stuff around specifically how

you can apply play to your work and to

your life to help you be more productive

but in a way that's actually fulfilling

and enjoyable and so if you want to see

how head space might be helpful for you

and you want to check out the Feelgood

productivity collection you can try it

out completely for free for 60 days all

you have to do is sign up with the link

in the video description or scan the QR

code that should hopefully be on screen

right now so thank you so much to headp

space for sponsoring this video and

let's get back to it all right let's

move on to point number three now and

there is a friend who is in his 40s um

he's like 40 something he's married he's

got kids he's an entrepreneur super

successful guy and I was chatting to him

the other day and I was asking him for

some life advice cuz I've just turned 30

and so I'm going around asking all of my

friends who are older than me and who

are who seem to be happily married um

with like you know thriving businesses

and stuff uh for Life advice and I asked

him you know what's one piece of advice

you would give me like what becomes

harder to do as you get into your 30s

and one thing he said was the older you

get the harder it is to maintain strong

relationships with your friends in

particular because everyone's life get

gets busy people get married people have

kids you maybe move to different

countries it's hard to see people and

this guy seemed to have a really strong

Network I guess of friends and also

family and also like work colleagues and

stuff and he said that there's one habit

that he's been doing for over a decade

that's been incredibly helpful and that

is using a personal CRM if you

unfamiliar a CRM is usually a work rated

piece of software it's a customer

relationship management piece of

software basically if you have a

business and let's say You're A

salesperson you would use a CRM to keep

track of all of the potential prospects

uh that are coming into your business

and then you have a sales call with them

and you try and sell them your thing and

then you update the CRM with like the

details of the customer and where they

work and what they want from it

professionals will use crms to keep

track of their professional contacts so

that they can then know more about them

it's it's almost like when I was working

as a doctor um we would we would have

these electronic patient record systems

so you see a patient you know they're in

bed number three you can double click on

them and you can see a record of all of

their previous hospital visits so you

get at a glance a summary of what the

deal with this patient is what

conditions they have what medications

they're on what they're allergic to

which means you sort of prep by by

seeing these details about the patient

before you then talk to the patient now

this idea of crms and electronic patient

records can also be applied to our

personal lives and this sounds a bit

Rogue but bear with me because this is

actually gamechanging so for example

let's say keeping track of people's

birthdays you probably don't remember

the birthdays of all the people that you

would like to remember I certainly don't

remember the birthdays of all the people

I'd like to remember I remember my mom

my grandma my brother's birthday and

maybe a couple of friends but beyond

that I don't really know what what

anyone's birthday is partly this is

thanks to Facebook back in the day when

people actually used to use Facebook you

would see people's birthdays coming up

but since the beginning of time people

have been writing down in in a little

diary the birthdays of people who are

close to them a personal CRM is

basically like that and on a very basic

level it's kind of software or like a

system that you can use to keep track of

the people you want to stay in touchway

and you can write down their birthdays

that's one use of a personal CRM but the

other use of a personal CRM is that you

can use it to take notes on your friends

so the very basic version of this is

that back in

2021 I created an Apple notes folder

called people and this was during the

pandemic and whenever I would have a

call with a friend or a catch up with a

friend socially distanced of course I

would create a note for them in my Apple

notes folder and the title of that note

would be their name for example I've got

one here Danny lowney who is a friend of

mine who runs a company called 16th and

then I would put today's date and I

would just write a few notes about what

we talked about this was incredibly

helpful because I see Danny maybe once

every 6 to 9 months and so I I often

forget like what was his life update

back in the day and so I'll just look

through my notes thing and be like oh

yeah last time we spoke was 9 months ago

or 6 months ago he was just about to go

to La at the time he was just starting

this new company and was looking for

investment on that thing so I invested

in that company and he was struggling

with things X Y and Z and at the time I

talked to him about my struggle with

identity and blah blah blah blah blah

blah and this is what we talked about

this is super super helpful this means

the next time I talk to Danny I can say

hey so last time we spoke I remember you

you know you were talking about that

move to LA how did that go and nny then

feels like I'm a very thoughtful friend

because I remembered the fact he was

moving to LA and the whole business and

stuff and maybe I remembered some of it

but the fact that I had the details in

my personal CRM in a very simple note

entitled Danny means that I can sort of

systemize being thoughtful if that makes

sense now people find this weird

people are like oh but you should just

remember it's like should you should you

just remember all your friends'

birthdays if you're keeping track of

multiple people in your network people

that you don't necessarily see very

often do you expect to you know do you

know the names of all of your co-work CU

kids probably not I have all of my team

members' kids names written down so that

next time I see Dan I can be like you

know how's Alex doing you know that kind

of thing rather than thinking oh

what a Dan's kids names again you know

that that sort of general idea and so

the productive thing you can do if your

board is create or update a personal CRM

it can be a super simple thing it can be

a notes folder that just has names for

people you want to stay in touch with

and just writes a few details about them

or you can do something that I've been

starting doing recently on the advice of

this friend there's an app called Dex

get.com there'll be an affiliate Link

Link down below it's not sponsored but

we did reach out to them and they were

like oh sick like here's a discount code

there's a discount code down below if

you want to check it out but Dex is

basically software that lets you import

your phone contacts the ones that you

want and you can set a frequency of how

often you want to stay in touch with

them and you can also add notes and it

will give you reminders like oh you

intended to stay in touch with this

person every 3 months it's been 3 months

since the last time you contacted them

uh would you like to reach out and it's

just a very very helpful way of keeping

in touch with relationships especially

as you age especially as we become

busier especially as that becomes harder

and it's a way of kind of having a

system to help you be more thoughtful

cuz we all want to be more thoughtful we

all want to maintain these relationships

and these connections but it can be

really hard in the midst of all the

things that we're doing so a very

productive thing you can do is take a

few minutes every now and then to update

your personal CRM all right let's move

on now to tip number four now one of the

things that I most glad I've done in my

life is that back in 2019 my brother and

I decided to start a podcast together

you probably haven't heard of it because

it's very small it's very Niche we don't

really publicize it we don't monetize it

it's just a thing that we started doing

for fun and for the last 5 years and

we've been a bit inconsistent with it

for the last two but for the first 3

years of it definitely every single week

we were my brother and I were just

sitting down either in person or over

zoom and we were just recording a

podcast together and there was no agenda

here the point wasn't to monetize the

point wasn't to get views it was just

because we wanted to have a bit of a

chat and so it's a bit Rogue but one

surprisingly productive thing that I'd

recommend you at least consider as an

experiment is what would it look like to

to record a podcast with a friend or

family member it doesn't even have to be

a whole podcast series it can just be a

single episode of a podcast it doesn't

have to be high friction it can be very

low friction you can just turn on the

voice memos thing on your phone you can

sit across from your friend and you can

just have a conversation or if you

really want to you can set up your phone

like prop it up Landscape or something

to record both of you while you're

having that conversation if you have

camera gear and stuff sure you can do it

if it's remote you can do it on

Riverside Riverside is a great platform

I actually I happen to be an investor in

the platform it's fantastic that's how

we record all of our podcasts remotely

but you can just record a podcast with a

friend now this is something that I

actually do like yesterday for example I

was doing I was about to do a podcast

with Cal Newport but he was running a

few minutes late like half an hour late

cuz he had a talk so I had this half an

hour window of time where kin one of my

new team members was in the house and

instead of just sort of sitting around I

said to kayin hey kayin should we just

record a podcast just like a casual chat

between the two of us and she was like

sure and we had the cameras and the

microphones and stuff set up and so

kayin and I just had a chat over over

the podcast and the weird thing is the

nice thing about podcast formats is I I

suspect if you're watching this you

haven't tried doing a podcast or being

on a podcast but it really encourages

people to open up not necessarily their

de deep as darker Secrets but when

someone is being interviewed on a

podcast interviewed on a podcast it's

like it becomes so much easier to expand

on your thoughts and you kind of ask

questions to people that you know that

you may not have ever asked them before

when I talk to my brother and on our

podcast we go almost way deeper on

nonperson personal topics than we would

when we're just chatting by ourselves

when I'm interviewing one of my friends

or one of my team members even if we're

never going to publish it even if it's

just a thing that stays in my Apple in

my Apple photos or that stays as an

unlisted video on YouTube just cuz it's

easy to to access then even then it

deepens the connection between us to

just sit down to sit across from each

other and just record a podcast so I

think one thing that you can really try

is very productive it does require

another person to be there is to Simply

record a podcast with a

friend if you don't have any friends to

record podcast with and you would like

to do this this technique solo another

thing you can try is doing a video diary

of yourself you can literally just open

up the the phone recording app on your

phone the video recording app on your

phone put it on selfie mode prop it up

somewhere I don't know in front of you

and just say hey this is going to be a

bit of a video diary and I'm going to

talk about blah blah blah blah blah blah

like there's something about recording a

video diary and recording a podcast

there's something about being recorded

that you know initially once you get

past the H feels weird because you know

this is never going to be published it's

purely private there's something about

talking to yourself or talking to

someone else in a recording that you

know is going to be there for a while

that functions as a memory that really

helps get out things that you might not

have thought about otherwise often when

I'm being interviewed on a podcast I

come out with like really good wisdom

where I'm like whoa where did that come

from like I couldn't have I couldn't

have come up with that if I was just

sort of sitting on my computer typing

there's something about recording

yourself that's really nice in terms of

memories and also really nice in terms

of deepening connection with yourself

and with your friends all right now we

move on to experiment number five and

you know when I was doing research for

my book F productivity which you can

check out if you haven't already

Shameless plug when I was doing research

for the book there was a lot of stuff

that came up about the importance of

environment in shaping how we think how

we feel how we act and how productive

and intentional and stuff we are the

power of the environment around us

essentially when the space around me is

a total mess uh like it sort of is now

but we're in the filming day with the

podcast like when the space around me is

a bit of a mess there is it adds a level

of uh to sitting down and doing

something productive it adds a level of

a like I don't like sitting down to work

I don't like sitting down to read I

don't like sitting down to call my

grandma or even to play video games

which can be very productive if you're

doing it intentionally I don't like

doing those things when the space around

me feels a bit meh and so what I've

realized over the years is one of the

most productive things that I can do

with a few minutes of spare time is

instead of trying to start any work task

or scrolling social media or whatever is

literally just take 3 to 10 minutes to

just tidy my space like you know take

the mugs that are gathering on the desk

downstairs take the tissues that have

sort of fallen out of the bin and put

them in the bin empty out the trash take

the wires that like you know the phone

charger that's over there and the laptop

charger that's over there and just sort

of Tidy them up take stuff that's on on

top of countertops like this thing and

this thing and this freaking cable

management thing and this little thing

for SD cards and just put it somewhere

out of sight and just doing that for a

few minutes every now and then maybe

even every few days really helps our

spaces become more organized Iz to

become less less cluttered and if you

have a less cluttered space you have a

less cluttered and chaotic mind and it

just makes every action that you take in

that space just feel a little bit more

calm now the final productive thing you

can do with your time that we're going

to talk about in this video is

journaling and this video has gotten

long enough so I'm going to leave you

with that video over there which is 10

powerful journaling prompts that have

most changed my life if you do any one

of these even just for a few minutes

just with a pen and paper journal or

even with an apple Note file or whatever

I guarantee it's going to help you

discover new insights and realizations

about yourself and can genuinely be one

of the most productive things you ever

do so check out my journaling prompts

video over there thank you so much for

watching and I'll see you in the next

one bye-bye