Full disclosure: I am not very good – okay, I am disastrous – at things like consistency and discipline, though it’s not for want of trying, trying, trying, failing and trying again.
But I am pretty darn excellent at being productive when I get into the zone.
In fact, this confession aside, I’ve spent most of my life successfully using my productivity to hide my utter lack of consistency and discipline. (A strengths-based approach, if you will. All the rage now, no?)
The thing is, standard productivity advice usually revolves around creating routine, which requires consistency and discipline. Or it leans into traditional habit-building methods to tackle a lack of willpower.
I, however, need more than your average time-blocking, Pomodoro-wielding tricks that optimisation gurus swear will change your life if you use them religiously.
I function best in bursts of manic productivity, and often just need a quick and dirty way to snap out of a mental slump.
If that sounds like you too, here are seven unconventional, tried-and-tested hacks to conquer inertia. At least for the day.
1. Use body doubling
Body doubling is the astoundingly simple act of having another person around when you’re struggling to start or focus on a task. Any task.
I’d been using body doubling my whole life without realising it, until working from home during the pandemic made it painfully obvious. My productivity levels shot up drastically whenever I had a friend on video call in the background all day, even if we didn’t talk.
Your body double doesn’t need to be doing the same thing, or be a person you know. They just need to exist within sight, whether in person or virtually.
Which perhaps explains why I am at least thrice as productive at the office or when I use Focusmate – a virtual coworking platform that matches users looking for a body double for 25- or 50-minute sessions to complete tasks.
Even YouTube videos of people studying have been my body double in the past. Just watch for the potentially disruptive ad breaks.
Productivity score: 9/10
