Treat regiments like farmers treat their crops. With consistency.
More often than not, the people who talk about productivity for a living are not productive.
Over the past 5 years I have been the type of person who is always looking for “optimization” in the actions I take on a day to day basis. I read books, blogs, podcasts, use productivity tools, the whole nine yards.
Here is my key takeaway: in general, people who talk about productivity for a living are simply not productive.
Through the COVID-19 pandemic, I have experimented with my routines more than ever. My goal for this blog is to simply tell you about the value of being regimented with your routine.
It does not matter how many “optimization techniques” you try, what matters is that you are regimented for the ones that work for you and that you have reason for each of them. Stop hopping on the bandwagons of other people’s routines and do what works for you and makes you fulfilled when you go to bed every night.
THE MENU THAT NEVER ENDS
I have tried so many of the different routines that people in productivity community suggest:
Morning and night routine
Personal productivity apps
Experimenting with sleep
Trying different learning techniques (paper, digital, spaced repetition)
Diets (vegan, vegetarian, keto)
Training at different times of the day
Taking “Sunday’s Off”
Journaling
Stretching / Yoga
Meditation / Mindfulness
To-Do Lists
Diving into the quantified self
All the other crazy routines people are going to advertise.
Some readers may even find it ironic that I am writing a blog on productivity, given my take on the community itself. I am not writing this for others, I am writing this for myself, a form of expression that helps me understand my habits and increases my productivity.
Why should you even listen to me? Am I regimented? I am working on it.
As a student, undergraduate researcher, age group Team Canada Triathlete and leading a startup, I have to manage my time and life in some way. Being regimented with less routines and having reason for each of those routines has helped tremendously.
WHAT DOES BEING REGIMENTED LOOK LIKE?
You already know why being regimented matters. I don’t need to re-emphasize this.
Am I regimented? No where near some of my friends and people I look up to.
Treat your regiments like a farmer treats their crops. They need to feed the crops consistently otherwise they will die and be of no use to the farmer. What does this look like in practice?
I have 4 key regiments I care about, and anything else is a bonus or for fun, or soon to be added to the list. These regiments include:
Triathlon training
Sleep at the same time and wake up at the same time every day
Spaced repetition learning (a method of retaining what you learn)
Journal (grateful, the goods, the bads, the lessons)
These are the regiments I have and I do not go to bed fulfilled unless I have achieved these 4 regiments.
Over the past year, I have seen the benefits of these regiments in my productivity in all other aspects of life: performance in training, school, research, and personal happiness (the most important).
DEVELOP THEORY/REASON FOR YOUR REGIMENTS
Saying you are going to pick 4-5 regiments that you do every day is useless unless it has meaning to you.
Why does sleep matter to me? I have started to learn about the science of sleep and understand how the suprachiasmatic nucleus controls the circadian rhythm of your body. Going to bed and waking up at the same time everyday improves my immune system, previous day's thoughts, recovery, and overall “presentness” the next day. I care deeply about each of these things and would be doing a disservice to all of my training in the gym / pool by not focusing on sleep.
When I say consistency, I mean Monday-Monday, the entire week. Going out on Friday nights and staying until 3am completely throws off your circadian rhythm and can take days to get back to what you have worked to accomplish all week.
I am not saying to not have fun and not party. Just be smart about what regiments matter to you. Maybe sleep doesn’t matter to you (it should) but develop reason for each of your regiments.
I have a reason for each of the 4 I am following: scientific studies in reputed journals back my reason:
Triathlon Training: Here is a Nature paper on why daily activity is helpful for creativity and productivity.
Sleep at the same time every day: Here is a Nature paper on how student performance was improved through a more consistent sleep schedule.
Spaced repetition: Here is a well reputed education professor from a Dartmouth study on space repetition.
Journaling: Here is a study on how journaling can improve sleep.
I am not saying you need scientific papers. But by developing reason, you are much more likely to want to keep these regiments.
“I AM TOO BUSY TO HAVE REGIMENTS”
I understand everyone’s situation is different. But more often than not people claim they are busy when they are really just unproductive.
Find your reason. Find your few regiments that you care about. Make them a priority in life. Fill in the rest of the day with the other tasks. Over time you will see the benefits, non-linear benefits!!!
If you want to learn the nitty gritty details about habits / routines / etc, I recommend the book Atomic Habits. If you are short on time, here is a good TLDR of the book from someone I look up to, Justin Kan. But if you really care, you would just start practicing the habits that you know work for you and stop reading about other people's (maybe even this blog!!)
Thanks for reading and to those who reviewed the blog. Subscribe and hit a follow on Twitter to keep active with my writings / activities!
Notes from readers that I have appreciated. Put your comments on Twitter so I can add them to the list!
Arthur Allshire: “An analogy for productivity resources would be GPT-3. It isn't gonna make you into JK Rowling but it can provide a stimulus to what you decide to write for yourself. The same way productivity resources are valuable in so far as they give you new ideas to try”