You know what kills your productivity more than anything else? It’s not lack of motivation. It’s not poor time management. It’s the ridiculous amount of energy you waste trying to get “in the mood” to work.
I spent years romanticizing elaborate morning routines, supplement rituals, and all sorts of mental gymnastics before actually doing the work. Two hours would pass, and guess what? Nothing got done. The moment you actually begin is when your output goes up. That’s it. Beginning is the single greatest productivity hack you’ll ever need.
The Five Minute Rule Changes Everything
I’ve noticed something interesting with big mental tasks. You know the ones I’m talking about: that complex project, the detailed content piece, the thing requiring real mental effort. It takes me about five minutes of actually being in it to understand what I’m dealing with and get into flow.
But those five minutes? I would delay them for hours. The gap between thinking “I should start” and actually starting has compressed over time. Now when I think I need to do something, I just start. No ceremony. No ritual. Just action.
What happens next is magic. You create an open loop in your brain.
Your Brain Hates Unfinished Business
There’s this phenomenon called the Zeigarnik Effect. Researchers studied restaurant servers and discovered something fascinating: these servers could recall every detail of a table’s order while it was still open. The moment the table was closed? They couldn’t remember anything.
Your brain absolutely hates open loops. It’s the same reason Netflix cliffhangers work so well. You cannot stand leaving things unfinished.
Want to make starting easier tomorrow? Stop halfway through the sentence today. I’m serious. Leave your work incomplete. It drives your brain crazy in the best possible way. The activation energy required to begin that sentence tomorrow drops dramatically. Plus, it keeps the work in your mind overnight.
Some novels in the dark romance genre actually advertise “No Cliffhangers Guaranteed” on their covers because readers hate that feeling so much. But you? You’re going to use it to your advantage.
The Work Doesn’t Care Who You Are
Every time I try to dress up the work or cut a corner, I get brutally reminded: the work just needs doing. The work doesn’t care about your feelings, your excuses, or your elaborate preparation rituals. It only cares that it gets done.
I love what David Goggins says: “There’s no shortcuts for you, Goggins.” When I heard that, something clicked. You don’t get to use shortcuts. You’re immune to them. That mindset shortcuts the path to actually doing the work.
I wrote a tweet about this at 11 PM while working on my eleventh run of a presentation. I was in the middle of triple shifts, working 16 to 17 hours of actual productive work per day. Not just being busy, but productive. And the same thoughts everyone has crept in: “It’s fine. It’s good enough.”
That phrase makes me sick. “Good enough” is the enemy of work worth doing.
Two Mantras That Keep Me Going
When I’m staring at work that needs to be done, I have two refrains that loop in my head.
The first: “I will do what is required.” This work needs doing. Nobody else is going to do it. It’s smiling back at me, waiting. In the early days of recording content, we’d shoot a hundred shorts in one session, and it was always the same mantra: I will do what is required.
The second: “But I’ll know.” Even if it goes well. Even if everyone says it’s great. I’ll know if I could have done better. And that knowledge will rob me of all the joy in that moment. I’ve never regretted working harder. Not once.
What Does Your Perfect Tuesday Look Like?
People think happiness comes from spectacular moments. The private jets. The exclusive parties. The highlight reel stuff. But real happiness? It’s stringing together as many good regular days as possible.
Your average Tuesday should look the way you want most of your life to look. Not the exceptional Saturday. The boring, regular Tuesday.
For me, a good day has three components: working hard on something worth doing, working out, and spending time with people I enjoy. That’s it. My birthdays look the same as my Tuesdays, which look the same as my Sundays.
Most people’s definition of work is negative, which is why they hate it. But successful people? They’re defining the word differently. The work they do is challenging but engaging. They lose track of time doing it. The uncertainty of whether it’ll work makes it exciting, not scary.
Start Now, Not Later
You’re going to work either way. The question is whether you’ll waste hours psyching yourself up first or whether you’ll just begin. Those precious seconds we have? Spend them doing things worth doing, not preparing to do things worth doing.
What are you waiting for? Start.
If this post sparked a thought, shifted your mindset, or gave you something meaningful — don’t let it end here.
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