Productivity notes (foundation)
I define productivity as one’s ability to deliver a certain output in a given time. If one has a goal, it is a distance reduction rate towards the goal. Do not confuse it with speed, since speed can be achieved by doing routine at an elevated rate. This note will formalize some of my recent experiments in this regard in several areas into a structured framework.
Foundation means the platform on top of which further advancements could be made levaraging modern technologies and I am hoping to explore that, too.
Happy Chemicals
Before I jump into practical basics, I want to give a high level overview of human brain chemicals1 that make us happy. Happiness is a good way to maintain sustainable productivity which can have incremental improvements and exponential outcome in a reasonable period of time.
Dopamine is an addiction chemical (hormone) of the brain that make us a gambler of an achievement. Once set, we strive towards it and feel pleasure once we have achieved. Some great examples of dopamine is having a milestone and feeling accomplished after achieving it. It lasts for a period and will need to be reiterated with a new milestone. The milestones can be some project by a certain date or a long biking distance. The bigger the goal, the the bigger the dopamine shot is. It is a huge part of individual motivation.
Serotonin can mostly be described in the feeling of confidence in a certain ability. It is reinforced with more skill and capability. It’s the sense of pride with yourself and others driving you even more. One good example would be social recognition for talent and effort. This is an important aspect from collective alignment perspective and is a way to validate that aspect, in my opinion.
Oxytocin. We feel this when hugging friends, family, and partners. In the feeling of friendship, love, safety, care, or that “Plan B” that we can always rely on as support if things go wildly wrong. It is a reliability aspect of survival and quite fundamental in collective alignment as well.
Endorphin is a stress supressor. When one is jogging and injured their toe, they might not feel it until after the jogging is over. It makes perfect sense in the puzzle of survival, because if you are being chased my a tiger, you wouldn’t wanna feel the pain until you are safe and brain helps us supress it.
Nutrition, exercise, sleep, and schedule
A good question to ask: How do I manage these hormones and tie them into my routine to achieve high productivity? There are 2 matters that define us: body and routine. These are highly affected by nutrition, exercise, sleep, and schedule.
Nutrition
We are what we eat. Below is a note from my MD friend for brain foods.
- Fish like salmon (omega-3s and DHA has been shown to enhance synaptic plasticity)
- Nuts and nut butters (cashews, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds)
- Healthy fats like avocado (like the actual fruit though switching to avocado oil is also beneficial)
- Dark chocolate (>70%)
- Eggs
- Blueberries and other berries
- Green leafy veggies like spinach
- Broccoli
- Cheese unless you’re lactose intolerant
- Yogurt but look for ones with no added sugars and higher protein content
- Caffeine maybe a cup of coffee in the morning otherwise if you need a boost in the afternoon it’s better to reach for matcha which has antioxidants and anti-stress/calming effect
- Green tea - see above; both green tea and matcha are good though matcha technically has high anti-oxidants and caffeine content. I think of it as a green tea shot with a couple extra added benefits
- Complex carbohydrates like whole wheat
- 🤸🏻♂️⛹🏻♂️🏊🏻♂️🧗🏻♂️🚴🏻♂️🏃🏻♂️ has a synergistic effect with diet
Avoid simple carbs especially during the day which can make you sleepy/crash. Junk foods with its high saturated fats and sucrose (sugar) have been shown reduce synaptic plasticity and reduce cognitive performance. While there’s been data on the influence of nutrients on cognition, general consensus is still to maintain a balanced diet. My take is to eat well and supplement with more of the above, eliminate junk food/fast food/sugary beverages (as much as you can), and exercise regularly.
Exercise
Exercise like jogging can do 2 things at the least
- help maintaining a healthy body
- generate dopamine and endorphin
Let’s focus on the second point a little more. One can utilize exercising to generate dopamine to boost that extra motivation and endorphin as a stress supressor. If you really nail both, you are basically unstoppable.
Sleep
Sleep is extremely important for brain and the rest of the body.2 Here are some important notes for having a good sleep that vary individually.
- sleep temperature (about 65-70F on average)
- limited light exposure towards bed time (e.g. LED lights)
- minimization of rapid eye movement sleep
- external noise
- night bathroom walks
- caffeine and other substances intake post lunch (coffee, tea, alcohol)
- timing (consistency of wake up and bed time)
Schedule
These are some things that can happen while simply writing down a plan for the next hour, day, month, year and so on:
- Getting a sense of how much time things take
- Adjusting priorities on a practical basis
- Record that can be used to improve
Below are some notes I took while experimenting with my schedule. They vary by content and granularity.
- 08/09/20
- 8:00am - work
- 10:00am - jog
- 11:00am - look up recipes
- 11:30am - grocery
- detergent
- bed sheets / towel
- onion
- ground beef
- butter
- black pepper
- soy sauce
- sour cream
- water
- 12:30pm - visit BB&B
- 1:30pm - clean up house
- 2:30pm - cook
- 5:00pm - social
- 9:30pm - shower & sleep
- 08/08/20
- 6:30am - work
- 8:30am - run
- 9:30am - work
- 11:30am - read
- 1:30pm - lunch
- 3:00pm - IKEA
- A set of 4 (bowl, spoon, cup)
- A set of bed sheet (pillow cover, pillow, blanket cover)
- Wash towel/cloth
- 5pm - bike
- 7pm - movie, plan
- 08/02/20
- 6:00am - hike
- 3:00pm - shower & eat
- 6pm - work
- 8pm - clean house
- 08/01/20
- 6:30am - work
- 8:30am - jog & shower
- 9:30am - go through some docs & work
- 11:30am - lunch & read Plato
- 1:30pm - home depo, ikea
- 4:00pm - home cleaning
- 6:00pm - haircut
- 7:30pm - read Plato
- 8:00pm - movie
- 10:00pm - sleep
Finale
I hope these tips are actionable for some people. There is a lot more involved in my experiments which I will try to cover in other essays. Some of them are Deep Work3, how I think and act about Serotonin and Oxytocin1, and convert everything into tangible outcomes as a cohesive roadmap, but it is quite hard to put them all in a single note. Feel free to share your thoughts about this note with me via any channel like twitter.