How to Be Productive by Simply Starting (And Embracing Procrastination)

 In my few favorite style of writing, I dictated a podcast episode, (for Ricky Rambles actually my other podcast) but thought that topic could be shared here as well.  I used AI to clean up the raw transcript. Let me know what you think.

I have a few friends who struggle with productivity. It's easy to have brilliant intentions and great ideas, but actually translating those thoughts into action is the hard part.

Why is that the case?

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Overcoming Initial Inertia

I think the biggest hurdle in doing almost anything is getting started. That initial inertia, or the lack thereof, is the true difficulty. An object at rest tends to stay at rest. The longer you spend just thinking about a project, the harder it becomes to begin. You start setting these massive standards and ideals for yourself that become larger and larger, and by the time you're ready to start, you're completely overwhelmed.

My somewhat unhelpful, yet entirely true, advice for overcoming this is simple: just start.

If you're writing a book, don't worry about the perfect first chapter. Just get in front of the computer and start writing anything. The writing doesn't even have to be related to your book. The act of writing itself helps facilitate the writing you actually want to do. Getting out there and being creative spurs further creativity, and in turn, that creativity encourages you to create more things. It’s a virtuous cycle.

The cycle is also very fickle. If you stop writing or creating, all your momentum will come to a screeching halt, and you'll have to overcome that initial barrier all over again.

If your goal is to start a website, don't overthink the entire complex structure. Make your first piece of content, design the landing page—just create anything for it. Action breeds more action.

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The Frug Life Guide to Productive Procrastination

If you ever feel overwhelmed by a task, one of the tricks I employ is productive procrastination.

What does that mean? It means if I'm putting off something difficult that I really don't want to do, I fill that time doing other tasks that are also productive. Now, I'll let you judge the efficacy of this system: it's the reason why I have nine books in various stages of completion, but none of them are published right now. I move from project to project, book to book, because when I get stuck on one thing, I simply pivot to something else.

The system certainly has its downsides—it makes finishing any one particular thing tough. But on the other hand, it helps me generate a lot of diverse content. It's the reason I have my other show, Ricky Rambles, which serves as an outlet for ideas that don't quite fit the financial focus of The Frug Life.

Even while recording, I've hit a stopping point, not knowing what to say next. In those moments, I might stop working on that specific task and publish a different, already-edited episode instead. Even though I wasn't productive on the primary task, I was productive overall.

Sometimes, a little time away is all you need to reset your mind and focus. Often, it's not your active, conscious mind that needs to solve the problem, but your subconscious.

Before recording this entire segment, I had no idea what I was going to discuss. I was having trouble generating ideas, but I noticed a pile of dirty dishes in the sink. I went over and started doing the dishes, and in that somewhat monotonous task, my mind began to wander. I started thinking about how I was procrastinating recording by doing the dishes. That very act of procrastination spurred this entire conversation about procrastination and productivity.

It just goes to show: it's in the act of doing anything that further action is spurred.

My final, perhaps novel, piece of advice for increasing your productivity is to embrace your inability to focus completely. Just be sure to channel that energy into something that moves the needle on another project. Now, there will certainly be times when you need absolute, laser focus, and I may not be the guru for that, but for breaking inertia, give productive procrastination a try.