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How To Boost Productivity Without Apps

2020-06-17 · Long video (solo, talking head or whiteboard) · Ali · recording, 5:02 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Health, sleep and habits (also: Productivity and time) · mode: Explanation and tutorial · tags: Lesson from a book, Sponsor segment present

Drawing on Atomic Habits, Ali argues that environment more than motivation shapes habits and that friction is "the most powerful force in the universe": reduce it for good habits, add it for bad ones, as he does with his phone at night, his iPhone home screen and his guitar on the sofa.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Environment as the invisible hand; friction as an easier way than motivation or discipline

  • ★★ James Clear (quoted): In Atomic Habits James Clear says that environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behaviour. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Ali says that although motivation and discipline matter, the surrounding environment most determines whether the habits for a happier, healthier, more productive life are easy or hard to build and keep. — 00:00:00
  • ★★★ Ali says that to be more productive or build a healthy habit people think they need more motivation or discipline, but there is an easier way, which is all about the power of friction. — 00:00:29 · friction

00:00:58 — Friction, the gap between intention and action: reduce it for good habits, add it for bad ones

  • ★★★ Ali's pet theory is that friction is the most powerful force in the universe, and that environment design is one of the best ways to use its power. (overstated) — 00:00:58 · friction

    “friction is the most powerful force in the universe”

  • ★★★ Ali defines friction as the resistance between intention and action, such as meaning to practise the guitar and practising it: to encourage good habits, reduce friction; to discourage bad habits, increase it. — 00:00:58 · friction

00:01:27 — Sleep: the phone across the room, only a Kindle by the bed

  • ★★ Ali used to take his phone into bed and lie awake for hours browsing Instagram, watching YouTube videos or, now and then, replying to a message on Tinder. — 00:01:27
  • ★★★ After reading Atomic Habits and Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep, Ali began putting his phone across the room out of reach, and started sleeping better without phone time and blue light before bed. — 00:01:56 · Why We Sleep, Matthew Walker
  • ★ These days the only thing beside Ali's bed when he sleeps is his Kindle Paperwhite, with its brightness turned down to about 1%. — 00:01:56 · Kindle

00:02:12 — The iPhone home screen: useful apps first, infinity pools on the second screen

  • ★★★ Ali keeps only useful apps such as Notion, Drafts, Castro, Audible and Anki on his iPhone's first screen; Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and dating apps, the infinity pools, sit on the second screen. — 00:02:26 · friction, Notion, Audible, Anki

00:02:55 — Music: the guitar stationed on the sofa and half an hour of practice a day

  • ★★ His guitar used to stand across the living room, which Ali found too much friction; after rereading Atomic Habits for his Book Club video, he keeps it leaning on the sofa. — 00:02:55
  • ★★★ Moving the guitar's default position to the sofa, a slight reduction of friction, has meant Ali has practised guitar for about half an hour a day in the weeks since. — 00:03:24

00:03:39 — Brilliant sponsor read

  • ★★ Ali says that once we take in that friction is the most powerful force in the universe we can use it to build good habits and break bad ones, which is what James Clear's Atomic Habits is about. — 00:04:23 · friction

00:04:35 — Friction to build good habits and break bad ones; Atomic Habits and his Book Club video

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Atomic Habits · friction

Also: Anki · Audible · infinity pools · James Clear · Kindle · Matthew Walker · Notion · Why We Sleep

Replies to

  • refers to · Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results - Atomic Habits by James Clear (original, 2020, not in this wiki)

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