⭐ Life OS w/ Ali Abdaal - Day 1

Hello Friend 👋

Yesterday's Life Operating System session with Ali Abdaal was nothing short of transformative.

In just two hours, we delved deep into the heart of productivity, peeling back the layers to reveal the core of what propels us forward.

And today, I'm thrilled to share those insights with you. 🚀

Productivity is personal. Deeply personal. What works for one may flop for another. The secret? Focus. Not hacks, not multitasking, but real, deep focus.

Picture a boat filling with water - those minor tasks and admin work. You bail and bail, but you're not really going anywhere. Treading water.

True progress means sitting down and focusing intently on one meaningful thing.

For at least 30 minutes. Uninterrupted.

At least, that's when I actually get something done. It takes a little time to get into flow; it doesn't happen at the push of a button.

More time doesn't equal more progress, though. One focused hour beats eight distracted ones, hands down. No contest.

So, how do you stay focused that long? ⚡

Maybe enjoyment is the key.

When you're loving the journey, you're not draining your energy muscling your way to the finish line. Sustainable progress.

Enjoyment = Efficiency

Enjoyment is the best metric for efficiency.

Most people think that getting things done quickly is efficient, but a fast car is not always the most efficient car. The way you know that it took the least amount of energy to get things done is how much you enjoyed it.

— Joe Hudson (@FU_joehudson) July 16, 2024

Joe Hudson mentioned a company where employees rated every meeting from a scale of one to five.

Five = 💯Enjoyment.

Zero = No enjoyment.

If a meeting wasn't a 5, you had to write what could be improved. And that was the key to success. Meetings were improved and employees once again enjoyed attending them. It's hard to believe that this can also be applied to companies. ;)

Tracking your focused minutes could be game-changing.

As Grace Hopper said:

"One accurate measurement is worth 1000 expert opinions."

Even if you struggle with focus, even if you're neurodivergent, focus is a muscle you can train.

Strengthen. 💪

Improve. 📈

In the post 🧪 Productivity Lab Journey: Focusing on Focus, I write more about focus and the framework we used in Ali Abdaal's Productivity Lab. It's a framework I still use today.

But here's the catch.

You could be the most efficient, productive person in the world, but if you're aiming at the wrong target, what's the point?

Misguided efforts. 😩

Wasted potential. 🦝

That's where your North Star comes in — your life vision, lighting the way. 🔦

Exercises we did for the Life Compass:

My Eulogy

Bucket List Prompt

Mission Prompt

Success Prompt

I found some excellent resources and exercises on mybestself101 that I would like to use to further explore my values and long-term-goals. Interestingly, I found the exercise about my funeral quite difficult, but I can imagine it better if I am not dead, but stranded on a desert island:

Your Mistakenly Held Funeral (Adapted from Act Made Simple (2nd Ed), Harris, 20XX, p. 219)

“Imagine that you’re a bit like Tom Hanks’s character in the movie Castaway. You’re on a place that crashes in the ocean, and you’re completely unharmed, but you get stranded on a deserted island in the middle of the sea. Meanwhile, back home, everyone thinks you’re dead, and they hold a funeral. A few weeks later, you get rescued, and you fly home to a happy reunion. Sometime later, you get to watch a video of that funeral. As you’re watching it, you see someone you love very much (perhaps your parent, partner, child or best friend) walk up to the microphone at the front of the funeral parlor, and start talking about you. What would you love to hear that person saying about the sort of person you were? What about your strengths and qualities? What about the way you treated them?” (p. 219)."

They're all just fingers pointing to that unchanging, guiding light. Your true north. So set your sights on what really matters.

It's really about getting in touch with what you truly want. Not what others want for you, but what you feel you want.

Let your North Star be your anchor. Your beacon.

And enjoy the journey.

Because at the end of the day, that's what productivity is all about - making the most of this one wild and precious life. Your life.

So as you navigate your own productivity journey, remember - focus on what sets your world alight. Measure your progress. Revel in the ride. And always, always keep your North Star in sight. ⭐

But the insights don't stop here. 🤯

In our next newsletter, we'll dive into the game-changing world of personalized menus:

• your Activation menu to kick procrastination to the curb,
• your Reactivation menu to snap out of distraction, and
• your Recharge menu to refuel after a focused session.

These customized tools are your secret weapons to conquer the productivity landscape. So stay tuned!

Have a meaningful week,

Lukas 😊

Quotes from Ali Abdaal, Session 1 of LifeOS

"Productivity is a deeply personal thing... Something that works for me might not work for you."

"Everything you want is on the other side of being able to sit down and focus on one thing for an extended period of time."

"Admin and random tasks are like water landing on your boat - if you don't bail it out, you'll drown in overwhelm. But these tasks don't move you forward. Forward motion comes from sitting down and focusing on one important thing for an extended period of time."

"One focused hour can beat eight scattered ones."

"When you're enjoying the journey, you're not wasting energy white-knuckling your way to try and achieve some outcome."

"The more enjoyment you're having, the less you have to worry about discipline, and the less you have to worry about running out of energy."

"If the only change you made to your life was to consistently track your focus minutes, you'd probably double your productivity."

"One accurate measurement is worth 1000 expert opinions." - Grace Hopper

"A lot of people use the label of a diagnosis as a reason to have a fixed mindset... I've got ADHD, therefore I can never focus. And all the studies show that no - I've got ADHD, therefore I struggle more than most people to focus, but I can also work on it."

"Focus is, in many ways, a muscle that can be trained whatever situation, whatever life situation you're in, whatever however neurodivergent you are."

"There is nothing more sad than someone who's super efficient and super productive, but who spends years working towards something only to realize that they were actually working towards the wrong things after all."

Videos to help you find your life vision

Read more in my LifeOS series w/ Ali Abdaal:

🚀 Life OS w/ Ali Abdaal Day 1 - Pt. 2

Introducing 3 menus guiding you toward instant solutions whenever you feel procrastination creeping in, notice your focus slipping, energy fading

neurohackinglyLukas