What I like best about Better Than Before is that it analyzes productivity through the lens of personality. Author Gretchen Rubin divides people into four “tendencies” based on whether or not they meet or resist inner and outer expectations. (She has an online quiz that further explains these and helps determine your tendency.) She poses a series of questions to guide you in beginning new habits and keeping established ones going. "We can build our habits only on the foundation of our own nature,” Rubin says.
Two pieces of concrete advice that especially suit creatives: schedule both playtime AND writing time. Waiting until work is done to have guilt-free downtime means (according to research she cited) you will be less likely to tackle the hard stuff. And scheduling your creative time allows you to relax when you’re not working, instead of letting “I should be writing” overshadow time away from the words.
In Better Than Before (the full title is Better Than Before: What I Learned about Making and Breaking Habits--To Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life), Rubin summarizes the need for good habits: “We can use decision making to choose the habits we want to form, we can use willpower to get the habit started; then—and this is the best part—we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. We take our hands off the wheel of decision, our foot off the gas of willpower, and rely on the cruise control of habits." If you’ve read about productivity before, the power of habits is not new, but her vivid explanation is a good reminder.
Two pieces of concrete advice that especially suit creatives: schedule both playtime AND writing time. Waiting until work is done to have guilt-free downtime means (according to research she cited) you will be less likely to tackle the hard stuff. And scheduling your creative time allows you to relax when you’re not working, instead of letting “I should be writing” overshadow time away from the words.
In Better Than Before (the full title is Better Than Before: What I Learned about Making and Breaking Habits--To Sleep More, Quit Sugar, Procrastinate Less, and Generally Build a Happier Life), Rubin summarizes the need for good habits: “We can use decision making to choose the habits we want to form, we can use willpower to get the habit started; then—and this is the best part—we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. We take our hands off the wheel of decision, our foot off the gas of willpower, and rely on the cruise control of habits." If you’ve read about productivity before, the power of habits is not new, but her vivid explanation is a good reminder.
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