Have you ever picked up a book and found yourself nodding along, laughing out loud, and wanting to tell your friends about it?
Ali Abdaal is a technical guy at heart, but after a very frustrating year of work as an emergency room doctor, he decided to research the science behind not just getting stuff done but also having a good time while doing it. As he writes, “Positive emotions are the fuel that drives the engine of human flourishing.”
Abdaal is a doctor-turned-entrepreneur, YouTuber, and the author of Feel-Good Productivity, and he addresses how we decide what actions to take (or not take) and how to combat procrastination so we can have more fun getting things done. He organizes the book in three sections focused on energizing, unblocking, and sustaining. Each section offers practical tips, some fun and sometimes silly experiments to try, and the science behind it all.
The first section, “Energize,” is divided into three parts: play, power, and people. He challenges readers to consider the idea that seriousness is overrated, how the people around us influence our energy levels, and to understand where they fit on the “Motivation Spectrum.” Abdaal builds on the concepts of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation developed in the 1970s by psychologists Edward Deci, Ph.D., and Richard Ryan, Ph.D., encouraging readers to look for opportunities to use their own agency even in situations that feel out of their control by stating, “We have control even when we don’t know it.”
An idea in this section that resonated with me was the concept of the 8 Play Personalities. Here, he encourages the reader to ask, “What would this look like if it were fun?” I connected with this as a mother who often attempts to make chores fun for my children. It usually seems to work for them, so why had I not thought of that for myself? He also suggests we evaluate the people in our lives to determine who gives us energy and who are the “energy vampires” who suck the energy out of us.
The “Unblock” section focuses on overcoming procrastination. His theory is that uncertainty, fear, and inertia hinder our productivity, and by overcoming those, we will not only be more productive but also happier. Instead of using SMART goals, Abdaal suggests we try NICE goals — near-term, input-based, controllable, energizing — to focus on the journey rather than the final destination.
He reminds readers of the 10/10/10 rule, encouraging readers to ask if the problem at hand will be relevant in 10 minutes, 10 weeks, or 10 years, and then deal with it accordingly. As someone whose initial reaction to change is usually an overreaction, this tactic spoke to me. He reminds readers of Newton’s first law of motion and posits that simply finding the energy to get started is often all we really need to achieve results.
The final section, “Sustain,” builds on the strategies the reader has developed and seeks to maintain progress over time. He shares that the more he enjoyed what he was doing, the greater his risk of burnout became. To combat this, he offers the principle of “Do less, so that you can unlock more” by conserving energy for the things that matter most.
I resonated with his final tip, an experiment he called the “12-month Celebration.” Here, he suggests we convert dreams into actions by imagining a future celebration with friends discussing what we achieved in the last year in terms of relationships, health, and work, and then working actively to achieve them in the real world.
One of my future celebrations is reading more books like this. What’s yours? Tell us at swemag@swe.org.
