11 lazy habits that actually make you more productive than most

I made productivity harder than it needed to be for a long time.

I measured my success by how frazzled I was at the end of each day.

But over the years, I learned there’s an art to doing things in a way that doesn’t feel like a constant uphill grind.

Here are eleven ‘lazy’ habits that can make you more productive:

1. Keep your daily to-do list short.

Knocking off twenty things each day doesn’t necessarily make you productive. You just did more stuff.

What’s key is picking the 1–3 absolute highest priority things you need to do today based on your broader objectives.

Being productive is about doing more of the right things, not merely more.

That way, you get to do less and make more impact.

2. Start with a little motion.

Don’t sit around waiting to feel inspired; you’ll waste time overthinking.

Movement solves that.

Do something physical. Go for a short walk first thing. Clean the kitchen for five minutes. Tidy that messy excuse for a desk.

Movement primes your brain for more effective focus.

3. Understand the most potent productivity hack in the book.

What’s that, you ask?

Doing one thing at a time with enjoyment.

This was a game-changer for me.

It’s tempting to try and do several things at once and just grind through it.

Then I learned something amazing. You get to choose whether you enjoy something or not. No matter what that thing is. It can be doing your accounts or writing a story.

How to enjoy it?

Be present with the thing and slow down. Make everything a delicate craft.

One thing at a time puts you ahead.

4. Disappear occasionally.

I’m the kind of guy who says he’ll take a break or holiday but spends half the time away working.

That’s not a true break. Your brain sometimes (every few months or so) needs a total pattern interrupt.

Take a solid break. Five days or more of completely disconnecting.

This isn’t being lazy if you’re fueling the next phase of creative power.

5. Ignore your mood until it improves.

People get too wrapped up trying to ‘fix’ how they feel.

They think that, in order to work, they must feel motivated. Nah.

You’re allowed to feel flat when you start. It’s the doing that fills up your motivation tank.

6. Start the day with something you want to do.

Before the world throws demands at you, take 30 minutes for yourself.

Write, sketch, cook, read, wander about, gyrate to some filthy German techno.

You’re demonstrating to yourself that you’re in charge and not at the mercy of other people’s demands.

You become effortlessly productive when you lead with a genuine sense of ownership.

7. Walk away when it’s not flowing.

Your output doesn’t care that you stared at your screen or procrastinated for four hours.

If things aren’t jibing, get up and go for a walk, meditate or do something completely different.

Give your brain a chance to reset behind the scenes. It often takes a short reset to help you get back into it.

8. Quit the stuff you don’t care about.

I get it. Sometimes you can’t just quit.

But there may well be a few things you do out of a sense of obligation that can be outsourced, or simply put to an end.

Take stock of what drains your energy. What are the top three offenders?

Cut that stuff out. Focus on the small handful of things that matter and that jazz you up.

You’re not noble if you do things that drain your energy.

9. Give yourself regular, shorter breaks.

Many of us spend too long in our seats brute-forcing it, thinking we’re doing more.

Then we end up crashing on the sofa for two hours or more.

Replace infrequent long breaks in the day with more frequent short breaks.

Just make sure you get back to work, which is easier if you’re continually re-charging for short bursts throughout the day.

10. Turn ‘work’ into play.

You can be more productive if you stop pretending everything has to be serious.

Find an environment that honours your craft. Dance in your seat. Turn a task into a game. Do 30-day challenges. Work in timed bursts with mini-rewards. Explore the edges of your ideas and combine seemingly disparate ones.

If something’s dull, ask: how can I make this interesting (or fun)?

Relocate your inner child, who is dying to help you play your way to success.

11. Steal time from a noisy world.

You don’t owe everyone your constant availability.

Be more selfish with time spent on the things that matter. Lazy-smart people know how to go offline.

They protect their mornings.

They make the most important stuff non-negotiable, so it gets attention first, not last.

Put your damn phone in a drawer when you need to work.

The world will wait.

As it should, because you’re creating remarkable things.

—

If this connected with you, I think you’ll love Untethered Mind.

This course will help you master your emotions quickly, helping you be more productive because you’ll have fewer nagging thoughts that block you.

Bianca said this about the course:

“Give yourself the gift of the Untethered Mind course. It is much more than worth it. The best investment/gift I gave myself in 2024. 200% recommend it.”

👉 Learn more here.

— Alex

—