What Can Shoe Sizing Teach You About Learning and Productivity?
Quite a lot, apparently.
When you try very hard — with all your heart — to run away from unproductivity, you end up embracing it.
It’s ironic, isn’t it?
It may sound silly, but I’ve learned this the hard way.
In this article, I’m going to tell you how I’ve made small changes to the way I plan out my productivity.
A little bit of wiggle room can make it easier to stick the landing.
No blisters today, sneakers.
Tight shoes rub against your heels and give you blisters. Everyone knows that.
To avoid this, you want shoes that fit but are just a teeny bit loose.
A thumb width of looseness is all you need when it comes to shoe sizing, to avoid blisters.
A single day of grace is all you need for your learning and reading goals, to help you stay on track.
What do I mean by this?
I currently split my time outside of school/work between writing, reading, and learning Spanish.
Some days are very productive, others not so much.
And I noticed a strange trend.
When one day doesn’t go according as planned, it has a domino effect on the following days.
Once I miss a day of writing, it becomes a lot harder to get myself to write the next day.
And the next day.
And…well, you get the idea.
The feeling of disappointment in myself that comes from failing to check the boxes on just a single day ends up derailing my productivity even further.
But what if missing a day was part of the plan?
Instead of writing out productivity goals this way:
I decided to try this instead:
The goals are written to allow me to skip one day and still be motivated to make up for it because I have an overall weekly aim.
It’s that thumb’s width of looseness I needed.
It’s just like having a cheat day when you’re on a diet.
Or even Duolingo’s streak freeze, that allows you to miss one or two days without losing your streak.
It goes a long way.
Some days are slower than others.
And productivity comes in irregular spurts.
If you can, why not let yourself do more on the days you’re able to?
That way, you don’t get discouraged by guilt on the days you need an extra half hour of sleep.
How does that sound?
I write about purposeful and productive self-directed learning.
In May, I will begin a free newsletter series called “Autodidact Trails,” where I write about how to learn anything effectively and productively on your own terms.
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