Morning, CEO!
I used to have a very sophisticated productivity strategy.
It was called “Suffering.”
I assumed that if I wasn’t slightly miserable, sleep-deprived, and fueled entirely by panic and stale coffee, I wasn’t actually working. I treated my own brain like a rental car I bought the extra insurance for—I drove it into the ground.
Then I read Feel-Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal.
It turns out, I had the equation backward. Success doesn’t lead to happiness. Happiness is actually the fuel that gets you to success.
1. The “Misery Tax” is a Scam
Here is the lie we tell ourselves: Success leads to Happiness.
We think life is a video game where we have to crawl through a sewer of stress for 50 levels, and only when we beat the Final Boss (Promotion/Exit/Retirement) do we get the “Happiness” power-up.
Ali Abdaal, a doctor-turned-YouTuber (who is annoyingly younger and more successful than me), looked at the medical data and realized we have the arrow pointing the wrong way.
Happiness leads to Success.
Biologically, this isn’t just “live, laugh, love” poster nonsense. It’s chemistry.
When I’m stressed, my brain floods with cortisol. This gives me “tunnel vision.” It’s great if I’m running from a bear. It is terrible if I’m trying to solve a complex AI architecture problem or negotiate a contract. My brain literally shuts down the “creative problem solving” department to focus on the “don’t die” department.
But when we feel good—even just a little bit—we get a hit of dopamine.
Dopamine doesn’t just make you smile. It makes you smarter. It expands your cognitive field of view.
For years, I treated my happiness like a reward I could only unlock after I finished my work. But the science says happiness is the fuel required to do the work in the first place.
I’ve been trying to drive a car with no gas, screaming at it to move because I promised it a car wash later.
2. Stop Working, Start Larping
Okay, so we need to “feel good” to work well. But my work is sometimes boring.
I spend hours trapped in the infinite loop of answering Slack messages. It’s hard to feel “in the flow” when I’m effectively being my own overworked executive assistant.
The solution? Roleplay.
Remember when you were seven? You didn’t “walk to the kitchen to get a juice box.” You were an Intergalactic Ranger traversing the Wasteland to secure the Elixir of Life.
Somewhere along the line, we decided that “being professional” meant “being boring.”
Abdaal suggests gamifying your life by picking a character.
If I sit down as “Hannah,” I spend the whole time rolling my eyes at a feature request that is clearly just a buzzword salad.
But if I sit down as “The Intergalactic Mercenary,” a gun-for-hire who doesn’t ask questions as long as the credits transfer? Suddenly, I don’t care if the mission makes sense. I just care about executing the contract with ruthless efficiency.
If you have to do a boring competitor analysis, don’t be a Researcher. Be a Spy. You are gathering intel behind enemy lines. The stakes are high. The background music needs to be intense.
I tried this last week. I had to write a very dry documentation file. I decided to roleplay as a Wise Historian leaving records for future generations (my future self, who usually forgets how the code works).
I ended up writing the best documentation of my life, and I actually giggled while doing it.
The machine (AI) can do the task. Only you can create the adventure around the task.
3. The 12-Month Party
I love a good 5-Year Plan.
I make them constantly. I sit down, map out my empire, visualize Tahiti, and plan my AI Breakthrough Awards acceptance speech.
Then reality hits. I remember that yesterday I had to Google “how to spell ‘guarantee’” and I lose all hope. The “Tahiti Me” feels like a different species entirely. The climb looks so exhausting that my brain decides the safest survival strategy is to lie on the floor and nap.
This is the problem with long-term vision: It’s intimidating.
Abdaal suggests shrinking the timeline. Forget the 5-year plan. Try the 12-Month Celebration.
Imagine it is December 2026. You are out to dinner with your best friend. You are buying the expensive wine. What are the three specific things you are celebrating?
Maybe you finally launched that side project.
Maybe you can do a pull-up (a girl can dream).
Maybe you fixed your sleep schedule.
This pulls the goal out of the nebulous future and puts it right in front of your face.
But here is the trick: You have to shrink it again.
The human brain (especially my brain) behaves like a toddler. If you tell it to “Build a Business,” it throws a tantrum. It’s too hard.
But if you tell it to “Send three emails,” it says, “Okay, I can do that. Then can we have a snack?”
Motivation isn’t a lightning bolt that strikes you from the heavens.
Motivation is a byproduct of action. You do a small, non-scary thing (send the email), you get a little hit of dopamine (good job, monkey!), and that gives you the fuel to do the next thing.
Stop looking at the summit of Everest. Just look at your boots. Take one step. Then another.
To summarize:
Stop paying the Misery Tax. Suffering doesn’t make the work better; it makes your brain slower.
Gamify the boring stuff. Be a Spy, a Wizard, or a Commander. Reality is negotiable.
Look at your boots. Stop staring at the summit of Everest. Just take one step. Then do it again.
The year is almost over. Don’t grind your way to the finish line.
Go play.
Links:
https://aliabdaal.com
https://www.amazon.com/Feel-Good-Productivity-More-What-Matters/dp/1250865034
