Lesson: Decision Making & Happiness with Kevin Fishner

Step #5 Productivity: Learn how productivity correlates with discipline

Productivity is getting as much work done in the shortest amount of time proficiently. The way that I approach productivity is how can I limit my time as much as possible to get something done.

So this is an experience that happened a lot in college is that I would delay writing a paper or studying for a test until the last minute, as I'm sure many people did. So what I would do is limit the time I could write or limit the time that I could study to a four-hour period, and if I didn't get it done, I wouldn't get it done. It was very painful when I wouldn't be prepared for a test or I wouldn't finish a paper, but it taught me that use this four-hour block of time as efficiently as possible. So by limiting the window of work that you can actually get done, it's very motivational.

I get the most enjoyment and pleasure out of accomplishing things. whether that's learning a new skill or building a product, and I found the best way to do that is through discipline and productivity. So for me to be happiest, I need to be disciplined in order to get the reward of finishing a product.

It came out of pleasure seeking, which is what kind of most decision making is driven by from most humans. But the ability to take a step back, and say, “This is where I drive the most pleasure. How can I get to that point?” is why I wake up in the morning and think about those things. But being able to reflect on yourself from a higher level is a quality that's very hard to gain, but once you start it, and once you can get in that mentality, the benefits are very long lasting.

The relationship between discipline and pleasure seeking is understanding yourself well enough to say, "This is where I'm happiest, and how can I accomplish that?" It’s not discipline at that point, it's really working towards your happiness. If that happens to be through setting a schedule, that makes sense, but if it's through doing whatever you want at any time of day, then yeah, that works. For me, it’s, “These are the things I want to be working on, these are the things I know I have to do, so how can I schedule them together to make sure I accomplish it all?”