Book 2 Post 2 

The book I have continued to read is Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You by Dr. Ali Abdaal. As I mentioned in my previous post, Book 2 Post 1, I couldn't have asked for a better book at this time during midterms season. Moreover, being someone who prefers the visual medium more than reading (I blame TikTok for reducing our attention spans), I consequently started watching Dr. Abdaal's YouTube Channel to learn more about studying techniques etc. But what fascinated me the most was how does someone like Dr. Abdaal, who is a full-time doctor, create content on YouTube with several million subscribers? As one would expect, Dr. Abdaal probably works hundred-hour work weeks, and then potentially feel good after accomplishing what he wanted to. However, turns out that is not the case. As Dr. Abdaal put it, "Step 1: feel good. Step 2: do more of what matters to me". So rather than suffering and putting in the "grind" as most people suggest Dr. Abdaal found a method to make what he is doing fun. When he said that I was hooked, if someone can make excel fun for me, I'm all game!

The biggest takeaway from this book was that Dr. Abdaal discovered that feeling good while he worked, increased his productivity, which in turn increased his energy and creativity. Hence, being more energized and creative, increased his productivity. It was a virtuous cycle of productivity. So, the real question to ask was how can I activate this cycle of productivity and get out of cycle of procrastination which I feel I am currently part of? And it all comes back to asking yourself the question, "what would this look like if it were fun?" Dr. Abdaal recommended asking yourself this question again and again. In order to do this, you need to keep in mind the three feel good conditions:

1. Curiosity

2. Connection

3. Confidence 

Therefore, when you activate these 3 feel good switches, you then also activate your feel-good hormones: dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin and by doing this you fuel a highly productive fuel good work session. I feel like I've already given my 3 key takeaways, but another aspect that I particularly loved was the 3 P's (Play, Power and People). My particular favorite being Power because when one thinks of power they think of strength, but Dr. Abdaal means it in the sense of being able to control yourself, self-discipline is everything. All in all, I loved reading this book, and I'm glad I did.