So for a while now I have been consumed by a single idea:
“If I could actually stick to one thing for 365 days, could I achieve the success I hoped for?”
Instead of getting distracted. Instead of giving up. Instead of deciding that I actually ‘want‘ to do something completely different – I stuck to it, I was consistent and at the end, maybe, just maybe, I got somewhere close to that dream that inspired me.
Imagine that! Me, the serial quitter, the person with a new idea/dream every week. Imagine that I was actually able to see something through until the end.
Well, if this at all resonates with you? Maybe this project might just be something you’d be interested in?
Who Am I?
My name is Darrell, I’m 33 and live in the UK with my wife and 19-month old daughter. At the beginning of this year, I quit my job as an insect scientist with no plan, so I figure out what I want to do with my life? 6-months later and with our life savings severely diminished, I am still working on that… but I’ve learned a lot along the way.
For the longest time have been obsessed with productivity and accelerated learning. Devouring books, articles, and videos concerning the subjects. But importantly, and probably because of my background in science, I believe that application and experimentation is the only way to test whether or not those ideas work.
This is why I am taking on this project. I want to know if I can leverage all the tips, tricks hacks, systems, mindsets, and principles I have learned, to see if they can actually help fulfill a dream I have had since I was a boy. To make my own video games.
I have no idea if I will pull it off….
There are going to be ups and downs, failures and successes but most importantly there are going to be a lot of lessons learned. Lessons that I hope others can learn from.
Feel free to follow along on my blog, or over on my Youtube channelwhere I will be updating you on my progress every week.
So here goes…
This is Game Dev in 1 year! {starting July 1st 2021}
Almost anyone interested in productivity has probably heard of Atomic Habits by James Clear and Getting things done by David Allan.
And rightly so! These books are amazing and if this post was about two of my favourite popular productivity books, they would be top of my list.
The problem is that there are some ‘*lesser known’ productivity books out there that perhaps get overlooked. These books don’t get the love and attention they deserve but offer some really solid advice.
So in this post, I am going to share 3 of my favourite but lesser-known* productivity books and how they have really helped me.
*based on my opinion and their number of Goodreads & amazon reviews when compared to the popular productivity books. E.g. Atomic Habits, Getting Things Done, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
This book is for anyone who struggles to get started, and at fewer than 100 pages its a very lightweight read.
The main premise is that motivation is an unreliable strategy for building consistent habits and instead we should be using willpower.
I know, some of you might be thinking that you struggle with willpower as much as you struggle with motivation.
Well, the author’s answer is to reduce the amount of willpower you need for any given habit, by turning it into a ‘Stupid Small’ version. AKA a ” Mini Habit.
Some examples are: Doing 1 push up rather than a full workout or writing 50 words instead of trying to write a whole blog post, chapter etc.
But aren’t these a bit pointless? Well, that’s kind of the point. These actions are stupid small and so feel pointless. This means your brain doesn’t create lots of excuses not to do them. It can’t convince you that you don’t have enough: time, energy or willpower because the actions are so small. If you don’t buy it. Then stop what your doing and do 1 push-up now. … seriously.
The important catch is that once you get down to do one push up or sit at your desk to write 50-words, you actually find that you don’t mind doing a bit more. In fact, once we have started something it’s often easier to keep doing the same thing.
The funny thing is, these mini-habits are really just the first few actions in those bigger perhaps more ‘meaningful’ habits. One push-up is the beginner of a workout routine, and sitting down to write 50-words is the beginning of writing 1000.
But now you have almost tricked your brain into getting started.
The book is packed full of the science of motivation and willpower as well as lots of useful ‘Mini-Habits to get you going.
Ok so I’m cheating with this one, technically this isn’t a productivity book. But rather a book on how to learn languages. However, it is full of lots of productivity advice and is a great example of how to apply them to a given subject.
Language enthusiast and polyglots will be familiar with a lot of these techniques.
This book first introduced me to one of my favourite productivity tools for learning – Anki. Anki is freely downloadable Spaced Repetition Software It allows you to create flashcards, that intelligently turn up in your deck based on how often you get them right or wrong.
It’s an awesome tool for subjects that are heavy on memorisation and is a firm favourite of language, medicine and law students
This book also opening my mind up to the fact that they were alternatives and maybe even better ways to learn traditional subjects, like languages.
For years, I had tried to learn languages through evening courses, podcasts and apps but nothing stuck.
Back in 2017 in preparation for a trip to Japan, It helped me learn passable Japanese in just three months and I had fun
Sadly, today I forgotten a lot of it because I just don’t use it.
But when the opportunity to travel to japan comes around again, I can simply find my old flashcard deck and start learning.
I think this a great read and has a lot to offer, even if you not interested in learning a language.
The book is even just worth it for the amazing Foreword By James Clear, author of Atomic habits. James manages to pack in a ridiculous amount of wisdom. In just a few pages – honestly, that dude is crazy good at writing.
Summary
So those were my three favourite ‘lesser-known’ productivity books.
Let me know in the comments if you have read any of these and you also liked them. or if you have any suggestions of productivity books that perhaps don’t get the attention they deserve.
