BOOK NOTES
As long-time subscribers know, Jim has written ‘Book Notes’ for years, parsing out pertinent pieces of information for thousands of leaders. His notes were never intended to replace reading a book, but to provide a flavor for why you should. Whether it’s applying proven research points or offering a story to introduce a new idea, Jim has taken key points from his readings to offer notes relevant to today’s education, business, or public sector leaders.
January 2026
Happy New Year! Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training in less than two weeks, so warm weather is not far behind that start. Dr. Ali Abdaal is the world’s most followed productivity expert. The medical doctor turned podcaster and YouTube star offers readers sound psychological principles, research studies, and prescriptions for becoming your best at things that matter the most to you in his book, “Feel-Good Productivity: How to Do More of What Matters to You.” He offers actionable steps and new ways of thinking that start with feeling good, generating energy, and boosting productivity in that order.
Ultimately, our days turn into tasks. But if we can create space for fun, curiosity, exploration, and play within those tasks we can be more productive. It’s an interesting and informative read that would be hard not to find personal relevance. Joy and work can be used in the same sentence if you apply some of Dr. Abdaal’s science-backed ideas. Have a great 2026! ~Jim
Positive emotions are the fuel that drives the engine of human flourishing, according to former surgeon turned productivity expert Ali Abdaal. It’s not just hustling harder. Positive emotions change how our brains operate. So, step one is feeling better. Step two is doing more of what matters to us. The truth is that feeling good boosts our energy. Why? Positive emotions are bound up with our feeling good hormones—endorphins, serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. They allow us to accomplish more when released.
Think of this as a virtuous cycle: when we feel good, we generate energy, which boosts our productivity. Productivity leads to feelings of achievement and feeling good all over again. Rinse and repeat. Consider these two experiments by Barbara Fredrickson. In the first research study participants were told they had one minute to prepare a public speech to be judged by peers. As expected, everyone’s stress and anxiety rose as measured by heart rate and blood pressure. Participants were then divided into 4 random groups to watch short films. Two groups watched films evoking mild positive emotions, a third neutral, and a final theme was sad. Participants who watched positive evoking films took much less time to return to baseline normal heart rate and blood pressure. The second one involved studying data from 275k people and published papers.
These studies and others offer this hard evidence: Success doesn’t lead to feeling good. Feeling good leads to success.
OWNERSHIP, CONFIDENCE, and CURIOSITY
Let’s start with several Nobel prize winners who attribute their success to play. It’s an energizer that makes things fun. Evidence and studies again confirm as we get older, our spirit of adventure declines. Those people who choose more adventurous experiences (even just trying a new coffee shop) feel happier, more excited, and more relaxed. Find ways to embrace your curiosity. It’s all about steps we take to enjoy the process. These energize us.
Consider this research question: how does our level of self-confidence affect our performance? Hint: A LOT. It turns out it’s not just our abilities that are important in human performance but also how we feel about our abilities. Believing is the first step to making sure you can. We aren’t born with confidence. We learn it and yes, even small acts of self-talk and self-motivation can improve performance. Be confident and of course, competent. We can even boost confidence by showing others doing the task you are about to undertake. If they can, so can you. It’s why learning by doing is so powerful. We learn. We level up our skills. Our confidence grows.
Think of what motivates people to do hard things. For many years, researchers thought motivation was driven solely by incentives like rewards and punishments. But two psychologists (Ryan and Deci) added motivation theory in the 70’s and 80’s. They added self-determination theory to extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on a sliding scale. Their self-determination theory suggested intrinsic motivation can be far more powerful in getting us to do hard things. In fact, lasting motivation comes from within. We enhance intrinsic motivation with autonomy. Creating a sense of ownership. Giving people a sense of control. Even when you can’t control the situation, you might control the process. CHOOSE TO is powerful in our lives.
PEOPLE
There are people who fill you with energy and then there are the energy vampires who leave you drained and exhausted. Relational energy is real and interactions with others can have a profound impact on our mood. Studies suggest those that improve our mood make us more productive. Feeling you are part of a team can make you more motivated to take on challenges. People who feel in sync want to help each other and themselves. Again, research confirms when we help others, our brain releases chemicals that create a natural high. That’s why asking for help can be a gift to people. Here’s a little research hint: when seeking help, in person asks are 34 times more effective.
When you treat people more as comrades than simply competitors, overcommunicate with others, and build connections through lending a hand—people become another energizer for productivity. It’s okay to seek clarity from others (commander’s intent in military parlance) helping to identify the purpose behind the fog of uncertainty. It helps to cross emotional barriers for those who really dislike uncertainty.
Fear often holds people back in productivity. The first step to overcoming fear is to identify it. It’s putting your feelings into words. Failure can hold fear over us for a long time. For example, you fail one test and think you are an academic failure or get rejected by someone you like and think you aren’t lovable. Abdaal offers this 10:10:10 rule. Whatever the failure—will it matter in 10 minutes, 10 weeks, 10 years? It helps to get perspectives over fears.
We also tend to grossly overestimate the degree to which people are thinking or will think about our failure or what is holding us back. The truth is most aren’t thinking about us at all. A mindset of “no one cares” can be freeing.
Abdaal identifies three blockers that makes us not get started. Uncertainty, fear, and now the last one—inertia. It takes more energy to get started than it does to sustain something. Just take the first step. Track your progress. Find an accountability partner. These can help squash inertia. The best antidote to doing nothing is to do something.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Sometimes to sustain productivity we need to conserve and do less. Think about basketball star LeBron James who is now in his 20+ years in the NBA. Athletes in this field last for an average of 4.5 years. He conserves energy on the court by walking more than any other player in the league. Steve Jobs famously described…focus not on what you just pay attention to but also to what you say no to. If you had your own energy investment portfolio, what would you say yes to and no to? Your active investments would be related to your dreams, hopes, and ambitions. You want to be able to say….hell, yes…to things that matter. If you can’t, reconsider requests that leave you overcommitted.
Another simple sustainability strategy is to take a break between two tasks that require focus and self-control. That’s why breaks aren’t a treat…they are necessities. Allow some time for recharging, serendipity, and joy. Resist turning hobbies into work. Bask in the natural world because nature replenishes our cognitive abilities and energy. Simply going for a walk is powerful to recharging.
Transformation occurs for people when you work out what really matters to you and align your behavior to match it. You can find that by really thinking about your long-term horizons. Or the just the next year. What steps are you taking today that will get you a little closer to the life you want to live in the future?
Productivity isn’t about discipline. It’s about doing more of what makes you feel happier, less stressed, and more energized. Have an experimental mindset that allows you to learn your own lessons for productivity.
Publisher: Celadon Books, New York City, NY, 2023