Productivity is not central for Happiness in the Game of Self and Success in the Game of Life. People with more Flows than Boxes have always productivity.
Every work process has creativity and implementation phases. So we can define productivity as creativity plus implementation. Implementation is a Left brain Structure. It’s the only time we need to create mental Boxes. Creativity is a Right brain Chaos. It can be stimulated by Flows – giving it space and Time to form and thrive. Boxes and Flows are like fire and ice and destroy each other in the short term. Implementation and creativity are in a constant fight within you.
We stimulate Flows and creativity if we remove enough Boxes and brain fragmenting distractions like Phone notifications and Social media scrolling. All structures are Boxes and will suppress your creativity. The only exception are Empty time slots – Boxes with no other Boxes inside create the space for Flows.
The current world makes great ideas more important than great Execution. But their generation is completely unpredictable. Creativity is a slow, chaotic and immeasurable Flow. You need Diversity of Experience – live dynamically, talk to smart and creative people, connect, engage, share, try as many different things as possible. Unfinished projects are a loss in the Game of Life but wins in the Game of Self as we prioritize the invisible – Intuition, creativity, Curiosity, Meaning. These precious Flows give us internally more.
Celebrating small wins is a way to abandon your Flows and Hunter mode just when you got the momentum. You don’t have many battles in life, you have one and it’s an infinite game, it’s never won or lost so there’s nothing to celebrate. Feeling good and joyful and having fun are great Flows, but a targeted celebration is a Box.
There is one critical Flow – the value of empty intellectual space, Stillness. It’s just the absence of thinking. Mental peace. Like sadness can be a healthy processing state on an emotional level, stillness is a healthy processing state on an intellectual level. In both states the brain turns off its tireless conscious prediction engine functionality, resulting in Boxes fading away and space for Flows being formed. Stillness can happen at any moment you are not stimulated.
Slowing your brain speed to near zero is great – you win in Flows and Intuition; Working at insane speed is also great as it helps your body get into Hunter mode and doing beats thinking; The mid-ground of getting some work done at half speed is a bad choice.
The brain has two neural pathways for Extrinsic and Intrinsic motivation. Dopamine is central to both. Extrinsic motivation is anything about avoiding pain (Sheep mode, Fear) and seeking pleasure (Hunter mode, reward). If you don’t know why you do it and it’s some joyful Flow experience, then it comes from Intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the sum of your Core Flows – Self-Love (destroys the Barriers within, you see yourself and your life experience as one whole), Unconditional love (destroys the barriers between you and other people), Meaning (destroys all other barriers in the world, seeing it as a whole), Responsibility (destroys all barriers between our values and taking action on them) and Growth / Scaling (destroys all barriers that slow us down on our mission). The core Flows generate secondary Flows such as Curiosity, Playfulness, Joy, Love for nature and creativity.
Neuroscience says that having extrinsic motivation will deplete all of the dopamine from the other circuit and make intrinsic motivation impossible. You can fix this problem if you construct your life in support of your core Flows and reduce as much Boxes as possible. This is why your productivity requires zero effort.
Productivity is creativity and execution. Intuition is needed for both. And Intuition needs Diversity of Experience and Chaos.
