Do you know this feeling?

You’re going to bed in the evening and you have a whole day planned of stuff you want to get done the following day.

You’re excited, you go to bed with a smile on your face.

(But there’s that little lingering thought of doubt - but you push it aside and tell yourself that tomorrow will be different)

You wake up in the morning, make your coffee….

You sit down at your work station, staring at the blank screen, and you remember how hard it is to come up with something.

And then you watch a YouTube clip - Just a short one, you tell yourself - Just to get going with the day, before you start your work.

And before you know it, an hour has gone by. By this point, you’re telling yourself “Well I spent an hour procrastinating, I might as well finish these videos I have lined up, and THEN I can be productive after!”

The problem is that there’s always going to be another video. There’s always going to be another mission in a video game. You’re never “done” procrastinating.

What you could have been…

At the end of the day you didn’t get as much done as you wanted. Stack up these days too much and you’re looking at lost productivity - which in the end leads to a less fulfilling life.

(You didn’t get all you wanted done - and so didn’t produce what you are here to do)

Lost revenue, burnout, and lost opportunities are all consequences of procrastination.

So what’s going on here?

If we know all these things are the consequences of procrastination - why do we still waste time on YouTube when we’re supposed to work?

(by the way, we’re not talking about having time off - please carve out time for rest and relaxation - we’re talking about the times you’re supposed to work but can’t get yourself to do it)

The big problem of course, is that your dopamine reward system has convinced you that in this moment it’s more fun to watch videos than it is sitting down and doing your work.

We can define dopamine reward as the dopamine surge in your brain of an action subtracted by the cost of effort to do that same action.

If the dopamine reward doesn’t meet a certain threshold, your brain is going to make a calculation and determine that it’s not worth it to do the work.

You see, the problem is that our brain has evolved to optimize for the current moment, because if you got eaten by a tiger now, it doesn’t really matter that you’re saving your energy for tomorrow.

In modern society, there’s no impending danger of getting eaten by a tiger in most moments, but our brain doesn’t understand that it makes sense to think long term.

The consequence is that you’re not being productive because there’s a bigger dopamine reward in THIS MOMENT and you’re not enjoying yourself when you actually do sit down to get it done.

The solution? Turn your work into a game and convince your brain that there’s going to be a big dopamine reward from working.

Use your habit of procrastination to your advantage

If we can find a way to turn our work into a game you’re essentially hijacking your brain’s reward system to seek out novelty to do work instead of wasting time.

Our brains are wired to seek novelty and quick dopamine rewards - that’s why social media and video games are so addicting.

Social media companies and video game developers have figured out how to constantly reward our brains at specific intervals to keep us hooked.

The good news is that we can turn this on its head and make our brain addicted to work instead.

By making our work fun again, we’ll be more productive, make better stuff, and avoid burnout. And as a bonus the work will feel like play.

Again, the trick is to turn this addiction onto stuff that’s actually good for you.

Dopamine fasting (quitting or taking a break from social media, video games, and fast food) can help with this by making other things fun again.

Sometimes work is just flowing and you’re flying through your work. Enjoying yourself and producing your work. If this is happening, just work, there’s no need to stop and cram your work into a structure or framework.

But that doesn’t really help us in the moment we’re facing some sort of writer’s block or need to break out of binge-watching something on YouTube.

Here’s some tips to get you going the next time you’re facing some sort of writer’s block or procrastination:

1. Tackle your work from another angle

Ditch your templates, get rid of your routines and try attacking your work in a new way - don’t worry, just as an experiment.

Always write melodies on piano or with a violin vst? Try coming up with a melody that works well on clarinet or guitar. Always write your short stories from first person perspective? Try writing a monologue where every sentence starts with the word “you”.

Get creative, think outside the box and find what works for you - just be careful not to get stuck in this tactic either :)

2. Reconnect with what made it fun

Do you remember back when you started? What made you get into your art? You did it because it was fun. It didn’t matter how good it was. You did it for the intrinsic value of just doing it.

Do you remember the moment? Was it watching a concert with your favorite band? Was it finding a specific piece of art or watching a movie maybe?

If you can pinpoint what it was that inspired you, an amazing way to make your work fun again, is to go back and reconnect with that thing.

3. Limitation leads to expansion

Can you write a theme using only two notes? Can you make a video with no spoken words? Can you make painting with only cold colors?

Start with a limitation to get an idea, it can often be liberating and get you going. If the piece then calls for you to add other things, go nuts.

But, as an exercise when stuck, try limitation.

4. Get inspired by something great in your domain

One of the things that inspires me to make music like nothing else is to go and listen to music from other artists that really moves me.

A favorite tactic of mine when I’m facing writer’s block with my music is to
1. Think about what I want to create
2. Make a playlist of 15-20 songs that are in the genre and mood of what I want to create
3. Go for walk for 30-60 minutes and listen to the music

Every time I do this, I get the opposite problem - I now have too many ideas, and I want to do them all!

If you don’t make music, think about how you can adapt the above to your art. Do this and tell me you don’t have any ideas.

(Note: There’s a difference between being inspired by a piece of work and plagiarizing. Read this thread on X for examples on how to do this ethically: https://twitter.com/DMoreauHimself/status/1787453657178333672)

5. Get inspired by other types of art

Sometimes the biggest catalyst for real inspiration is to find something that brings another perspective on reality. In my opinion, that’s what art in essence is. Something that makes you question reality or gives you another perspective on life.

Read an old myth and make music from it - what does a horse molded from metal sound like?

Listen to music and make a painting - what does the feeling you get listening to your favorite artist look like on a canvas?

Look at a painting that moves you - how can your interpretation of the message be turned into the same message in video form?

This method can get a lot of thoughts going and inspire you to make something truly unique but you’re still piggybacking off of something tangible and not just coming up with something from nothing.

That’s it for this week.

Try one of these tactics next time you’re facing writer’s block and let me know how it goes.

We got this.

Dan