Read time: 2.5 min.

I have a confession to make.

Last Wednesday, I wasted a record amount of time on my phone.

A total of 8 hours.

50% of the day.

Poof. Gone.

But it gets worse:

In those 8 hours, I didn’t even relax.

I was procrastinating on doing the work.

''Trying'' to be productive

I didn’t feel like sitting behind my laptop.

So I started scrolling in the name of ‘idea inspiration’.

It was a poor excuse that cost me 8 hours.

Out of frustration, I threw away the phone.

Stare at a wall

Before me was an empty, white wall.

I stared at it in disappointment.

0-2 minutes

It felt like a strange, uncomfortable, and pointless thing to do.

But somehow, I got drawn to the discomfort.

As if I had something to prove.

I saw an opportunity to challenge myself.

For the first two minutes, I thought:

’’I got this, it's just staring at a wall, how hard can it be?’’

But this didn’t take long.

2-5 minutes

After two minutes, my mind flipped the script.

I noticed lots of resistance.

• ’’This is utterly useless.’’

• ’’Why am I doing this?’’

• ’’I’ve got better things to do.’’

The last one actually made me laugh.

’’The reason you’re sitting here is because you won’t do the ’better things’, smartass’’ I said to myself.

5-10 minutes

5 minutes in, a huge shift occurred.

The moment of boredom transformed into a space of clarity.

Creativity ignited, and fun tasks were popping into mind like wildfire.

10-15 minutes

I felt motivated—ready to execute.

But I was still doing the staring challenge.

Not being allowed to act was painful.

Ironically, it exceeded the initial pain of taking action.

You’d rather do something than do nothing.

>15 minutes

When I passed the 15-minute mark, I realized something:

The challenge had reached its point.

I tricked my brain into wanting to do tasks it resisted doing in the first place.

I got up, opened my laptop, and started working with enthusiasm.

Mission accomplished.

Conclusion

I thought doing something was more productive than not doing something.

But I was wrong.

Staring at a wall is far more productive than aimlessly using electronics.

If you want to stop procrastinating:

1. Put away the distractions

2. Sit down on the ground

3. Stare at a wall

You basically don’t have to do anything.

That’s why it works.

I hope you got something out of this week’s edition.

See you again soon, friends.

Much love,

— Martijn