Psyching yourself out

Open Loops: Your Central Nervous System: Your Biological Key to Productivity

Interesting article on ways to jumpstart your brain into action by changing something physical.

By mimicking the sympathetic reactions to a threatening environment (sitting up straight, standing, moving quickly, deeper breathing), it appears to be possible to activate the sympathetic system, which then takes over.  We are ready to act, or in our case, be productive.  We can also change our environment to one that causes the sympathetic system to activate, one that is more spartan, threatening, or simply uncomfortable.  The result?  We take action.  We are more productive.

This doesn’t surprise me a bit, and if it’s all true, it might confirm my hunch that sitting still and staring at a screen all day is a recipe for lethargy, lame thinking, and productivity inertia.

One trick that works for me is to unhook the sitting/desk/computer triad as a necessary combination for accomplishing what I need to do. On unproductive days, I try to shake myself away from even one piece of that combination: walk around, take the laptop to a coffee shop or—best of all—pretend that my time at the computer is very precious (instead of theoretically unlimited as it often is). Maybe play a mental game where I pretend I’m getting on a plane in 30 minutes, or some equivalent.

For some reason, changing just one or two factors about my approach, my setup, my assumptions, or my schedule—even if I know it’s just a self-imposed psych-out—can be just the jolt I need to get things happening.

Got a psych-out trick—physical or otherwise—that helps you get out of a productivity slump?

[Link: Lifehacker]