Productivity: Do it weird. Do it messily.

Written By Tanya Geddes

Tired of productivity tips that don’t work? Ditch the formulas and embrace weird ways of moving forward. Our brains, especially neurodiverse ones (or perfectionistic ones, like mine), seek novelty, fun, and dopamine hits. So start stupidly small and experiment with what works for you. Let’s explore more ideas (31.5.25).

Have you noticed that when work feels like fun, it’s easier to get more done? That's your brain working with you, not against you. Our brains actually like newness. This "novelty seeking" is deeply rooted in our neurobiology, directly linked to dopamine (a brain chemical or neurotransmitter that plays a role in motivation, pleasure, and reward, influencing our drive to seek new experiences and learn).

How your brain loves novelty

  • The Dopamine Spark: When you try something new, your brain releases dopamine, a reward chemical that makes you want to explore and learn more. It's why fresh approaches feel so motivating.

  • Boosted Learning & Memory: Novelty helps your brain learn and remember better. New experiences can put your mind into a "learning mode," making it easier to absorb information.

  • Our Built-In Curiosity: Humans are wired for exploration. This natural drive for discovery, also linked to dopamine, pushes us to seek out new experiences and embrace uncertainty to stretch ourselves.

How to apply this to productivity

Refresh your flow and focus by experimenting with doing things messily. To jumpstart productivity, you don’t need perfect systems. Lean into your brain’s need for newness by experimenting, being weird, doing things backwards - whatever works. These are a few ideas.


(1) Break it up

  • Try: If you’re writing a book, instead of one chapter at a time, try breaking it up - write titles, brainstorm ideas, find a song that inspires you.

  • Embodied action: Imagine being confident that you can get everything done in fun ways. How much lighter do you feel?

  • Afformation: How easy is it to override anxiety by breaking down a task?

(2) Start in the middle of a task

  • Try: Don't feel obligated to begin at step one if step three feels more accessible.

  • Embodied action: When perfectionism urges you to start "correctly," take a deep breath and imagine being in process, then getting the task done.

  • Afformation: How many ways can I start faster today?

    (3) 2-minute tasks

  • Try: Give yourself 2 minutes to do something. If it’s not done, give yourself permission to stop.

  • Embodied action: Add points of touch in what you do. Reach for the pen. Drink water. Stretch.

  • Afformation: How can I add some urgency into my day?

    (4) Lazy breaks

  • Try: Give yourself permission to take a few lazy breaks. You can do nothing or simply just pause.

  • Embodied action: Allow yourself to be lazy without any guilt. If guilt comes up see where it is in your body before fading.

  • Afformation: What if you just let yourself be lazy and enjoyed it, instead of feeling guilty?

(5) Talk to yourself

  • Try: When you don’t want to do something talk openly to yourself: “I will open this document,” before doing so.

  • Embodied action: As you say what you’ll do, clench your fish and release, easing your stress.

  • Afformation: "What simple action can I take right now?"

(6) The messy first draft

  • Try: Give yourself time to be creative. Maybe it’s morning journalling or knitting, or drawing. It doesn’t need to be long. 5-10 minutes can jumpstart new ideas.

  • Embodied action: Put creative ideas in a journal and feel how light it feels to brain dump.

  • Afformation: When can I brain dump today?

(8) Stupidly small actions

  • Try: Break big projects into ridiculously small pieces: "Open document," "type one sentence," "save file."

  • Embodied Action: After completing one tiny step, give yourself a small, internal nod or a subtle finger tap. Feel the micro-sense of accomplishment in your body.

  • Afformation: "What small actions contribute to my big goals?"

(9) Use coloured felt-tip pens

  • Try: Use a board/ paper and coloured felt tips to stimulate your brain. Draw, write, doodle.

  • Embodied action: Sense how colours add to a sense of fun in your bodily feelings.

  • Afformation: How do colours make me more energetic?

(10) Zones of flow

The best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen."

- Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow

  • Try: Allow yourself to have four different stations of different tasks. Perhaps rotate and do each for 15 minutes to keep your brain alert (rather than expect yourself to focus on one task until done).

  • Embodied action: Engage with your body as you move more, sensing the flow of actions going effortless from one to another.

  • Afformation: How energised do you feel when you allow yourself to do different tasks?

Magic questions

When you're feeling tired, bored, or frustrated, magic questions can be your secret weapon to just get started. Ditch the decision fatigue and just start messy.

It’s getting back up with you mess up, or end up watching Love Is Blind the third time, instead of doing the thing. Dust yourself off and return with kindness.

Do it weird. Do it messily.

Life isn't about perfect systems or being a 5 AM productivity robot. It's about finding smart ways to work that let you mess up, take risks, and even play. Your brain loves newness, so lean into that by making tasks fun and engaging, sprinkling in treats and gamification.

Remember, you are enough, no matter what gets done (or doesn't). It's easy to fall into guilt or comparison, but as Brené Brown reminds us:

"Wholehearted living is about engaging with our lives from a place of worthiness. It means cultivating courage, compassion, and connection to wake up in the morning and think, No matter what gets done and what's left undone, I am enough."

Embrace Your Season of Life

Instead of adding extra pressure by wishing things were different, adjust your expectations and systems to fit where you are right now. This allows you to be productive without burnout.

As Kendra Adachi in The Lazy Genius Way notes:

"Living in your season means letting your frustrations breathe but not be in charge."

This suggests that we must acknowledge our difficulties (letting them breathe) in a healthy (but not self-indulgent) way. This ensures that frustration can be felt without letting it hold us back.

When you work in a messy, imperfect way, you open doors for creative solutions by creating space for frustration (or anxiety), rather than getting swamped by it. It's about finding incremental, sustainable steps that uniquely work for you.

Align your energy

Instead of fighting your energy, embrace the messy way forward. Will it be awkward? Yes. Will you sometimes take one step forward, two steps back? Yes. And yet, by honouring your own pace, you’ll find a way that works with who you are and what your priorities are right now.

References

  • Adachi, K. (2020). The lazy genius way: Embrace what matters, ditch what doesn't, and get stuff done. WaterBrook.

  • Brown, B. (2010). The gifts of imperfection: Let go of who you think you're supposed to be and embrace who you are. Hazelden. (p. 78)

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Tanya Geddes
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