Learn From My Mistakes

Short story of how I break life chaos into small, solvable problems - 4 min read.

I’ve been battling this thing for as long as I can remember.

Most of my mornings don’t start with a to-do list.

They start with email. Or Slack. Or both.

Seems innocent enough, right? But let’s zoom in.

I just sat down for a focused work sprint.

The task? Big. Important. Requires actual effort (and if I’m lucky, some thinking too).

Then - bam - 7 new emails.

Not urgent. Not even interesting.

Still, I feel the itch to sort, reply, or archive.

Because clearing the inbox feels productive.

It feels safe. Familiar. Controlled.

Zero-inbox, baby, yeah!

The cost? My deep work window explodes on impact.

I traded meaningful progress for a dopamine snack and an empty inbox.

Another day - same story.

I log in. Coffee is still warm. Brain fresh.

I’m ready to roll up my sleeves. (Figure of speech - for those not subscribed yet. I don’t usually wear sleeves while writing.)

Then: Ping.

“Hey, quick Q. Got a sec?”

Technically, it can wait.

I haven’t opened my to-do list.

Inbox? Zeroed already. (Who am I trying to impress here?)

Still, I respond. Immediately.

Because my brain whispers: “Let’s knock this out before it multiplies.”

Bonus: Other people are pleased… At your expense.

Or how about this?

There’s a big presentation I need to prep for next week.

Naturally, instead of outlining the content, I spend an hour designing the perfect title slide.

Font combos. Color palette. Image balance.

Visuals = progress, right? (Wrong!)

And I bet it’s not just me.

Now here’s the kicker: until 2014, no one had a name for this behavior.

Then psychologist David Rosenbaum came along and said,

“Ah yes, that thing you’re doing? That’s called pre-crastination.” Defined as: the urge to do things as soon as possible, even when it costs you more effort.

He even published a paper with the delightfully heavy title: “Pre-Crastination: Hastening Subgoal Completion at the Expense of Extra Physical Effort.”

While procrastinators delay to the bitter end, pre-crastinators rush to finish things immediately, even irrationally.

Why?

Because our brains hate open loops.

We crave closure.

We want to cross things off the list - even if the payoff is fake productivity.

Pre-crastination reduces mental clutter.

But the trade-off? Energy, efficiency, and occasionally… common sense.

The Science Bit

In Rosenbaum’s most famous experiment, participants had to carry one of two buckets along a walking path.

One bucket was closer to the starting point.

One was farther down the path, meaning less total effort.

Most people picked the closer one. Even though it meant more carrying.

Just to “get it over with.”

But here’s my favorite twist: Researchers added cognitive load.

Participants had to memorize a number sequence while choosing the bucket.

Result?

Even more people grabbed the closer one.

Why?

Because when the brain’s overloaded, it offloads decisions to default settings to reduce mental strain.

Even if the choice is worse.

Sound familiar?

If it doesn’t - I’m officially jealous.

What I’ve Been Doing to Outsmart My Inner Productivity Impostor

I’ve accepted that pre-crastination isn’t a glitch. It’s part of the operating system.

So instead of trying to confront it, I’ve started negotiating with it.

The moment I catch myself elbow-deep in an email thread that no one asked me to join, or perfecting a slide deck for a meeting next week, I pause.

That’s my cue. Not to stop. Just to notice.

Also, I’ve stopped trusting my brain at 9:03am.

That guy’s a liar.

He says things like, “Let’s just answer these 4 emails real quick and then we’ll dive into the real work.”

Naturally, after 20 minutes, we pivoted to reorganizing Google Drive folders from 2016. (Because nothing screams “urgent” like file hygiene.)

Inbox stays closed until I take down at least one task from my to-do list.

It’s like giving a toddler a plastic medal for eating a cucumber instead of chips.

Except the toddler is me, and the medal is checking off “outline intro paragraph.”

I’ve also introduced friction, but in a passive-aggressive way.

Slack doesn’t open automatically anymore. Email lives in a separate application and is quarantined from time to time.

Basically, I've made distractions feel like neighbors I pretend not to see at the grocery store.

And sometimes, when I do cave and clear my inbox first thing in the morning, I just embrace it.

I light a candle, take a cold plunge, then 40 mins sauna, 150 pushups, 2 hours meditation, call it a ritual, and pretend I meant to do it. (Branding, baby. It’s not distraction - it’s curated chaos and a touch of sarcasm.)

Is my approach working?

Some days, yes.

Other days, I still find myself deep in a color-coded Notion doc titled “Master Plan – v0.00001” with zero content and way too cool databases.

But at least now I know what I’m doing.

I’m not procrastinating. I’m just strategically pre-failing forward.

I don’t remember where I found this gem, but it’s been sitting in my Obsidian vault for a while:

That’s it. That’s the mindset.

Till next time.

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Short & Sweet

Short articles worth your attention

Time Management for People-Pleasers: Reclaim Your Boundaries - 4 min read.

As a recovering people-pleaser myself, this article hits close to home, but the real gem here is the concept of scheduling a daily "power hour" dedicated to your own tasks. It's a simple, actionable strategy to reclaim your time and energy, ensuring that your own priorities don't constantly get pushed to the back burner.

Unpacking The Yes-Damn Effect: How Our Brain Tricks Us into Regretting Choices - 5 min read.

Ever regretted a choice even when it led to something good? This article unpacks the "Yes-Damn Effect," a cognitive bias that makes us do just that. It's worth a read because it explains why this happens (think sunk cost, FOMO) and gives practical advice on how to make more mindful decisions to avoid that post-good-outcome regret.

There's no such thing as 'background music.' Here's how your playlist affects your brain - 4 min read.

You know that moment when your productivity peaks because the right song hits? Not a fluke. This article explains the brain's response to music and how to use it to hack your focus - without falling into a 3-hour nostalgia spiral.

Add this to your shelf

If you're looking for something to read, this book's worth considering

This book is like a brain upgrade manual. Dave Asprey shares simple tips (based on science and his own experiments) to help you boost your energy, focus better, and think faster. It's packed with easy changes you can make to feel sharper in just two weeks.

A Workspace I Envy

A handpicked desk setup that caught my eye this week

You can't go wrong with orange as an accent color - works with both dark and light aesthetics. You can probably guess what color my Apple HomePod is. The only thing that bugs me about this setup is the potential screen glare from the window… but hopefully that's just my imagination running wild.

Behind the Persona

A deep dive into the quirks, habits, and backstories that shape icons

Cool Facts About Ludwig Van Beethoven 

Choral Sadist: Beethoven broke all the rules with his Ninth Symphony - the first by a major composer to include vocal soloists and a full chorus, boldly setting Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy" to music in the final movement. Not only was it one of the longest and most complex symphonies of its time, but the choir had to sit in silence for nearly 50 minutes before singing a single note. Imagine being a soprano, dressed in full concert attire, just vibing quietly for almost an hour before your big moment. Brutal.

Coffee Bean Counter: Beethoven was obsessive about his coffee. He prepared his own brew with exactly 60 coffee beans per cup, often counting them out one by one to achieve the perfect strength. This precise caffeine ritual was part of his morning routine and showed his meticulous (if eccentric) attention to detail.

Cold plunger before it became a mainsream: To spark his creativity (and stay alert), Beethoven would douse himself in cold water before and during composing. He dunked his head in cold water and poured water over his hands repeatedly - sometimes until his clothes were soaked and water dripped through the floor, much to the annoyance of his downstairs neighbors. It's a miracle he didn't catch pneumonia from this odd habit!

Piano Duel Domination: Beethoven had a fierce improvisational talent. In a famous incident, he engaged in a piano duel with virtuoso Daniel Steibelt. Beethoven so thoroughly embarrassed his rival by improvising on one of Steibelt's own themes that the humiliated opponent stormed out of the salon and never dared face Beethoven again – he left Vienna and never returned! The episode cemented Beethoven's reputation as an unbeatable keyboard improviser.

Nature-Inspired Walks: The composer was an avid walker who drew musical inspiration from the outdoors. Every afternoon he took long, vigorous walks in the woods, carrying a pencil and sheets of music paper in his pocket to jot down melodies that came to him in nature. Many of Beethoven's works (like the Pastoral Symphony) were born from these countryside strolls, where birdsong and babbling brooks fueled his creativity

Composed While Profoundly Deaf: By his mid-40s, Beethoven was almost completely deaf, yet he continued to compose some of his most monumental works, including the Ninth Symphony and his late string quartets. He would often feel the vibrations of the piano through wooden sticks held in his teeth, connected to the instrument.

Hearing Through Vibrations: Even after losing his hearing, Beethoven found innovative ways to compose. He would bite onto a wooden pencil pressed against the piano's soundboard to feel the vibration of the notes through his jaw bones . This ingenious trick allowed him to "hear" his music through vibrations and continue writing masterpieces despite being almost completely deaf.

Watch-worthy clips

One video that got us thinking, and we think you'll like it too

Reflecting on the last article in the "Short & Sweet" section - here's one of my go-to deep focus tracks I've had on repeat for months. Hope you're as into chill music as I am.

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