Mental shortcuts that boost productivity daily are basically the only reason I’m not still lying in bed scrolling X at 2 p.m. right now.
I’m sitting here in my messy home office in the US, January sunlight barely sneaking through the blinds because I forgot to open them again, half-drunk cold brew sweating on a coaster made from an old conference badge, and honestly? These little brain tricks are saving my ass every single day.
Why I Started Obsessing Over Mental Shortcuts
Like three years ago I was the king of “I’ll just do it later” and then later became tomorrow and tomorrow became never. I’d open seventeen browser tabs, answer three emails, text my sister about nothing, refresh Gmail, feel guilty, eat a whole bag of chips, repeat. Productivity? Zero. Self-loathing? Olympic level.
Then I started collecting these stupidly simple mental shortcuts—tiny rules or reframes that short-circuit the procrastination loop. They’re not fancy. They’re not from some $997 course. They’re just stuff that accidentally worked for my dumb ADHD brain and I kept doing them.
The Two-Minute Lie
If a task takes less than two minutes, do it right now—no exceptions. Sounds basic, I know. Everyone says it. But here’s the embarrassing part: I used to lie to myself about how long things took.
“Oh replying to that quick Slack message will take forever because I’ll get sucked into the thread.” Bullshit. It takes 90 seconds.
So now when my brain tries that lie I literally say out loud (yes, out loud, my dog looks at me weird): “Nope. Two-minute lie detected.” And I do the thing.
Works stupidly well. Outbound link for credibility → James Clear also talks about this version of the 2-minute rule in Atomic Habits
The “What’s the Next Stupidly Small Step?” Hack
Big tasks paralyze me. “Write the quarterly report” → instant brain shutdown. So I ask one question: What’s the next stupidly small step?
Not “start the report.” Not even “open the document.” The stupidest version: “Open laptop.”
Once laptop is open the next stupid small step is usually “open Google Docs.” Then “type the title.” Momentum sneaks in like a ninja.
I swear 80% of the battle is just making the very first microscopic move.
David Allen’s Getting Things Done system basically lives on this principle → worth a read if you want the grown-up version
To visualize this idea, here are a few images that capture the essence:
The “Future Me Is an Asshole” Reframe
When I want to skip the gym / meal prep / deep work block, I picture Future Me at 9 p.m. Future Me is tired, cranky, and an asshole who will 100% blame Present Me.
So I think: “Do I want to make that dickhead’s night worse?”
Weirdly motivating. I don’t care about “future self” in an inspirational Pinterest way. I care about not screwing over the jerk version of me who’s gonna be mad later.
Single-Tab Hell Escape
I used to live with 40+ tabs open. Swear to god it made me dumber.
Now the rule is brutal: one tab per task. Finish task → close tab. New task → new tab (or switch to existing one).
If I catch myself opening a second tab “just to check something real quick,” I yell “SINGLE-TAB HELL” in my head and close the intruder.
Feels dumb. Works insanely well.
The “Done Is Better Than Perfect” Mantra on Steroids
I used to spend three hours perfecting an email that took seven minutes to write. Now before I start anything non-critical I whisper (again, out loud, sorry neighbors): “Done is better than perfect. Done is better than perfect. Done is sexier than perfect.”
Then I force myself to hit send / post / ship / whatever before the perfectionist gremlin wakes up.
It’s ugly. It’s messy. It’s how shit gets finished.
Wrapping This Chaos Up
Look, I’m still a disaster half the time. My desk is a war zone, I forgot to eat lunch today until 3:47 p.m., and I definitely have twelve unread texts from my mom.
But these mental shortcuts that boost productivity daily? They turned me from completely paralyzed to… mostly functional.
