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In partnership with
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👋 Hey everyone,
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Here are a few popular posts you may have missed:
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PS: Can you help pick the subtitle of my upcoming book? Vote on which one you like best here.
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This week’s newsletter was made possible by:
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The AI Work Handbook That Cuts Your Workday in Half
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The 8-hour workday is becoming a 4-hour workday for people who know how to use AI.
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Everyone else is still catching up.
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This AI work playbook shows you exactly how to cut your work hours in half using AI.
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Sign up for Superhuman AI and get:
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50+ step-by-step AI tutorials to cut your workload in half — covering every part of your workday, from emails to strategy, used by 1M+ professionals at Google, Microsoft, and NASA
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Superhuman AI newsletter (4 min daily) so you keep discovering new AI tools and skills to stay ahead in your career — the playbook is just the start
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Claim your AI playbook
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📚 Book Summary:
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Last week’s book was “Vibe” by Adam Grant.
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This week’s book is “Ultraproductive” by Eric Partaker and Christian Poensgen.
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Here are 3 key lessons from it:
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📖
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1) To Find Focus, You Need To Fight Through Frustration
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You may have heard that your brain goes through 90-minute sleep cycles.
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A similar cycle takes place while you’re awake. You can only do about 90 minutes of deep, fully focused work at a time.
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However, just as people may have poor sleep habits, people also have poor focus habits.
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McKinsey research reports that the average worker spends just 24 minutes a day in a state of flow.
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Why is that?
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Your brain needs 5-10 minutes of uninterrupted effort to engage in deep focus. This time is required to transition into a state of optimal concentration–often referred to as a state of flow.
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But if you’re constantly switching tasks or being distracted by your phone or people, you’ll be forever stuck in the warm-up phase.
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The other problem is precrastination–the tendency to work on low-effort tasks like setting up meetings or replying to emails to give us a sense of accomplishment while avoiding working more challenging work.
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What’s the solution?
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Fight the frustration.
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Set a timer for 15 minutes. After it rings, check in with how you’re feeling. If you still feel like quitting, that’s fine; try again tomorrow. But if you’re feeling engaged, set the timer for 15-75 minutes and get back to work.
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It’s a simple yet powerful hack.
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(I’m actually using this tactic right now. I was procrastinating writing this newsletter, so I decided to give this tactic a try. It took me about 10 minutes to get into a writing flow, but now the words are coming to me much more easily.)
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📖
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2) To Be More Productive, Take More Breaks
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After a 90-minute deep focus work session, your productivity will begin to decline.
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Sure you can power through if you have an important project, but you’ll get diminishing returns from each additional hour of work.
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The ideal strategy is to take approximately a 20-minute break to give your brain a chance to rest and recover.
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Knowing how to defocus is just as important as knowing how to focus.
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A 2021 study found that high performers who took regular breaks had a greater ability to manage stress (43%), overall satisfaction (43%), and work-life balance (62%).
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How can you defocus?
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For starters, don’t look at your phone, social media, or emails.
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Instead, try to look at the horizon, skyline, or the farthest wall from you. Looking at a wider and farther view helps shift you into a calm state and recharge your focus.
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If you have some time, take a walk. A short walk (5-20 minutes) provides ample opportunity for panoramic vision. Research shows that walking outdoors puts you in a better mood, recharges your focus, and even increases creativity.
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Lastly, if you’re taking a coffee or lunch break, don’t work while doing it, and don’t drink/eat at your desk.
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Your brain associates spaces with activities. So if you’re eating at your desk, your brain still thinks you’re in work mode, but if you eat in the break room or outside, your brain can relax and recharge.
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📖
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3) Napping Isn’t Lazy, It’s Productive
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Just as taking breaks can make you more productive, so can taking naps.
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Power naps improve alertness, mood, and performance for several hours afterward.
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NASA research backs this up: Brief naps improved alertness by 54% and job performance by 34%.
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But there are two important things to remember when it comes to taking power naps:
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Keep it under 30 minutes. Longer naps increase the risk of sleep inertia, grogginess, and disorientation.
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Don’t nap too late. A long nap will make it much harder to fall asleep at night. Avoid taking naps at least 8 hours before your bedtime. So if you go to sleep at 10pm, don’t take a nap after 2pm.
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If your office has sleep pods or you work remotely, try this tactic the next time you’re feeling tired and see how it goes!
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✅ Actionable Advice:
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1) It takes 5-10 minutes to enter a state of flow:
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2) Take a 20-minute break for every 90 minutes of deep work:
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3) If you’re feeling tired or want to recharge after a hard work session, take a power nap:
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💎 Weekly Gem:
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New: Alex & Books website
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10 Years ago, I taught myself Squarespace and designed my own site for Alex & Books.
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It was decent, but nothing special.
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Now that Alex & Books has grown into a full-time job, I figured it was time to invest and hire someone to build a site that's enjoyable, entertaining, and easy to navigate.
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After several months of work, I'm happy to share that my new website is now live–check it out!
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PS: Here’s a Before vs After post about it.
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Your opinion matters!
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What did you think of this week's newsletter?
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Thank you for your support,
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-Alex & Books
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Family Dollar Agrees to $63M Settlement
