Running a business for the last 20 years taught me this faster than any productivity book – especially on days when my calendar was full and my brain was not. Somewhere between my second coffee and my third “quick check,” I realised motivation wasn’t the problem.
Productivity rarely collapses because we’re “unmotivated.” It collapses because resistance quietly sneaks in during the day and the harder you push, the more it digs its heels in.
Here’s what’s actually going on behind the scenes 👇
1️⃣ Priorities (aka: why everything suddenly feels hard)
Resistance loves confusion.
When everything is “urgent,” your brain freezes like a deer in headlights.
Pick one or two outcomes that genuinely matter today.
Everything else? Background noise pretending to be important.
2️⃣ Energy (your calendar is lying to you)
You don’t need more hours.
You need to stop scheduling your hardest work when your energy is at rock bottom.
Your prime energy window is gold — protect it.
Sleep, movement, and recovery decide how long that window stays open (and whether it slams shut mid-afternoon).
3️⃣ Focus (willpower is overrated)
Focus isn’t about trying harder — it’s about making distraction harder.
Short, defined sprints like the Pomodoro technique dramatically lower the resistance to starting.
Personally, 2 x 25-minute focused sessions with a short break gets more done than a whole distracted afternoon.
Phones off. Alerts off. World temporarily ignored.
4️⃣ Resistance (the real boss fight) Resistance is a lot like choosing a yoghurt from a 12-pack. You don’t choose your ‘best’ one. You choose the one you resist the least.
So, strawberry 🍓 ? Fine, I’ll eat that. lemon 🍋 ? Umm.. acceptable but pineapple 🍍 ? Absolutely not ☠️ – that can stay right at the back.
And our to-do lists work exactly the same way.
We start with the task that feels easiest, safest, or most familiar. What happens to the ones we don’t fancy? We push them to the back of our mind, or the fridge, and quietly hope they disappear. Until suddenly they’re way overdue… or out of date.
That’s not laziness. It’s a signal. Resistance is telling you something about energy, focus, or unclear priorities. Productivity improves fastest when you stop forcing yourself to “just do it” and start reducing friction on the tasks you keep pushing to the back.
Because the ‘pineapple’ never gets easier – it just lingers longer than it should.
So… where does resistance get you most?
Starting? Staying focused? Or deciding what actually matters?
👉 If you lead a team, ask this simple question: “Where is friction making good work harder than it needs to be?”
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