First, let me say something that productivity culture won’t: it’s okay to relax. Watch a movie. Watch two. You don’t need to optimize every second of your life. That’s exhausting. I’m a firm believer in the benefits of letting your brain just rest and wander. Some of my best ideas come when I’m doing absolutely nothing productive.
But.
There are moments when you’re not resting and you’re not working. You’re just… stuck. You finished something, or you’re between things, or you woke up with no plan and a full day ahead. You’re not tired enough to nap. You’re not energized enough to tackle a big project. You’re in the gap.
That’s where baseline tasks come in.
The Three Boxes
Every baseline task has to check at least one of these three boxes:
- Make me smarter.
- Make me healthier.
- Support the people I care about.
That’s it. Three filters. If something doesn’t hit at least one, it doesn’t belong on the list.
This isn’t about being productive. It’s about having a default that isn’t doomscrolling or sitting in decision paralysis. When you don’t know what to do, you pull up the list and pick something based on your mood, your energy, your mental capacity at that moment.
What This Looks Like in Practice
The list should be ready to go at any time of day. Morning, afternoon, late night. And it should have range — things you can do when your brain is firing on all cylinders and things you can do when you can barely think.
Some examples from mine:
When I feel sharp:
- Read a paper or a chapter of something challenging.
- Write about something I’ve been thinking about.
- Have a real conversation with someone I haven’t talked to in a while.
When I feel okay:
- Go for a walk. No phone, no podcast. Just walk.
- Cook something decent instead of ordering.
- Fix something small around the house that’s been bugging me.
When I feel like garbage:
- Text someone I care about just to check in.
- Watch something good — not background noise, something I actually want to see.
- Stretch for ten minutes.
Notice that even the “feel like garbage” items check a box. Watching a movie isn’t wasting time if you’re intentional about it. Rest is a baseline task too. The difference between rest and avoidance is whether you chose it or defaulted into it.
Why This Works
Decision fatigue is real. When you’re stuck, the worst thing you can do is try to figure out what to do from scratch. Your brain is already low on fuel, and now you’re asking it to make an open-ended decision with infinite options. That’s how you end up on your phone for three hours doing nothing.
A baseline list removes the decision. You’re not asking “what should I do?” You’re asking “which of these five things sounds right for right now?” That’s a much easier question.
And because every item on the list moves you forward in at least one direction — smarter, healthier, or more connected — you never finish a baseline task feeling like you wasted the day. Even if all you did was go for a walk and call your mom, you checked two boxes. That’s a good day.
The Anti-Productivity Productivity System
This isn’t a hack. It’s not a framework. It’s just a list.
But it solves the real problem, which isn’t “how do I get more done” — it’s “what do I do when I don’t know what to do.” Most productivity systems assume you always have something to work on and just need help prioritizing. Reality is messier than that. Sometimes you have nothing urgent, nothing exciting, and no clear next step.
That’s when you reach for the baseline.
The key insight is that the list has to be pre-made. You build it when you’re thinking clearly so it’s there when you’re not. It’s like meal prepping for your time. You’re not going to make good decisions in the moment of stuckness. So you make them ahead of time.
Build Your Own
Sit down when you have energy and write out 10-15 things that check at least one of the three boxes. Don’t overthink it. If something sounds good when you’re in a decent mood, it belongs on the list.
Then organize them loosely by energy level — high, medium, low. That’s your filter. When you’re stuck, you ask yourself: “what’s my energy right now?” and pick from that tier.
That’s the whole system. No apps. No streaks. No guilt. Just a list of things that are always worth doing, waiting for you when you need them.