There are countless apps, methods, and frameworks for productivity. They are brilliant at helping us to organize our ambitions. They let us create beautiful, complex lists of our intentions.

But execution? Not found.

They are passive. They won’t tap you on the shoulder at 7 PM on a Wednesday when you are lost in a YouTube rabbit hole and ask, “Hey, I thought you said you were going to write that article at this time?”

Your to-do list would still require you to bring your willpower, discipline, and momentum to the table every single day. These are all finite resources, which I guess you would probably be left with none after a whole day of torturous work.

This is the gap. I call it a “proactivity gap”.

I have tried several things to help with this:

First, I defined a “Minimum Effective Dose” for my tasks, which is the absolute minimum I must accomplish to be considered successful daily. This prevents the all-or-nothing mindset where one missed task derails my whole day.

Second, I find myself with accountability partners. For example, I have been wanting to reduce my body fat percentage but failed to stick to the plan I made. Therefore, I joined a 60-day eating clean and working out challenge. There are a bunch of people doing that with me, where we post what we eat, and motivate each other every day. I have found that quite helpful. Halfway through the challenge, I have lost 3% now. I would stick with it because I know I have to post my body fat improvement at the end of the challenge (stressful, but useful).

If you have tried the first method (the atomic habits thing) and it didn’t work out for you, I would suggest trying the second. When the to-do list is written on paper (or any note-taking app), it feels cold, and you are not emotionally attached to it. If you have one accountability partner, someone who has his/her own goal, you can help each other by monitoring, encouraging, and reminding each other why you started this.

Sometimes you need a push from a third party.

By the way, I am building an AI accountability partner for myself and will eventually make it available to anyone interested. Stay tuned if you are too lazy (or shy) to find a human accountability partner.

Cheers.