I tried 3 INSANE productivity routines.
12-hours study / 6 hours + run a 10k / watch anime?
I have a problem: I am lazy.
When I don’t know what to do, the brain rot craving kicks in.
I pick up my phone, and lose hours laughing at the dumbest stuff.
I did some research on YouTube on some cool productivity routines to try and came up with these 3...
Jvscholz 12 hour study.
Haruki Murakami work 6 hours and do a 10km run.
Watching anime?
Here's what I learned, let's get riiiiiiight into it.
12 Hours of Study
If you don't know. Jvscholz or James Scholz is known for being a study with me streamer on YouTube.
He did over 300 days of 12 hours study streams every-day.
He breaks down work into 60 minute sessions with 10 minute breaks until 12 hours pass.
If he can do it, it can't be that hard right?
Pic of me at hour 1. Getting good work in!
Pic of me at the 10 hour mark.
"Not gonna lie, I was fading in and out of consciousness..."
Yeah the experience was quite rough.
I also had little sleep before the stream, and I swear I was blacking out while staring at my monitor at some points.
BUT, there was a big part of me that wanted to get things done, and having a full day to do it felt amazing.
In terms of efficiency this was NOT the move.
I bet after months of doing 12 hour days you get used to the longer hours, but as a beginner I was cooked.
There were many hours where it felt like I got 25 minutes of actual work done within the hour.
So would I do this again?
Actually yeah, but not consecutively.
I feel like once a week is good to just to tackle anything that had piled up.
But it's not for the feint of heart.
6 Hours of Work + Run a 10k
Haruki. Murakami.
The goat of fiction.
Murakami will paint a museum in your skull as your eyes feast on this man's poetry.
But what's even crazier than his writing, is his process.
All great artists have beauty in their processes.
And if beauty is pain, then you'll love Murakami's process.
Because first of all this man wakes up at 4:00AM.
Then he'll write for 5-6 hours.
After he runs a 10k, or swims a 10k, or does both.
But in the evening he'll read and listen to some music.
Sleep by 9:00PM and repeat until he finishes a novel.
Which can take YEARS by the way.
Haruki Murakami says there's a sense of mesmerization that comes from this routine which brings creativity.
I know I'm certainly not writing a novel, or am going to do this for even weeks on end, but let's just dip out toes into what Murakami does.
6-Hours of Work
I did Haruki Murakami's routine the day after Jvscholz routine, so 6 hours was nothing for me.
I also found it nice to "study with Jvscholz" even though I was watching a video from 3 years ago, it was nice.
So I did the same during the Murakami routine and threw up James on the iPad.
6 hours of work felt weirdly more productive than 12 hours because I was more focused during all those hours.
But I will say I didn't get as much work done as the 12 hour day.
There could be improvements for sure in striking a balance between the two.
Afterwards, there was the run...
Running (aka death)
So, the Rauch bloodline is not known for their running ability.
And I was no outlier.
Truly I was not built to run. The moment I would start jogging, shin splints would enter the building.
So for me running a 10k is no walk in the park. My average "long" runs are 3 miles max. You're telling me to double that?
But hey, this is a challenge, so I gotta run...
1st mile was good, but 2 miles in and my legs already started dying.
I had an urge to take a dump after 2 miles as well, but the pain in my legs distracted me from that.
3 miles in, legs were cooked not gonna lie.
At this point I started brainwashing myself with "I can do it" and "a challenge is a challenge."
4 miles in I started getting emotional. I was digging deep into my mind.
I started seeing my past self versus me now.
This was probably to cope with the immense pain in my legs.
5th mile, definite pain in legs, as if that was a new concept for me at this point.
I started thinking of how slow I was going, and continued to brainwash myself with "It's okay, I am strong."
5-6th mile I was actually locked in. I didn't think too hard and just did it. Afterwards though my legs were so sore. My knees, ankles, and bottom of my feet were destroyed.
There was NO way I could do this multiple days in a row.
10km is FAR.
Some people are freaks who run 10 MILES everyday, but thats not me.
After this run I was undoubtedly ready for Murakami's evening routine.
Evening
At 7:30PM I threw on a record of classical music, and continued to read Haruki Murakami's "Wind-up Bird Chronicle" on my Kindle.
Definitely the best part of the routine.
Not only restorative for the body, but I felt like my creativity was being fed.
After the record finished I was quite sleepy and went to bed.
Watching Anime?
Have you ever wanted to binge a show?
But you have so much yucky work to do so you can pay the government (gross).
Here's how I avoided tax frau-
Here's how I avoided work with anime while still doing work... wait what.
So basically, you break down each work session into 45 minutes.
Then instead of taking a 10 minute break. Just watch 1 episode of your favorite 20 minute show.
Repeat until you either finish work, or finish an entire season of Vinland Saga...
In terms of work focus, by this day I had it locked in.
I ended up doing 5 work session which equaled 3 hours and 45 minutes of work.
And watched 4 episodes which equaled roughly 1 hour and 40 minutes.
45 minutes flew by compared to the 1 hour sessions. And the breaks felt long, but fulfilling. Usually anime motivates you in some way so it can fuel your drive for work.
Also the fact that each episode ends on a hook makes you look forwards to the next break.
Clip of me watching Vinland Saga during my break.
Out of all the routines I tried this was definitely the most fun.
Because the other 2 involved either mental pain, or physical pain.
This one I kinda just chilled.
Final Thought
This was actually quite fun.
The 12 hour stream was difficult, but I know there's someone working a physical labor job for more than 12 hours daily somewhere, so that's humbling.
6 hours of work isn't difficult, but running 10km is tuff!
And watching your favorite show ain't hard.
Some people will think this is easy, some will think it's hard.
I'm just some dude on the internet it's not that serious.
Which productivity routine did you enjoy reading about?
Would you try any of these?
Let me know in the comments.
If you want to see me try more of these please share recommendations, I love putting myself through discomfort.
Bye-bye.
Follow me on YouTube: @1andrewrauch (I streamed this experience live there), Substack, and Twitter (X): @AndrewRauch00 to learn more.
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