How to Outsmart Yourself and Finally Get Stuff Done
What if the biggest obstacle to your productivity wasn’t your boss, your inbox, or your to-do list—but you?
As you’ve might already noticed, I love reading books on personal productivity and how to become more efficient in doing the things you do. Recently I stumbled upon yet another intriguing book: Anleitung zur Selbstüberlistung. The German title means as much as “instructions on how to outsmart yourself” and as far as I know there isn’t an English version of the book.
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Photo by Riccardo Annandale on Unsplash |
In Anleitung zur Selbstüberlistung, economist and behavioral researcher Christian Rieck lays out a surprisingly fun and psychologically rich strategy for dealing with our own inner resistance.
Instead of telling you to “just try harder,” Rieck helps you understand the conflicting forces inside your brain—and gives you tools to playfully trick yourself into action. The book is part behavioral science, part practical toolkit, and part philosophical reflection on what it means to live a meaningful and productive life.
Here’s a breakdown of the key ideas.
Quick Summary for those in a hurry
The book is built on a fascinating idea: we’re not just one person—we’re actually made up of two parts.
Instead of using “System 1” and “System 2” (as Daniel Kahneman does), author Christian Rieck subdivides us into the parts Director and Agents.
- The Director is a long-term thinker. It’s the part of you that makes big plans, sets goals, and wants the best for your future.
- The Agents are short-term thinkers. Each one only “lives” for about an hour and just wants to enjoy that time as much as possible.
Here’s the problem: the Agents don’t really care about your big goals. They want quick wins, comfort, and fun right now—even if that means ignoring what the Director wants. This creates a tug-of-war inside you.
The book explores clever ways to get your Agents to cooperate. Some of the most interesting strategies include:
- Gamification – Turn boring tasks into fun challenges.
- Deadline Sprints – Use short, timed bursts of focus to get things done fast.
- Rewards – Motivate your Agents by offering small treats.
- Activation Energy – Make bad habits harder and good habits easier to start.
The inner conflict: agent vs. director
At the heart of Rieck’s theory is a simple but powerful model of the human mind:
- The Agent lives in the now. It wants instant gratification, low effort, and emotional comfort. It’s the voice saying “Just five more minutes” or “I’ll do it tomorrow.”
- The Director is your long-term planner. It cares about purpose, goals, and identity. It’s the part of you that wants to get in shape, finish that novel, or save for retirement.
The problem?
These two characters don’t always get along.
The Agent acts fast and loud. The Director is rational but often slow and vague. To be productive (and fulfilled), you need to design your life in a way that helps them work together. That’s where self-overcoming (Selbstüberlistung) comes in.
Outsmarting the agents
Rieck doesn’t believe in brute willpower. Instead, he suggests creating systems that gently nudge the Agent toward useful behavior—often by reducing activation energy (the effort it takes to get started) or by adding friction to the wrong choices.
A few of the tactics are:
- Timeboxing & monotasking: Don’t leave your calendar blank. Block time for specific tasks and do only one at a time.
- Prepare to begin: If a task feels hard to start, make starting easier. Lay out your materials the night before, write down the first step, or leave yourself a note about where to pick it up again.
- Use activation energy as a barrier: Want to scroll less? Make it harder to reach your phone. Want to write more? Keep your document open and visible.
- Cliffhangers: When ending a work session, stop in the middle of a step and leave breadcrumbs. It makes it easier (and more exciting) to continue later.
Why procrastination isn’t just laziness
The author makes a bold claim: procrastination is often rational.
You’re not avoiding work because you’re weak. You’re sometimes just responding to urgency, uncertainty, or the need for better timing.
There are two useful distinctions:
- Structured procrastination: Instead of doing nothing, do something less demanding but still useful like clearing your desk or answering emails. It keeps you in motion.
- Active procrastination: Consciously delay a task when you know it’ll be easier, better, or more informed later.
This reframing removes guilt and gives you tools to work with your nature instead of against it.
The pitfalls of to-do lists and what to use instead
One of Rieck’s most controversial recommendations?
Ditch the traditional to-do list.
He argues that standard to-dos often become overwhelming and demotivating. They’re either too vague (like “get fit”) or too granular (“email Sarah about Q2 budget metrics”).
Instead, he suggests:
- Keep an ideas list: a pool of things you might want to do (but no pressure).
- Each day, pick three daily projects from that list. They must be finishable within the day and contribute to a broader goal.
This simple shift turns your tasks into manageable challenges and gives the Agent a sense of closure and success (one of the few ways to actually motivate them).
Prioritization: not everything urgent matters
The author takes a fresh look at the classic Eisenhower Matrix. He says urgency and importance are often treated as opposites, but they can be aligned. His updated model sorts tasks into three buckets:
- Unimportant → Should be ignored or delegated.
- Everyday Important (Alltagswichtig) → Necessary but routine (emails, errands). Keep them short and contained.
- Life-Important (Lebenswichtig) → The tasks that move your real goals forward. These deserve your best energy.
He also introduces the idea of relative urgency. It is a mathematical twist where urgency is the rate of change in importance. This helps you see which tasks are becoming time-sensitive without overreacting to every ping or deadline.
Zeitschulden: the hidden trap of time debt
“Time debt” is one of Rieck’s most powerful concepts. It’s what happens when you rush a task now and create more work for yourself later. Think of skipping documentation, delaying a difficult conversation, or setting up sloppy systems.
Agents, on the other hand, love time debt. It gives them a break now and when the task is due, already a different agent has taken over. The Director already knows that: you’ll pay in future.
Worse: the longer you delay emotionally uncomfortable tasks, the more their difficulty increases. It’s a vicious cycle.
The fix?
Ask the magical question:
“Why not now?”
If there’s no good answer, take the leap and do it right now!
The upside of chaos
Finally, the author questions our obsession with tidiness (and he is a German!).
While some order is useful, too much can stifle creativity. He compares rigid systems (like the military or a library) with organically growing systems (like a messy desk with personality).
Instead of forcing yourself into strict categories, try:
- Using broad buckets
- Letting your space evolve with your habits
- Making peace with a bit of mess
A little chaos can spark fresh ideas. Just make sure it’s your chaos and not inherited from someone else’s productivity style.
The big picture: happiness = Hedonia + Eudaimonia
What is happiness and how do you define it?
While authors like Naval Ravikant see it as the absence of suffering, Prof. Rieck defines happiness as the combination of pleasure (Hedonia) and purpose (Eudaimonia).
You need both.
And since the overall satisfaction is defined by the minimum of the two, you can’t neglect either side. If you’re achieving your goals but are miserable in the process—or vice versa—you’re not truly thriving.
Productivity, then, isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing the right things for both the Agent and the Director. It’s about building a life that’s both enjoyable and meaningful.
Takeaways: how to outsmart yourself today
If you want to put this into practice, here’s a quick plan:
- Understand your agent and director. Notice when each is in control and find ways to align them.
- Create an idea list instead of an overwhelming to-do list.
- Choose 3 daily projects that you can finish today.
- Timebox your work and protect your attention with monotasking.
- Use tricks: reduce activation energy, leave cliffhangers, or delay on purpose.
- Avoid time debt and ask: Why not now?
- Let your system grow organically. Productivity isn’t a one-size-fits-all.
Final thought: The best productivity systems aren’t strict. They’re playful.
By learning how to trick your brain into doing what you actually want, you become more than just efficient. You become effective - on your own terms.
Have you tried timeboxing, daily projects, or tricking your Agent into behaving? I’d love to hear your stories in the comments at Medium, or at LinkedIn.
Thank you for reading my book summary. I’ve really enjoyed the book. While reading, I wrote down tons of notes which then ended up in this book summary (with a little support of generative AI - cheers for that).
If you are interested in the topic: I’ve already written short posts on my two favorite methods from the book: A Simple Method to Never be Late Again & A Simple But Effective Productivity Hack: the Deadline-Sprint.