If a goal keeps stalling, do not start by designing an elaborate personal system. Choose one tactic from someone who already handles the same task well, adapt it to your circumstances, and test it for seven days. The key is to borrow the tactic’s logic—not to imitate someone else’s whole lifestyle.
Start with one specific point of friction
Name a goal or repetitive task that is difficult right now. Keep it concrete: for example, deciding what to eat after work, beginning a focused task during an afternoon slump, or making time for a routine that keeps getting postponed. A broad aim such as “be more productive” gives you little to act on in the moment.
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The approach in Thanh Pham’s Asian Efficiency article is to replace vague intentions with specific instructions. That makes the next action clearer when you are tired or distracted. It is practical advice, not a guarantee that a particular tactic will work for everyone.
Ask someone about their ordinary routine
Look for a person who has experience with the task and whose constraints are reasonably similar to yours. Someone with a different job, commute, family schedule, or level of flexibility may have a useful idea, but their entire routine may not transfer.
Ask about what they actually do on an ordinary day, especially when energy or motivation is low. “How do you stay motivated?” invites a general answer; questions about defaults are more likely to reveal an actionable routine:
- “What do you do on a normal Tuesday?”
- “What is your default when you are tired?”
As Pham puts it, “A role model’s tired default is worth more than their best-day speech.”
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Borrow the logic, not the lifestyle
Identify the small decision or obstacle the other person’s tactic addresses. Then preserve that useful logic while changing the details to fit your own circumstances. A routine that depends on time, equipment, money, or support you do not have is not a useful template as-is.
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For example, if someone avoids an end-of-day food decision by planning a simple fallback meal, you could choose a fallback that works with your own schedule and preferences. You are borrowing the advance decision, not copying the person’s menu or daily routine.
Turn the tactic into an if-then script
Write down what you will do when a specific situation occurs. A useful script names both the cue and the response:
- If I get home exhausted, then I will choose my preselected easy dinner rather than decide from scratch.
- If the afternoon slump arrives, then I will start the next small, clearly defined task.
Keep the instruction specific enough that you can follow it without negotiating with yourself in the moment. Paper or a simple note can help keep the script visible; the point is to get the decision out of your head and somewhere you can refer to it.
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Run a seven-day trial, then decide
- Choose one tactic. Avoid changing several routines at once; a small trial makes it easier to tell what fits.
- Use it for seven days. Follow the same cue-and-response script when the relevant situation comes up.
- Review the fit. Keep the tactic if it works with your real schedule. If it does not, adjust it or try another one.
A tactic that fails to fit is information about the tactic or its context, not proof of personal failure. The article’s broader recommendation is to learn from a workable example and adapt it rather than assuming you must invent a complete system from scratch.
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Where the example stops
The article also describes a workflow-automation example: it reports that Brooks moved a task into a Jira column, triggering Lindy to generate a draft of podcast show notes “in two minutes.” That is the article’s account of one illustrative workflow, not an independently tested performance result or a promise about what other users will achieve.
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The article refers generally to Katie Milkman’s research, but it does not identify a specific study or attributable statistic. There is therefore no figure to use as evidence that this method produces a particular success rate.
Read Thanh Pham’s Asian Efficiency article, updated September 18, 2026.
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