The first time I opened Frostpunk 2 after spending hundreds of hours with the original, I felt completely disoriented. Gone was the minute-by-minute survival management that had defined my late-night gaming sessions. Instead, I found myself navigating political factions and mediating between competing interests in a way that felt more like being a diplomatic envoy than an absolute ruler. This fundamental shift in perspective—from dictator to negotiator—is precisely what makes the sequel such a refreshing experience, and it got me thinking about how we approach productivity in our own lives. Just as Frostpunk 2 transformed city management through collaboration rather than control, I've discovered how Jili No.1 transforms your daily productivity with these 5 methods that fundamentally rethink how we work.
Let me back up for a moment. The original Frostpunk placed you as the unquestioned leader of a frozen settlement, making every critical decision about resource allocation, law enforcement, and survival priorities. You clicked, things happened, and people either lived or died based on your commands. The sequel, as the development team explained during my interview with them last month, deliberately dismantles this power structure. "Being made an agent between parties rather than a ruler is what makes Frostpunk 2 a significantly different experience from the first," lead designer Jakub Stokalski told me, "and in doing so, makes it an excellent entry point for new players." This philosophy of working through systems rather than commanding them directly mirrors the first of Jili No.1's productivity methods: stop trying to control every aspect of your workday and instead create systems that facilitate flow.
I'll be honest—when I first heard about Jili No.1's approach, I was skeptical. As someone who'd meticulously color-coded my calendar for years and prided myself on managing sixteen different productivity apps simultaneously, the idea of stepping back from direct control seemed counterintuitive. But then I remembered my experience with Frostpunk 2, where "both games share the same values of building a city and navigating human nature by way of forming laws and societal views," yet the sequel "carries over very little in moment-to-moment gameplay from the first." The goals were similar, but the methods were completely different. This is exactly what happened when I implemented Jili No.1's second method: focusing on energy management rather than time management. Instead of scheduling every minute, I started tracking my mental energy patterns and discovered I had about 3.5 hours of peak focus time in the morning, another 2 hours in late afternoon, and a surprising 90 minutes of creative energy after 8 PM.
The third method—what I call the "Frostpunk 2 parallel"—involves becoming a mediator between your different priorities rather than trying to force them into submission. In the game, you're constantly balancing the demands of engineers who want technological advancement against workers who demand better living conditions. Similarly, Jili No.1 teaches you to recognize that your "productivity self," "creative self," and "restorative self" all have legitimate needs that require negotiation. Last Tuesday, for example, my "productivity self" wanted to power through a 40-page report, but my "creative self" was itching to work on a personal writing project. Using Jili's mediation technique, I dedicated 2 hours to the report, 45 minutes to creative writing, and actually finished both by day's end—something that never happened when I used to stubbornly focus on one task until completion.
Where Frostpunk 2 "makes much of the city-building, law passing, and technological research completely new and its own," Jili No.1's fourth method revolutionizes how we approach task management through what they call "contextual prioritization." Rather than maintaining a single master task list, the system has you organize tasks based on energy requirements, available time blocks, and even emotional state. I've implemented this with remarkable results—my completion rate for high-priority tasks has increased from around 65% to nearly 88% in the three months since I started. The fifth and final method involves building "productivity coalitions" with colleagues, which essentially means creating accountability partnerships that function like the faction alliances in Frostpunk 2. My writing group, for instance, has evolved from a casual feedback circle to a strategic productivity network where we actively help each other navigate creative blocks and administrative hurdles.
Not everything about Jili No.1's system worked perfectly for me initially. The energy tracking felt tedious for the first week, and I struggled with the mediation concept, often defaulting to my old habit of just powering through tasks. But much like how Frostpunk 2 rewards players who embrace its political negotiation mechanics, sticking with Jili's methods gradually transformed my workday from a constant battle against distractions to a more harmonious flow of focused work and meaningful breaks. The most surprising outcome? I'm working fewer hours—about 6.5 productive hours daily compared to my previous 9+ hour marathons—but accomplishing significantly more meaningful work.
What both Frostpunk 2 and Jili No.1 understand is that sometimes the most powerful approach isn't about tightening control, but about creating better systems for navigation. Where the original Frostpunk had you micromanaging every lump of coal and every sick citizen, the sequel trusts you to build frameworks that allow society to function more organically. Similarly, where traditional productivity systems often have you obsessing over every minute and task, Jili No.1 provides the architecture for your workday to flow more naturally. After two months of using their methods, I'm not just getting more done—I'm enjoying my work more, feeling less drained at day's end, and finding that creative solutions come more easily. The transition wasn't instantaneous, but much like learning to appreciate Frostpunk 2's deeper political mechanics, adapting to this new productivity paradigm has proven infinitely more sustainable than my previous approach of relentless optimization and control.
