Simple ideas to boost productivity

Productivity seems to be a function of these ingredients- focus, environment, energy and clarity.

If you want to be more productive, improve upon these aspects of your life.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

Focus– be interested in what you do. It’s hard to do a good job when you are bored. You may also want to try meditation to improve your general level of focus and attention.

Environment– Have separate places for different tasks. Don’t make your bedroom the only workstation you have. Eliminate distractions.

Energy– Run often. Stay hydrated. Get enough sleep everyday.

Clarity– Keep a to do list. Prioritize the tasks on that list and set aside specific time and space for each of them.

(There’s a lot more ways to improve you productivity. If you want to know about some more, check this out- My Top 10 Tips for a Productive Day)

My Top 10 Tips for a Productive Day

Here are my top 10 tips for a productive day:

1. Energy:

First and foremost, you need energy. A tired mind/body is not going to have a productive day. Learn to sleep earlier and sleep better. Do a little cardio after you wake up. Drink plenty water throughout the day.

2. Length:

Always use pomodoro. It can be for 25 minutes or 1 hour. But, never longer than that for one session. You should always know exactly when you are going to stop. Keep a stopwatch beside you. Whenever you feel bored or feel like giving up, just look at the stopwatch and tell yourself, “Hey, let’s keep at it for just 15 more minutes.” Your mind will be less likely to rebel against that vs if you didn’t know when you are going to stop.

3. Time:

Not every task is suitable for every waking hour of the day. Learn about chronobiology. Solve math problems in the morning. Do something creative in the afternoon. Alternatively, you may exercise in the afternoon. Take a nap between 1 and 3 pm.

4. Ease:

There’s always a difference between what you should and what you could do. Maybe you want to write a novel, but don’t have the discipline to do so. Well, then write a one-page story first. Make sure you sit down to write for only 25 minutes every day. Once you’ve mastered that, you’ll be ready to tackle bigger projects and longer work hours. So, always start easy. Don’t bite more than you can chew.

5. Simplicity:

Tasks in your to-do list must be simple. Don’t complicate them. Don’t plan to write the most amazing thriller where the hero is the villain. Rather, plan to sit down for 25 minutes with pen and paper.

6. Focus:

Focus is a fail-proof trick that forces you to be productive. Have as little things to do in your day as possible. Eliminate/ hide all distractions. You need to prepare for each task like you’d before entering an exam hall. Keep your phone somewhere else and forget everything else you’ll have to do after these 25 minutes.

7. Organize:

What are you going to do first? How many minutes will you take rest? Do you have enough water with you? Is your stopwatch with you? Will you run out of pages to write?

Always take a second to check if everything is in order.

8. Improvise:

Not every problem requires the same solution. Yet, we often get stuck at a particular way of thinking. Let’s say you have too much work to fit your to do list. To make sure you get these extra works done, you must innovate.

Can you tackle some tasks in the car?. Tasks like listening to a podcast, learning a new language, transcribing your blog post etc. can be done on the road.

Could you find someone else to do it?

Could you merge two tasks together? i.e. listening to an audio book while playing games etc.

9. Eliminate:

You can’t get everything done in a single day. You must sacrifice what is of less importance to you. You must sacrifice the trivial for the sake of what’s meaningful to you.

Uninstall social media apps, remove gaming from your schedule, restrict the time you are on YouTube.

10. Environment:

Environment can either distract you or aid you to focus. As we now know,it’s better to keep the marshmallows out of site than to use willpower for avoiding them. Keep your dumbbells where you can see them. Put the book you want to read on the bedside table. Put all the sweet cookies out of sight. Design your environment for success.

 

Bonus Tips (Because Why Not!)

11. Push:

When nothing else works, just take one step. Don’t want to work out? Then do one pushup and one sit-up everyday until you can muster the will to do more. Don’t feel like studying? Read just one paragraph every day.

12. Learn:

There’s a lot to learn about productivity. We don’t come to this world with a manual on how to properly use our body and mind. That’s what Tim Ferris, Barbara Oakley, Jordan B Peterson, Stephen Pressfield and other thinkers/ researchers are for. Learn from them. Always be a student of great minds.

I hope you find these ideas helpful. Best of luck!

 

 

 

The reason why you procrastinate over simple tasks and how to stop.

If you had a choice between getting an iPhone 11 Vs an iPhone 6, for free, which one would you pick?

Of course, most of us would go for the iPhone 11.

We put our brain in situations like this every day.

For our brain, simple tasks are iPhone 6s whereas it has options to get much better deals.

Why sit down and study when I can watch something fun on YouTube?

Why clean my room when I can lie down on bed and read random posts from Quora?

For the brain, pleasure is the currency.

It will only start doing menial things voluntarily when there’s no other option.

Eliminate all the other options that are more fun. Turn your phone off and put it in a drawer. Block all the social media sites on your browser.

Soon you’ll find that your brain is bored and wants to do something.

In the absence of an iPhone 11 it will pick an iPhone 6.

And surprisingly, you’ll start doing the mundane.

Better yet, you’ll start enjoying the mundane!

The 5 seconds rule (and other productive hacks)

Whenever there’s a deadline near, I spring into action. But, after that, I get exhausted. I felt like I need a more organic way for productivity.

So, I started some digging.

ASAP Science (a YT channel) helped. In their video about productivity, they suggested to just get started- for two reasons:

i. Before starting out mind wanders about all the difficulties ahead and makes us disinterested.

ii. Our brain doesn’t like unfinished work. So when we get started it bugs us to finish.

Then I came across James Clear (Author of “Atomic Habits”). I love two of his quotes as follows:

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

and “To improve upon a habit, you have to first build one” (paraphrased)

he advises to do atom sized tasks for 60 days to build a solid habit first. Then we can strive to improve the habit.

But, the advice I liked most came from Mel Robbins- her famous 5 seconds rule.

When I’ve the impulse to do something (or think I should), I shall count backwards like this- 5,4,3,2,1 .. and do the thing.

As Mel explains, when we hesitate, the brain sees that as a signal of threat, as in the activity is dangerous, so it stops us from doing.

Also, it lets the cortex brain gain some power over the limbic one- for rational decision making.

So all three of the ideas above have been of great benefit to me lately. Almost finished Mel’s book yesterday. It’s a good book. I liked the audio version of the book as Mel is a great speaker.