We all have 24 hours in a day.
Some can work and use it like there's no tomorrow and some will procrastinate and be lazy and not get anything done. Which one is you?
The goal is to figure out how to maximise productivity. So, if you are someone who can't focus for 10 minutes straight without scrolling through your twitter or Instagram feed, here is some help for you.
Finding your Zone- athlete’s are known for getting into the zone, some visualise winning, some will pin their goals and re-affirm everyday and some will close their eyes and feel themselves winning.
The “state of free flow” happens when you can replicate an emotion or the readiness by simply listening to the same music or reading your affirmations. One you are present in the zone you can do what you are best at without feeling the urge to browse or being distracted. Read more here about the state of free flow.
The state of flow, will actually feel something like this for you:
- You are completely involved in what you’re doing
- There’s clarity:-you know what you have to do
- You know that the activity is doable, that you have the necessary skills to complete the task successfully.
- You lose your sense of self and all of your worries and concerns drift away.
- You lose track of time and you’re completely focused on the present moment.
- There’s an intrinsic motivation—whatever produces flow becomes it’s own reward. (Source)
Remove Stress- when you do what you love, you feel stress melting away.
Work stress has been categorised into multiple stages:
1. Honeymoon stage
2. Full throttle stage
3. Chronic symptom stage
4. Hitting the wall stage
5. The opposite
Removing stress is a simple way to increase your productivity, no one tells you watch back back to episodes in Netflix, you can sustain it because you like watching it and to doesn’t stress you out. Only if you could replicate that feeling while working, you could easily work for hours.
So, why are you stressed? Is it because you still have to found the right job or area of interest you would like to work in.
Try these below points to try reducing the stress:
- Take Breaks- take whenever you need it, to focus on yourself, for self care or just to find your sanity. Psychology Today talks about how “When we work, our prefrontal cortex makes every effort to help us execute our goals. But for a challenging task that requires our sustained attention, research shows briefly taking our minds off the goal can renew and strengthen motivation later on.” Read more here .
- Exercise- changes your thinking skills and comes with numerous benefits. Personally, I think my best when I go for walks and have seen the benefits first hand. I even walk when I feel stuck in situations.
- Plan your way to the ideal job- You should move if you don't like the mess you are in, you are not a tree. So, instead of being in a toxic environment, it's better to look for the next job. There are lots of platforms and ways to look for new jobs or find mentors who can help you.
10,000 Hour Rule- efficiency is about how you have mastered the domain. This means hours of practice can not only make you efficient, it will also ensure you inspect and adapt your techniques or domains.
To bring in more structure, the following strategy/tools usually bring in results:
- Pomodoro technique- this is one of my favorite tools right now, specially when I am trying to focus amidst a million more things to do. When I try to finish a task whether its the research behind the article or writing a post I mostly always wander. Using the timer, I know that I have a set time during which I have to finish the task I have assigned and in most cases I have been able to get it done. So, if you have problem focussing, give this simple timer a go.
- Breaking hours- a lot of people swear by their calendar and keep it every organised. The goal I think is very similar, when you break down the hours you are just increasing your focus because you time is limited and your work pin pointed. For me this simply translates to getting it done.
- Dividing your work - you eat one spoonful at a time, taking a project doesn't mean you have to get it done in a day. So, stop stressing. divine your work, break it down to simpler tasks, where you can't slice to down anymore. Then you prioritise it and thats how you start. consider the total number of tasks, time it will take you to get it done and how much the you have. don't tress abut tomorrow, just switch on the tomato timer and work on the first task for now.
What do you think? Have some secrets you want to share that works for you, leave them in the comments or share over twitter.
(Pic courtesy: Free stock Photography and google images)
I have tried to categorise them better this time around, so let me know if this is something that you guys are enjoying as well. 
