What I’ll be composing is about being productive instead of being busy. Based on some articles I’ve read as my references, being productive means working smartly by only focusing on the essential tasks, so there’s a goal you want to achieve. While being busy means working harder to be good at everything.
Some friends question me about how to be a productive human being more like I am the queen of it. But the fact is, I also often ought to deal with it, particularly when my mood eradicates everything, and it drives me to discern that I want to do nothing during the day. Instead, I suppose there’s always the way, the urge to avoid laziness before it swallows me up. As further as I live, here are some routines to trigger a productive day based on personal preference.
First Things First
The first thing I do to trigger a productive day is observation. The observation here defines what causes the impulse to stay in bed all day, the desire to do nothing and to be lazy. It varies from person to person, so it’s your duty to get to know yourself deeper. In my case, what induces me to be lazy is when I do not have anything on my list when I have an empty schedule, so it stimulates my body to wake up late, and that’s how my moods get ruined. Hence, scheduling is way too crucial for me, and I’ll assure myself I won’t let my brain and body in an idle circumstance.
Scheduling
What motivates me, why I wake up earlier, is what has been written on my schedule. At the end of the week, which is Sunday (my day started on Monday), I usually reflect and plan: which means reflecting on what I have done through the previous week and what goals I have missed; and planning what I’ll do in the following week. This Sunday’s agenda is arranging the general but chances of achievable goals, then detailing each day’s to-do list the night before I sleep. This list is like a trigger for me why I need to really get up in the morning, recalling that I have workloads to be done. So even though I have woken up earlier, I won’t waste several minutes or hours just to think about, “God, what should I do?”.
Regarding this technique, Dr. Michael K. Scullin from Baylor University in Texas has investigated it through his research that spending 5 minutes before sleeping to write a to-do list down can reduce anxiety.
It says: “We live in a 24/7 culture in which our to-do lists seem to be constantly growing and causing us to worry about unfinished tasks at bedtime. Most people just cycle through their to-do lists in their heads, and so we wanted to explore whether the act of writing them down could counteract night-time difficulties with falling asleep.”
The study results: it is considered that making a to-do list reduces anxiety by “offloading” persistent thoughts about the following day. The second group of 57 persons who were instructed to compose a to-do list or a list of things they had previously accomplished before bedtime fell asleep substantially more quickly. Individuals that made thorough to-do lists were able to fall asleep 15 minutes earlier than the rest of the group.
Strict To The Schedule
If you think scheduling only is not significantly working to live a productive day, then initiate to be strict with it. During the 3rd until 5th semester of college, I used this technique to arrange my workloads by clock intervals by time blocking to enhance my focus. Based on the article written by Rachel Hakoune in mondayblog:
“Time blocking is a scheduling format that helps boost productivity by dividing your day into specific blocks of time. Using this approach, each block represents the time dedicated to completing a specific task or tasks.” (read more here: https://monday.com/blog/productivity/increase-your-productivity-with-time-blocking-a-step-by-step-guide/).
Disclaimer! I recommend using this method once your daily work/college is well arranged, which means you can make sure the start and end times of your obligatory work so you’ll place other lists systematically. I stopped using this time-blocking method when I stepped into the 6th semester because most of the uncertainties (appointments with lecturers, a weekly meeting to discuss internship and field camp, etc) disturbed my blocked tasks. Plus, the time-blocking method requires a realistic plan, so what’s on your list will be completed by the end of the day. Don’t put in too much work, and stay logical.
Use Productivity Apps To Help You Focus
You grab your lists in your hands, so what’s next? Nothing else but start working on it. But we humans sometimes feel challenging to maintain the focus that makes us regularly check our phone to glimpse the updated news on social media and to chat with friends (or your lover;)). Hence, we need to get rid of this problem. My shortcut is installing the productivity app (my favorite is Forest) to help me focus on the duty I currently work on. This app will help me resist other businesses that can be handled later once my Pomodoro time ends. It’s on you to pick a comfortable and suitable app for you.
What I need to emphasize here is being productive doesn’t mean you throw away your social needs to interact with people and get everything done all at once which can tire you. Being productive means you can organize things based on their importance, so at the end of the day, you’ll be proud of yourself to complete some duties without getting overwhelmed and become consistent in the following days.
These tips may not work for all people who read this. Though I also can’t always 100% be able to pursue these. Once I got exhausted, I can sleep for more than 10 hours, and for me, it’s okay to take a long rest before I am ready to start a new and motivated day. And it takes so many trials to finally figure it how to handle laziness in your mind and body, so keep moving and doing positive improvisations.
