{"id":2495,"date":"2019-10-13T08:24:23","date_gmt":"2019-10-13T08:24:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/?p=2495"},"modified":"2021-09-19T16:36:03","modified_gmt":"2021-09-19T16:36:03","slug":"productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloomsoup.com\/productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Productivity 101 (Tools, Tricks, Hacks and Apps to Get More Done)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\nDo you struggle to get things done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Are you constantly watching cat videos on YouTube to distract you from your goals?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If so, you may have a productivity problem, my friend. And you’re not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’ve personally struggled with procrastination for much of my life, and despite being a somewhat respectable human, I feel there’s more untapped productivity fuel in the old tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So this article is as much for me as it is for you. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We’ll jump into the nuts and bolts of productivity soon, but first a little background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Advance warning: This is a behemoth of an article, so feel free to skip to a relevant section below)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During school, I constantly pushed the procrastination button, preferring the seductive delight of instant gratification to getting important work done ahead of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This led to numerous late nights, pre-deadline day, where I rushed to finish an essay or revise before an exam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sorry Mum!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was one of those people who felt they had all the time in the world when a piece of work was set, just to watch that time slip, ever quicker, through my stupid unproductive fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I seemingly preferred to pressure of having a fast-approaching deadline to produce the goods. Unsurprisingly, this led to lots of stress and more than one crappy submission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fast forward, and I\u2019ve now realised the importance of embracing the productive mindset<\/a> to counter my procrastination tendency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n You see, it\u2019s easy to treat the symptoms of procrastination and never fully address the cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re feeling organised and productive, it helps lock the procrastination monster away, at least for a while.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Productivity is simply the art (or science), of getting more stuff done, in less time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can seamlessly flow from one project or activity to the next, cruising through your calendar and striking items from the to-do list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The more efficiently we perform, the more results we see from our focussed attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Being more productive essentially allows us to increase the value our time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, it’s very easy to let the minutes, hours, days and years slip by, devoid of conscious awareness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Seneca, the great Stoic philosopher of ancient Greece, expounded on the shortness of life, saying\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. … The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully. An important caveat is I’m not advocating constant busyness, which can be detrimental to mental health and wellbeing, a distraction from life itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s perfectly possible to be productive while doing nothing, as in meditation, walking in nature or spending time with loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main differentiator, at least in my mind, is that we’re spending our time purposefully, so as to improve on this little rodeo we call life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of us, when faced with the prospect of productivity, are beset by thoughts of manic, Type-A suits, rushing around from one meeting to the next, or anal productivity experts colour coding their underwear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But productivity doesn’t have to be like this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s enough to simply want to be a little more effective day to day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like you needn’t be the next Roger Federer to enjoy a spot of tennis, you don’t have to be a productivity ninja to improve basic aspects of your life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s simply a matter of deciding, ahead of time, how you want to spend your days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The other important factor to note is that, while these tips work wonders for hard tasks and focussed attention, the kind of productivity I’m talking about in this article isn’t just for work tasks, but spans all activities – basically, doing more of the stuff you actually want to do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Finding the time on a regular basis to engage in things that move you closer to desired outcomes (even though they’re hard and sometimes unappealing).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this way, productivity shouldn’t be a vapid experiment filled solely with gimmicks, tricks and hacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While there can be some fun in this, inevitably these fixes aren’t strong enough to really provide meaningful change. If you’re trying to upgrade yourself, it normally needs to be in service of a bigger aim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Therefore, before getting your highlighters out and buying new stationery, think about why you want to become more productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ideally, your ‘why’ should dovetail with a greater purpose. Just take the person who wants to stop smoking or lose weight – two very difficult behaviour changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Often they only achieve results when they combine new habits with a vision, like being able to play with their children in the park, or just being alive for their graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, what’s the purpose of your desire to become more productive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Is it to finally build that business you’ve been too scared to start? Only you will know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, on those difficult days, when the last thing you want to do it stick to your new habits, such reminders can help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before we talk about any shiny productivity hacks, we need to address the elephant in the room; health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though this subject has been done to death, not least by me in other articles, it’s vital to mention how important a healthy mind and body are as a cornerstone for other work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re trying to become more productive but don\u2019t take care of yourself, you’ll struggle unnecessarily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Healthy habits have a huge butterfly effect on the rest of your life, automatically making you more productive, without extended effort needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So even if your productivity experiment stops here, you know you’ll have levelled up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Healthy habits include sleeping at least 7 hours a night, drinking plenty of water, exercising regularly, socialising and doing some sort of mental hygiene practice, like meditation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s look at each one briefly:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sleep<\/strong> – try to get 7-8 hours a night. Go to bed and wake up at the same time. Have a good wind-down routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Exercise<\/strong> – simply move your body more, even if that’s just walking every day. For best results, try to get a sweat on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Diet<\/strong> – if you owned a thoroughbred racehorse, what would you feed it? Probably not a bunch of processed rubbish, but a healthy diet that improves performance. It should be the same for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mental flossing<\/strong> – engage in an exercise to improve mental resilient and provide a new perspective on the world. Meditation is perfect for this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Socialising<\/strong> – research shows that one of the biggest predictors of longevity is having a tight-knit social circle. This is vital, especially for self-employed folk or knowledge workers who may not get much face time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ok, so when you have the basics covered, you can move onto more practical techniques.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, there are two answers to this question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of lifetime, just like investing, it’s clearly better to embrace the productive mindset when we’re young.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we can cement this philosophy, the compound interest of productive habits is exponential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, becoming more productive at any age is a worthy pursuit and ultimately, your life trajectory means more than your starting point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if you’re late to the game, you can likely accomplish far more than you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second part of the answer is what time of day we’re more productive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you visit the Reddit productivity forums<\/a>, you’ll see this FAQ is of the highest frequency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trawling through these answers, however, provides little insight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While there’s certainly a cultural phenomenon to associate early risers with increased productivity, plenty of people on these platforms are night owls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be honest, though, there is a big overlap between the two – many late nighters and early risers may actually being getting their important work done at the same time – the most important feature seems to be solitude and freedom from distraction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of us want to become more productive immediately, before giving any thought to our environs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outward order, inner calm<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s to say, it’s hugely difficult to implement productive practices in an ill-fitting environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If your work area is messy, so too will be your mind, creating a superfluous drain on mental energy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s vital, therefore, to have space which is conducive to your planned changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like having a clean space, you need to organise your environment with the correct triggers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’re trying to be productive in a room with a big TV, games console and comfortable couch, it’s going to be nigh impossible to adopt the right mindset to shift gears.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Modifying your environment to put bad practices out of reach and make good habits inevitable is essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And it’s not just the physical environment which plays a part, inasmuch as the people you surround yourself with also have a significant impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the prevailing attitude among your peers is one of instant gratification and sloth, it\u2019s extremely difficult to break the mould and implement productive practices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From an evolutionary perspective, doing so risks criticism and ostracism from the group, threats to our very survival that we naturally try to avoid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As self-help guru, Jim Rohn (probably) said, <\/p>\n\n\n\n You’re the average of the five people you spend most of your time with<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Choose wisely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, you’ve chosen an area of your life you want to work on, ideally one aligned with a higher purpose greater than yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next step is to break the vision down into subtasks. Take a pen and paper and write out everything that will go into this aim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, select the most high-value tasks on the list, ones that move the needle the most.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many of us spend our time engaged in busywork, instead of high leverage activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be more effective, we should utilise Pareto’s principle<\/a>, focussing on the 20% of activities that deliver 80% of the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you’ve identified these activities, it’s far easier to optimise your workflow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In terms of the nuts and bolts of the operation, there are a few vital steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\nWhat Is Productivity?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\u2015 Lucius Annaeus Seneca, <\/strong>On the Shortness of Life<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThe Busyness Trap<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Purpose<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Health and Wellbeing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Best Time for Productivity<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Where Is the Best Place to Be Productive?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How to Be Productive<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Workflow<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Calendar<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n