So I am writing this article with planning out a way to improve my productivity according to what works for me. Maybe you’ll find a pointer or two that relevant to you? Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
So here is an outline of things that I need to keep in mind to keep myself going at full force:
- Don’t overeat. Snack instead.
- Sleep well. Don’t sleep late.
- Sprint, then run.
- Do the hardest work first
So the reason I don’t advocate overeating is because:
- You become really sleep
- You become really complacent or lazy
- Snacking helps keep you fueled better than a heavy meal.
Table of Contents
Eat Less So that You Can Work More
So when you overeat, you body starts turning all that excess fuel from your food into fat to be sequestered into your adipose tissue. I mean this is great if you have to go through long periods of time without food, but we live in an age where food is at such an abundance that people are actually dying because they eat too much. Overeating also tends to make an individual more sleepy, so that doesn’t exactly help with staying focused with the task at hand.
I also find that if I feel full, I feel a kind of demotivated. Not in a depressed kind of way, but a kind of complacency that I don’t need to work on anything that requires effort, or if I am even slightly disinterested in it.
Sleep Better (╯°□°）╯︵ Better Mood (╯⋟﹏⋞）╯︵ Better Productivity
To put it simply, if skip on sleep, I skip on productivity. I end up incurring a net loss. That’s because we need sleep to reset & shore back up the neurotransmitter in our brain. If we skip sleep, we messing up the balance of our brain neurotransmitters. That’s why you’ll find your self more moody or depressed when you are sleep deprived. My level of patience also takes a strong hit, and that also means that I don’t have the patience to keep working, so after about 5 minutes of work I find myself on YouTube binge watching videos for a few hours.
Swallow the Frog First
Exercise
So when it comes to exercise, I find that taking the first step for some people is the hardest part. Well, for me I usually am pretty happy with walking. But a problem that I have is that I also want to incorporate sprints into my exercise routine in order to improve my body. To put it simply, I end up not sprinting if I decide to walk first. I get too lazy by the end of it. So to make sure that I also perform sprints, I make it the first thing that I do. Then the easier stuff can come.
When it comes to any task, you want to do the harder stuff first, then the easy. It has to do with the way we think- we compare things. So if you do something hard first, then what comes next is a piece of cake. But if you do something easy first, that will be the “standard” or “normal” level of difficulty for you, since you do not have something directly to compare it too. But then doing a harder task after the easier ones makes that hard task so much more harder.
Your Work
Similar to what I mentioned about exercise, do your hard work first so that you make that your “normal” level of difficulty, and so the easier work looks like piece of cake. To add to this point, try to find the period of time when you are mentally the sharpest to do your hard work. For me, I find that I am mentally the sharpest a little time after I wake up, and a few hours before bedtime.
Miscellaneous
I’ve read that fear is a great motivator for success. Be fearful, be hopeful, just don’t be complacent. Desire is a great motivator too.
If I can’t listen to music while I work, that either indicates to me that I am listening to music that is too distracting, or that I don’t have the proper mental state for productivity & focus. So in a way, I use music to test the level of mental focus & prowess that I have currently. If i am in a productive mental state, I find that music improves my overall workflow. However, if I am in a easily distracted, tired, low-energy mental state- then music will only serve to further distract me such that I cannot concentrate.
