Become More Productive : 4 Easy Tips
Hello,
Long time no see ! 9 moths passed since my last article. I am really happy to announce that I’m back and planned many more contents for my Medium blog ! This one will be a short & clear warming post. Later on the other blog posts, I will talk about what changed in 9 months, what I’m currently working on and the other updates. But today let’s discuss how I became more productive and motivated with some basic habits & routines.
First, let me describe my purpose. I know the title sounds a little bit more like “self development” and maybe it is in a good way! But what I actually mean by productive and motivated is not only the daily achievements, working hours or count of completed tasks but spending less time to deal with stress, but more on focusing and enjoying.
Doesn’t matter if it’s about work, social or academic life : the most important part is the road’s itself. So, I know it’s not most surprising news but I wanna show that without habits like waking up 5.a.m or running every morning or studying for 8 hours kinda strict rules that social media made popular these days, there are many more different ways to achieve. They can be way more applicable even if you want to start tomorrow and of course more sustainable since you enjoy them.
1-Morning Reads
As the name indicates, we are reading in mornings ! Usually I don’t like to be an early bird but waking up 8.am. is totally fine for me. 4 months ago I was listening a podcast about time management and the girl said she is working 9 to 5 but except for work she has her own interests&hobbies and these are her motivation for life. She said : “After work, I was feeling so tired and even if I take time for the things I love, I couldn’t feel the pleasure and fulfillment.” So, she started to wake up at 5.a.m to read, write and spend her free time alone before work to do her favorite things while also improving herself.
As I said I’m not a morning person but this thought deeply impressed me : ‘I have to do things I love with a clear mind & body: I have to read, I have to work on art because that’s how I feel that I’m living and that’s how I’m not gonna regret thinking that I spent my whole life for work and money’. She also mentioned that her reactions got so much aggressive and anxious when she only works 9–5 and drink a coffee after with her friends and only have 2 days to do some stuff. I stopped and thought about my daily routines. Reading is like breathing to me and except for technical articles, realized I was reading only 1, max 2 hours a day in the evening and sometimes I feel so tired or my head is just so full with thoughts that I can’t even enjoy reading. Then I decided to try something different but not that revolutional : decided to wake up 30 mins earlier than my normal time just to read something !
The key point that made the difference for this habit is : we are not reading technical or fictional books : only biography, autobiography, history, philosophy books etc. : you will already spend your day with your job -for me this means technical stuff — and fictional books require so much attention. What we want to do is surprising our brain and took some of our time with new subjects that can help us on a daily basis, inspire us and wake us up.
In my test process, I really liked some certain books and started to wake 1–2 hour earlier (not very often to be honest) just to read more and pleasure. And at the end of 4 months, only by reading in the mornings I finished 5 books I wanted to read but never found time. Besides this pro, morning reads help me to start my day stress free. I feel more relieved and also I am feeling more ready and focused for my work. The taste of doing something for yourself and filling your cup with art, philosophy, history is making me feel so fulfilled. Be exposed to something different than your normal, is best way to be more confident and also you start to question more about how you spend your time because your perspective expands and you taste the pleasure of exploring a world you never found time to. Also, doing something right before starting your day makes you feel you value yourself more which will make you more active, calm and positive. This is also the goal of meditation but today we are all aware of meditation doesn’t have only one form. Just give it a try and then thank me ;) you don’t need a radical change, just surprise yourself and your body without pushing so hard at once.
2- Social Media Circle
I know that screen time is a real issue for us nowadays, but I also know that it’s not realistic to never scroll during the day. So, instead of being obsessive about hours and minutes, I thought about turning it into an advantage and I created a social media circle for myself.
Specially in twitter and instagram, now I have 15–20 people that inspire me (with their hard work, lifestyle, career path etc.) and motivate me to check on a daily basis and approximately more than 2 times in a day. When I feel overwhelmed or when I get stressed, instead of scrolling randomly and seeing people I have no interest or nothing to share with, I prefer to see people that inspires me. To see that they are also working, getting bored or feeling anxious or having a bad day or promoting or enjoying the lifestyle I aim to have, just increases my awareness for the moment and reminds me every situation is temporary and I can change my mood immediately. Also reading the posts they share — the information in technic subjects makes my time in social media worth the time. When I was feeling so tired to write this post, I saw one of the seniors in my social media circle and he wrote like “I spend the whole day by running after my children and I’m really tired but I will finish this article today and share with you tomorrow”. After reading these lines and seeing his motivating setup :), I I found myself first in kitchen to make some coffee and then in my setup to complete this post. This is just a basic but realistic example. You can create a circle for yourself that you like to follow without stress and gives you motivation when you don’t have — not anxiety or comparison feeling.
3-Becoming Visible
In your family, company or in any kind of relationship be more visible. I know it’s not easy for everyone and not everyone wants to but I believe productivity comes from knowing what’s going around and be able to know in which exact point you can contribute. Be visible, ask questions -to people or to yourself, try to see what you can and can’t do. Try to analyze how much time you need, how much effort you need to put and talk about that. At first, your analysis will not be so accurate but you are going to feel the process which also brings joy. If you just focus on big complex task, 8 hours of working, how many days or hours you need to work then you are just feel overwhelmed and feel necessity to take breaks and breathe. If you focus on the process and how can I improve, what I need to do to achieve kind of concepts, I promise you feel better and feeling better will make you more focused & productive. Being visible will help you to get right directions from right people.Which will lead you to the point faster with less effort : this is what productivity is all about.
4-(Not) To Do Lists
Last week, I read an article which says writing down every little thing you need to complete makes your brain lazier. I am not the type of person who create a to do list for each small task, but I have many friends who like to do. So, instead of thinking about each step or each task of your day, just act. Create to dos for only your academic or work life. This will decrease your stress and make you realize once again, you are not in a productivity competition ! Also, one more recommendation : I create my to dos as planners without so much details but with an outline. That fastens me while working, I’m checking required points when I stuck or I can arrange my hours and the things I want to take time more easily. One more key point for me in to do lists, is I have a “base” form for my daily tasks. I use this forms in periods which I have a short-term goal, for example in phases of my side project, or in courses I’m taking. Instead taking notes, or trying to remember all the details, I have a base form and I just add extra ones if required. This also helps me to track my activities at the end of each sprint. Maybe you can give a shot to this technique. I am leaving a link below about this subject, you can also take an eye for detailed discussions.
I know that my suggestions are not really surprising and that is the proof of they work ! We all try to create balance between our work and social life meanwhile we don’t want to spend our time with rushing, stressing and being lazy. So, please be kind to yourself and do not believe everything you see on social media ! That super early insta routines or morning meditations, coffees are just an enjoyable part of the life if you prefer — not a must or not the only way to live a productive life. If you have any book, podcast or routine that you want to share please just leave a comment ! Wish you all a great day and see you in next post (not in a very long time :) )
