There is a mood when it is simply impossible to force yourself to work, and talkative employees, social networks, pubs and toys only make it worse. The work is worth it and will not go anywhere from you. How to shake off the embrace of laziness and start doing something?
Here are 6 tips to save your antiproductive day.
Such a lazy mood can visit you not only at work, but also at home: because of it, you continue to sit in a dirty apartment, staring at the monitor, and instead of a healthy dinner, make yourself dumplings.
So, in order not to clean up the rubble at work and at home, I offer you six ways to force yourself to do something right now, and not in the distant "tomorrow."
1. Cleaning - first of all Maybe your table is in perfect order, but during the day all the rubbish appears on it - papers, documents, notebooks and pens, cups of coffee. The first thing to do when you feel like you're stuck at work is to clean up the desk.
Lying things distract you, even if you don't realize it, and the cleaning process itself helps to clarify your thoughts. It's the same at home, if you can't bring yourself to do something, start by cleaning: wash the dishes, make the bed, take out the trash: usually one action is enough to start the process, and you no longer sit on the sofa until you do all that is needed.
2. Start with small things Usually they advise on the contrary - to start with the most difficult and complex projects so that they do not hang like a stone over the soul, but we have an emergency situation and a sharp decline in productivity, so difficult things will only make you procrastinate even more.
Make a few small tasks and check the boxes next to them in the to-do list. For example: cleaning your desk and sketching out a plan for the day. When you see that something is done, your mood improves, and you can take on more difficult tasks. Easy tasks will serve as a warm-up for you, just do not get carried away, 2-3 tasks will be enough, otherwise you will be doing nonsense all day.
3. Choose one task So, you have warmed up, now the main thing is to save the result. So that social networks and entertainment sites do not drag you in again, cut them down, remove everything that does not concern work or your primary task.
Highlight one task that needs to be done right now, write it on a piece of paper and glue it on the laptop. Make it visible and start doing it. When you're done, write the next one, and don't get distracted by anything else in the process.
4. Change your place Your workplace is saturated with melancholy and unproductiveness, colleagues are chatting nearby, for example, Friday. Try changing places, for example, take a laptop and retire to another room, or go for a walk outside (given the weather, you can also go into the corridor), while thinking about what and how you will do in the remaining time.
For home, this also helps: just go out for a walk, for example, buy yourself something in a nearby store and return home with a ready-made action plan.
5. Set yourself a timer You have decided what you will do, and now set yourself a timer for 15 minutes, and during this time completely immerse yourself in the business. Just a quarter of an hour, then you can get distracted again (you must promise yourself this when you set the timer).
You'd be surprised how much you can get done in 15 minutes of concentration, even if your business actually takes 3 hours or three working days. When you see this, inspiration will wake up and the work will go.
6. The glass is always half full No matter how little you do on this day or the previous day, try to keep a positive attitude. Look at what you have done and promise yourself that you will do more tomorrow, or better, make a plan that includes everything you do tomorrow.
That's all, we hope the tips will help you overcome sudden laziness at work or at home.
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If procrastination is a real problem for you,
we've compiled the top 7 best tips for how to stop procrastinating and be more productive at work and in life.
1/7 Find your "peaks "activity
Scientists have long proved that no one is able to work for 8 hours in a row (and even more so 12).Curry Mason, author of the book “Genius Mode. The daily routine of great people. "
He found that most people have between two and four productive hours during the day. This is the very time when a person is full of strength, energy, creatively active and most productive in performing complex tasks. The rest of the time, it is better to deal with simple managerial and current tasks.
It is enough to find your individual productivity hours to solve all work issues as efficiently as possible Well-known foreign writer Taylor Pearson agrees that each person has his own 2-4 productive hours a day. He tried to "force" himself to write a lot every day, but in the end, after several hours of work on the text, he felt tired, and the quality of the text deteriorated significantly.
So instead of a long and productive work the writer got the opposite effect: every extra hour of work on the book added time for him to correct what he wrote the next day.
TIP
Being productive during the day isn't difficult; all you have to do is find your few productive hours a day. Try to complete tasks of varying degrees of difficulty at different times of the day. This will tell you when the best work is for you.
2/7 Don't neglect sleep
Many of us think that if we stay late at work or come to the office early in the morning, we can do a lot, so we often neglect sleep. Such people believe that their productivity at work will increase significantly, but this is fundamentally the wrong tactic. To be productive during the day, it's important not only to get a good night's sleep, but also not to oversleep.
Leading sleep expert Professor Daniel Kripke told TIME that a person needs an average of 6.5 to 7.5 hours to sleep.Research has shown that those who sleep less or more than the sweet spot not only show lower productivity at work, but also live shorter lives. This statement is confirmed by the American edition of Buisiness Insider, which conducted its own investigation and established how much time successful people spend on sleep.
How many hours of sleep do you need to be productive? Bill Gates, Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos and Jack Dorsey sleep 7 hours a day. Elon Musk and Barack Obama 6 hours a day. Take an example from successful people, remember a habit from childhood and try to sleep during the day.. If you have a seating area in your office, then feel free to bring along a sleep mask, earplugs and have yourself a 15-minute lunchtime nap.
3/7 Keep track of your daily routine
Even if you work at home or for yourself, the daily routine is very important, as Curry Mason, author of the book “Genius Mode. The daily routine of great people. " It's not just about diaries or mobile apps that remind you of appointments. Rather, it is a matter of the correct distribution of working time.
Who you are? Owl, lark, dove? A lot depends on your natural biological rhythms. For example, scientists advise taking short breaks at work.
A break, even if it is 15 minutes long after 1.5 hours active work will only improve your productivity and allow your brain to "rest" and "recharge".
You yourself will be surprised how much your productivity will increase.
4/7 Fill your breaks with something useful
We already wrote above that scientists from the University of Illinois have established the need for breaks during work. Try to make your breaks not only relaxing but also productive.
Some of the 15 minute breaks can be filled by watching YouTube tutorials or educational videos.
Owl lovers will love them even more after installing the application. "Owl" will not only restrict access to the sites you have chosen, but will also make sarcastic comments in your address if it seems to her that you are not productive enough.
7/7 Stop following "successful" people on social media
Someone else's success can make you admire, envy, and then even make you depressed. But think about it! Keeping track of someone's life will not make you a good employee or a successful person... Try to focus better on your current problems and tasks.
If following your idols only spoils your mood, then maybe you should give up this activity? There are also very radical advice on this score. Calvin Newport, lecturer at Georgetown University (USA), author of books and articles on building a career advises retire from social networks everyone who wants a career.
As follows from performances Calvin Newport, successful specialist valued by skills, not by positioning yourself on social media.
But if you do not want to be removed from social networks and examples of other people's achievements inspire you, it is much more productive to listen to the lectures of successful people than to like their photos on social networks.
For example, subscribe to youtube TED channel and follow the announcements of new video lectures.
Final tips and a selection of books to improve personal productivity
Productivity is not a character trait or a special quality passed down to you from your father or mother. Personal effectiveness is a lot of work on yourself and on your mistakes.
To become a great doctor you need to graduate good university, and in order to start playing the ukulele, you need to go to special courses or watch video tutorials on YouTube.
It's the same story with productivity: to become a more productive person, learn to be.
We have collected best booksto help increase your productivity:
- Mason Curry “Genius Mode. The daily routine of great people ”- the book is perfect for those who want to really look up to great personalities, and not on Instagram profiles.
- Chris Anderson “TED Talks. Words change the world. The First Official Guide to Speaking in Public ”is an incredible book from an ideologue and TED curator on how to make your presentations and speeches more powerful and effective. The book will also teach you how to work with the audience.
- Peter Ludwig“Beat procrastination! How to stop procrastinating until tomorrow ”is one of the most famous and useful books for those who feel constant guilt for not doing anything, but cannot do anything about it. 5 out of 5 stars on Ozone, impressive reviews have already been read, and most importantly, there is no "water" in the book, only examples from the real life of the author and his colleagues.
Any worker who works in an office or factory under labor laws knows that productivity is not at its peak all day long. And regardless of how well he slept at night or how many cups of coffee he drank at breakfast. During the working day, productivity gradually decreases. However, most of us continue to fulfill our functional responsibilities despite the deterioration in the quality of work.
Because of this, many then have to work after hours or on weekends - otherwise they will not be able to compensate for the losses. First of all, this applies to the heads of companies or departments who cannot delegate their responsibilities to others.
The vast majority of executives work more than 40 hours a week and feel overwhelmed by their job responsibilities. Meanwhile, experts argue that an increase in the number of working hours does not lead to an improvement in productivity and quality of work. You can make your working day more productive if you start planning it right.
Find the best performance watch
A large amount of work always leads to a decrease in productivity. The human brain can work most productively only from one and a half to two hours in a row, after which a break is required. Then you can start a new one and a half hour period of maximum performance. The duration of this cycle can be individual, and you need to choose it yourself to increase productivity.
In addition, it is possible to increase productivity without increasing working hours if the individual daily rhythms of a person are taken into account. For example, if you are a morning person, it makes sense to start early. If to the owls - later.
The next factor is determining the reasons of an objective and subjective nature that distract you from performing your official duties. The most productive workers claim that they only achieve peak productivity because they know how to manage their time. A third of the people surveyed directly point to the lack of planning as a factor that hinders productivity.
A survey of office workers who consistently work off-hours revealed the following reasons for poor time management:
- Wrong prioritization of work.
- Lack of planning.
- Constant distraction by external factors.
- Incorrect assessment of the effort required to complete tasks.
- The need to perform several tasks at the same time.
- Postponing tasks until later.
The best way to identify peaks in productivity is by keeping a work diary throughout the day. It allows you to see your own patterns of behavior and restructure the workday for maximum productivity. In addition to the diary, you can resort to interviewing colleagues at work. They can watch you and indicate when you are at peak performance and when you are running low.
Formation of work templates
Having identified the periods of maximum productivity, you can move on to finer planning. This will help reduce the amount of time spent on certain processes. For example, you might need to set aside a block of time to answer emails, plan the day, or schedule meetings for the next day.
It is necessary to pay attention to the so-called "driving" and "constraining" factors, that is, those that increase or decrease the motivation to perform other tasks. For example, you cannot plan difficult work after a meeting, where, as you know in advance, you will spend all your moral and physical strength.
Work that requires maximum concentration should be scheduled for peak performance during the day.
Individual schedule
Having planned your work according to the above tips, it makes sense to contact your employer to form an individual work schedule. Typically, managers respond to such requests to improve employee productivity.
Top 10 tips on Medium to be more productive and work smarter.
I recently wrote a letter to myself, listing my own rules for being productive. Every time I feel like I'm messing around or something isn't working out for me, I re-read these rules. Here are my ten tips for being productive and smart.
1. Focus on systems, not goals
From an early age, we are taught to achieve goals: to get good grades, to move up the career ladder. You work hard to finally be successful.
However, many of our goals are beyond our control. We do not control the future, the actions of others, the economy, and environment... This is why we must focus on systems.
The "system" is an iterative process. Gaining 500 followers is the goal, writing 500 words a day is an iterative process. Running a marathon is the goal; running four times a week is a repetitive process. Losing weight by 5 kg is the goal, leading a healthy lifestyle is the system.
Focus on effort, not results.
2. Remember the compound interest effect
Compound interest is an effect that is often found in economics and finance, when the interest of profit at the end of each period is added to the principal amount, and the resulting value subsequently becomes the starting point for calculating new interest. Let's say the growth rate is 10%, the initial investment is $ 100, next month you will receive $ 110, another month - $ 121, the third - $ 133. Your income will continue to grow.
But the compounding effect doesn't just work in finance. It affects almost every area of \u200b\u200byour life.
Take knowledge, for example. If you read several pages a day, you can learn from books in the future.
If you publish multiple posts per week, your readers will be able to enjoy a complete catalog of your articles. It will be easier for them to find you.
3. Focus on results
The third golden rule is to focus on results, not effort. In the first point, I said that systems help us be productive and control our efforts. However, you need to know what you are striving for.
Writing 500 words a day without any goal is just practice. If you want to be successful, you have to devote yourself to a goal - for example, to post something to a blog every week. Systems will help you achieve the result.
Think of the result as the “end product”. It is important to understand how it relates to your system. Writing something every day - a system, articles or books - is the result.
Remember, results are not goals. The goal is to convince 500 people to subscribe to your blog, but you have no control over who subscribes to you. The only thing you are responsible for is the regular release of new articles.
Getting promoted is the goal. You are not in control of your boss. However, you can do your job so well that he cannot ignore you. You can plan, for example, to launch ten projects over the next three months.
It is important to understand the difference between goals and results. It's not enough just to do your job well. You must know how to channel your energy.
4. Follow the 80/20 Rule
The Pareto Law or the 80/20 Rule is one model that I refer to almost every day. This rule says:
"20% of the efforts give 80% of the result, and the remaining 80% of the efforts - only 20%."
This rule will help you understand if you are doing everything right. Answer the following questions:
Are you focusing on the tasks that will bring you the most benefit?
Do you treat all of your customers the same, or do you pay more attention to those who will bring you the most profit?
Once you realize that you are good at it, redouble your efforts and do it more often. For instance:
Most subscribers find out about my blog through several resources. By applying the 80/20 rule, I can devote most of my time to attracting even more subscribers from these channels. When in doubt, use this rule. It will help you understand what really matters.
5. Reschedule the most important tasks in the morning
Our memory works best in the morning, a few hours after we wake up. Reschedule your most important tasks for this period.
You can also use the Pomodoro method: this technique involves breaking up tasks into 25-minute periods (pomodoro) followed by short breaks. Do three to four of these sets every morning. As soon as you manage 25 minutes of concentrated work on the problem, try "doubling the tomatoes" - now work 50 minutes and rest for ten.
I usually start my morning doing two or three double tomatoes. In 25 minutes I manage to write several paragraphs, and after a few hours I finish writing an article. Some I publish, some I leave for later, and some I just practice.
6. Get rid of distractions
Distraction is the opposite of productivity. Get rid of them so you can fully focus on your work.
Distractions can be divided into three large groups: physical, intangible, and people. Take a piece of paper and a pen and list everything that distracts you. The first group includes a mess on the table, a huge amount of clothes in the closet, or a TV. The second group includes the telephone, the Internet, confusing applications and systems that are difficult to understand. Finally, you may be distracted by coworkers who take you away from work "for five minutes." Communicate with them using messages. Here's what he says: “I love emails. Wherever I am, I always try to reply with messages. I do it very well. "
Trust me, nothing is more annoying than Facebook notifications when you are completely focused on your work. Step one: understand what distracts you. Step two: start getting rid of it.
7. Automate repetitive tasks
Modern smartphones are now more powerful than any of NASA's computing systems in 1969, when the first man went to the moon. Technology has changed a lot since then.
Today, you can easily automate repetitive tasks. First, list all the tasks you complete each week. Then figure out how to automate them using applications or your own system. No matter what you do, you will always be faced with repetitive tasks.
Everyone uses email to communicate. According to a study by Carleton University, every employee spends a third of a week on email. I developed the GTD Gmail (Getting Things Done) system, thanks to which I now spend only a few minutes a week sorting messages. You can use other email tricks.
If you use spreadsheets a lot, Zapier is what you need.
8. Rely on data
I believe that you should always make decisions based on data. If you just decide to do what you think, without relying on any facts, you will not succeed.
Always ask yourself questions: do I think so because this is my opinion / other people say so / have I checked it?
In the fifth point, I advise you to postpone all important things to the morning. Yes, this is the peak of productivity for most people. The key word is "majority". What if you are better at performing tasks at night? Or is your productivity peak in the afternoon? How can you find out? Check the assumption.
Start with the ultimate goal of your experiment: find your peak productivity.
Put forward a hypothesis: my peak of productivity is in the morning (9: 00-11: 00). Now your hypothesis needs to be tested.
Set up an experiment: to find the peak of productivity, you can enter data about your health (from 1 to 10) in the table for two weeks.
Start an experiment and collect data.
Analyze the data and draw conclusions: look at the table and calculate the results.
Experiment like this and see how various factors affect your productivity. Test, test, and test again. This is the only way to understand what is right for you.
9. Assign unimportant things to others
There is no such person who could do everything in the world perfectly. Do what you do best. Transfer tasks to others if you are confident that they will do better.
Instead of trying to develop a new skill, just find someone who is better at a specific task.
For example: I am not good at design, and it will take me hours to draw something simple. It is much easier to find a person who understands design better than me and delegate this task to him. I always do what I'm good at - write articles, analyze data - and leave the rest to others.
However, it is important to choose the right person for work. He must have all the necessary skills for this task. Explain clearly to him what he needs to do.
It's the same in life: sometimes it's better to spend money, but save valuable time. Do what brings you closer to your goal. Leave the rest to others.
10. Struggle is a process
Sometimes the days are so terrible that you just want to lie at home on the couch, stare at the ceiling and think about what went wrong in life. We were all there.
First tip: When you're in a bad mood, go home early. Relax and come refreshed the next day. Sometimes the brain solves problems for us on its own.
Remember, wrestling is a process. If you focus on systems (first point), you will be successful in the long run. In his book War for Creativity, Stephen Pressfield wrote:
“Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote regularly or only when inspiration came to him. To which he replied: “I only write when inspiration comes. Fortunately, it comes to me every morning strictly at 9:00. ”
Hello dear readers.
But tell me honestly, how many people do it easily and easily? Most will answer that it is possible with great difficulty, and often it does not work at all.
Willpower is good, but not enough
You can force yourself to do something, but this personal resource is either not enough, or not enough for a short time.
Such pressure on oneself is exhausting, leads to a stressful state. Ultimately, a complete shutdown occurs. Psychic energy ends, a person gives up what he focused on, and actually forced himself to do.
It turns out that willpower alone is not enough. Why is this happening?
It's just that our brain is so arranged that it works on the basis of past experience, when we have repeatedly given up and retreated in case of failure. As a result, he in every possible way resists everything that causes a large expenditure of energy and time.
This is the main and main reason why it is so difficult for us to carry out what is set as a goal for the long term.
It's impossible to work productively without pleasure.
The second reason why we cannot take on what we need to do is displeasure. We tell ourselves: we must do, because we must, and that's it. Without any emotion.
This “tuning” of the brain is not effective. Most likely, it comes from laziness to think, what is important at the moment? What will affect success and well-being? What will ultimately bring us satisfaction? Instead, we "evade", do some routine things, do whatever (mostly easier)avoiding what needs to be done. How to work productively in such conditions? - but no way, complete "zero", pastime.
However, it is known that the most productive part of humanity achieves outstanding results, directing their efforts to mastering the most difficult skills.
Obviously, such people achieve high results for one simple reason. They get satisfaction from the acquisition of complex skills, and are not "scattered" on small and unnecessary things that take only time and do not bring results. Hence the conclusion about the following feature -
About your favorite business
By doing it, you can achieve a lot. Why doesn't it work? Yes, we just do not know which successful business is our favorite, and we certainly confuse our favorite business in the name of success with our favorite doing nothing, or doing something that is easier and does not require effort.
Avoid this situation, and understand what necessary business beloved, most likely possible, but only if we start doing what we see after. Without starting something, we will never know what is enjoyable and what is not.
You can do a lot and be busy all day, but just work and work tirelessly, doing like everyone else, is not enough.
Difficult start
When we need to do something difficult and long-term, we very often put off until later, for some indefinite future, the timing of which for us is in a fog, that is, they are not.
The protective function of the brain is also affected here. He simply simply avoids unnecessary stress, and clings to any opportunity to postpone a difficult start, pushes in.
This leads to an unpleasant result. We spend most of our lives doing what is more familiar, easier, and not doing what needs to be done. We go to work, perform simple and uncomplicated tasks, do the same at home, and as a result we find that over the years, it turns out that nothing special has been done, and most importantly, much has not been achieved.
To start is to finish
However, despite our laziness, there is an amazing phenomenon. If the group is perfectly different people give an assignment to do something, and at the same time limit them in time so that it is clearly not enough to complete the assignment, then the majority, 90 or more percent after the allotted time, want to stay and finish what they started.
This means that we, almost all of us, have a desire not to stop. And we do this not because our brain works like an automaton, but because it is unpleasant for us to stop without completing the work we have begun. We are in discomfort!
Why, then, do we still postpone, do not start, delay the implementation of the necessary things?
The reason is most likely that we set ourselves a task so big that we want to avoid it, or we don’t think through all the details. We are intimidated by our own uncertainty.
In this case, the solution apparently can be only one - just start without thinking about the consequences, and start with not the most difficult one, and maybe even with the problem. For example, in the morning you don't want to do it - you just need to start a light warm-up, and then everything will "roll" like clockwork.
Need a rest
To begin with, we will begin, and we will get involved in the case, but there is one danger. We begin to spur ourselves on, not allowing ourselves to rest. It seems to us that the more intensively we work, the more efficiently and faster we will do it.
But this approach is fundamentally wrong... In fact, this leads to fatigue, and it is no longer possible to work productively. We forget that people are cyclical. On genetic level a person is so programmed that he must observe daily cycles lasting from 90 to 120 minutes for activity and for sleep - rest.
It was also found that the best susceptibility and performance of people occurs when alternating between work and rest. A rest period of 15 to 20 minutes is sufficient to maintain high performance. Cycle: 90 minutes (one and a half hours) of work - 20 minutes of rest can be quite acceptable. Then the question of how to work productively will be decided by itself.
Do in cycles and in order
By adhering to such cycles, it is helpful focus on just one thing, not to be distracted, and at the same time to carry out all the cases in sequence. Trying to do everything at once reduces productivity and leads to wasted time. If you are distracted by another task, then it takes up to 20 minutes or more to return to the previous rhythm of the cycle.
And so that things do not seem "scary" and difficult, it is useful to break them in your goal into pieces, easy and concrete. Then the brain will not consider the goal as a huge and difficult task, and will not "sabotage" its implementation.
And the last thing, like money, loves counting
Experimental results show that it is important to assign yourself a deadline for completing work. Such self-discipline increases the ability to successfully complete what was started by at least 80%.
At the same time, the effectiveness of self-control increases sharply if it is possible to calculate what has been done in any way. It does not matter at all what and how we calculate. It is important that such a quantitative calculation is possible and done.
Let's sum up the RESULTS
Willpower alone is not enough. Sooner or later, we break down. Turning a task into a favorite thing radically changes everything, and it goes with a bang.
The beginning can be difficult, you just need to start, that's all, and not think about the consequences. The beginning gives rise to the pleasure of the finished.
You cannot "drive" yourself to work. Alternate busyness with rest, for example, according to the scheme 90 → 20 → 90 (in minutes), etc.
Doing things better consistently. Simultaneous multitasking is our enemy.
To counteract brain “sabotage”, break down tasks into small ones, write them down, and set deadlines.
The efficiency and completeness of cases increase with the quantitative accounting of what has been done.
I wish you success in your business!
P.S.
It's better to plan your day the night before. If you try to do this in the morning, you will not be able to effectively plan - there is no time to think over and weigh everything. In addition, in the morning there may be urgent matters that will interfere.