I am obsessed with to-do lists or shall I say ticking things off my to-do list. I make daily, monthly, yearly lists and what not. And if you are anyone like me then you love them too.
They help me keep track of my habits and increase my overall productivity. We all are trying to learn something, we wish to dedicate more time to some hobby but we are just not able to be consistent enough. It's easy to believe that we lack motivation than the one's who chase and achieve their goals and feel guilty but truth is you can follow a few easy techniques and manage your work efficiently to make the most of your day. How? You ask. Well, that's exactly what I am going to share today!
9 WAYS TO MAKE YOUR LIFE MORE PRODUCTIVE
1. POMODORO : The pomodoro technique was invented by Francesco Cirillo in the early 1980's(Pomodoro is Italian for tomato, Cirillo used a tomato-shaped kitchen timer). The first step is to decide the task that you want to do and set a 25 minute timer. You have to turn off all interruptions during this 25 minutes and only focus on the task at hand. When you are done give yourself a little reward. If you have a bigger task, split it in intervals and after each Pomodoro take a break of 5-10 minutes. After 3-4 consecutive Pomodoros take a longer break of 30 minutes. This allows your brain to efficiently complete the job at hand because we all can stay focused for 25 minutes. As important as it is to stay focused, it is also important to take breaks and allow your brain to rest.
2. 80/20 PRINCIPLE : This principle is also called as the Pareto principle named after an Italian economist. The Pareto principle suggests that 80% of our results come from 20% of our actions. You can apply this in all walks of life and expect surprising results. Highlight the most important tasks from your to-do list and give them most priority throughout the day. You will be surprised to see that those top 20% tasks yield 80% of the results and you will end up being much more productive through the day than otherwise. In business, it states that 80% of sales come from 20% of clients.
3. 24 hours-21 days : It is said that it takes 21 days to acquire any new habit and 24 hours to learn a new skill. If you want to acquire a new habit, do it everyday for 21 days without fail. Mark it on your calendar, it will be very difficult to sustain in the beginning, you will have to drag yourself to stick to the habit. Do everything in your capacity for these 21 days and as time passes it will become easier and slowly you will acquire the habit. If you practice anything for 24 hours, you can learn it. The initial stages of trying out a new skill are the most difficult and that's when most people give up, but if you practice that skill for 24 hours with conviction you will end up learning a lot. Also, you can spread the 24 hours over a span of 21 days for improved efficiency. That's what I do.
4. EISENHOWER MATRIX : This is in my opinion the best method to prioritize your tasks and be more productive. You have to create a 2x2 matrix and then fill tasks in each of the 4 quadrants. The 1st quadrant should consists of all the tasks that are important and urgent so you have to do them first and focus on them more. The second quadrant consists of important but not-so-urgent tasks which you should schedule for later. The third quadrant will contain the not-so-important but urgent tasks which you will delegate to others. Now, the 4th and last quadrant consists of tasks that are not-so-important and also not urgent, delete them. This will save a lot of your unnecessary time and allow you to focus on the most necessary tasks.
5. DAILY 5 : Many times we write to-do lists with a hope to get things done but at the end of the day we feel miserable for not having completed the most important tasks. To avoid this, note down 5 things that are most important and make sure that you focus on them the most through the day and get them done. In this way, you will be able get the most important tasks done mostly in the first half of the day itself.
6. DECLUTTER : Decluttering your space and also your mind off everything negative, unwanted will help you to have a clearer view of everything you wish to accomplish. Get rid of things that you no longer need and that serve no purpose in your life. A clearer space results in a clearer mind.
7. PARKINSON'S LAW : This law states that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". Many times we notice that when we study at the last moment we complete the topic faster and also understand it and we are able to study the entire syllabus in one night whereas when we start to study well in advance we take days to complete a single topic. We can apply this law to our benefit by reducing the time we dedicate to a certain activity and allowing our work to contract in order to fit in that duration. Sometimes we get so caught up with perfection that we spend more time than necessary and end up wasting our time. Instead we should assign half the time to any particular task than we may otherwise spend on it and then work to complete the task in the time assigned. This way we will get things done quickly and also we will see that the outcome is many times much more creative and we can perfect it later.
8. ME TIME : We get so caught up with work, trying to chase our goals that we forget the absolute essential which is removing time for ourselves. Eat well and stay hydrated and make sure you get a good night's sleep to keep your body in good health. It is also equally important to stay healthy mentally. Tap into yourselves every once in a while and spend time alone doing things you love. Not to tick them off your to-do list but because you enjoy doing them. Spend time living life rather than trying to make a living out of it.
9. JUST START : The last tip would be to just get started with whatever it is that you want to do. We spend so much time contemplating and analyzing before we even start doing something and end up being overwhelmed. It is important to stop your thoughts about the future and just start working right away. If you are having troubling getting started just use the 5 second rule. When you want to do some work but you see yourself stuck mindlessly instead just start counting 5...4...3...2...1...GO and just get into action. If you don't action during these 5 seconds your mind will kill that instinct to work.
BONUS TIPS :
1. Try to incorporate things like reading or listening to lectures, audiobooks during waiting time i.e. the time you spend in travelling or waiting for some other event or activity which will otherwise get wasted but you can use it to your benefit.
2. When scheduling tasks or preparing a to-do list make sure to have buffer-time in between tasks to just breathe and appreciate the day. Don't squeeze everything into the day, take time off and JUST BREATHE.
3. Last and most important thing is to do what you want to do. If you are doing something that you love doing, you won't have to remove time or force yourself to start working, you will organically work towards it.
4. You don't have to incorporate every technique in your life, do what works for you and modify things to suit your needs. Don't fall into hustle culture and become a productivity robot. Appreciate the little things in life and try to make the most of each day.
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