Productivity: the effectiveness of productive effort as measured in terms of the rate of output per unit of input.
Probably not something we think about on a daily basis. We also probably say the reason we don’t get things done is that we don’t have time for them. I’m going to challenge that. There is time. You have time to get things done that you need to and want to, but guess what? You have to make time for it. If it’s something you really care about, you can make the time.
I stumbled across this podcast the other day. You can listen to it here or go to the website for it. The woman that does it, Kara, is a Yale and Harvard Law grad and a certified coach. She brings her knowledge of psychology into real life, and I think she knows what she’s talking about.
One of the things she said that really stuck out to me was about notifications. She challenges her listeners to turn them off to avoid distractions. She goes so far as to say we should schedule our time on Instagram. Scheduled Instagram scrolling. What a concept. But, when you really think about it, how often do you use scrolling as a distraction from what you need to be doing? I’ll be the first to say I do it a lot. These feeds seem endless, like they keep going forever, and therefore you can keep going without a limit.
She also argues that there’s no such thing as multitasking, and if you think you can, you’re not doing whatever it is as well as you could be and you’re not focused. Sorry to step on your toes, but she’s right. She even says it can take up to three hours to refocus once you are distracted from the task at hand. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather schedule 30 minutes of break time than spend three hours trying to get myself back on track. And honestly, it has happened before so I believe this stat.
So, we are going to limit distractions on our phones, cool. Next, let’s set up a checklist. I had to start using these in grade school because I would forget what I actually needed to do for school and it caused my grades to suffer (yes-it really was that early). Ever since, I’ve fallen in love with the idea of having everything written in front of you and you can check it off and kind of forget about it when you’re done. You can move on and know there’s no more to do for that class or for that email or for that section of the house. It’s done.
Sometimes I even add “easy” things to my list. Things like “make dinner” or “walk the dog” are tasks that I would do anyway, but I’ve added a sense of accomplishment by recognizing these things needed to be done and I found time to do them.
Something else that helps me is to schedule fun things. Wake up 5 minutes earlier to make that coffee you like, call a friend, time with friends X times a week, etc. This makes your list more fun, not just a daunting to do list.
Let me know/tag me if you try any of these! I’d love to see how these tips added to your productivity flow, or if they didn’t.
Sunshine and Coffee 