As I write this, I’m thinking about how every morning my boyfriend, Vince, tells me “Have a productive morning!” after which we give each other our morning goodbye’s and X’s & O’s before he leaves for work.
I feel he tells me this because most of the time I am probably NOT going to be productive. But, I appreciate his attempt to pre-frame and groom my day for success. Sometimes it works, most of the time it doesn’t.
If you’re like me and closer on the B-type personality continuum: -laxed, procrastinator, social, creative versus A-types who lean towards competitiveness, perfection, are time-urgent, and have hasty orientations, then this article may be of use to you.
I tend to spend most of my free days wasting time browsing social media via endless newsfeeds on Facebook and Instagram (here’s my link to my other blog post “Breaking Social Media Addiction” if you didn’t catch it already), hours on Youtube watching the latest trending videos, binging on Netflix series’, or playing video games on my Nintendo Switch (currently obsessed with Zelda Breathe of the Wild).
So, in an attempt to be MORE productive TODAY in getting little things or ANYTHING DONE here are some hopefully useful tips to help you get $h!t done.
1) Set one goal for the day.
Sometimes when I know I have soo much to do, I freeze up and end up doing NOTHING because my brain can’t sort the mess of tasks that have to be done.
Slow down and prioritize just one, the most important one!
When you set just a single goal or task to be done, it doesn’t seem as overwhelming and daunting even though you may have several other tasks that have yet to be done. If you had to do one thing, JUST ONE THING to do make it your goal to complete it for the day.
Start off your day and phrase it as “Today will be a success if I just do just :blank: today”.
For example, typical things I might set as my single goal for the day may be “I have to clean my car today.” or “I have to have all my bills paid by today.” or “I have to go to the gym for 1 hour today.”
2) The Pomodoro Technique
You’ve probably may have tried this in college without knowing it. BUT, if you haven’t heard of this technique, it’s called THE POMODORO TECHNIQUE. It’s a technique used to deconstruct larger tasks into smaller ones and is also based on the idea that your brain has a time limited attention span.
What you’ll need: a clock or timer… and discipline to do this. To use this technique it is divided into two parts: 1) A POMODORO TIME- which is the allotted amount of time of you spend on that specific task with which you give your focused and undivided attention to and 2) A break time.
I received a gift from Vince , a sand glass pomodoro timer which has 2 hourglasses. 1 larger hourglass timer of 30 minutes for pomodoro time and a much smaller glass timer of 5 minutes for breaks.
Currently I have a shorter pomodoro time span of 15 minutes, UNLESS I’ve found my flow I can go for longer than that. But, sometimes I do 30/30. 30 minutes pomodoro, 30 minutes break. Whatever works best for you.
The more and more you practice this technique, the longer and longer your pomodoro time will grow.
3) Wake Up Early!
Because of my work schedule, my body is already tuned to wake up at 5:30 a.m. in the morning. So on my days off, I have the whole morning to get things done. Sometimes I have all my little tasks done before 9 a.m. and it feels great!
Either washing dishes, or laundry, or tidying up around the house, and sorting bills. It is all done before most peoples’ days are starting.
The best part is when you get things done earlier in the morning, the more time you have to do fun things or relaxing later on in the day.
4) Write it Down.
I tend to forget due dates and this leads to major procrastination which results in tons of stress and frustration and self-loathing for putting things off so last minute.
So other than having important dates listed in my calendar, I write down my tasks as if it were an EVENT in my calendar. Essentially, it’s like setting an appointment for whatever task it is.
For example: I’ve placed “Library Books Due” in my calendar. Sometimes I’ll write the task a day or two or week before it actually needs to be done just to be sure it gets done in a timely manner.
This sets me up better for success because there is an actual date and time versus just writing down the task in a list where I’m not pressured to get done right away.
5) The KAIZEN technique.
Also called the ONE-MINUTE technique, but KAIZEN is a Japanese technique to overcome laziness.
Simply put, if a task only takes one minute to do then do it. Get it done, get it out to the way. If you just do ONE minute of a task it potentially can progress into 2 minutes and 3 minutes then 4, then 5 minutes and so forth.
For example: maybe one minute of jumping jacks, doesn’t sound that bad, right? Potentially that can kick start your entire fitness regimen if it was entirely nonexistent before.
I’ll try this technique during commercial breaks sometimes while I’m watching t.v. Commercials are typically 30 seconds, but sometimes I’ll try to do sit-ups for the whole commercial break if I’m good.
Well, I hope my productivity hacks have inspired you to get off your butt in an attempt to be less lazy, like myself. What helps you stay productive? Comment below!
-Stay Curious Everyone!
🙂
The Orange Appeal
Written by: A Z Flor Huerta
Edited by: Vince R. Jison
