Sometimes we just feel a lack of motivation and/or discipline.
There’s something or something(s) we want to get done but it just won’t happen; we
feel stuck.
Now, let’s be frank here: consuming content about productivity does not equal actually
being productive. So, if you thought you’re being productive right now by watching this,
you’re not. UNLESS, by the end of this, make use of something you heard here.
Now, I don’t want to make this seem complicated, because it doesn’t have to be. Most of the
things I’ll be talking about are going to sound super basic, and it’s because they
are. I know it’s tempting to disregard things that sound too simple to work, but things
don’t need to be complex to be effective. I promise.
Okay, so, a productive day. I like to split it into three parts: the day before, the day
of, and the night of.
Let’s start with the day before.
So, I want to go to bed every night feeling good and feeling ready, for whatever it is
I need to be doing the next day.
Let’s start with the “feeling good” part of “the day before.”
See, if I go to bed at night feeling good, chances are I’ll wake up feeling good. And
if I wake up feeling good, I’m likely to want to do good things. And to increase the
probability of that happening, I take care of myself. Exercise, diet, hygiene and sleep.
See, I told you it would be basic. But that’s what’s so great.
Exercise makes me feel good about myself throughout the day (both mentally and physically) and
it helps me sleep better. The same goes for eating well.
Hygiene. Yes! Fresh sheets, a nice hot shower before bed, a relaxing night time skin care
routine makes me feel some type of way when I go to bed, and I wake up feeling clean and
fresh.
Now, let’s move on to the “feeling ready” part of the day before.
This is the 10-15 minutes every night that save me frustration, time and energy the next
day. And the objective is simple: to prepare my environment in order to make any task for
the following day as simple as possible.
The very first step is to create a target list. It’s the exact same thing as a checklist
or a goals list, I’m just tired of those words, so we’ll go with target list. Ask
yourself what you’re targeting tomorrow. Now here are two things to keep in mind when
creating a target list:
- Firstly, don’t purposely put multiple simple tasks on your list only so you can
easily cross them off. It’s easy to trick yourself by doing small, low-energy tasks
in order to cover up for what you really should be doing. Like, if you have a huge deadline
for next Thursday that you need to get started on, don’t add “take out the trash” to
your target list and then reward yourself by watching 1 season of Friends because you
tell yourself you’ve been productive.
- Secondly, creating a target list is not “having done productive work”. It’s
merely a tool to help you do productive work. There’s this think called “productive
procrastination”, I read a good article on it, I’ll link it below. Basically, what
it says is that, feeling productive doesn’t mean you’re being productive. Just because
you’re “busy” it doesn’t mean you’re actually doing anything of value or doing
the things you should be doing. And that’s not to say that all you should focus on is
the big tasks. The low-effort tasks, such as creating a target list, are important too.
But just be mindful of how much time and energy you’re spending on the small stuff vs the
big stuff.
Essentially, you need to look at the value produced, not the number of tasks checked
off.
Ok, so, let’s go over some of the things from my target list that I created last night
for today.
- Film A-roll for video (sit-down part you’re seeing right now)
- Film B-roll for video (which is all the aesthetically pleasing footage you see in-between
the sit-down footage of me talking)
Both of those are sub-targets of the main target, which is having a final video to upload
for Sunday.
- Another thing on my target list is to get a workout in.
Now, once something is on the list, I ask myself what I will physically need for those
tasks. That’s the preparation part that I usually spend 10-15 minutes on the night
before.
For the filming part of my list, I make sure to charge my camera, empty my memory card,
and so on.
For the workout part, I put my workout clothes and mat within reach so that I can just grab
them in the morning. If I want a specific Spotify list, I’ll prepare that as well.
The point is, you don’t want to be spending the morning searching the house for your sports
bra only to find it in the laundry basket and then get frustrated with yourself. Don’t
waste that precious little willpower of yours on unnecessary things that could’ve been
avoided.
Alright, now you’re all set, let’s move on to part two, which is the day of.
So, I’ve found that there are three things for me that lead to unproductivity:
The first thing is that the objective is unclear. And this happens to me quite a bit with creating
videos for example. Sometimes I’ll have an idea, I’ll start working on it, but then
I stop and ask myself, what’s the real purpose of this video? What am I trying to say here?
And if I don’t know what the intended outcome of a project or task is, it’s difficult
to take physical action and to proceed. So, really defining what this thing that you’re
doing really is, is key.
The second thing that leads me to unproductivity is overthinking. I’m learning to accept
that just like there’s no perfect moment, there is no perfect decision, because you
will never have all the information. You know? You might think that you’ve come up with
this good idea or that you’re finally happy with a project, but then new information will
come in which will create new thoughts and suddenly you’re doubting yourself and you
become discouraged; and it’s a vicious cycle. And what I try to do when I feel myself getting
stuck in that loop is to just start or just stop, depending on which end I’m on.
Now, these two things lead to the third thing which is distractions. Like I said, an unclear
objective makes taking physical action difficult, and overthinking leads to discouragement,
and both of those things make me turn to distractions. We’ve all been there—where you’re just
like “screw this” and you start scrolling on Instagram instead (or whatever your distraction
of choice is). Which, by the way, be mindful of what your distractions are. This has really
helped me. What do you turn to? What’s ringing your bell? Once you become aware of that,
plan how you’re going to handle them. I got that from the book “Getting things done”
by David Allen. Great book. I’ll link it in the description box if you’d like to
check it out.
I’d like to also throw in a productivity tip. It’s something I’ve been using for
the last few months and that is the Pomodoro Technique. Essentially what you do is set
a timer for 25 minutes, and during those 25 minutes you’ll be fully focused on any given
task. Once those 25 minutes are up, you take a 5-minute break, and then you repeat. I’ll
leave a few links that might be useful.
Now, the third and final part, what I referred to as “the night of”, which is essentially
the part where I reflect on my day. You can’t make tomorrow better if you don’t understand
today.
Now, this is the part where it’s important to be fully honest, otherwise, it’s completely
useless. The reason I say that is because sometimes the truth can feel embarrassing.
You might not want to admit to yourself that you skipped going to the gym because you got
too distracted watching Netflix. But you need to.
What I essentially do is ask myself how my day was and what contributed to that. Contributing
factors can be people, activities—anything. Was I distracted? If so, what distracted me?
Was I more productive than usual? If so, what might’ve caused that?
I essentially take inventory.
Those were some of the tips and tricks that I use and that work for me. I could definitely
go more into depth; I know this was kind of touching on the surface, but I didn’t want
this video to be too long.