This semester of university, I have felt so unproductive. At the end of each day, I feel like I could’ve done more. I have spent an excessive amount of my time doing unnecessary tasks such as scrolling through Instagram or even just staring off into space. Therefore, I decided to change my productivity habits. However, I didn’t quite know where to start. For a month, instead of listening to music while getting ready in the morning or at night, I turned to motivational and self-improvement related podcasts. Through many hours of podcasts, these are the 5 most important things I learned.
1. Action creates more action and inaction creates more inaction.
It is EXTREMELY easy to procrastinate when you are sitting on the couch or laying down in your bed. You are just so comfortable and starting a task seems like a faraway thought. As per the advice of the podcast, just start by just standing up. Simply standing up increases your productivity by 10%. If you want to take it further, dance your heart out to your favourite song or do 20 jumping jacks, get your blood pumping and see an increase in energy and productivity. Action creates more action, so simply stand up!
2. Start one step at a time
Sometimes the act of starting to study can seem like climbing Mount Everest; impossible and huge. Looking at the “big picture” can be daunting and often, breaking down a task into smaller steps can be much more inviting. One of the podcasts I listen to gives the example of not wanting to floss your teeth. If you say to yourself, I will only floss one tooth, after you have flossed the single tooth, you will already be in motion and feel ridiculous stopping. Therefore, you will proceed to floss your entire mouth. I specifically apply this to organic chemistry (my absolute enemy). I tell myself I will just read a practice question and look at my notes for how to hypothetically solve it. Once I am at that point, I just end up solving the question and feeling a lot better about myself.
3. Do a countdown
This one is super easy! Whenever you are prolonging starting something, simply count down from five and just start. It sounds too easy to work, but sometimes all you need is the pressure to begin. This is also a great strategy for getting up in the morning; once you finish your countdown, force yourself out of bed.
4. Don’t argue with your mind
The best negotiator in the world is your mind when you don’t want to do something. When you know you need to get up to the alarm you set the night before, your mind says, “5 more minutes in bed.” Your brain constantly comes up with reasons why you should be unproductive. A new rule made for myself is that, if I decided to do it yesterday, I don’t let my brain bully me out of doing it in the moment. It is almost impossible sometimes. However, by just recognizing how often my brain tries to talk me out of something, I have developed a lot more discipline.
5. Stop making overwhelming to do lists
I am not Superwoman, so I don’t know why I make my to-do lists thinking I can accomplish a million things in a day. I have had to teach myself that it is not realistic to read 100 pages of a textbook, watch 4 hours of lectures, sleep 8 hours, work out, eat 3 meals and even more in a day. Therefore, per the advice of a podcast, I started making a to-do list including my top three school tasks for the day and 3 minor non-school tasks, such as doing laundry or working out. I then fill the rest of the to-do list with easy things I would do anyway, such as waking up or showering. This allows me to still get all the amazing endorphins of checking things off the list throughout the day. Having a shorter to-do list increases my productivity by turning my focus to the most important things, and allows me to complete my lists most days, which feels awesome!
This past month, I have learned that you can gain a lot of valuable information from listening to podcasts. If you are looking for recommendations, my personal favourites are “The Mindset Mentor” and “Productive Habits.” However, sometimes podcasts make you feel like you are not doing enough, and you could be doing so much more. I have had to ground myself as I listen to these podcasts, realizing that not every technique works for every person and I should be gentle with myself as I am still learning what works best for me. These strategies have really helped me increase productivity and I hope some of them work for you too!