4-Tips to Improve your Productivity
It’s June and that means one thing: A new academic year. I wanted to title the post with a back-to-school tag, but I realised gloomily that we might not be really ‘going back’. We cannot change the current situation, but we can certainly adapt to the situation to perform better.
In this post I have outlined 5 tips that should help you increase your productivity during your upcoming academic year.
1. Morning Routine: Create an amazing morning routine that will set you up for success in the rest of the day. Although this might sound fancy, it’s really about doing 2 or 3 things that will revitalise you, preparing you to face your day head-on.
a. Wake-up Right: Wake-up at the same time of the day every day. If you know you are going to snooze your alarm and catch another half-hour of sleep then set your alarm at the time you actually wake-up, half-hour late. Do not leave your phone next to your bed so that you reach for it immediately after waking up. Leave it across the room or preferably in another room. I know, some of listen to podcasts before sleeping but believe me looking at the social media feeds first thing in the morning does not set you up for success.
b. Exercise: Yeah, there is no shortcut to success. Exercising needless to say improves your health and mental well-being. So maybe sleep in your gym clothes and keep your gym kit ready. If you prefer sleeping in your night clothes, then keep the clothes handy, so that you can reach for it the moment you wake up.
c. Eat Right: I am no expert on diet, but there is someone at everyone’s home who is. So, in regard to breakfast, listen to them.
2. Willpower: Willpower is the driving force behind productivity. It is the voice in your head that will stop you from checking your messages when studying. It is the source of power to sustain gruelling days. So here is the secret of willpower: Willpower is unlimited. Most of us believe that willpower is like our daily data balance. It gets exhausted after use. But science has shown that is not the case, the ones who believe that willpower is unlimited can actually resist temptation longer than the ones who do not believe the same. So, change your mindset today and tell yourself that your willpower is unlimited.
3. Rig your house: Now, the biggest enemy to willpower is instant gratification. In other words, it refers to all those times we have chewed on double dark chocolate chips as opposed to our salad. We are humans and we crave, and it is not entirely a bad thing. But we certainly can reduce the number of times our craving gets satisfied. Keep a bowl of carrots or nuts on your desk, so when you want to have a munch you will reach for these that are handier. Similarly, bury the chocolates deep in your refrigerator so that you have to spend some effort to get to those.
4. Your Future Self: Have an idea of where you want to be and use it as a motivation to do your job today. You can start by making your own future vision board. Check out our post on future vision board for more ideas: https://belong-ingeniousfaces.medium.com/5-steps-to-capture-your-dream-d89a473045d4
5. Evening routine: The simple goal of the evening routine is the opposite of the morning routine: To relax. Sleeping right is the best way to relax.
a. Prepare yourself for the next day: Iron your clothes, look at your timetable and prepare your stuff for school or lectures.
b. Read to bed: As had been mentioned, leave your phone away from you and replace it with a book. Read yourself to sleep.
c. Limited Podcasting: Another thing that you can do is use the timer option on your podcast app. So, all you need to do before sleeping is to unplug from your earphone because your phone is still across the room or at least away from you.
In the age of remote internships, we have to keep ourselves motivated to put our best selves forward.
Here’s to productivity!!!
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