Not achieving much or not very useful is the meaning of unproductivity.
We all have those days where we don’t want to do much or anything at all, we just want to lay in bed and scroll through Instagram endlessly. We sometimes start doing something for hours and get nothing done at all. Those days where we hardly have any motivation.
That is what we call an unproductive day.
Not getting enough sleep, not managing our energy well, not giving equal attention to the list of things that you need to do, multitasking and not focusing on one task, etc.
These are a few causes that lead to unproductivity but there could be so many reasons that could impact your efficiency.
However, there are numerous ways to whirl that unproductive feeling into a productive one.
Here’s how:
Devise a list: Having tasks just wafting around in your head won’t have you accomplishing them. That’s when you can start by simply making a list of things that require you to do. This will give you an idea of all the tasks you need to tackle and get done. You can also prioritize things that are important and might need to finish quickly. This will perhaps help your brain stimulate productive thoughts.
Get a workout in: Often you might have been sitting and working for a long time due to which your body would feel worn out and not want to work anymore. To avoid such an occurrence you should take a break between each task and maybe take a walk, get some fresh air, go make yourself a cup of coffee or tea, do something that will make your body feel rejuvenated.
Fixing your sleep schedule: Mounting evidence suggests that a good night’s sleep seriously boosts productivity. A good night’s sleep of approximately 8 hours is important for a body to feel refreshed and rejuvenated. You will wake up feeling empowered and ready to take on the world.
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” –Paul J. Meyer
Are you tired of promising yourself to be more productive while working from home just to end up binge-watching “The Office” and completely neglecting your to-do list? We’ve all been there and we’ve all felt guilty for enjoying the procrastination. Quarantine has blurred the line between work and personal life.
Here are a few effective tips to get your work-life back on track while building a healthy relationship with yourself.
Dedicating an office space:
Your brain has subconsciously established that you complete tasks at your office and you relax at home. There’s no longer a geographic barrier separating the two. This can cause personal cravings to flood into work time. Having the right work environment can immensely impact your attitude towards getting things done. Set up a proper workspace away from your bed. Choose a quiet, clutter-free place with a lot of light and proper ventilation. Make sure you’re cosy and comfortable sitting there for hours. Adding colorful decor and inspirational quotes help. Having a positive image of your workspace will help you start each day with a go-getter mindset. (You will also start loving your couch more because it doesn’t remind you of work!)
Looking the part:
Just like the location, your brain has associated your wardrobe with various events. Your comfortable pink pj’s are only going to remind you of lounging around and cosying back into bed with your favourite book. You’d be surprised by how motivated you get just by getting out of those pyjamas and looking more presentable. It will not only get you ready to kickstart the day but it will also make you feel more put together emotionally. On the bright side, you do have the privilege of choosing something more comfortable than those stuffy formals!
Overcoming distractions:
It’s common to fall down the social media rabbit hole while “just checking your messages for two minutes”. That’s the thing about social media, you could spend hours scrolling or texting people and it would feel like a few minutes. Using social media when you’re supposed to be working just disrupts your flow and tires you out emotionally. Put your phone on do not disturb and shut all the unnecessary tabs. Don’t give yourself a chance to get carried away by ensuring that you open these apps only when it’s time for a well-deserved break.
Making a realistic to-do list:
Don’t try to bite off more than you can chew. Setting unrealistic targets will leave you unsatisfied. It’s common to start loathing work because you think you aren’t doing it well enough or fast enough. Allow your inner self-critique to cut you some slack and start with smaller, achievable goals and make sure you get those done. This will motivate you to add more tasks to your list and accomplish way more. You will start noticing growth in your self-confidence and self-satisfaction. Prioritise your tasks. Finish the most time-consuming ones first when you’re fresh and active and progress your way to the less taxing ones.
Making the most out of those well-deserved breaks:
It’s important to know when to take breaks. Allow yourself ample breaks so that you’re not overwhelmed by your job. Your mind and body need to rejuvenate to be able to work with consistency. At the same time, it is important to know when to stop relaxing and get back to work. Try to avoid looking at a screen during your break. Activities, like working out, cooking, watering plants, journaling and taking baths, can boost your serotonin and make the overall work from home experience much more beneficial to your mind and body.
We share our 3 favorite books to help up your productivity especially now when we the boundaries between work and home are blurred with all of us working from home.
Eat That Frog – By Brian Tracy
“If the first thing you do when you wake up each morning is to eat a live frog, then nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day.”
Brian Tracy illustrates your most difficult task as the frog and how you should eat it first to boost and maintain your efficiency and zeal for the rest of the day. All your other tasks will automatically seem easier once you’re done with the hardest. It’s plain old practical advice presented in a very animated and compelling way.
2. The Productivity Project – By Chris Bailey
The book explains motivating tactics and experiments in a very coherent manner. It deals with fresh ideologies like “productive procrastination” and “striving for imperfection”. The propositions he presents are very relatable and appealing. His strategies make you look at productivity in a new light and make you want to enjoy and absorb the process.
3. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People – By Stephen R Covey
This is one of those classic books you can never go wrong with. A wholesome read that talks about changing aspects of your personality to meet the problem. The book emphasizes the importance of setting a goal and working towards the right direction while having an “abundance mentality” and “synergising” for future benefit. After explaining the struggles of successful individuals, he goes on to describe 7 habits to cultivate that will guarantee you success and happiness.
We hope you like these recommendations as much as we do!
Don’t we all get tired at one point of time during the day, our heads get heavy and our eyes feel like they can shut down any minute, that’s because we either use too much energy or effort in doing a single task and by the time we complete it we are tired.
Social Squares
We can make ourselves productive by arranging our important to do stuff, prioritize your work and not spend too much time on it and take regular breaks.
If you are done for the day without even starting your day then it means you should find a way to be more productive throughout the day.
If you feel your productivity lacking you should start organizing and planning your day’s work and adding on to that a different routine which will help you amplify your energy and be active throughout the day…
Here are 6 ways to boost your energy;
1. Food
Food is one of the vital parts in our body which keeps us alive. We don’t have to be reminded to eat cause its already a routine which is set in our body. But when I talk about food I mean the food which is good for you, not the instant or junk food which we eat. I understand everyone are busy through the day and have no time to spend on cooking food. But it is important to eat the right food in the right quantity. This would keep you healthy and spirited through the day.
2. Exercise
We can define exercise as physical effort for the increase in energy and to be robust. But aren’t all of us busy, when will we get the time to exercise? You need to take 20 mins of your time, 3 times a week for you to stay healthy and lively.
3. Quiet Time
We spend time on everyone, trying to solve their problems and difficulties. But what about our problems? We should spend some time alone only with our thoughts, think about yourself, strength, weakness, emotional state etc. being alone without any electronic device next to you. When I mean quiet time it doesn’t mean lying on your bed, sliding yourself down and dozing off. It means sitting in a comfortable place- quiet and peaceful. Then focus on your problems and emotional state. It would give you clarity, help you control your emotions better, reduce anxiety and stress and even help you build your self-esteem and confidence.
4. Sleep
Everybody needs sleep, but too little or too much can knock you off balance. A person should have 7-8 hours of sleep.
Too little sleep- is when you sleep only for 4 hours or less, this not only brings down your energy but also might cause health problems.
Too much sleep- is more than 8 hours of sleep. It might reduce your cognitive ability and your reasoning skills which reduces your productivity.
Having a proper sleep routine sis key to managing your energy well
5. Blue Light & UV Rays
Blue light and UV rays are the radiation which comes from phones, laptops, T.V, etc. Too much of blue light might cause macular degeneration (vision loss), disturbs your sleep pattern and might even cause cancer.
We use our electronic devices way too much, we need it for work and for our entertainment be it binge watching on Netflix or scrolling down through insta. We should set a screen time to know how long we spend on our gadgets. Try not using your gadgets 1 or 2 hours before sleeping cause it helps you release melatonin (sleep hormone) so you can get a peaceful sleep. While it is a necessity to be in front of the screen so I would advice you to take 20 minutes break regularly.
We feel UV blockers (blue light) is an excuse to overuse our gadgets. Well that’s not the case, I did some research on blue light blockers and found out that out of 100% of the light, the glass blocks only 20-30%. And it makes no difference you get the same symptoms such as eye strain or dry eye. The one thing it is useful for is it can be used in the night because some people might have to work night shifts or many of us use the gadgets during the night.
TO SUM UP
These 5 ways to keep you spirited are some simple ways you can apply to your daily routine. Productivity does not mean continuously working, it is how efficient you were, in the amount of time you worked for.
In the words of warren bennis,
“Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.”
We all might question our will and purpose on the days we feel low. With the uncertainties and doubts looming in the air around us during this dynamic and uncertain time, trying to find our purpose may give us a better footing to face the looming world.
Ikigai can help us achieve this. This term can be described in simple terms as the reason why we wake up in the morning – the force that drives us to look forward to the day.
Once we discover this within ourselves, pursuing it and cultivating it will bring purpose to our lives.
Ikigai is an intersection of 4 spheres:
What we love to do (passion)
What we are good at (vocation)
What the world greatly needs (mission)
What we are given compensation for (profession)
By fulfilling these, ikigai can be found and nurtured.
A person’s ikigai isn’t always stagnant; it changes with one’s perception and ideals. There are quite a few ways we can start finding out our purpose by introducing small changes in our daily routine :
Being present in the moment wholly: By focusing on your presence, you isolate your thoughts and drive them to the most important thing at the moment.
2. Finding bliss in tiny things: Whether it be eating a cup of ice cream or watching your favorite sport are the small joys you should indulge in. This should be cherished. They give you a sense of ease and can be quite satisfying.
3. Accepting oneself: Accepting our flaws and strengths, and understanding our limits and potential is one of the best ways to achieve our goals and use our passion to fulfill them.
4. Finding our purpose is not an overnight task. It takes years to find it and hone it to our satisfaction and happiness.
The more steadfast we are towards finding our Ikigai, the faster solace is found!
Do you want to be more productive and make the best use of your time?
One of the key points of being productive is time tracking. In a business, a time tracking app is an essential time management tool that can help you and your team become more organized and efficient. Unfortunately it is one of those skills many of us struggle with.
But don’t worry, tech is always there for our rescue! Read on to find out how you can ace time management using some incredible time tracking tools.
DeskTime
DeskTime is the perfect time tracker app for companies and teams that are more interested in the big picture. It is a simple-to-use app that combines three crucial features – employee monitoring, project management and productivity analysis.
Additionally, this software is designed to help managers and their teams identify their unproductive habits, by sorting web pages and applications into “Productive” and “Unproductive.
ProofHub
ProofHub is perfect for teams and managers looking to become more productive, and track their productive efforts. It is an online project management and time tracking software with powerful collaboration features.
Hours
Do different colors make you feel vibrant? Then hours is the best time tracking app for you because in Hours you can manage your tasks and projects by color-coding them. That is, by applying a specific color for a task or project so you can easily differentiate between them.
Timecamp
Timecamp is a cloud-based time tracking solution where work time can be easily tracked manually by timers and automatically via the desktop app.
What makes Timecamp stand out among other time tracking apps is their variety of integrations with other apps. It offers more than 50 integrations with project management software and help desk apps. That way, you can easily sync and import your already-created tasks and tickets to Timecamp and start tracking time immediately.
Tick
Tick is a solution for freelancers, small businesses, and start-ups that work on recurring projects and tasks. It’s a project-based time tracking software which tracks time against your estimated project timeline and budget.
With Tick, you can track how much time you need for certain projects, and use your previous timelines to create offers for new customers.
Timely
Timely is ideal for individuals and small-to-large companies that are project-focused and only have a need for accurate, billable hours. Unlike the other options on this list, Timely stands out as an automatic tracking software that is as seamless as one can imagine because it records everything all the time: GPS locations, emails, meeting, documents, and websites.
That means with Timely you’ll never need to start a timer again. It allows you to maintain the peace and quiet needed to stay focused and not get side-tracked or interrupted.
The wrap
Time tracking provides an accurate insight into your work patterns and how much time particular tasks take. It helps to set realistic deadlines and saves you from working overtime. This will also prevent you from procrastinating and focus on the work you do thus saving your precious time!
We all have bad days. Sometimes we wake up on the wrong side of the bed and sometimes the day starts pretty good but eventually goes in the opposite direction.
Believe me, I have had those days, too.
It’s exhausting to go to work and complete all of the assignments when you’re not in the best of moods and can’t focus. To be honest, all I want to do on those days is curl up in bed and binge-watch a movie. However, I am unable to do so.
So for those lousy days and uncertain days, here’s a list of simple but effective ways to quickly shift your mood:
Hug Someone
Sometimes all we need is a hug. A hug from someone you love or even cuddling with a pet can do wonders to your mood. It’s that simple, and you know what they say ‘ A hug a day keeps the doctor away.
2. Clean Up Your Space
Being in a messy space is often the cause of stress in most people. So take a couple of minutes to clean and clear out your surroundings.Clearing out any negative or unwanted thoughts in your head is also considered as cleaning out your space and probably will boost your mood.
3. Take A Quick Nap
A quick cat nap when you’re worn out will make you feel rejuvenated and is bound to boost your mood. Fatigue can also contribute to a bad mood. Not only that, but it’ll also help you think clearly and focus on the task at hand.
4. Meditate
Breathing in and out will help you relax and unwind. Practicing a short breathing exercise or meditation helps reduce stress hormones and can clear your perspective. So sit down, concentrate on taking deep breaths and relax.
5. Have A Dance Session or Listen to Upbeat Music
Make a lively and upbeat playlist and have a jam session. Be certain that it is music that can, without a doubt, make you happy. Listen to the beat, sing along, or dance to your heart’s content. If you dance around, you’ll also get a decent workout in.
6. Take A Walk Outside
Take a long stroll in your neighborhood or a park. Take a deep breath and bask in the light. Take on the wonders of nature around you. Vitamin D has always been advantageous to your health
7. Focus On The Good
Reflect on all the good things that have happened in your life. Shift your attention to the good parts of your life. Express your gratitude towards them. When we’re usually not in the best of moods, we tend to focus our attention on the not so great parts. Often this is the cause of us feeling even more upset. So change your outlook and focus on the good.
8. Move Away From Technology
And finally, put your phone and laptop away and stay away from social media for a few minutes. Do a little exercising, grab a bite to eat or even try journaling and writing your thoughts down. Interact with all that is around you.
Taking these short breaks will keep you in a good mood.
Having a bad day is absolutely OK. Sometimes we do need to have bad days and just binge watch a show with a bowl of ice cream.
Feeling down or being being in a bad mood can affect your productivity but these easy ways will help you out.
Being on the edge of the seat, sweaty hands, a mind full of flowing thoughts – almost every one of us must have experienced these when giving an interview for a potential internship.
Well, here are 3 tips to make those worries and doubts flutter away and express the best version of yourself!
Make An Amazing First Impression!
Standing out in the crowd, whether it be your presence or the way you’re dressed goes a long way. Great non-verbal behavior and being yourself while seated, give out a confident aura. So dress professionally, be on time, smile and show up with confidence.
Mention your accomplishments and strengths.
Recruiters usually ask many questions based on the candidate’s accomplishments and strengths to gauge their adaptability as well as the impact they can bring to the company. Try to mention the most relevant ones for the industry you’re applying to – having coding skills might not be the appropriate skill if you’re applying to a hands-on fashion brand.
Ask questions!
Asking questions after the end of an interview shows evidence of research and interest in the company. This way, the recruiter knows the candidate is engaged completely and can give their all to their work in the future. Asking thoughtful and stimulative questions is indicative of critical thinking skills. Don’t ask obvious questions, the answers to which you should have ideally known.
With these tips, cracking an internship interview would be an effortless and smooth path. Here’s to landing those positions!
