We're always busy. There's always work to do and we're constantly trying to get started. As a wise man once said, "Well begun is half done." If work is watching a movie for a class, then it's not too difficult to get excited about it, but at other times, it can be challenging to "begin well." Under such circumstances, one wonders where to look for the "how-to" book on arduous work. Search no more, because here is the ultimate guide to help you trudge through your dull work.
1. Set your desktop background to a picture that makes you happy.
Puppies, dandelions, Brad Pitt—whatever makes you feel like turning your laptop on is a good idea. This way, you reward yourself just for sitting down to work and if you feel like you need a little boost, just minimize your windows!
2. Grab a bite to eat.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin once told his office designers, “No one should be more than 200 feet away from food.” M.F.K. Fisher said, “First we eat, then we do everything else.” In the same vein, “One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well,” said Virginia Woolf. The point that I’m trying to make here is that food is essential to productivity. Well-fed people work well, so surround yourself with fruit, granola, chips, creme brûlée, or whatever floats your boat and fills your stomach.
3. Clean up.
A messy desk is said to be a sign of creative genius, but it is undoubtedly also an annoyance to work with. Tidy up! Cleaning up your workspace—or even yourself—is a good way to take a break without interrupting your productivity.
4. Take a nap.
Naps are your friends. They work great as rewards and as healing tools for when you feel like you’re not getting anywhere. Sometimes, the best ideas come to people in their sleep! August Kekulé, the principal founder of the theory of chemical structure, said that he had discovered the ring shape of the benzene molecule after having a reverie of a snake seizing its own tail. He had been napping in his armchair by the fireplace when he dreamt about a snake and from there he got the idea of the cyclic structure of benzene.
So, go to bed! Who knows what you’ll dream up?
5. Go on the Internet.
This may seem like a bad idea. While you should definitely stay off of social media while working, it’s a good break to give yourself a few minutes to scroll through your Newsfeed, read a blog, or catch up on some news. As long as you don’t get sucked into the infinite loop of funny cat videos, going through social media channels gives you just enough access to the outside world that you can step away from your work, but not completely abandon it.
6. Work with a friend.
An African proverb wisely points out, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This may seem almost too motivating in this context, but, strangely enough, it’s the small, mundane tasks of everyday life like doing laundry that sometimes take the most effort. So, work with a friend. Sure, they can help you with a problem set, but sometimes they can also just lend you a charger and, more often than not, that’s all it takes to keep (at least your laptop) going.
7. Choose a good spot.
Put a little time and thought into picking a workplace and personalizing it. Whether you work at your desk in your room, the library, a cubicle in your office, a picnic table outside, or a cupboard under the stairs (avoid that last one), try to find a spot with a comfortable seat, enough space to set your things down and spread your work out, and good lighting and temperature.
If the cupboard under the stairs is really your only option, try to make it a nicer space— a "Harry Potter" poster might do the trick. Or perhaps you should change things up! Work in different places on weekdays and weekends or for different kinds of work.
8. End with a bang.
Well begun is half done and all’s well that ends well. Plan to end really well by doing something that you really enjoy. Give yourself an incentive bigger than “the satisfaction of being done.” Promise yourself that you’ll do something fun like watch a movie, go out with friends, or read a book in your bubble bath. Materialism isn’t always a bad thing!
9. Start early.
It’s harder than it sounds, especially when you have to do something that you aren’t necessarily looking forward to. Maybe you considered it for a fleeting moment because you know that starting early is a good idea in theory, but then never got around to actually starting until much later. After all, it only makes sense to put off something that you don’t want to do until it’s absolutely necessary, right? Consider this: the closer that you get to a deadline, the higher your output has to become. You have to finish more work in one go because it’s due in a smaller amount of time. Starting early allows you to work incrementally, making partial execution of a task a reasonable target for one work session.
10. Think of the bigger picture.
It’s often easy to get caught up in how little you enjoy a certain perfunctory task and forget about the parts of your work that you do like. Planning an event, for example, is a lot of work involving several people doing different jobs. It’s important to remember why you signed up for something in the first place. So, if for some strange reason you don’t enjoy being on flyer duty, remind yourself why and how you got there to begin with. Perhaps it’s a charity event. That should get you up and running.
11. Don't torture yourself.
Don’t make a list of everything that you don’t want to do and set it aside for Sunday afternoon. First of all, that’s no way to treat yourself and second of all, it’s not going to work. Making yourself do an entire week’s laundry is one thing, but doing all of your laundry, writing a 10-page paper, taking out the trash, and vacuuming the floor is probably impossible. Space out your insipid chores. It’ll end up taking longer to check them all off your list, but at least you won’t have driven yourself insane by the end of the day.
