As students, employees and in general working, busy people with ambitions, we all strive to be productive. Sometimes a sudden burst of random energy or motivation serves as the fuel that enables us to get things done. Other times, we may feel procrastination creeping in, aiding in our incapacity to get absolutely anything done.

How can we avoid yielding to laziness, burnout or a lack of drive to maintain productivity? The answer is creating small, attainable habits. Often times when we set a goal for ourselves, the magnitude of it overwhelms us, and this ultimately leads us to not stick to it. For example, if you wish to lose weight and develop a six-pack, you might be thinking of all the hard work that is necessary to get you to that point. In order to reach your goal, you may even craft a work-out plan that requires you to dedicate 30 minutes of cardio every day even though you may be aware that that may be too much for you to take on currently. Burdening yourself with too much at one time to achieve any goal will inevitably lead to exhaustion, and you will find yourself unable to keep up with the habits to reach your goal. This is why small habits are comparatively more beneficial. When you give yourself a requirement of at most 10 minutes of some form of exercise a day, you're not as overwhelmed by how much you actually need to do. When you keep the requirement low, the result of success in achieving your goal is high. Of course, the required time, for instance, varies from person to person. For one individual, 5 minutes is enough, while for another, 10 minutes is sufficient. Either way, you work on your own terms and to your own rhythm.

To add, by setting the time at a lower, attainable number for a certain practice, you may find that you are capable of doing a little more than what you mandated for yourself. Sticking with the weight loss example, you may find that doing 5 minutes of cardio every day is something that you can exceed even though that is the requirement you have set for yourself. By creating small habits, you become prouder of yourself for your ability to stick with your practices, you are able to your progress each time, and you find yourself more likely to expand on your habits and fit in new ones to your daily routine.