We’ve all been there. It's Sunday morning, you have a twelve-page paper due in twenty-four hours, and you haven’t even read the prompt. Some of the time it’s because we were swamped all week with midterms, and had to work our crappy retail job all day Saturday. Sure, sometimes, our weeks are busy. Most of the time, however, the cause of our problem is procrastination. I’ll be the first to admit that *sometimes* I’ll set aside an entire Saturday to get work done and then somehow I end up spending that Saturday in bed, with a bag of Hot Cheetos, and watching endless cat videos. I know. Aren’t I cool? Then Sunday rolls around and it becomes a stress-filled, sleep-deprived day of staring at my laptop for ten hours straight. After being in this situation so many times, I have developed a routine to ensure my time is spent wisely and I accomplish all I set out to. Now, these tips may not work for everyone, but if you're struggling with productivity as much as I was, you might as well give them a try. Here are my tips for staying productive in 2017.
1. Exercise First Thing in the Morning
One of my favorite things to do is go on early morning runs. Whether my run is 15 minutes or 60 minutes, the magnificent colors of the sky and the quiet streets allow me to daydream, get inspired, and blast music into my ears, without having to worry about anyone or anything. With this time to clear my mind and fuel my body with endorphins, I find that I feel energized, rejuvenated, and ready to take on the busy day ahead of me. Still not sold on the whole waking up at 7:00 A.M. and sprinting out the door thing? Substitute running with an early morning walk while listening to your favorite podcast. Maybe attend an early morning yoga class. The point is to get your body moving, early in the day. Exercise has been proven to improve mood and reduce stress. So what better way to face the rest of your busy day than calm, cool, and collected?
2. Shower, Do Your Hair, and Dress to Impress
I’m not going to lie. Sometimes I wake up, roll out of bed, throw on the first thing I see and walk out the door. I find that when I do this, my days are never as enjoyable or as productive. Days where I take the extra time to shower, do my hair--kind of--and put on an outfit that I’m proud of and feel great in, are always more productive. Dressing to impress doesn’t necessarily mean dressing for a fortune 500 interview. It just means feeling put together and like the best version of yourself. Whether that means business attire or your favorite leather jacket with a killer pair of shoes, is up to you.
3. Stay Fed. Stay Hydrated.
Hanger. It’s real. That’s all I’m going to say here.
4. Have a Designated Work Area
There is a coffee shop close to my house with free wifi, tons of seating, tons of outlets and most importantly, tons of coffee. Over the past few years, this has become my designated work spot. This coffee shop and the library are almost the only places I am capable of getting any work done. Once I set foot in either of these places, a switch goes off in my brain and I know its time to work. Once you establish one of these places, it will become automatic to pull out your laptop, your notebook, or your flash cards as soon as you arrive. This also allows your home to become a place of relaxation and leisure, which may help those who are struggling to find a healthy work-life balance.
5. Make a To Do List ONLY Once You’ve Arrived at Your Designated Work Area
Studies show that people who talk about their goals are less likely to achieve them. When you talk about your goal, your brain gets a small amount of the feel-good chemical that would be released had you actually accomplished the goal. This causes you to feel less driven to actually achieve your goal. The same goes for writing a to do list too far in advance. Recently I bought a “Productivity Planner” in hopes of becoming more productive during the New Year. Every morning for about a week, I would wake up early, write down all of my tasks for the day, get very excited about “how productive I was going to be” and then proceed to procrastinate all day and get absolutely nothing done. I found though, that once I started using my productivity planner ONLY once I was in my designated work area, it worked brilliantly. I enjoyed crossing each thing off the list one by one until I was done and ready to go home.
6. Tell Your Self You’re Only Committing Twenty Minutes to a Given Task
If you’re having a REALLY sluggish day, try telling yourself that you are only committing twenty minutes to your given task. I find that once I have been working for twenty minutes without interruption, I’m finally in the groove of things and want to continue. If the twenty minutes is up, and you still don’t want to continue that’s okay too, at least you got 20 minutes worth out of the way.
The main take away here is to get up, move your body, and get out of the space and clothing that are usually used for relaxation. These simple things have made a world of a difference in my life and I hope they will in yours.
