MY FAVORITE 5 PRODUCTIVITY TIPS
INTRO
A lot of people assume working hard is the key to success. Although success doesn’t have an exact definition. If we consider it as becoming good at our career, or getting rich and all that fancy stuff, then I think there is a more important factor for it. I’m going to share 5 productivity tips that always help me to work better.
I believe working smart can beat up the hard-work. The intelligence of human beings have helped them rule the world, even though they don’t work and move as hard as the rest of the creatures on earth.
We’ve been simplifying things for ourselves and that’s been letting us progress. I wouldn’t bother to open up a 10,000 page dictionary book when I can simply use Google translate for a definition of a certain word. Let’s check the 5 productivity tips I use to make my work easier and faster. So that you may save energy and time for more tasks.
1. MANAGING MY TIME HOWEVER I LIKE
As a freelancer, I am quite free to set my working hours. If you work 9 to 5, this tip might not work for you, however it may be useful for you someday soon.
People always told me to wake up early in the morning, and don’t stay up too late and make sure to get 8-9 hours of sleep. Well, I think it really depends on the person. So here, I believe it is best to trust our own vision. For instance, over the past few years I’ve noticed that my mind goes crazy creative at midnight until around 5 AM. So in the past I was pushing myself to make sure to be asleep at that time for so called healthy reasons.
Then I figured I was limiting myself to so many cool ideas that would help my life. After I changed my sleeping schedule I began to do better at my job. It was the ideas that were helping me and 90% of them were showing up at that time.
While I was taking a Digital Network course. My teacher once told us to read e-books and I said to him that it might not be good for the eyes to read them.
Well you can print them out if you want but you’re limiting yourself. Said my old teacher.
He then explained that there are two types of people. One that wants to enjoy and get the most out of life, and one type that wants to stick to life and never lose it. I asked why! He told me that when I’m being too picky about health risks, (since I mentioned that it may hurt my eyes to read e-books on screen) I am fooling myself as if I’m going to keep this life forever.
He said if you go deep into it, you’re currently risking your health by sitting on this chair for two hours, and watching me speak. (btw you’re hurting your eyes by reading my article.)
So I sometimes forget about the stereotypes of healthy daily routines and do what I feel is more suitable for me.
2. SAVE THE TIME WHEN YOU CAN SAVE IT
I pretty much do a lot of stuff remotely these days. For instance, going out to buy groceries would take 2 hours or so, while that time could be spent on my pending works.
A friend who comes to my place to talk about his relationship drama, doesn’t help me learn anything. It just kills the valuable time that I could spend on the pending works, learning, or new business ideas, etc. So I try to avoid those people.
I don’t keep the TV on while I’m working or I wouldn’t sit working with someone who keeps chatting. That makes me accomplish a task in 1 hour instead of 10 minutes! It is ideal not to respond to friends’ texts and DMs while you’re working and having business conversations.
Another cool thing I’ve realized is that I work faster when my home is clean. I work at home, so when things are messy around me, I get distracted and it takes longer for me to get things done.
3. KEEP THE WORKFLOW FANCY AND AMUSING
You need that dopamine pushing you to go on with more intention. Find out what small things make you have more motivation and energy. For example, while I’m working, making some coffee and having it right next to me gives me a good feeling and motivates me. All that dopamine shit!
Sometimes it can be a slow and mello music playing in the background. Some people might get distracted by that though. It is best to try and see what things make you feel better and make that energy flow in you. It can be the design of your desk, the pen you write with, your computer and phone, or the plant you love, etc.
One of my favorite playlists for while I’m working (in case if you’d want to know) is Lo-Fi Cafe on Spotify.
4. CHANGE SOME SPACE
As a freelancer, I may sometimes feel weird waking up and working in the same place. You may end up losing some passion. In order to avoid that, I sometimes prefer to take my laptop, phone and notebooks to some other place and work. It could be a chill cafe, a park, library or area 51!
That gives me more motivation and enthusiasm for more work that lead to better results. It’s easy to burn out while doing a freelance job. Thus, it’s crucial to prepare a solid plan to make it more interesting everyday.
5. DON’T WORK IN A BAD MOOD
There were times when I had arguments with my ex-girlfriend or family members, friends, etc. When something like that happens, the brain doesn’t function normally so that may change the result of your work.
You may end up getting stuck on accomplishing a task which may make you feel even worse. So, personally I’d rather squash it all before jumping to work! You would need some time to relax and calm down. Discover what would make you feel okay and try to focus on that until you know you’re in a good mood again.
Or if you can, solve the problem you had arguments about before jumping back to work. Like that time when I was in a very bad mood due to the argument I had with my ex, I decided to solve that problem before work. So I broke up with her and put in some nice work right away. lolz
CONCLUSION
I hope these productivity tips would be useful for you. They work for me well but it still might depend on each person. Thank you fore reading my article and please feel free to comment your opinion.
