Everybody has interests and hobbies outside of work or school they wish they had more time for. For example, I wish I had more time to learn the guitar, create cool mobile apps, and read about personal finance. Here are my best tips for getting the most out of the time spent at work, so you have more time to spend on the the things you love.
Start as early as possible – The biggest reason for this is momentum. Completing that first task off your to-do list, and then the next task, and then the next, creates momentum for you to keep knocking things off your list throughout your day. On the other hand, procrastinating in the morning creates momentum that pushes you to keep checking facebook or watching youtube, while your work just sits on your desk all day. Even if you feel you work much better during evenings, try getting a jump start for a week, and not allow yourself an email or facebook break until you knock those first few items off your list. You may be surprised by the results.
Get enough rest – Do not underestimate the power of sleep! When I was an undergraduate student, I remember how most people (including myself) would compare how many hours we spent studying for a test, only to find that some of us just couldn't break past that B+ barrier no matter how many hours we spent studying. After a couple years I finally figured it out, Instead of forcing myself to stay up all night studying, I could get a good night of sleep and spend about a third the amount of time studying in the morning. Studying with a well rested mind means no spacing out while reading, only to find that you just read an entire paragraph without remembering a single line. It means staying awake and alert during class, not needing to waste time re-learning material outside of class, and it means having more energy to focus on your work, instead of focusing on staying awake or wishing you could go to sleep. Working with a well rested mind has allowed me to finish in one hour, what it would take me to finish in three hours with in a tired state.
Capture everything before you start – Have you ever been happily chugging along, working on a project when suddenly you remember you need to stop by the bank, or call your mom back later that day. These little distractions can turn into major setbacks if they can break you out of your zone. To prevent this, keep a to-do list with you at all times and dump everything you may need to remember onto your list before you start any kind of major work. Everything from emails you need to send out later, to what you need to pick up from the grocery store on the way back from work. Keeping all these items written down will free up any brain power being used to keep these little items from being forgotten, and stop any brain pop-ups from throwing off your focus.
Force yourself to do the worst thing first – This one may be debatable. Some people prefer to start on the hardest items on their list first, while others prefer to do the easiest tasks first just to get going. Here is my case for starting with the worst thing first. It's much harder to stay focused on an intensive task after a long hard day. Instead, using all your energy on high focus items in the beginning of the day leaves the mindless tasks, such as cooking, cleaning, or other repetitive tasks, for you in the evenings, prolonging the amount of productivity in your day.
Force yourself to do it at least 15 min – We all have days when our motivation tanks seem to be on empty, and we reluctantly give in to what will probably be another lost day of production. I'm going to give you my best tip for battling against these times of low motivation. Force yourself to work on a task for just 15 min. Do whatever it takes to get to you desk, turn off your TV, turn off your cell phone, don't even open up your laptop until you can to your desk. If you can open up that project, and keep it open for just 15 min, I can't tell you how many times I look up, and what was supposed to be just 15 min had already turned into an hour. At that point I've got some momentum and I just keep going.
Make it a routine – Trying any of these previously mentioned tips the first two or three times can be the hardest part. Making it a routine will make it much easier without even thinking about it. Try this: pick one or two of these tips to start off with. Making too many changes at once makes it too easy to throw away progress with all the positive changes you've made after slipping up with only one of them. Grab a marker of your favorite color, and make a mark on your calendar every day that you follow through with the two tips you've chosen. Studies have shown that it takes around 28 days to forge a new habit. If you can put together a string of 28 days on your calendar, then you're done and you can move on to the next tips you would like to implement. The key here is to keep the calendar in a place where you can see it up at ALL TIMES. Your gmail calendar is not good enough, even if you open it everyday. And remember to only attempt one or two changes at a time.
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