In the last couple of weeks, I’ve felt a huge productivity drop. We haven’t published any new top 3 articles and that’s because I just don’t start writing.
To be fair to myself, I did accept a few extra copywriting gigs, but that shouldn’t be an excuse for wasting the rest of my time. I feel a bit hypocritical for having the knowledge and productivity advice but not always applying it to my own life.
So last night, as I was journaling, I was a bit hard on myself and I decided to make three personal changes.
From today on, I will make these changes to become more productive:
- Stop playing games on my phone during weekdays. Before, I had a time limit set so I wouldn’t be playing all day. The problem, however, is that the positive or negative emotions released while playing would often haunt me for hours after. Additionally, playing games on my phone is mostly a multitasking activity and that affects overall concentration for the rest of the day.
- Stop giving in to cravings like a beer, coca-cola or candy. I’m not sure if this will make a big difference in my productivity levels but I believe I’m gaining too much weight lately. On productivity levels, I do hope that by not giving in to these little pleasures, I’ll be more focused on different rewarding activities, like writing, that have long-term effects.
- Stop watching Netflix during lunch. I teach online classes from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and afterwards, I usually watch something on Netflix while eating. This always leads to the same problem that I have already discussed in our reflections. An episode lasts longer than the time I need to finish lunch. So I often start playing a game while I’m watching the rest of the episode. When the episode ends, I continue playing for some more time and then I really struggle to get back to work.
In conclusion, to become more productive, I’m not creating new habits, but I’m eliminating three bad ones.
I’m mainly writing this to hold myself accountable. But I do hope it may also inspire you to stand still for a while and analyse your habits.
What are the bad habits that limit your productivity and impede you from finding flow? What changes can you make to become more productive?