3 Things That You Should Do Before Even Trying to Be Productive

Before you find the perfect productivity techniques stop doing these simple things first. In this era of the distracted world, the topic of productivity comes up a lot. There are too many gurus out there with their secret sauce and too many techniques which makes it too hard to decide what is right for you. I am a victim of falling into this rabbit hole and going after research, systems, and habits to end up basically procrastinating again. I was getting frustrated until I decided to stop doing and letting the basics shit that makes me unproductive in the first place. The result? It became so much easier to follow the rule or anything else. Here is what I stopped/started doing before using productivity techniques 1. Delete social media apps I know you have tried, I know we need to have social media, especially if you are a marketer or actually anything else. But here is the thing, I am telling you to delete just stop using social media apps on your phone and log in from your laptop, desktop, or even your phone browsers. This will automatically downsize the time that you spend on socials, how? Your app is designed perfectly for your phone to grasp your attention and keep you engage perfectly, it is not ideal to log in from any other device. The user experience and the habitual aspect don't go quite well and aren't suitable. For example - I use Instagram from my laptop, and what I have noticed is that I don't get the most recent posts, only a maybe few of them. This doesn't allow my interest to go on and on scrolling the feed to see what people are up to, but I still get to see the message, upload posts, etc. Even if you need it for a while you can download it and then delete it. I do that on vacation Try it out it will work. 2. Keep a physical list of JTBD If you don't know what JTB is it's - Jobs To Be Done. There are too many tools and apps to use nowadays. No hate I use them too but here is the thing, after going through so many variations - Trello, slack and even excel. I found that having a physical notepad, with the to-do list, actually entice me more to get it done and I will tell you why. Firstly your list will stay right in front of you, unlike your app. This creates a sense of work that is present in front of you. No more out-of-sight and out-of-mind situations. Secondly, scratching out a task when you are done physically makes your brain track progression and releases dopamine, which triggers you to complete even more tasks on the list. Simple but very cool. I will get haters for the next point. 3. Meditation Let me tell you why doing this single thing, can improve your productivity, regardless if you follow the others on the lists or not. Meditation increases focus and the more you can focus, you can complete a task faster and easier. So how does it increase focus? Meditation can help you identify what's in your attention space and gives you the ability to keep tasks longer in that space. Attention space is the mental capacity that you have available to focus on a task and process them at that very moment. In your attention space, whether you like it or not, there are more things in it than you would like it there to be. You could be thinking about that party while you are working on your important project. You could be thinking about sliding into your crush's DMs while you are working on your important project. You get the idea! If you can keep the only important task in your attention space, that is what we call focus you would be superhuman and meditation is the only exercise that helps you to capture the thoughts in your space and helps to keep or drop them. So try it even for 5-10 mins each, it gets easier. There is a number of ways you can do meditation. Personally, I either focus on breathing or let myself mindfully track my thoughts, both ways are helpful. I am no productivity guru but simply a man that is looking for ways to make the most out of my time, get things done and make some money. Simply doing these 3 things helped me more than any other techniques or magic that I have tried which I feel like this will help you as well.