A while back I had read this advice post.

Many of the points the author had penned were a refined form of some rudimentary idea I had discovered and present in some corner of my brain. I wasn’t acutely aware of these ideas because I had never verbalized or written about them. This made it harder for me apply these consistently.

Labeling and writing about your thoughts and emotions is effective in parsing your future stream of thoughts because you can dissect it more easily. Some may consider this a part of mindfulness.

I digress. Here are some things I’ve discovered related to habits, productivity and procrastination. I believe these three are intertwined. I’ve done my best to cluster the lessons learnt. Some of these, I’ve been following for years and the others are aspirational. Hopefully, writing them will help me in adhering to them :)

Habits

  1. When you try inculcating a new habit, initially you might have to force yourself to do it and have to expend energy. If you do it frequently, eventually it will become a habit. Once that happens, you can do it in autopilot.
  2. Habits are set in motion by triggers.
    1. Case in point, when I started flossing, it seemed like a boring and tiring chore. I never seemed to have time for it. I forced myself to do it for a month, prior to brushing. Today it is so effortless that it feels weird if I don’t floss before brushing.
  3. If something seems too hard, break it down and try to make the minimized version a habit. Build over that later.
    1. Improving your life a little is so much better than aiming high and changing nothing. Especially because small changes can do a lot over years.
  4. Make the action more pleasurable.
  5. If it is important, you have time for it. No matter how busy you are.

Procrastination

  1. If you don’t feel like doing something. Do it for exactly 2 minutes. Chances are, you won’t give up once you start.
  2. Perfect is the enemy of good.
  3. Convince your brain that the task is not that big of a deal.
  4. Use the clock as a trigger and create a routine at home and work alike.
  5. Get better at breaking down tasks and prioritizing them.

Productivity

  1. If I procrastinate, I’m not being productive. If I’m not being methodical, organized or deliberate, I’m not being productive. Once in a blue moon when the stars align and I succeed on both fronts, I’m generally happy with my progress. Hence, my perception is Productivity = No procrastination + being organized.
  2. Head is for having ideas, not holding them.
    1. Write as much as possible. Be it todo lists (Tasks), blog (this!), notes (Keep and Docs), personal journal (good old notebook) or spreadsheets (Sheets).
  3. Work
    1. Every 30 minutes, pick 1 task and focus on that entirely. Take 5 minute break after that.
    2. Have daily notes emphasizing the tasks I want to target for the day. At the end of the day, jot the progress.
    3. Have a todo list.
    4. Zero inbox.
  4. Personal
    1. Track expenses, investments in a spreadsheet every month.
    2. Maintain a blog and a journal for private thoughts.
    3. Have a todo list.
    4. Zero inbox.
  5. Meditate, practice mindfulness and minimize distractions.




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