Today I want to share with all of you, the secret to unlocking your latent productivity. It’s the best personal productivity tip that I have been practising for a couple of years now. It’s a small thing to do but it has the potential to change your life if followed to a T.
Success is not the result of our actions, but of consistent actions. In short, the result of our habits.
This little thing, if followed for at least 20 mins every day, will definitely make the following day more productive and will eventually bring a big positive change in your life. I have been personally following this and the results have been life transforming. No matter how late you wake up, your day can still be more productive than you anticipated.
We often find ourselves feeling lethargic when we come back home after a long day of work.
And what do we do once we reach home?
The couch looks inviting, the bed feels irresistibly cosy, the tantalising smell of food draws you in, social media notifications keep craving your attention...and for some of us our Netflix calling trumps everything!
Right?
Well, you may give in to these temptations...or...consider pushing yourself a little and preparing yourself for the next day.
Now, it might sound like something that requires a lot of work...but believe me it's not!
At the end of each day, we often find ourselves with things left to do on our to-do list. Besides, there are so many things we wish we had the time to do. You'll be surprised to know that one in five people have a chronic crippling habit of putting things off for later. And more often than not, most of us never get around to doing those things at all. Consequently, criminally wasting a lot of precious time, that could have been put to much better use.
Don't believe me?
Let's do the math.
Consider a person wastes 2 hours per day just lazying around or doing things that are not so important.
That adds up to approximately 913.08 days for 30 years (including 14 extra days in 7 leap years) which means this person wastes 2.5 years of their precious life in 30 years!
2 hours doesn't sound like a lot in the context of a single day. But over an extended period of time like 30 years, it adds up to 2.5years.
Appalling right?!
Feel free to calculate how much time you're wasting!
You're not alone. A lot of people waste more than just 2 hours a day.
Now imagine utilising the same time to do something useful. Like reading a book or developing new skills. At least 5 skills can be mastered to perfection if appropriate action is taken during this wasted time. People crib that they don’t get time for their personal life or friends and family or to learn a new skill or to generate another source of income. Changing one single habit can be the key to unlocking your latent productivity and getting more out of every single day.
So what’s this little secret I have been talking about?
Yes! You guessed it right.
Don’t change your clothes.
Why am I saying this?
When you change from your uncomfortable clothes into the ones that you wear at home, you immediately fall into a trap...a trap of allowing yourself to become overly comfortable. And that's one of the reasons for reduced productivity. The comfort zone creeps into you and that's it. Game over.
I use this simple checklist to ensure I don't get overly comfortable when I have things left to do.
What to avoid?
- Going to the bedroom
- Watching TV/Netflix, etc
- Sitting in a cosy and comfortable place
- Eating
What needs to be done?
- Reduce all distractions including keeping your phone on silent/flight mode
- Get your to-do list sorted
- Set your priorities for the next day
- Mark your calendars
- Finish the little things (like replying to your pending business emails or publishing the post drafted for your personal blog)
- Set reminders to important events
Important Note:
The most vital thing is to ensure you use your phone to do the above things.
And if you can’t, sync your phone immediately with your working devices like your MacBook or the PC that you use, download the apps that are required and sync them. Typing on the phone is much faster(use the predictive text, TTS or swipe feature) and it is easier to switch between apps over the phone.
What will happen the next day?
You will have a more positive outlook towards life because you have planned your day in advance and now all that's left is to get things done. You will be more confident. And if something does not go as per plan, you have the entire day to figure out alternatives.
You will not only get through your to-do list but you'll also be able to grow by developing new skills.
The best outcome of all though is that you'll achieve all your goals without sacrificing the time you spend with family and friends. A well planned day allows you to do so much more than you can ever imagine. And believe it or not, it all begins with a conscious decision to not change your clothes!
I hope this tip will help you unlock your latent productivity.
Happy & confident living :)
Do mention what you feel about the post in the comments below.
I would be more than happy to take your feedback and improve my future work.
Thanks for stopping by.
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Nishant Singh
Entrepreneur, Business & Life Coach, Aspiring Philanthropist
Life's a story. Make yours "The Best Seller".
Email: steemit.nishant@gmail.com
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