Routine
I think it has to do with my routine. I have set up my life in such a way that I give more time to other stuff other than being productive so that not being productive is not so ok. Really that is how I play it.
I play it so that it’s easy for me. And that comes with a bunch of stuff as well, like not earning right away, dealing with all sorts of stuff, but I just don’t care about that stuff.
I just focus on the money and keep moving forward. It’s not difficult for me because I have a large amount of time I guess.
Motivation and Productivity
Motivation, I struggle with it too because even many days i don’t feel motivated too, even writing this I don’t think I’m super motivated to write this, it’s just if i have the obligation to write this now, so it’s just a small part of my day so it doesn’t even feel like a deal anymore.
It’s more like a time pass I guess. I just make sure overall the production adds up maybe in a month. So I plan it beforehand and just execute it on that time slot so that I do less and I do it for a period of time, so that there is something, and I’m ok with something other than a lot of stuff.
It just works and it’s a nice way to do it.
Productivity and One’s Energy
One of the predominant factors of being motivated and productive has to do with one’s energy. Luckily for me, due to my situation, i happen to live as if daily something is ok compared to daily lot of hours.
It’s just all about energy right? If my energies are very low, then obviously I can’t stay up and try to be productive. Also, my energies go up and down, and I am very well aware of that, and that is why I do it the way I do it.
See. Now it makes sense to you, doesn’t it? It’s all tied to one’s energy. It’s tricky to play with energy initially, because it’s not so obvious to one how the energy plays out in oneself, but after some time, you get a sense of it and you better manage it.
Another key factor that I should talk about is the time of the day I work. The time is always on the spot and I take two days leave a week.
So like I said, not doing this little part a day is not ok so it happens even without motivation or stuff like that.
Let’s talk about the time of the day. After a lot of trial and error and a lot of observation, I found that 2 time slots sync with me very well and with my energies, and so I work only on those hours consistently.
Its morning 3 hours, evening 3 hours. Simple. It’s the same everyday. So it’s working less each day, consistently and it adds up and after a month, my targets are achieved.
It’s not at all complicated , it’s just you have to find these.
Next let’s talk about being productive, like very technically, right? Productivity is the ability to produce.
That’s all. If you can produce quality stuff in the given time it’s called being productive. Now quality is subjective. Some people may create high quality and some people may create low quality work.
We need to be careful with “quality” because one can hide behind quality as an excuse for not producing quality work. So that’s one way to go about productivity.
How Productive Am I in a Day?
Usually, productivity is best measured in task oriented ways and not best measured in mind oriented or thinking, it is more popularly measured by execution rather than coming up with ideas or thinking about different stuff.
This is why tracking the performance on a monthly basis is more efficient than tracking daily because nothing happens in day or week, you need enough time to do anything.
Tools & Systems I Use
My routine can also be called a system. I work 6 hours a day, from 10 to 1 pm, each 30 mins followed by 5 mins break, so the morning session closes at 1.15 pm and in the afternoon I start 3 pm each 30 mins followed by 5 mins break, 3 sessions and close by 6 pm. Having a routine, by routine I mean, exact hours and exact time of the day helps me in achieving what I want to achieve. Other tools I use are books and a clock to manage the time.
Mindset shifts that changes everything
Let’s compare motivation with consistency and discipline. Motivation won’t always be there. It’s like running ads, while there is cash, it performs and when there is no cash, it stalls. Likewise, if you perform here and there, it doesn’t work. Because for anything to be achieved, you need to stay there. And while motivation is a good booster, it is not reliable. One day you’ll have it, next day you won’t. This is where setting goals comes into picture and having clarity helps. When you know the direction, some days you walk fast and some days you walk slowly but you just keep walking in that direction. Being directionless takes you nowhere, it’s just all only excitement and no real moving.
So mindset is important when we deal with motivation and being productive. Broad thinking definitely helps. Again, clarity is a great factor here because once you know, which is difficult, but once you know through failures and trial and error, it’s only gonna keep getting better and better and you will get clarity.
Conclusion
So ignore the motivation and go for slow growth. Deploy patience and give some time for your instant gratification to relax and focus on really moving. Talking makes no sense. You should move daily inch by inch, before you realise, the progress gives you motivation, not the other way.