Productivity : A Scientific Approach

In this modern world of speed and extreme competition somewhere we get obsessed with productivity and discipline. We want all sorts of hacks to complete our work within time and in a better manner.

All of us want is to do more work in less time and consider will power as our true mate in achieving so but for now abandon all your will power. We want to do more work in less time so that we all can make some time out of work but it is not possible if you totally rely on will power. I will try to convince in you about the fact in this my new article on “Productivity: A scientific approach”.

Task management tools- time management apps available all over look shiny at first but according to studies, they usually go unused. Don’t even think that being bound to your desk would be productive then. Doing everything is not going to help either, in fact productivity means saying no to certain things.

Productivity and consistency go hand in hand. But why is that mountain of will power is of no use?

There is a concept of “ego depletion”, according to which your will power is like a finite source of energy. Like a battery. More you use more it is exhausted. And empty battery leads to nowhere. And hence more logical and impactful methods are suggested.

Ego Depletion

First thing that I would suggest is to get things started.

GETTING THINGS STARTED

It might seem obvious but many of us have this inertia which majorly hampers the project completion.

As, before starting our brain visualizes the difficulty that it would face and tries to simulate the project by focusing on small mindless activity to fill your time, which is because our brain is reluctant to commit to long period goals as it know it would fall prey to “abandoning ship”. You can take an example from last diet plan that you were trying to follow: p. Also once you start any project; Zeigarnik Effect in our mind constantly pokes us for not completing any of the work which had been started.

There is one study showcasing Zeigarnik effect: In the study we gave participants brain-buster puzzles to complete, but not enough time to complete them. The surprising thing was, even when participants were asked to stop, over 90% of them went on to complete the puzzles anyway due to the Zeigarnik effect.

It’s the same thing that happens when we become engaged in a story in a book, movie or TV show: we want to see how it ends.

Another term that I would like to introduce here is that of DELIBERATE PRACTICING. You might have heard about it, it does not means to practice more which is diluted all over the day long but to practice in disciplined manner and focusing on hard things first followed by breaks. Diluted long time practice on the basis of will power is of no use. For example if you are practicing basketball you would like to practice two hours of disciplined schedule rather than shooting hoops all day long.

Thus rather than maintaining energy whole day it is advisable to break down the regime into sessions with planned relaxation. Because we can work more intensely when we know break is around the corner rather than at the end of the day.

But tough part is to follow the routine in disciplined manner.

:DEADLINES-RESCUES US: In a study, students who imposed strict deadlines on themselves for assignments performed far better (and more consistently) than those who didn’t.

Students who had soft or generous deadlines performed no better than students who had zero deadlines. That’s why it is being said that when you give a lot of time to complete the work you usually create mountain out of a molehill.

Other way is to maintain an accountability chart. If it’s not worth measuring, it’s not worth doing

According to studies it helps in two different manners. #1 you’ll be exposed to the work you’ve actually completed, and not the (inaccurate) assumption of work you might form in your head. #2 Forcing yourself to write down the fact that you spent 2 hours on YouTube isn’t about shaming, it’s about awareness; you’ll be less likely to do it again.

STOP MULTI TASKING –

According to studies we have tendency to see multi tasking effective but in reality you are less productive instead. Your ego is satisfied and you are emotionally satisfied under the shadow of pierced umbrella of productivity. Achievement isn’t about doing everything; it’s about doing the right things–productivity means saying no. According to studies 99% of multi-taskers are poor at multi tasking (i.e. information filtering, high work memory and ability to switch between the tasks).

Thus what you have to do is every night before sleeping set up action plan for next day. Breaking big task into smaller would make work less daunting to your mind and you will be able to start and complete it in no time. Apple users can use TEUXDEUX app available on their app store for the same reason.

Thus in simple words don’t focus wholly your motivation on doing an Activity rather focus on making Activities easier to do.

Be productive.

You all can refer to Seinfeld strategy as well for learning about consistency and how to stop procrastination. You all can read blogs and studies of Janet Polivy, Gregory Ciotti, Kenneth McGraw, John Bargh, Andres Ericson, Tony Schwartz, Peretz Lavie and many more (consider them as sources).

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