1. Pomodoro
The Pomodoro Technique was developed in the late 1980s by then university student Francesco Cirillo. Cirillo was struggling to focus on his studies and complete assignments. Feeling overwhelmed, he asked himself to commit to just 10 minutes of focused study time. Encouraged by the challenge, he found a tomato (pomodoro in Italian) shaped kitchen timer, and the Pomodoro technique was born.
2. Have a routine
But if you want to be truly productive, your habits and routines can't end when the workday does. Instead, research has consistently found that people who follow an end-of-day routine are less fatigued and stressed, show lower rates of procrastination, and even become more focused during the workday.
Routine can help build a better sense of safety and a sense of flow in your day to day life and this is important to create and maintain a state of productivity.
3. Take breaks
Relaxing and social breaks have been found to be particularly beneficial. A relaxing break can help to facilitate recovery, by returning your mental and psychical functional systems to their baseline. Additionally, a relaxing break can help to reset your mood, thereby promoting positive wellbeing and reducing stress
Taking breaks refreshes the mind, replenishes your mental resources, and helps you become more creative. “Aha moments” came more often to those who took breaks, according to research.
4. Work during your productive hours
Some people are night owls and the others are early birds. Figuring out what time of the day is your optimum productive time is something important while building a productive routine. Keep a track of your most productive hours for a week and then fashion a routine that allows you to be productive when you actually have the most energy to do it.
5. Exercise
Exercise is recommended for a healthy lifestyle and the benefits of exercise improve attention span, accuracy, memory and how fast our brains process information. All these benefits of exercise enable you to make decisions quickly and thus increase your productivity. Exercise raises your energy levels, combats stress, battles fatigue and improves general well-being. When you feel happier and energized you’re more efficient and effective at all tasks in life.
6. Do not multitask
Multitasking takes a serious toll on productivity. Our brains lack the ability to perform multiple tasks at the same time—in moments where we think we're multitasking, we're likely just switching quickly from task to task.
Multitasking leads to what psychologists call "task switch costs," or the negative effects that come from switching from task to task. We encounter task switch costs (like a slower working pace) because of the increased mental demand that's associated with jumping from one thing to another.
In the end it is important to realise that you may not always have the motivation to be productive and sometimes you might be going through a period of slump.
Routines and hacks only work as long as one is not overworked and overstressed.
Not everyday is the same and some unproductive days are just as important as the productive ones.
- Chaitanya Nair