Silent Killers of Productivity + Redesigning Urinals
How you spent the first five months of 2022?
đHappy last Friday of May'22, and with that 146 days or (almost) 5 months have vanished from your 2022.
âłIf you're someone like me who feels that the new year just happened yesterday and time is flying faster than the speed of light, We need to pause and reflect!
â°I've been taking a course on Time Management and would love to distil some of my learnings so far.
âFrom the outside, we all can blame social media or emails for killing our time. But knowing what's happening at a deeper level certainly makes us more conscious of the silent killers of productivity.
1. Fear of discomfort đ¨
For ages, our brains have been naturally wired to protect ourselves from situations causing harm. Be it physical or mental harm, the brain cannot distinguish what kind.
It's no surprise that your brain tries coming up with all sorts of rational reasons before jumping into an uncomfortable situation like coding or writing.Â
Consequently, We tend to overthink questions like, Would I deliver the project good enough? Can I make it to the deadline?
This unacknowledged fear that stops us from jumping out of our comfort zones ultimately leads us to procrastinate.
It's crucial that we identify the retarding forces and fearlessly overcome them!
2. Overwhelmđą
When we have too many things to finish, we often tend to stop making any progress.Â
While working on a single task, it's common for thoughts (about other pending tasks) to pop up. Under such circumstances, I've personally experienced that brain dump helps exceedingly well!Â
Writing all the tasks running in your brain onto a piece of paper is a simple yet powerful technique. Once you've everything on the paper, It becomes super easy to prioritize tasks based on urgency and importance.Â
You can even identify tasks that can be managed later or delegated to someone.
Another solid reason why people feel overwhelmed is the complexity of the task itself, especially when we are doing it for the first time.
Again, breaking down the task into smaller doable pieces of chunks is an effective way to handle the anxiety resulting from the intricate nature of the task.
I'm trying my best to acknowledge these silent killers whenever a situation arises and get better at handling them. Would love to know, What are some silent killers of productivity, you've noticed recently? Hit the reply button or let me know through the commentsđ
âQuote of the month
Courage is not the absence of fear, it is the willingness to act in spite of fear
đBook Iâve been reading
If you follow me on Instagram, youâd have noticed that I frequently share quotes from James Clear on my IG stories.
Itâs no surprise that Iâm a huge fan of James and his writings. Iâve been reading, re-reading and digesting the insights from Atomic Habits for quite sometime.
In the book, James often highlights that every habit is initiated by a cue. For example, if I want to get into the habit of reading every morning, having a book beside my bed is a visible cue thatâd help me kick start the day!
When the cues that spark a habit are subtle or hidden, they are easy to ignore.
On the flip side, The more easy it is to notice the cues, the lesser the friction to stay consistent with your habits. Itâs paramount that we design our environment in a way that makes it easier to draw our attention to obvious visual cues.
In the early 1990s, the cleaning staff at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam installed a small sticker that looked like a fly in the center of each urinal. When men stepped up to the urinals, they aimed for what they thought was a bug. The stickers improved their aim and significantly reduced âspillageâ around the urinals. Further analysis determined that the stickers cut bathroom cleaning costs by 8% per year. Source: Atomic Habits
To conclude,
If you want to make a habit a big part of your life, make the cue a big part of your environment.
Have a productive weekend, friend! =)
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