How to Stay Productive during Difficult Times
Let's be honest for a minute. It’s not always easy to stay motivated and productive. Especially since most of us are still in quarantine, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here's the thing though, hard times in life test us. Yet, they’re also the times that make us grow. Throughout history, so many positive inventions, discoveries, businesses, and even lifestyle changes have come as a result of individuals who had to experience hard times. That made me start to think... How can I leverage this time, when productivity is honestly the last thing on our minds, and use it to grow? What if I look at it as a gift, instead of a hindrance? Over the last month, I’ve come up with a plan for how to effectively use these difficult times to grow, and I’m going to outline my strategy for staying productive - at a time when being unproductive is the easy way out.
#1 Sleep
Let's get the hardest thing out of the way first. You have to keep a consistent sleep schedule and get up early. This is something that I have honestly been struggling with. During this time, it's so easy to let ourselves fall into a poor sleeping schedule. When we have to get up for class, or for work, it’s not hard to keep a “relatively” consistent sleeping schedule. Unfortunately, due to the current situation in the world, with the pandemic, many of us are out of work, and obviously, school is now happening at home. However, what I’ve discovered is that waking up early does three things. First, it gives me more time during the day to be productive and work on projects, school, and to work out. More importantly though, it helps to re-establish a consistent habit in our lives, which is extremely important, simply because this is something that you are likely to maintain in the future. Trust me, future you will thank you. What this habit also does, is it proves to yourself that you are more than the hardships in your life, and that you have the ability to do something that other people aren’t doing. This thought alone is extremely powerful, and often enough of a reason to push through the pain of that obnoxious alarm clock#2 Exercise
Moving forward, the next essential way to remain productive is to exercise every day. This could be something as simple as a run, or even just some push-ups and sit-ups, or going to the gym (when they open again). There are a number of quality workout apps available for at-home workouts, as well. The whole point of getting exercise, is that you're getting active and making your body get moving. This is extremely important, because, first of all, it puts you into a healthy mindset, so you're less likely to eat unhealthy foods later in the day. Secondly, it just pumps you up and makes you feel motivated. Exercise also releases endorphins in your body, which have a powerful effect on decreasing depression and stress. Both of which can be difficult to manage during demanding times. Again, it's all about the small wins.#3 Maintain a Schedule
#4 Keep Learning
Next, you should try to learn something every day. I know this sounds cliched, but hear me out. I don’t mean you have to register for a college class to do this. This is really something that everyone can do, and there are so many ways to incorporate it into your day. For me though, there are three key routes for achieving this. All of them are things that are low-cost, and easy to do. First, and probably the easiest, is to read a book. Books have an incredible power to engage our brain and cause creative thinking. While I love paper books, I also recommend Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited subscription if you want to spend some money. It comes with a wide selection, and really, if you think about it, it's not a whole lot different than a Netflix subscription, but it has greater benefits. Or, if you don’t have time to sit around reading, you could always go the audio book route. Another thing I like to do is listen to podcasts. I subscribe to Spotify Premium for students (if you’re a college student I highly recommend this), and I play podcasts all the time. I love listening to podcasts while I’m cooking breakfast and making my coffee in the morning. I just find that this is a great time to absorb information… especially after you wake up early and have all that extra time to be productive! Finally, I would recommend finding a free online course, if you have some extra time. There are platforms, such as Skillshare, that offer subscription services to do this. However, if you want to save your money and still expand your brain, I would recommend just going on YouTube and finding some videos there first. That way you know if it’s a topic that you really want to commit time to learning about, before you break out your wallet. For example, over the past couple weeks, I’ve been watching calculus videos on YouTube, because I’m taking Calculus II next year, and I want to brush up on my skills in this area. Ultimately, the goal here should be to leverage the resources that are already available to you.#5 Allow Yourself to Relax
Finally, you have to do something that you find relaxing and relieves your stress. This could be anything from watching a movie in the evening, playing video games, reading, or practicing an instrument. A lot of times, we overlook the essential need for humans to find peace and relaxation in a stressful world. Sure, grinding and working hard every day is important, but what good is all that hard work, only to find out that you have cancer in your fifties. There is significant research suggesting that stress lowers the body’s immune system function. Plus, I find that this is a great opportunity to create what I call a “reward system approach". The key with this, is to decide at the beginning of the day what you want to do later for fun. This should be something that excites you and makes you happy. For me, this is practicing guitar. Almost every evening, when I’m done working, I like to pick up my guitar and practice for about thirty minutes to an hour. Don’t hold yourself to a time limit though. By setting this aside for the end of the day, you have a goal to look forward to that structures your day. Also, since your work, and the “hard stuff” is getting done earlier in the day, you can ensure both higher quality in your work, and a more relaxed state of mind for your time in the evening.At the end of the day, I believe that hard times are what you make of them. Often, we have no control over what’s happening, and we feel useless and powerless to stop the negative energy. Yet, it’s so easy to forget that the sun will rise again tomorrow. I think that ultimately, that's what this strategy does. I really believe it causes a mindset shift. Sure, there are going to be days when life is hard, you get frustrated, and you're not productive… it happens to the best of us. However, instigating movement towards productivity in our lives pulls our focus off of the negativity, and instead, forces us to live in the moment, working on the things that we actually have control over.
