Battling unproductivity

A fitting post to get back after two  months. A long fit of wavering between ideas in the head and translation into posts.

Unproductivity in its simplest, the feeling of reluctance to get anything done and the very thought of a todo list giving you a sharp pain in your head. There may be a multitude of reasons for feeling this way, the most common ones being lack of sleep and an improper eating schedule. All of us would have felt this way at some point or the other in our lives. For some of us, like me, it may be a recurring dip.

There are 2 ways to handle this. The first one is the easiest and helps you flow along with your mind. Its alright - remain unproductive. Remaining unproductive may help you catch up on things you never seem to have time for in your normal day, like reading a book to the end at one go, playing a game or just plain old catching some zzzs. There is absolutely nothing to feel guilty or perturbed about,as long as you are aware of what is happening.

The second is much more difficult and takes some serious amount of will power. You know your are feeling unproductive, but you want to get a particular thing done. Motivation has reached an all time low and your sense of guilt and anxiety is shooting off the charts, in spite of which your mind is talking you out of doing what you have to. Simply do a counter attack, by forcing yourself to do a small part of the job like 10% of it. This way you are guilt free, as you have at least done some part of the job, even if not a considerable amount. Chances are once that 10% barrier is crossed, your motivation will magically reappear and you will complete the job.

Take my case, When I started to write this post, I was distracted and was telling myself ‘I’ll do the basic draft tonight and post it tommorow morning.’ But here I am finishing what I set out to do.

One of my favourite unproductivity hack is by Leo of zenhabits. Check it out here.

Tags: motivation, productivity, to do, unproductivity