De twee fasen van productiviteit

Medium is een geweldige bron voor productiviteitsartikelen en als je zoiets als mij bent, lees je regelmatig ongelooflijke stukken.

Vanaf daar krijg je een uitbarsting van inspiratie, ga 'all-in' op de gepresenteerde ideeën en beland terug naar waar je was voor een maand later.

Veel mensen van wie u artikelen leest, bevinden zich op een hoger niveau van productiviteit en algemene oraganisatie dan ik en u.

Dus hoewel hun artikelen inspirerend zijn, kan het niet handig zijn om hun advies op te volgen.

There are 2 stages of productivity; 
1. the end goal of a productive life and 
2. the first step towards that goal.

Self Awareness

It’s key to be self-aware and test where you’re at.

This is a private exercise so you’re free to be completely honest with yourself.

The more honest you are at the beginning the better results you’ll have in the long term.

If you’re ready for an ‘extraordinary’ lifestyle that will yield ‘extraordinary’ results, more power to you.

But I for one know I’m not.

I can’t wake up at 2 am, meditate for 3 hours, exercise for 4 hours and read ‘Meditations’ by Marcus Aurelius.

All before picking, processing, roasting and brewing my own coffee.

I’m a student who’s trying to be a better version of himself.

For me, I want to wake up an hour before I usually do so that I can be productive, organised and get more exercise.

Once I begin, there is every chance of a snowball effect.

But you have to go through the early, not so mind-blowing stage to get to the incredible stage.

Let me give you a couple of examples from some common productivity tips.

Waking up early

Now we can all agree waking up early can be beneficial.

The world is usually silent, you’ve got no distractions and you’ve got the ability to work on some important stuff before your attention gets taken by day to day life.

But most of us regular humans can’t go from 7–8am into 4–5am starts, it won’t happen.

And even if it does for a while you can bet that it won’t stick as a long-term habit.

Instead of going to an extreme, wake up 30 minutes before your usual time and do something beneficial to you.

Work on a side hustle, read, go for a run, pray, get a healthy breakfast.

When you start with a focus on yourself, you’ll feel the benefits throughout the day.

Once that habit of 30 minutes has taken hold it won’t be a chore to make that 1 hour.

It will be an opportunity to do something else that you enjoy or will improve the quality of your life.

The Minimalism Wave

Now I’ll admit it, when I first read these articles I 100% got sucked in.

There’s something mysterious about minimalism, like those people have life figured out.

They’ve broken free of the capitalist trap and survive on what they need.

So what you need to do is hire a skip and dash literally everything you own in it, your clothes… gone, your tech… gone, that ‘precious’ family heirloom vase that was passed down from your granny (pathetic)… gone.

If you end up with more than one pair of underwear you’ve failed as a true minimalist.

If that is the case, hope I fail miserably as a true minimalist.

I have no doubt there are benefits to getting rid of junk and clutter.

Not only for space but for mental organisation, clarity and cost savings.

But let’s start at the first stage and progress from there.

Start out by tidying up for 15 minutes every day.

It’s little to no time but will ensure you stay on top of any mess.

After a few weeks, it will start to be obvious what is getting in the way of a clear home/room and what needs to go.

From there you can move onto a bigger clearout having already been in the mind frame of tidiness and consolidation

The Final Stage… of this article

It is important to see the gold medal standard.

To see what life would be like if you were operating at the highest level of personal development.

But recognise when you not even close to the medal positions.

Don’t go for gold on your first try, pull a muscle and be out of the game for a season.

Let’s be aware of our personal level and what the next stage up from us is.

By focusing on what is achievable and then achieving it, you are setting yourself up for long-term progression.

#productivegang

Follow me for an array of article types.

I can’t confirm it but I heard if you clap my articles a bunch, an envelope of cash arrives at your door the next day.

This story is published in The Startup, Medium’s largest entrepreneurship publication followed by 290,182+ people.

Subscribe to receive our top stories here.

☺