21 Days of Hyper Productivity
What Productivity Techniques Will Work?
I asked myself a simple, but honest question a while ago, “what do you like to do?” I charged into this question with great alacrity, determined to explain how I’m an interesting person, how anyone would be lucky to meet such a humble person like myself. I started off, “Well I love to play video games. I play a bunch of different ones and I can get insanely good at them.” Off to a good start. “I also watch different TV shows and the occasional movie. So I like to play games, watch TV and… and uh… uhhh…”
Oh.
I wasn’t really into much.
Playing games and watching TV. Is that all I could really say when it came to what I like doing? Who I am as a person boils down to two mundane things that 90% of the population do. Some people can do this and are content. But not me. I wanted people to describe me as interesting.
I had to change.
This was a few years ago and since then, I have picked up many new hobbies. Hobbies which I find just as fun. But more importantly - fulfilling. I’ve started writing frequently, video editing, growing and propagating plants. I’m more active and go to the gym, I cook a lot more, meditate and read. I’m doing my best to expand my interests in order to become a more interesting person.
These coming 21 days I will aim to try to be the most productive I have ever been. I’ve read many self help books over the last few years, and I’ve been drowning myself in productivity videos and courses for the last few months. I’ll start using every productivity trick I can that will enable me to work on various projects for as long as I can. I’m taking a few weeks off work. Rather than playing games for 10 hours a day which I used to do on my days off, I will aim to use these hours to better myself.
I have slowly been inserting different productive habits into my life. Some of these are:
Using a bullet journal as a day/week planner
Using a light alarm clock to wake myself up
Putting my phone away from my bedside table at night
A strong, consistent bed time routine
Making my bed every morning
Habit tracking
Financial tracking
I realised at one point that you don’t have to be who you always have been. That it’s possible to change and become the sort of person that you want to be. The goal of these 21 days is to become a hyper productive individual. Even when I don’t have to do any work on this time off, I will still choose to work. As I go through my 21 days of hyper productivity, I will be documenting some of the new practises that I pick up and reporting on how effective they are.
Some of the things that I will implement will be:
The 5 minute rule. This is where if you don’t feel like doing something, promise yourself that after 5 minutes you can stop. This will essentially invoke one of Newton’s laws of motion. An object that is in motion, will stay in motion until acted upon by an outside force. Anyone can do just 5 minutes of work. So I’ll promise myself I can stop after 5. Hopefully after 5 minutes, even though I have given myself permission to stop, I won’t want to because I’ve become engrossed in the activity.
The 2 minute rule. This is where if there’s an activity that takes less than 2 minutes to do, you just do it. Take that coffee cup to the kitchen. Tidy up those cables. Put those spices away. This will make it easier at the end of the day because you no longer have to do lots of small tasks, which, when left not done, will eventually build up into one big task.
Time Recording. I downloaded an app that records EVERYTHING I do during the day. I’ll be able to see a complete overview of how I spent my time over the 21 days. This will also help keep me focused and completely mindful on one activity at a time
Pomodoro method. When working on a task for a long period of time every 25 minutes, I will take a 5 minute break, then go back to working for another 25 minutes. Supposedly this helps you on projects that require deep focus. I’m not so sure if this one will work for me as I’m usually able to concentrate on things for longer without needing a break, and it might actually stop me from attaining a flow state. But we’ll see. Maybe I’ll end up making some adjustments for how long I work before taking the break.
Early morning gratitude. The first thing I’ll do when I wake up is insert positive thoughts into my life. I’ll write down 3 things that I’m grateful for. It can be anything from the big to the mundane. So long as it can help me realise that I should be grateful and optimistic. Rather than feeling the draining gloom of social media, I will have a positive start to the day.
I don’t know entirely what I’ll expect to get out of this. Hopefully I’ll pick up a few new habits that help me become a bit more productive.
Wish me luck.