In the winter I find myself just wanting to cozy up in my bed with a show on and not do much. Cooler temps is no reason to slow productivity, especially in such a busy time of year. Over the past few months I’ve been working on how I can get myself to sit down and get stuff done even when I really, really don’t want to. These are my top two ways to get super productive when I just want to cuddle up with a blanket and Netflix.
Timers
When I have a lot of tasks to do like reading, cleaning, homework, and post writing, I get pretty overwhelmed with feeling like I don’t have enough time. If I’m worried about time, the best possible way I have learned to deal with this is to set timers. 20 minutes of complete focus, not checking my phone or the time, on one task. Then, the timer goes off and I answer any urgent texts that may have come up then start it again. This time, another task. I continue through everything urgent, first with the two – three most important tasks to get done, adding in more as I finish them up.
The schedule looks something like this:
20 min: photo editing
Check phone, reset timer
20 min: clean up
Check phone, reset timer
20 min: reading
Check phone, reset timer
20 min: clean up
I’ll continue this until I either decide I have done enough or complete all my tasks. The reason this works so well to ease my worries about time is because I get pretty far on each task before I need to go to bed. Although I may not finish 100% of everything, I usually finish all but one thing and have at least 80% of that done. I get a massive amount of the work done on each task and almost always finish each one. If I can’t complete everything, at least I have the vast majority of it done. Another key to this one is no music, just some noise like rain or waves.
Noise Machine
Speaking of noise, this has helped me hugely. I use the website rainymood.com or the app Calm with the meditations that don’t have any guidance. Without the distraction of lyrics and upbeat music, I can block out any other sounds and seriously focus. With music I tend to start scrolling through Spotify or making new playlists and get very unproductive. But just sitting down with some nature sounds is always helpful, it really gets me in a productive zone. The app Calm has these guide-less meditations of nature sounds in time segments, so I can use it as my 20 minute timer too!
Get Pumped
If you can find a way, a great strategy for getting work done is to get excited about it. By really getting into my psychology class and starting to love what I’m learning, I find myself reading ahead in the textbook and ending up doing insanely well on the tests. Getting lost in your work like it’s a hobby really pays off.
I really can get stuck in a slump this time of year with just wanting to relax and take naps. These two strategies really help me sit down and just get things done when they really need to get done. Best of luck pushing through to the end of the year! Now go get productive!
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