Productivity isn’t something that happens overnight, just like there’s no such thing as sudden success. You probably know this already: when being productive, prioritizing tasks is just as important as letting go of things that no longer serve you. It’s a trade — because we all have the same 24 hours in a day.
Right now, I’m in a messy middle, and from this place in my life, I’m giving you my two cents on productivity because it’s raw and real. And I’m seeing results.
I’m trying to accomplish what many of you may dream of or be engaged in already: building passive income streams while balancing my health and sanity. And the obstacles I’m facing are twofold: my time is limited (as I’m still keeping my main job for a while longer), and I’ve never worked from home before.
Isn’t it funny how “working from home” is the goal, yet so many of us have no idea how to put effective routines in place? Wouldn’t it be great if we invested the exact amount of work that moved us forward — no more, no less?
Having a realistic routine means understanding all aspects of your life: your schedule, energy, basic needs, and temptations and how you can make them all work around your goals.
Your day will be unique and tailored to you, but you need to be intentional about it. And this, here, is an example of how I’m intentional with mine.
***
I stick to a realistic wake-up time
I work a few afternoons per week at a dental clinic, and as a result, waking up early hasn’t been a priority in years. We’re all going through different seasons of our lives, and sometimes, sleeping in is the only way we can get through the day.
I’ve certainly had my fair share of days in which I didn’t want to get out of bed as I battled with anxiety and panic attacks. Occasionally, I’d get bouts of motivation and decide to “transform” my life by waking up at 5 AM.
For a while, I binged on audiobooks and podcasts targeting the wannabe early risers and believed that the only thing standing between me and my productivity was my wake-up time. Namely, it had to be insanely early because all the self-improvement gurus were doing it.
Needless to say, I quickly gave up because I wasn’t getting enough sleep. It wasn’t realistic to push my bedtime that early: I was either coming home late from work or chose to spend the evening with my husband.
I now get my full 8 hours of sleep by getting in bed at 10 PM, falling asleep by 11 PM, and waking up at 7 AM. Nothing earth-shattering, I know — yet it’s something that I can stay consistent with.
You, too, may feel tempted to start your day before everyone else wakes up, and that’s up to you, but I’m urging you to look at your bedtime first. Getting enough sleep will translate into some sacrifices on your part. What time do you come home from work? Do you have a family to feed, a romantic relationship to nourish, or friends to hang out with? Are you willing to give them all up?
For many of us (excepting maybe night owls), evenings are the least productive part of the day, but they’re an excellent opportunity to blow off some steam and get some social interaction.
***
I tackle the most important thing first.
My entire side hustle is based on writing and creating videos. Producing the best content possible should be my focus for the upcoming months, and I should be driving 90% of my energy towards this specific task.
Even if I didn’t have a website or a platform to write on, this effort wouldn’t be in vain, as I would be working on my portfolio, practicing my skills, discovering my niche and the direction I want to take my future business into.
And yet, every day, I find myself engaging in sneaky procrastination. I watch tutorials on settings for the new camera I just bought. I investigate affiliate partner programs. I check my stats or read posts on community boards. They all look like “work,” and they will all eventually matter. Just not yet, and not equally.
So this is what I eventually committed to doing: every morning, I put in 3 to 4 hours of intensely focused work into writing.
This approach works best for me because that’s when my mind is at its peak clarity. I could choose to exercise first thing in the morning and get my workout out of the way, but I find that my body is not ready for that kind of movement yet, while my brain is rested and focused. So I choose to prioritize writing instead.
According to research, we can only focus for a limited amount of hours per day anyway (about 1 to 4 hours), so it makes sense not to waste that window of opportunity.
We wrongly attempt to mimick the 8-hour workday model when it clearly doesn’t work. A survey discovered that the average time office workers spent working was 2.4 hours out of 8. People take bathroom breaks, take an hour for lunch, chat with their co-workers or daydream in front of their computers, and even look for other jobs. More than merely being ineffective, this 9 to 5 work style makes people miserable.
Sweden has been advocating a more flexible approach to work: either six-hour workdays or a flexible schedule that fits certain businesses. While 6 hours per day seems a lot more reasonable, attempting to work 6 hours back to back isn’t realistic either for most people doing intellectual work because of the sheer amount of concentration writing requires. That’s why I would suggest dividing this time into two parts: a morning block for writing and an afternoon block for less mental-taxing tasks.
***
I block ample time in the middle of the day for simply living
No matter how productive you claim to be, in the long run, you’ll still have to eat, cook, wash dishes, clean the house, shower, and mindlessly scroll your phone on the toilet.
If you’re ambitious, add to that working out every day (right before lunch is a great time to do it), getting outside for some fresh air, and calling your mom. You might even decide to take care of low-priority tasks like cleaning your keyboard or making a doctor’s appointment.
Life still happens even with all this hustle of ours, and it would be great if we didn’t treat it like such an inconvenience.
Since my most productive asset is my brain, I’m aware of its strengths and weaknesses. And one of those main weaknesses is turning into a zombie after eating lunch. Believe me, I’ve tried plenty of options: starving myself, eating less, drinking coffee, going for a walk. None of those things gets me back into the mood I so desperately need for writing.
So instead of wasting those lunch hours away, I use them for boring domestic chores. They may look like repetitive meaningless work, but imagine how your life would look like without them. That’s right, the kitchen sink speaks for itself.
***
I resume work in the afternoon, changing my focus on less essential tasks
By 3 or 4 PM, the food hangover starts to wear off, and it’s time to dedicate a couple more hours to my side hustle. Afternoons are perfect for tasks like editing, searching for images, and doing some of the things which, during the focused part of my day, would be considered procrastination.
In the afternoons, I give myself time to learn and understand all the ins and outs of my budding business. I might focus on monetization or learning how to generate more traffic. I could fumble with my camera and practice becoming more natural and less cringeworthy. I could write my Youtube scripts or create pins for promoting my site on Pinterest. Anything goes, as long as I have a plan.
Now, you might look at this modest schedule of just 6 hours per day and think to yourself — that’s too little. That’s not nearly enough for any business to take off. But I beg to differ.
My entire life, I’ve been a very effective learner, and my habits from school have served me well in life. I went through 9 tough years of med school and residency, and while my colleagues were clocking in 12 hours of studying per day for the most grueling exams, I couldn’t study anything more than 5 hours per day. Yet, despite that short amount dedicated to absorbing thousands of pages, I always did very well on those competitive exams.
A 4 to 6-hour workday works for ME. And it works for my husband too — with a lunchtime interruption, his actual working hours look a lot like mine. You might thrive on a 12-hour workday, only eat takeout and never vacuum your apartment. But I challenge you to track your time and see if that’s true. Are you really focused?
***
Final thoughts
If all went well, it’s now dinner time, and I’m ready to kick back a little. Having that glass of wine will most likely make it impossible to put in any more work, even if I wanted to. I still sometimes use the time after dinner to watch tutorials, and I’m having a hard time detaching from work and getting ready for bed.
If you’re like me and don’t really function in the evening, just let go. Accept the fact that you only managed to work X amount of hours today, and don’t force yourself to make up for lost time — your body just isn’t up for it.
Embrace the evening for the gift that it is: an oasis of rest at the end of every single day. Your time to slow down and charge your batteries. Your time to reflect and be thankful. To do whatever you want.
So if you’re feeling a bout of inspiration, or a sudden rush of energy, by all means, go for it — we all know that doesn’t happen very often. But it has to come naturally.
With everything that you do, ask yourself — does this match my energy, and is it meaningful work? Only by careful observation will you be able to create the ideal routines for yourself, honoring your mind, body, and soul in the process.
—
This post was previously published on Medium.
***
If you believe in the work we are doing here at The Good Men Project and want a deeper connection with our community, please join us as a Premium Member today.
Premium Members get to view The Good Men Project with NO ADS. Need more info? A complete list of benefits is here.
—
Photo credit: Shutterstock