how to be productive in life
how to be productive in life this pandemic
how to become productive in life
two of the most important skills in the modern world both at school and in your work are to learn new skills fast and have the ability to focus with the former being important because we live in an incredibly fast moving world and the latter being a skill that isn’t easily found in a fast-paced and highly distracting environment not only will these skills improve the quality of your work but will directly influence and improve your productivity in this video i want to share how i developed skills to learn fast and focus intensely but equally some of the science behind these critical skills and how you can develop them yourself cal newport’s deep work is a fantastic book that inspired this share and i really can’t recommend it enough so please consider checking it out so for me deep work or periods of focus on a specific task is something that comes naturally to me that’s not because i always understood or knew about the benefits and value of deep work but rather it came as a natural inclination to seek out this kind of work almost certainly because i’m quite introverted by nature for example when young one of my favorite pastimes was to draw so i’d spend long periods of time just sketching today much of the tasks or hobbies of most interest to me are those which i do alone and usually have some meaning to me personally however where this really comes to be valuable is how it can influence my work as i find i actually produce better quality work when left my own devices without distraction and in a world where distraction is often overwhelming and seemingly inescapable this skill is invaluable thing is it wasn’t always this way as when i first started my professional career i actually felt obligated to compromise and tackle shallow work as part of my day this would be responding to emails quickly usually immediately or feeling like i had to attend certain meetings which served no purpose or even just have conversations with people that ultimately led to nothing in truth these aren’t always bad things to do when starting out in a new office environment as you need to build relationships but fundamentally it was affecting my work and i find myself making careless mistakes as a result so i actively sought out methods to allow me to focus and improve the quality of my work and the first step to that was to set up my environment to reduce distractions the first thing i did was get some earphones and listen to music while working drowning out other background noise i’d like to say that silence would be preferable but in an open office environment that was simply impossible sometimes if i needed to focus i’d even book out a meeting room just so that i could work alone in a quiet space for a morning or afternoon sometimes even the whole day now that my physical environment was less of a problem i shifted to changing my digital environment first i’d only open emails at set times in the day usually in the morning at lunch and at the end of the day other than those times my emails were closed the rest of the time from here i limited the access people had to me via chat as well as i’d either set myself to have a status of busy away and often even just a flying the lack of approachability might seem negative in the first instance but what i found was that most people understood my reasons for it and respected my space when they knew i wanted to focus in the vast majority of cases they wouldn’t disturb me while i was focused on my work and would either email me or wait to speak to me when i didn’t have my earphones in on that note sometimes i’d just wear earphones without listening to anything just so i could focus the amazing thing is we often feel an obligation to respond immediately to any communication today but the reality for most jobs is that leaving it for a few hours will not have any detrimental effects as someone working in software development distractions while trying to code was nothing short of a nightmare for me so these changes in my working habits made a massive difference here’s the thing the ability to focus allowed me to improve the quality of my work which was more appreciated by those it impacted and meant i spent less time dealing with problems later down the line not only this but the process meant i became a more trusted consultant and developer and it opened up opportunities to tackle more complex customers and solutions leading to greater exposure in my job and opening up paths that were previously not there for me it’s really quite simple if i didn’t focus on deep work and allowed shallow work to distract me i wouldn’t have been able to show what i’m capable of and produce high quality and impactful work it wouldn’t have allowed me to get the opportunities to take on more responsibility and i wouldn’t have reached any senior positions in my career and it’s something to continue to this day even more so now as we live in a world where homework is more accepted and commonly practiced than ever before for deep work it’s something i value more than ever if you’re enjoying this video please let me know with a like and consider subscribing with the bell on for more content in the future so why is focus valuable and how does all of this relate to learning faster well to understand this we need to understand a little about the neuroscience the reason that focused work helps learn skills more quickly is because of something called myelin which is an insulating layer that forms around the nerves myelin allows electrical impulses to transmit quickly and efficiently along nerve cells and if myelin is damaged these impulses slow down when you do deep work and focus on a particular skill you develop more myelin around the relevant neurons allowing the corresponding circuit to fire more efficiently as the saying goes practice makes perfect and now you know why to explain it further when you focus intensely on a specific skill you’re forcing the specific relevant circuit to fire over and over in isolation this repetition triggers cells called oligodendrocytes to begin wrapping layers of myelin around the neurons in the circuits the reason i improved my skills as a developer and consultant was when i isolated myself to focus on my work i triggered the process of myelination to cement my ability to perform duties with greater frequency and efficiency and by reducing my distractions i minimized the risk of attention residue when you move from one unfinished task to another and are distracted from a task the thoughts from that task or distraction can persist and intrude while performing the next task this is called attention residue as you can probably guess when this occurs it can be difficult to complete a task with precision and efficiency which can impact the quality of your work ideally to avoid attention residue you want to try and fully complete a task before moving on to the next and of course you want to remove distractions in your work environment i’ve already talked about how i remove distractions but it’s not always so easy to fully complete one task especially when it’s a project that might take days to complete in this scenario to help me minimize the effects of attention residue i break down the task into smaller subtasks which is what i’ll look to get completed in my periods of deep work and in those times where i check my emails i try to ensure i’ve responded to those items i need to to the best of my ability and satisfaction to ensure that it doesn’t impact my next period of focused effort so now that we understand why focus effort is so important in getting high quality output and learning skills through a process of myelination how do we apply this in our lives well what i found that has worked for me is to break down tasks and identify whether they are deep work or shallow work any task that requires deep work i’ll schedule prolonged periods of time to complete them during these periods i remove all distractions that i can i try to work in silence or at least listen to music to minimize background noise i switch off emails and make myself unavailable on chat i also usually switch off all notifications on my phone often not keeping my phone near me when working and to minimize the risk of attention residue i set myself realistic and achievable targets to completing my schedule all in all this approach has had huge benefits for me and i appreciate and value those periods when i can focus on my work it’s played a significant role in the growth of my career and importantly it’s seen my productive output increase significantly as productivity can be measured by time multiplied by intensity which equals work accomplished
how to be productive how to be productive at home how to be productive all day how to be productive in studies how to be productive at work how to be productive at home for students how to be productive during lockdown how to be productive everyday how to be productive as a student how to be productive at home as a teenager how to be productive at night how to be productive as a teenager how to be productive book how to be productive blog how to be productive before work how to be productive but not stressed how to be productive before school how to be productive when bored how to be more productive by working less how to be productive in business how to be productive college student how to be productive cleaning how to be productive course how to be productive citizen of the philippines how to be productive citizen how to be productive college how to be productive conversations how to be consistently productive how to be productive during quarantine how to be productive during pandemic how to be productive during online classes how to be productive during online school how to be productive during quarantine for students how to be productive during covid how to be productive during period how to be productive everyday as a student how to be productive everyday at home how to be productive even when depressed how to be productive everyday reddit how to be productive essay how to be productive everyday and control your time how to be productive employee how to be productive for students how to be productive for studying how to be productive for exams how to be productive for online school how to be productive for school how to be productive for 8 hours how to be productive for god how to be productive from home how to be productive girl how to be productive garmin how to be productive gym productivity goal how to be productive while grieving how to be productive and get things done how to be productive in grad school how to be really productive grace marshall how to be productive housewife how to be productive happy and healthy everyday how to be productive hangover how to be productive home office how to be productive habit how to be hyper productive how to be productive in lockdown how to be productive in online classes how to be productive in lockdown for students how to be productive in the afternoon how to be productive in morning how to be productive in free time how to be productive jobs how to be productive like japanese how to be productive while job hunting how to be productive in jail how to be more productive jordan peterson how to be productive not just busy how to be productive without a job how to be productive at a job you hate how to be productive ellen kelly how to keep productive how to keep productive during quarantine how to keep productive at home how to keep productive working from home how to keep productive during covid how to keep productive at work how to be the most productive person you know how to be productive like hermione granger how to be productive list how to be less productive how to be lazily productive how to be productive after lunch how to be productive with little sleep how to be productive muslim how to be productive morning how to be productive mom how to be productive medium how to be productive member of society how to be productive music how to be productive mindset how to be more productive how to be productive natalies outlet how to be productive not busy productivity ninja how to be productive and not procrastinate how to be productive and not waste time how to be a productive night owl how to be productive right now how to be productive on weekends how to be productive on phone how to be productive pdf how to be productive ppt how to be productive person how to be productive podcast how to be productive pinterest how to be productive phd how to be productive programmer how to be productive quora how to be productive quotes how to be productive quiz how to be productive quickly how to be productive during quarantine reddit how to be productive in quarantine days how to be productive during quarantine wikihow how to be productive reddit how to be productive researcher how to be really productive how to be more productive reddit how to be productive during ramadan how to be productive in ramadan how to be productive student how to be productive studying at home how to be productive sadhguru how to be productive speech how to be productive studying how to be productive stay at home mom how to be productive self employed how to be productive throughout the day how to be productive teenager how to be productive the whole day how to be productive tips how to be productive today how to be productive this pandemic how to be productive this summer how to be productive tomorrow how to be productive unemployed how to be productive under stress how to be productive under pressure how to be ultra productive how to be productive when unmotivated how to be productive at university how to be productive during unemployment how to be productive at uni how to be productive video how to be productive vlog how to be very productive how to be very productive at work how to be very productive at home how to be productive anna vital how to be productive during vacation how to be more productive video how to be productive while studying how to be productive wikihow how to be productive when you have nothing to do how to be productive working from home how to be productive while studying at home how to be productive with less sleep how to be productive whole day how to be productive while working from home how to be more productive quora how to be productive youtube how to be productive on your period how to be productive when you don’t feel like it how to be productive on your phone how to be productive when you’re depressed how to be productive on your day off how to be productive when you wake up late how to be productive when you’re tired how to have productive zoom meetings how to run a productive zoom meeting how to make zoom meetings better how to enhance zoom meetings how to have effective zoom meetings how to be productive in life wikihow how to be productive in life this pandemic how to be productive in life pdf how to be productive in life reddit how to be productive in daily life how to be more productive in life reddit how to be productive in personal life how to become productive in life how to be successful in life article how to be successful in life after breakup how to be successful in life and business how to be successful in life and hereafter how to be successful in life at a young age how to be successful in life as a student how to be successful in life as a teenager how to be successful in life as a woman how to be successful in life book how to be successful in life biblically how to be successful in life bible verses how to be successful in life brian tracy how to be successful in life blog how to be successful in business life how to be successful in bitlife how to be successful in life coaching how to be successful in christian life how to be successful in corporate life how to be successful in life without college how to be successful in total life changes how to be successful in life 13 life-changing tips how to become successful in life how can to be successful in life how to be successful in life documentary how to be successful in daily life how to be successful in life ppt download how to be successful in life without a degree how to live a productive life during this pandemic how to be more productive in daily life how to have a productive life how to be successful in life essay how to be successful in life essay pdf how to be successful in life examples how to be successful in life easily how to be successful in life ebook how to be successful in life without education how to be successful in life short essay how to be successful in life through education how to be successful in life for students how to be successful in life financially how to be successful in life forbes how to be successful in family life how to become successful in life from nothing how to feel productive in life how to be successful in life with god how to be successful in life with bad grades how to get productive in life how to be great and successful in life how to be successful with god how to plan your life with god how to be successful in life hindi how to be successful in life how to be highly successful in life how to be happy and successful in life help me how to be successful in life how to be successful in life islam how to be successful in life insurance sales how to be successful in life images how to be successful in selling life insurance how to be successful life insurance agent how to be successful in life in 6 steps how to be successful in life in hindi how to become successful in life islam how to be successful in life jordan peterson how to be successful in love life learn how to be successful in life how to be successful later in life how to be successful lady in life how to be lucky and successful in life pdf how to be lucky and successful in life how to love success how to be successful in life motivational speech how to be successful in life motivation how to be successful in life malayalam how to be successful in life movie how to be successful in marriage life how to be successful in my life how to be more productive in my life how to be successful in life without money how to become more productive in life how to productive in life