While we all wish for the world to heal, we can definitely try to inculcate certain habits to make our lives better. Whether you are a night owl or a morning person, there are certain habits that are most likely to improve your lifestyle. We can utilise this time to improve ourselves and make our daily lifestyle productive.
So here I am about to list out a few simple lifestyle tricks that I have learned, and have certainly helped me improve my lifestyle.
1. Set Goals for the Day
Often, we wake up and do absolutely nothing. We tend to go about our usual business without any proper direction and goals for the day. I used to be like that too. I used to believe that I do, in fact, have a great memory, so I could probably remember the tasks I need to complete for that day.
But alas! I was wrong completely. I would forget most of the things and forget that I really had to do something and when I get up the next day, I suddenly remember what I had to do the previous day. Most of the times, I get lucky and get away with my work done the next day, but some days it is just not possible.
Therefore, I suggest everyone to have a goal that they need to accomplish at the end of the day. It makes it easier to distinguish the tasks and perform them.
Another thing I would suggest is to do the important tasks first and then gradually move on to the less important ones.
Write down the goals in such a manner, that you know you will be able to accomplish them. Jam-packing your schedule for the day will not help you do your work, therefore, it is absolutely important to filter your goals.
At the end o the day, having completed all of my goals gives me a sense of achievement and accomplishment that I did not receive when I had no goals to accomplish. You don't have to buy a separate book or anything to write down your goals. You could write them down in your computer, your mobile phone, on a sticky note or anywhere you desire, just at a place that you can always get access to.
I prefer writing down my goals in my mobile phone and it as worked for me because I can check the tasks I have completed and check the ones that are still remaining to be completed.
I use the "Notes" app on my iPhone to write down my goals. You could write down everything over here if you also use an iPhone or an iPad but if you are an Android user, I suggest using the "Google Keep" app or the "One Note" app to write down your goals as these are some of the most effective apps that I have used.
This method has proven to be effective for me, so I believe that it can be effective for you as well and help in improving your productivity.
2. Read a book or listen to an Audiobook.
Developing a habit to read a book or listening to the books being read to you is something that I believe all of us must cultivate.
I do love reading paperback books in their hard copies, but I have recently started listening to audiobooks. The best thing about hardcover books is that I can always store them so they are always with me, but they also take up a lot of space. Personally, I do not mind that, but I do believe that audiobooks have an advantage over hardcover books in that manner. I can use the audiobooks and listen to them anytime and anywhere. I have started listening to a book before going to sleep, that is, to read one chapter a day or listen to one chapter a day. I can lie down on my bed, and the story goes on while I am listening to it with my eyes closed.
This has helped me a lot because I try to distract myself from using social media and I want to refrain the use of social media to a limited period of time. Not just that, it has also given me a lot of time to think about the books that I have read and implement the lessons I have learned from those books into my real life. Sometimes, they really work wonders and sometimes, I just feel sluggish. Either way, listening to books have actually calmed me a lot.
I am currently re-reading "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho because this is my go-to book when I am stuck in a labyrinth.
For Audiobooks, I would suggest using apps such as Audible or Audiobooks.com. They are really good apps. I personally prefer Audiobooks.com as my application because it has a large variety of books and many different genres for free of cost and I tend to read a lot of books that way or prefer to listen to a lot of books.
2. Write Down your Thoughts
It is important to scribble down everything you can think of, onto a piece of paper or on your mobile phone because it really helps to brainstorm your ideas and then and then work on them. Writing everything down, scribbling everything down really helps you to distinguish your thoughts and ideas.
Brain dump your thoughts on the paper and then work out each stuff. By dumping everything on your piece of paper, you would be able to organise them and sort them out accordingly.
I prefer to write down ideas and work on them, by prioritising what I need to do immediately and what I can do later. I write down words and phrases and work on them accordingly.
Your ideas that to scribble down does not have to be neat and tidy, only you must be able to comprehend your thoughts because you are going to work on them.
Writing these thoughts down also has another advantage that you can lift the weight off your minds and put them down on a piece of paper. This is a bit similar to maintaining a journal, but over here, you can write things down whenever you feel like writing them down.
I usually prefer writing stuff down on a paper and then sorting them out and marking them. If you want, you can use your apps such as "Notes" on your phone or "Google Keep" or "One Note" and other similar apps to work on your ideas.
3. Give yourself Space and Time
Divide your work life and your leisure life equally. Increasing one over the other is bound to affect your lifestyle negatively. For me, this has worked out very well. Think of it as the Yin and the Yang or the two sides of a coin.
Balancing the life is an essential art that most people fail at. If you prioritise your work without actually taking breaks for your mental health, you will soon burn out and will not be able to perform your tasks efficiently. Of course, taking breaks too many times will automatically make you sluggish.
Therefore, it is important to balance your lifestyle. I would suggest working on your lifestyle by periodically taking breaks at the right time.
For example, it is exam season and you are studying for your exams. So what you could do is, study for 90 minutes and take up to 15-20 minutes of break and then study again. You could also study for longer intervals or shorter intervals but be sure to adjust your break time accordingly.
Another thing I find useful is taking care of your breath. Often it is the small things that we unintentionally do that increases our anxiety. Unclench your mouth, relax your shoulders and take a deep breath. Be sure to breathe for a minute or so, to calm yourself. It is important and I personally find it very rewarding.
For this, I use the app called "Tide". It is available for both iOS and Android devices. It helps you refresh your mind. It is an amazing app. It also helps you focus, if you are having trouble to focus while you are studying or doing any other task. It also helps you to meditate and maintain your sleep patterns. It has multiple sounds that you can listen to and work.
For example, sometimes, I miss studying at cafes and libraries so it has the sounds of a busy cafe and a library, where you can listen to it and feel yourself surrounded by people at cafes or the sounds of turning pages at libraries. When I want to calm myself down, I listen to the sound of rain or ocean or forest and many others on that app.
I hope you realise the importance of taking breaks.
4. Avoid "Switching Tasks"
One thing I learned is, to avoid switching between tasks, rather, clubbing a group of tasks together. I realised that all the micro-tasks, that is, the tasks that take a maximum of 1-2 minutes must be done immediately. It could be sending an email or replying to an important message or taking the trash out. Either way, tasks that take less than 2 minutes to do so must be done immediately rather than procrastinating them.
Switching of tasks means doing two different kinds of tasks one after the other. I have realised that when we tend to group tasks, they can be done easily.
For Example, Studying a subject, writing a blog and writing an essay fall in the same category, therefore, it would be wise to complete those tasks one after the other as you are in the same mindset to complete these tasks.
It would not be appreciable if you switch from studying a subject to doing laundry and then working on a blog and then cleaning your room. Your mind takes a little bit of time to adjust to the new kind of task that has no relation to the previous task, and therefore, it takes longer to do these tasks. Once, you realise that clubbing a few task actually saves a lot of time as well as energy, you will improve your lifestyle drastically.
Therefore, one can not only save time and energy, but they can also utilise their remaining time to do something beneficial for themselves.
I hope these simple tricks to have a positive and productive lifestyle help you and that you can rejuvenate yourself.
Let me know if you find any other productivity tip that you would want it to be included in this list.
Happy Reading!
{All the apps I have mentioned here are completely based on my own use and opinions and they have not been sponsored}
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