In college, I often questioned if my time was being spent wisely. I wondered if going to a party would impact my test results the following day or if the afternoon nap helped me at all. These days, outside of my daily work, I’m feeling like there’s not much that I do to advance my personal ambitions.
There’s a reason that some of the wealthiest people have so much time on their hands. They’ve implemented habits and systems that help them attack their goals viciously and naturally like a lion hunting its prey. As I struggle with productivity and providing more utility to the world, here are some of my internal findings on the subject and how you can apply grit to any subject.
Finding Your Goals
When I moved to L.A., it felt like my biggest goal had been achieved which was to live a new life I had never known before. Since then, I’ve focused on personal projects like writing this blog, hiking, and spending time with my loved ones.
For me, I enjoy learning about these practical money tips that I can share with others to help people out. Having sat down with how I felt at the end of every blog post, I noticed that I felt accomplished and personally fulfilled. My goal is to continue down this route and ultimately help people manage their finances through social media.
Write down your goal. Where do you feel the most fulfilled? People will laugh and some may mock, but please know that this is individual to everyone at the end of the day.
Productivity Strategy
When it comes to being productive, I probably come in last place. I keep my brain busy with every other task that’s not helping my goal. Putting a strategy in place will help you achieve your goal. If you want to start a business, set time in your phone calendar to work on the business one hour each day. It’s easy to shrug off the things we know we should be doing.
Why do we do that to ourselves? Procrastination plays a huge part in human nature. My biggest tip for beating procrastination is to challenge yourself to do the activity for ten minutes. At the end of the ten minutes, you’ll ask yourself if you’d like to continue the task or not.
This exercise demonstrates that the most difficult part of the task is getting started.
Some other common strategies include:
Playing soothing music while working
Scrutinize your activities throughout the day
Pomodoro Technique (this got me through studying in college)
Go, Go, Go
Being productive doesn’t mean you can’t have time to relax. The goal at the end of the day is to place processes and systems in place to make your life easier. One of the smartest people I know, a software engineer, hates thinking. This sounds counterintuitive but it’s what makes him so smart.
He said, “I like everything in my life to be automated so I can focus on real decisions."
From his alarm clock to his text messages, my friend has everything set at the push of a button so he can enjoy his life. Time is the greatest asset of all.
Have a good week,
Jordan