Saturday, August 8, 2015

How to be more Productive - "The Productivity Pyramid"

Hey guys, 

So do you feel just like me that you’re very productive sometimes even if you have less time and sometimes you are lazy and unproductive even when you have a lot of time in hand? Cool. I was thinking about why was it happening to me many times and was able to understand a thing or two about how can we make ourselves more productive. 

Productivity isn’t about reading a few inspirational lines or articles and going back to your desk and forcing yourself to finish your task. The real problem isn’t that we don’t have enough time, the real problem is that we’re lazy. I wanted to attack the very problem of being lethargic. Why are we lethargic and feel lazy? That’s when unproductively strikes in. If you notice we are highly productive when we are energetic and excited to do the work. That’s natural. If we somehow make ourselves energetic and excited about the tasks at hand then being productive is just a very natural thing to happen. Rather than attacking Productivity, we should attack the problem of being lethargic.

I gave myself about 2 months to observe myself how I behave when I’m energetic and when I’m not energetic, then I started observing what did I do the day and the day before when I was energetic and was amazingly productive, and the other way around too. There was no single day when I was energetic yet unproductive. Energy and productivity just go hand in hand, and you too get done the tasks which aren’t that you aren’t excited about, some mundane tasks you know. This naturally helped me realize that the problem of not having time also is resolved when you’re energetic. All people have only 24 hours in a day but what really counts towards your success or failure is how you use them. Partially true. In a more correct way, what matters is for how many hours are you productive.. really really productive. If you’ve 4 hours of free time daily after finishing your school or work and if you aren’t even productive for 1 hour then what’s the use of that free time? It’s not going to help you progress in your life, to move ahead towards your goals. In comparison if you only have 2 hours after school or work and if you’re productive in those 2 hours then you’re far far ahead of the person who has 4 hours of free time. So, to cut short, having free time is beneficial but that’s not the only thing. How productive you’re in those hours? 

Be more productive and automatically you’ll feel you have a lot of time left in hand.

So how to be more productive? 

I have come up with a productivity pyramid after analyzing my own behavior every day for a period of 2 months, tracking everything. Take a look at the Productivity Pyramid below, having more time and being productive is just the tip of the iceberg (or a pyramid in this case). To build unto that level you have to first have a strong base of the other 3 layers which indirectly affect your mood, energy levels and ability to do any task - mentally or physically challenging.



Layer 1. Sound sleep

Sound sleep is the first layer and the base for all the other layers to build upon. It isn't a surprise that we feel fresh after a good sleep. There is a science behind it. Scientist have proved that sound sleep, a deep sleep is important to flush out the toxic chemicals from out brain. Cerebral Spinal Fluid does the task of flushing out the waste from the brain and guess what, this happens “only” when you’re asleep! Take a look at this interesting video :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJK-dMlATmM
You cannot fool your sleep for more than 2 days, you have to sleep everyday may be you can stretch 2 or 3 days, more than that is life threatening. So getting a good night’s sleep is important and the first step towards being productive. 

Layer 2. Healthy food


This is self explanatory. You are what you consume. Your body is what you feed to it. Eat healthy food, green leafy vegetables, carrots, spinach and lots of fruits. Eat 3-4 times a day if you can, don’t overstuff yourself. This is the 2nd most important thing after sleep. You cannot be productive on a hungry stomach or if your body lacks essential nutrients. 

Layer 3. Energy


Being energetic is the goal. How? An easy way to do it is do some exercise. Just jog or do some light workout. Exercise increases your blood flow to the muscles and is also effective in making your brain more attentive and focused. Also, remember jogging for a few miles isn’t a physical activity, it’s a mental feat too because your body is tired but your mind and will power is constantly telling you to take a few more steps. This increases your will power and confidence tremendously. I have been most confident and filled with positive energy when I've just finished a run. You don’t need to strain a lot, just run 10 mins if you’re a beginner - that helps too! You cannot be productive unless you bring some kind of physical activity into your daily routine. 

Layer 4. Time


This is finite for everyone. Everyone has been assigned a finite set of breaths we can take before we say goodbye to the 3rd rock from the Sun. So the question only is how to utilize whatever time we’ve got. If all the 3 layers of pyramid are rock solid, this layer will automatically would be stable, shine and would make you more productive. Productive time is directly a result of the basic 3 layers. 

These layers are strictly in that order. If you have to choose between sleep and food, choose sleep. If you’ve to choose between exercise and food, choose food and so on.


So now you know what you should do to be more productive. This isn’t a hack. This is a fundamental change in the way you look towards making your time more valuable & get more things done. It will take a few days or weeks to make the 3 layers of pyramid strong and include it in to your daily routine, but when it sets in, you would never feel that you aren’t productive or you have less time. Remember, the problem isn’t that you have less time, the problem is laziness and lethargy. Attack that and you’ll automatically be more productive and would be capable to achieve amazing things in your life. 

Opinions, comments, suggestions are welcome. 

Start building your productivity pyramid now!

Cheers!
Saurabh

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