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Studying really isn’t complicated: Here’s how to do it
Recent trends on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and study focused subreddits seem to trend towards more and more elaborate techniques that promise to ‘maximise studying efficiency’ and ‘decrease procrastination’. And although these resources will often claim to allow you to study for 10+ hours a day, they can often be unsustainable, difficult to implement, inefficient or in some cases even anti-productive.
If you’re reading this, the chances are that you’re struggling with studying. And if that’s the case, I hope that this article will give you an honest strategy that you can actually use to transform your study habits in a sustainable and effective way. But note that while this strategy is simple and sounds easy to implement, performing it consistently over time can be challenging and there will be times where you are tempted to skip sessions, not fully implement the strategy or just not follow through with it. But those of you who do implement this simple strategy should see noticeable improvements in focus, productivity and academic success.
So if you’re not interested in implementing these (at times, challenging) methods to improve your studying, thanks for clicking this article but this isn’t the one for you. If you are prepared to implement this strategy however, I will keep this article short and sweet so that I don’t waste too much of your time and that you can get back to your studies.
The five simple steps to actually get studying
1. Learn to take accountability
A trend I’ve noticed recently is a growing collective mindset that everything is someone else’s fault or that your specific personal circumstances are uniquely responsible for you being unable to focus or study. The problem is that as a society, we have coddled people whose situations (in a wider context) are actually very fortunate and privileged and excluding a very small minority of people who truly have no control over the circumstances, you almost certainly have more influence over your ability to study than you may think.
I hear and read a lot of excuses about not being able to focus, or study or do well on tests but often even a shallow look at a daily schedule can reveal that it’s not a case of not being able to focus or find the time to study, it’s a lack of discipline and poor prioritisation of time. To succeed as a student, you must be able to be disciplined with your time and effort (something that I explore in my article on the 7 habits of productive students), but perhaps more importantly, you must take accountability and ownership of your actions and their results. If you didn’t pass an exam, you know next time to study harder, more effectively or for longer. If you don’t understand a topic, take the initiative to study deeper into the topic or reach out to lecturers for additional support. The first step towards academic success is realising that it is within your control to achieve it.
2. Be ruthless in removing distractions
It’s no secret that we live in a world of distractions unlike anything any generation has faced before. From social media, Netflix, TV and more, we are bombarded with an endless amount of content to consume. Unfortunately, however enticing, enjoyable and relaxing these distractions are, they are the biggest enemy facing focused work in modern times. To genuinely focus, you need to be ruthless in eliminating these distractions. Cal Newport explores this in Deep Work where he says:
“To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction… If you instead remain one of the many for whom depth is uncomfortable and distraction ubiquitous, you shouldn’t expect these systems and skills to come easily to you.”
Largely speaking, the more extreme you are in removing distraction, the larger your chances of academic success. So how do you eliminate these distractions? A good place to start would be to remove all unnecessary notifications from digital devices. This can help remove many of the cues that feed the habit loop of distraction. But a more effective (if extreme) measure is to delete social media in its entirety from your devices. In future I will make an article or video on this but the key point is that you want to make your phone a tool that you control, rather than have it control you. If apps, notifications or any other distractions in the digital world don’t offer immediate benefits towards your goals, remove them.
The best option is to remove the device completely from both your study and relaxation environment. Put your phone in another room while studying or better yet, go to the library without your smartphone and laptop and study. When taking a break, read some fiction, cook, exercise or just simply zone out for a while. Many of you may read this and think ‘what if there’s an emergency and I need to contact someone or someone needs to contact me?’ This is a valid concern, but rather than use that as an excuse to study with these distractions, take meaningful actions towards your goals and seek solutions to these obstacles. Perhaps in this example you could buy a cheap $20 flip phone that you take to the library to study to avoid the temptations from a smartphone. Or remove all apps except Messages or WhatsApp. There are plenty of ways to remove distractions from your studies, but you have to do it ruthlessly.
3. Simplify your study resources
Of all the points, you’re probably going to be most skeptical of this one. It follows from the second point of removing distraction but goes into more specifics regarding the resources and methods of studying. Here, I’m suggesting that rather than relying solely on online resources for your studying, you spend some proportion of your time studying with textbooks, paper and pencil. Well, in reality it doesn’t have to be that primitive, it can instead be something more akin to printing out practice questions, lecture notes or slideshows in advance and working with those physical resources in a distraction free environment.
This approach is useful for two reasons. First, it forces you to write notes and answers by hand. A 2014 study by Mueller and Oppenheimer found that students who took handwritten notes performed better on conceptual questions compared to those who typed notes, even though typists took more notes. What’s interesting is that according to this study, “even when laptops are used solely to take notes, they may still be impairing learning because their use results in shallower processing.”
The second advantage is that this method is harder. While making studying easier helps pass exams, the real goal is to improve our ability to consume and retain knowledge, which is a skill beneficial no matter the field. Cal Newport, in Deep Work, says the two core abilities for thriving in the digital economy are “The ability to quickly master hard things.” and “The ability to produce at an elite level, in terms of both quality and speed.” Doing hard tasks develops the skills to enable you to perform at the highest level. The ability to be bored has been lost in this age of content consumption, and those who are able to embrace boredom and focus for extended periods of time will thrive.
Of course there are going to be instances where you need to study or complete assignments on a laptop. But if you asked yourself whether the laptop is required at all times, I think answering honestly would reveal some content that you could study distraction free.
4. Set your schedule and stick to it consistently
Schedules are a critical component of any productivity workflow and the glue that connects a productive schedule to measurable outcomes is consistency. Your implemented study schedule will largely depend on your commitments, your available time and more importantly, how far away your exams are. But the ideal study workflow should look something like the green line below.
The mistake that many students make is leaving tasks to the last minute (the red line) which increases stress and the probability of burnout while simultaneously reducing how effectively you’re able to remember and apply the concepts which reduces the overall quality of the work that the student can produce. Working at a natural pace consistently rather than the frenetic burst of cramming is far more sustainable.
Another common mistake is using work-life balance as an excuse not to study. While a healthy work-life balance is important and recommended, some students misuse this excuse after spending too much time on the 'life' part and not enough on the 'work'. It’s better to think of work life balance on a longer time horizon. At the start of the semester, do more of the life part with plenty of socialising. But closing in on exams, the harsh reality is that to maximise the chances of success, you have to sacrifice parts of your life to study.
Conclusion
Studying can be hard, that’s just a fact. And actually, it’s exactly that fact that makes your education so valuable since it’s only those who are willing to do the hard work that will succeed - particularly in higher education where ‘talent’ plays much less of a role than hard work. If you’re struggling with studying, I hope this article provided you with an honest, sustainable, and effective strategy to transform your study habits. While the strategy may seem simple, implementing it consistently over time can be challenging. There will be times when you're tempted to skip sessions or not fully follow through. However, those who persist with these simple rules should see noticeable improvements in focus, productivity, and academic success.
The 7 habits of highly productive students
Academic success is not just about intelligence or natural talent. It’s also about playing the game of ‘school’ or ‘university’ most effectively. Highly successful students often excel not because they are inherently smarter, but because they have developed a set of habits that enhance their learning, productivity, and overall performance. And the great thing about them is that these habits can be learned and adopted by anyone willing to put in the effort.
As well as studying for my degrees, I spent my time at university exploring the habits of the most successful students past and present to try to understand what makes them stand out from the crowd. In this article, we will explore the seven key habits that set highly effective students apart. Whether you're in high school, college, or pursuing advanced degrees, integrating these habits into your routine can transform your educational experience and pave the way for lifelong success.
1. Don’t fall behind
If there’s one habit that you take away from this article, it should be this: Don’t fall behind. While university affords students more freedom over how time is spent than school, it’s worth avoiding the mistake of being complacent in your studies. At the start of a new semester, it can seem like assignments, exams and deadlines are far away, but given that there’s often only a matter of weeks between the start of a new semester and the first graded assignments, falling behind is far from ideal.
To get a better understanding of why falling behind is suboptimal (beyond the simple common sense reasoning), consider two students in the first weeks of a semester. Student 1 keeps up with the lecture content and on top of any class exercises, while Student 2 postpones it. By week 3, when assignments begin, Student 1 can focus on producing high-quality work with ease, whereas Student 2 must catch up on missed content while also completing the assignment, leading to increased stress and lower quality work.
Student 1 and student 2 will have effectively spent the same amount of time working over the three weeks, but student 1 spread this time more evenly, leading to a less stressful time working on the assignment with more time to check over his work and polish the submission.
This is an example of a gain-loss asymmetry. In other words, falling behind means that you actually have to do more work to catch back up than if you were to stay on top of the work or better yet, get ahead.
2. Use your free time wisely
As mentioned in habit 1, university life offers students a huge amount of free time if spent correctly. It’s unlikely that during school studies, you’ll have had as much free time (or at least as much freedom over your time) as you do at university. And it’s crucial that you spend this free time productively. But productively, here, doesn’t necessarily mean studying or working. There’s far more to your time at university than studying and spending time productively doesn’t always mean doing more work.
In Cal Newport’s “Slow Productivity”, he notes that one of the principles of Slow Productivity (a system that allows us to avoid the frenetic work culture of modern life) is to work at a natural pace. This means that time spent away from your work can actually aid your productivity when you pick it back up again.
What are some of the ways you can spend your free time wisely? There’s an almost infinite list of ways - each depending on your interests and current commitments. Perhaps it’s spending time with friends socialising, or working out in the gym, or exploring side projects or starting a business. There’s a huge variety of ways to spend free time wisely that gives you a break from studying. Just be cautious to maintain a healthy balance of work and play.
3. Embrace ignorance. Avoid arrogance
Starting at college or university can sometimes feel like a competition where the prize are your grades and the competitors are your fellow classmates. And to some degree it is. Although as I point out in some of my other articles, the idea about classmates being ‘competition’ is a poor mindset to have. Instead it’s better to utilise collaboration to foster friendships, collectively improve understanding and to aid in your quest to compete against your real competition - your former self. But let’s assume that you think as many do: That you’re in a academic battle against your cohort. In order to try and get one stage ahead of the competition, it can be tempting to try to enter university with the arrogant attitude that you know more about the content that will be taught to you than your classmates.
However, this mindset can be massively detrimental to your learning experience. Entering with a sense of overconfidence can close you off to new perspectives and valuable insights that are crucial for a deep understanding of whatever it is that you’re learning. Let’s look at why this is by considering two students: Student one enters university having shallowly consumed a broad range of content on his degree subject. Student two enters university with less specialist knowledge of the subject but with a more open minded approach to learning. This is how their academic development and total understanding of the subject may look like:
While student 1 starts with more knowledge than student 2, an arrogant and more closed minded mindset to learning means that over time, student 2 absorbs much more knowledge than student 1 and surpasses his understanding of the subject. In an ideal world you want both traits. Enter university with an open mindset, ask questions, and seek help when needed. But also engage your curiosity by learning about the subject before hand and get ahead of the crowd (as we’ll see with the next habit).
4. Be proactive
On the flip side of the coin to how you spend your free time is how you spend your time that you dedicate to work. Most of this time should be dedicated to the most obvious and important tasks: Completing assignments, attending lectures, studying for exams and preparing for seminars. But a small amount of this work time (perhaps 5-10%) should be spent on ‘proactive activities’ that separate you from the general student. It’s often how this 5% of time is spent that will determine who the high achievers are, and who the average students are.
The great thing about proactive activities is that they often have a much larger return on effort and time than grinding through tedious studying activities. To see why this is, let’s take a look at an example. Imagine that you’re about to enter exam season, and have found yourself struggling with one of the concepts from the previous semester. One approach to dealing with this would be to grind out the study sessions which will likely work but typically requires several hours of tedious and often stressful work to try and connect together concepts and ideas to form an understanding.
Instead, an alternative approach which is much more proactive would be to make use of the office hours of the lecturer whose content it is that you’re struggling with. Given that most students don’t take advantage of these sessions, you’ll often find yourself in one-to-one sessions with a lecturer and are given much more tailored tutoring on topics of your choosing.
Other proactive activities might include pre-reading lecture content before the lecture which allows you to follow the more nuanced ideas that may be discussed in the lecture. You may also find external reading on resources and topics surrounding the content of lectures beneficial in providing you with a much deeper and more intuitive understanding of the content. This often means that in an exam situation, the answers to the questions will come much more naturally rather than having to resort to pre-thought answers. A final suggestion would be to get ahead before or early into each semester in planning assignments and upcoming deadlines for the forthcoming semester.
The common feature of all of these suggestions is that they are based on taking initiative to get ahead of the game early on. Proactivity can often outweigh the importance of productivity if implemented effectively.
5. Build strong systems
One thing that became apparent to me during my time at university is that strong, reliable systems can make the university experience so much easier and more pleasant. If you set up reliable systems that you can trust for studying, assignments, exercise, or even the simplest things like waking up or going to sleep on time, you greatly reduce the amount of conscious action that’s required to perform these actions. And this is actually a well documented phenomenon in productivity and is explored in James Clear’s Atomic Habits. To truly build a strong foundation of habits and systems, I’d recommend reading the book, but one relevant takeaway relevant to this point comes from the habit loop. Put simply, all habits can be broken down into four stages: Cue, craving, response and reward with each stage feeding into the next. In order for a habit to form, there must be a sufficient amount of incentive or drive for each of these stages.
Given that both productive and unproductive habit systems are built on a foundation of habits, you can manipulate the habit loop to get your desired outcome - more good habits and less bad ones. How do you do this? By following the four laws of behaviour change:
For a comprehensive example of how to apply and optimise the habit loop as a student, take a look at my article on this here.
6. Exercise the body as much as the mind
Picture what you’d consider to be a productive, high achieving student. I’d wager that you envisioned some variation of someone at their desk or at the library studying for hours on end, day after day. While the dedication, discipline and focus displayed by this hypothetical student are all traits that high performance students share, those who have a healthy and productive lifestyle also put an equal (if not higher) priority into time spent of their physical and mental health as they do on the time spent studying. This doesn’t mean that more time should be spent exercising than studying - that would be unhealthy and unsustainable - but rather, the importance of both are equal.
A study of more than 3,500 workers in a range of industries in Denmark who were tasked with just 1 hour of weekly supervised exercise found that as muscle strength improved and body mass index decreased, there was a measurable increase in productivity [1]. Several other studies have also shown similar benefits from regular exercise on both physical health and productive output.
Implementing exercise into your routine as a student shouldn’t be too difficult. A simple 45 minute to 1 hour session three times a week is more than sufficient to ensure that you’re gaining ample benefits from the exercise.
7. Study deeply
As a student, the phrase time is money could more accurately be rephrased to time is grades. And there are two ways that I’ve found this time can be spent: With short bursts of highly intense work or as a slow burning, moderate intensity work style that is more consistent over time. The work style that you choose will depend on a number of factors including how much time you have, what content you’re studying and what type of learner you are. But whichever style of work you prefer, studying ‘deeply’ can dramatically increase the volume of work you complete.
In Cal Newport’s aptly titled ‘Deep Work’, he defines deep work as ‘activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit’. It’s not difficult to see the value of deep work - in a world of increasing distraction and stimulation (particularly among students), it’s those who are able to deeply work on a skill, task or project that are able to generate the highest chance of success.
To implement ‘deep study’ into your life, you could utilise a whole range of techniques. One method that has been particularly beneficial to me has been to embrace boredom. We live in a world in which at any moment, you can get immediate mental stimulation from apps like Instagram or TikTok. As such, for the first time in history, our ability to be bored has become an estranged skill. So what happens when you get bored when working or certain study sessions become difficult? You’ll immediately get the craving (as mentioned in 5) to get mental stimulation which today, typically means that you’ll reach for your phone. This is not a particularly desirable situation since boredom is an important skill for improving focus. So in future, avoid constantly seeking stimulation such as checking your phone during every spare moment and embrace the boredom that naturally comes with studying.
There are several other ways to embrace a deep work style to your studies such as being strict with your time management, setting dedicated times during the day for social media use, cultivating a study environment that is void from distractions and setting up strong routines and rituals around your studying. All of these lead to the same result: A style of studying that embraces the flow state of highly efficient and productive work that will not only benefit you in your studies but will be a valuable skill as you enter the workforce.
Conclusion
To conclude, we’ve seen that academic success is not necessarily a matter of inherent intelligence or natural talent alone. But rather, it comes as a result of strong habits and skills that give us the best chances of maximising our academic potential. The seven habits discussed—staying ahead in your studies, using free time wisely, being proactive, embracing ignorance and avoiding arrogance, building strong systems, balancing physical and mental health, and studying deeply—are powerful tools that can significantly enhance your learning, productivity, and overall performance. By integrating these habits into your daily routine, you can transform your educational experience, reduce stress, and pave the way for lifelong success.
Mastering the Art of Habits: How to break bad habits and build good ones for productivity
Habits are an essential component to optimising productivity. As a student, much of my success was thanks to a strong foundation of habits rather than ‘academic talent’ alone. Most of my implementation of habits and ideas in this article have been adapted from James Clear’s ‘Atomic Habits’, and while I would absolutely recommend reading that book, I hope that giving personal anecdotes, analogies and examples here as a recent student and in my early career will allow you to implement the techniques more effectively into your life. The long term compounding results of consistent habits in contrast to the distracted state that we’re susceptible to in the modern world is evidence of the enormous upsides to a disciplined lifestyle built on a foundation of systems and habits.
The Formation of Habits
The Habit Loop
All habits both good and bad share the same four essential components: Cue, craving, response and reward which can be arranged into the habit loop. If there is sufficient amounts of each component in a behaviour that is spread over a long enough time horizon, it will turn into a habit. Understanding (and more importantly knowing how to manipulate the habit loop) is critical to allow you to build the strong good habits that are desirable as a student and break the bad undesirable ones. We can understand how to utilise the habit loop by breaking down the four components.
The cue is the activity or event that triggers the habit. It gives the signal to your brain to start a behaviour and begins predicting the reward. This sets the stage for the habit to unfold and without the cue, the habit loop cannot begin.
The craving is the motivational force behind the habit which provides the drive for you to perform the behaviour. It’s the strange feeling you get in your gut as you uncontrollably feel the pull to do a given behaviour.
The response is the performed action of the habit itself. This could be a thought, a physical action or a combination of both. This follows the craving you have to perform the action that gets you the reward.
Finally, the reward is the end goal of the habit loop that satisfies the craving and reinforces the behaviour. The reward teaches your brain whether this particular behaviour and associated habit loop is worth repeating in the future. If it is, a habit is formed.
It should now be clearer on how you can manipulate these four components to aid in building strong habits and break bad ones.
Building a Habit
With the four parts of the habit loop a little clearer, we can now investigate how to apply the principle of a habit loop. To see this in action let’s look at building a GOOD habit and breaking a BAD one.
A GOOD habit that we’ll look at is reading before bed each night. The cue here might be to place your book back on your pillow each morning after you’ve made your bed. This visual cue will help to signal to your brain each night that it’s time to read. The craving will eventually be the enjoyment, relaxation or exciting story that you get from the reading. The anticipation of these positive outcomes creates a desire to read. The response is the reading activity itself. This can be made more appealing and attractive by setting a reasonable reading target each day which can start small (such as 5 pages per day) and slowly increased over time. Finally the reward which as well as the sense of accomplishment, could be something like allowing yourself to have your favourite snack or drink while reading. This reinforces the habit which makes it more likely that it will stick.
The BAD habit we’ll look at is reducing excessive phone checking while working. The cue might be something obvious such as a notification on your phone, or something more subtle such as the creeping boredom that arises during tedious or difficult work. The craving is the desire to see the content of the notification or to take a break from the work. The response would be picking up the phone to see the notification or to scroll through Instagram or TikTok and the reward is the dopamine hit that you get each time you do this. To break this habit you could:
Turn off non-essential notifications or removing your phone from the room in which you’re studying. (cue)
Acknowledge the craving and remind yourself of the goal to stay focused. (craving)
Set a timer for focused work intervals (such as pomodoro) or use apps or tools that block distracting websites and apps during work hours. (response)
After a focused work session, take a short walk, enjoy a snack, or do a quick mindfulness exercise. (reward)
Environment Design
One important way to ensure that habits stick is reducing the mental friction between your motivation to want to do it and the behaviour itself. In Atomic Habits, James Clear outlines an extremely effective technique to do this: Environment Design which is the act of priming your environment for future use. Want to improve your grades and study more? Tidy your work area at the end of each day ready to start the next. Want to exercise more? Get your workout clothes ready the night before. Want to cook more rather than order in food? Maintain a clean kitchen environment with a fridge and pantry that has sufficient food for a range of meals. The idea is that you want to make the habit the path of least resistance, and contrary to most peoples intuition, environment design isn’t necessarily a difficult thing to maintain once you set out to do it. This principle runs on momentum.
To maintain an environment for future use requires a small amount of consistent effort. In contrast, the effort required to perform the tasks (such as studying or exercising) is far more if the environment hasn’t been primed for use. Overall, it’s likely that maintaining a ‘primed environment’ requires more energy and effort, but the impact of this effort on your ability to perform the behaviour is far less than the large effort spikes required without maintaining a useable environment. It’s far more effective to reduce friction than expend the energy required to try to overcome it.
Identity Based Habits
If you’re attempting a drastic change it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the amount of bad habits you’re trying to break and the amount of good ones you’re trying to form. Rather than having to constantly balance multiple habits at a time, it’s often much easier to embrace a new or refined identity. You may be thinking that assuming a new identity is too radical a change or unsustainable long term, but it often only requires small shifts in behaviours and mindsets to transform an identity.
Let’s look at an example. Imagine two people who are on a night out and trying to quit alcohol. These could be any type of person from university student to working professional. When offered a drink, person 1 replies with: “No thanks, I’m trying to quit alcohol”. This immediately assumes the identity of someone who drinks alcohol, but is trying to quit. Person 2 on the other hand replies with: “No thanks, I don’t drink”. This subtle difference in the responses is the key to the identity change. Person two has embodied the identity of someone who doesn’t drink rather than someone who’s trying to quit and thus is much more likely to align his actions, behaviours and ultimately habits to that new identity.
This can be applied to students, knowledge workers, entrepreneurs, people looking to improve health and fitness, learners of instruments and much more. James Clear outlines a simple two step process for this:
Decide the type of person you want to be
Prove it to yourself with small wins
When faced with a situation in which you feel pulled towards bad habits, ask yourself:
“What would a xxxx person do?”
If you’re a student struggling with studying, ask: “What would a high achieving student do?”. If you find yourself procrastinating, ask: “What would a proactive person do?”. If you’ve been eating unhealthily, ask: “What would someone healthy do?”. These simple questions can light the path towards progress.
Tracking your Progress
When building a new habit, one of the most important actions to ensure long lasting success is to track progress towards the behaviour changes. Building new habits is hard, and it’s rarely a linear path from point 1 (your current self) to point 2 (your future self with the new habit). So, having a way to track the progress is critical to maximise your chance of recovering from missed days and to see visible progress towards your goals.
Habit tracking
Habit tracking can be done in several ways and the way that you implement it will very much depend on your personal preference, your available time to track and even the types of habits that you’re tracking. At the fundamental level habit tracking comes down to one question:
“Did I do habit today? YES or NO”
With this, it helps to break down habits into specific, actionable and deliverable milestones. Rather than having a habit of reading more often, a better habit would be reading 10 pages a day. In which case, the question becomes: “Did I read 10 pages today? YES or NO”.
So what are some of the ways that you can implement habit trackers into your day? The simplest way is a simple pen and paper. Segment the week or month into each day and write your habits as columns or rows next to the days, then each day simply tick off which habits you’ve stuck to. This can be as simple as on a scrap piece of paper or (as I like to do) in a notebook for future reference.
Another option is to setup something similar on a digital platform or app. There are many apps such as Microsoft To-Do and Todoist, but my favourite digital product for this (although I prefer the analogue style of pen and paper) has been Notion. Notion has many free templates online already which you can download for habit tracking but I’ve found it much better to setup a habit tracking dashboard in the app itself.
Reflection and Review
The final piece of advice that has been most valuable for me in my journey of cultivating productive habits has been to have regular reflection and review sessions to determine how progress towards the habits is going and what needs to change. For me, this comes in the form of a habit journal - which forms part of my main journal. But, like most things here, you must find the solution that works best for you. The reflection may come as a sort of meditation exercise (if you want to make a habit of meditating then this is perfect), or it could be a discussion with an accountability buddy who’s on a habit journey themselves, or it could be a journal like I do.
Conclusion
If you’ve reached this far then it’s clear you’re serious about building better habits and I would wholly recommend reading further into this with James Clear’s Atomic Habits. The journey to self-improvement is not always easy, but with the right strategies, and a bit of patience, you can create lasting positive changes in your life. Remember, start small and be consistent. Celebrate your progress along the way and don’t be too hard on yourself when setbacks occur. By understanding the science of habits, leveraging tools like trackers, and fostering a supportive environment, you can make your goals a reality.
3 Forms of Procrastination (and How to Combat Them)
Procrastination is often classed as the antithesis of productivity. It’s the other side of the coin of effective, deep work. But, defining procrastination isn't as simple as the act of delaying tasks until the last minute. Procrastination is a habit that is learned through continual procrastination. As we delay more tasks, push the boundaries of deadlines and seek instant gratification from watching YouTube or scrolling Instagram these distractions become a habit. At that point, procrastination becomes the default setting for the brain when faced with difficult challenges and working on our tasks becomes harder and harder to start.
The first step to combating procrastination is to pinpoint exactly which type of procrastination we're dealing with. Not all types of procrastination are the same, and not all techniques are effective for minimising each type. So what are the three types of procrastination? And how should we be dealing with them?
Multitasking
Possibly the biggest misconception in the productivity and time management space is that doing more tasks simultaneously equates to increased productivity. Recent research suggest that "multitasking is typically accompanied with performance decrements that become evident when comparing performance on a task done in isolation to its performance done in combination with other tasks" [1]
Refraining from multitasking can be particularly difficult when you have a lot of tasks that need to be done in a short space of time. The more tasks on the plate, the easier it is to then fall into the trap of trying to juggle all those tasks at the same time. But doing this can have detrimental effects on both the quality and quantity of work that you produce long term. As a student, I realised that when multiple upcoming deadlines were on the horizon, trying to focus on multiple tasks at once became more and more appealing. But having the discipline to combat that feeling will increase your productive output. I’d suggest two methods for avoiding the multitasking trap whilst simultaneously increasing productive output.
The first of these is time blocking. Time blocking utilises strict control over the tasks worked on during a given period of time where each day is divided into blocks of time, and each block is dedicated to accomplishing a specific task or group of tasks. This method works because it allows you to focus on one task at a time, thereby reducing the need to multitask and enhancing your productivity. It ensures that you're dedicating a specific amount of time to each task you need to complete, which can help prevent tasks from taking longer than necessary and importantly, avoids the temptation to allow other tasks to creep into our time.
To use time blocking, start by listing out all the tasks you need to complete then estimate how long each task will take and schedule a block of time for it in your day. Make sure to include breaks between tasks to prevent burnout. Once a time block for a task is scheduled, it's important to respect that schedule and only work on the task during its designated time. This can help you stay focused and prevent the urge to multitask.
The second method is something I picked up from Cal Newport’s book Slow Productivity called the ‘Pull Method’. You can read my article on implementing the Pull Method here, but as a brief overview: The pull method pulls tasks from a sort of ‘To-Do’ list into an active working list in a way that prevents overload. The first step is to track all projects to which you are currently committed and split them into two sections:
A Holding Tank
The Active List
All project should be added first to the holding tank which theoretically has an infinite reservoir of space for projects. The active list represents the tasks that you’re currently working on which at most should contain 3 projects. When a project from the active list is completed, a new project can be moved into the active list.
This management system prevents overload and stress. It’s up to you how you manage this system - it can be on pen and paper, on a digital notebook or my preferred method: Notion. One important point to make this method effective is to clean the list each week to remove any void projects from the list.
Perfectionism
Perfectionism can be thought of as the continual pursuit of perfection, or even believing that perfection is actually attainable. It is arguably the most common form of procrastination among high achievers who pursue marginally better and better output quality of whatever they’re producing.
While perfectionism can promote ambition and high standards - which are good traits when aiming to be successful in any pursuit - there's a fine line between the high standards that perfectionism promotes, and the darker, unhealthier side. And, in high pressure, highly demanding situations, that line can become very blurred. The downsides of perfectionism are at best, time-wasting and burnout but at worst it can lead to anxiety and depression.
“There are studies that suggest that the higher the perfectionism is, the more psychological disorders you’re going to suffer” – Sarah Egan (a senior research fellow at the Curtin University)
Perfectionism is something that students, entrepreneurs, knowledge workers and craftsmen alike are susceptible to. It's easy to focus on one task in the pursuit of perfection but this is often at the detriment of completing the task itself. As a student, when writing papers or finishing assignments, I’d often find myself spending significant time making minor edits to the layout of the assignment and small improvements to the design of plots. In this case, the time used to ‘perfect’ the projects would’ve been far better spent by starting a new assignment, double checking the results in the project or even going for a walk. In essence, perfectionism leads to diminishing returns in output quality while increasing the time commitment needed.
There are a number of ways to combat perfectionism ranging from setting achievable goals and re-evaluating tendencies. But, the method that has helped me the most is reducing perfectionistic thinking. Examples of perfectionistic thinking include thinking in absolutes - "if it's not perfect, it's not good enough" - and catastrophic thinking - "I won't be able to deal with getting less than 70% on the exam". Catching ourselves thinking in these ways and changing our way of thinking is not only a great way to reduce perfectionistic thinking, it's also a great way to control our emotions and mindset in stressful situations. In most cases done is better than perfect.
Busyness
A big misconception about productivity is that being busy is synonymous with being productive. On the surface this makes sense. If project output is a proxy of productivity, and productive people are busy most of the time, then being busy must equal being productive. But hidden in that statement is a logical fallacy: productive people are busy all the time. This is often case not true (as has been pointed out by Cal Newport in his books Deep Work and Slow Productivity). But even if this were true, the importance is what are productive people busy doing? Is it meaningful work that produces quality output? Or is it meaningless tasks that don’t push the individual closer to their goals?
There is a huge difference between being productive and being busy. To be busy is to fill time with meaningless tasks that waste time, but to be productive is to spend that time to move yourself closer to your goals. Busyness is the illusion of productivity when laziness outweighs motivation.
It's easy to fall into the trap of pretending to ourselves that we're being productive by doing some trivial task which just takes up time. That's being busy, not productive.
In order to combat busyness procrastination, we need a way to prioritise our tasks. One way to do this is by using the priority grid. All tasks fall somewhere on this priority grid with each task having a different position on the grid depending on how much we want to do the task and how much we need to do the task.
Tasks that we need and want to do the most should be the highest priority while those that we don't need or want to do will have lower priorities. Notice how tasks that we want to do are just as important as tasks that we need to do? That’s because a big part of productivity is enjoying the tasks that we’re doing. If the tasks are enjoyable, meaningful or fulfilling, then we are much more likely to complete them.
Conclusion
In this article, I've discussed three forms of procrastination: multitasking, perfectionism and busyness. Each of these forms of procrastination can hinder productivity and time management in different ways. By understanding these forms and the strategies to combat them - such as reducing perfectionistic thinking, prioritising tasks, and avoiding multitasking - we can become more effective in our work. In turn, this can lead to better results and a more balanced lifestyle. Remember, overcoming procrastination is not about working harder, but working smarter.
[1] Poljac, E., Kiesel, A., Koch, I. et al. New perspectives on human multitasking. Psychological Research 82, 1–3 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-018-0970-2
Designing the ideal productivity workflow: Don’t push it
Anyone who has long been on the pursuit of improving productivity likely will have been faced at some point in that journey with a crippling overload of projects, tasks and deadlines. In these situations, it’s not unlikely to be faced with a growing pile of tasks to progress with a given project and a seemingly shrinking amount of free time to work on them. This is obviously an unsustainable workflow for tackling project. Why then do so many of us fall into this style of work? And more importantly, how do we get ourselves out of it?
I had long been struggling with this problem with projects in all aspects of professional and academic life. As a student, a build up of assignments on an already heaped pile of studying required a frenetic and frantic workstyle which led to frequent burnouts and lack of motivation. Similarly, as a spacecraft engineer, time-sensitive projects comprised of highly complex tasks - often given at short notice - means that additional responsibilities for contributions to different projects grow while available time to manage the overhead admin shrinks. And also, while writing this blog and producing YouTube videos, I would have a load of half written posts and scripts, unedited footage and a seemingly endless amount of content ideas.
So what do all of these have in common? They all operate on a “Push” based workflow. This concept was first introduced to me recently while I was reading “Slow Productivity” by Cal Newport and suddenly it all clicked. The way to prevent the overload that we are all so susceptible to requires a shift from a “Push” to a “Pull” workflow.
The Problem with Pushing
Before going into the upsides of switching project workflows to a pull system, it might be helpful to define what we mean we say push or pull workflows. To understand these two workflows, we need to imagine a project - that is a collection of tasks that collectively will take several days to complete at least.
A push system works by pushing work at each stage onward to the next stage as soon as it’s been complete. In this type of system, the focus of each stage of a project is to complete the tasks and immediately hand it to the next stage in the workflow. This often leads to a linear progression where the goal is to keep work flowing steadily from start to finish. However, there are several potential downsides to this approach. For instance, if any stage of the project experiences a delay or bottleneck, the subsequent stages might either be forced to wait or, conversely, be overwhelmed with tasks once the bottleneck clears. This system often results in a build up of tasks, leading to potential overwhelm and burnout.
A pull system works by pulling in new work at a given stage only when it’s ready for it. In other words, tasks are only moved forward when there is capacity to handle them. The pull system is designed to match the pace of the project workflow, allowing a balancing of workload and preventing bottlenecks. An important point to note before continuing is that ‘projects’ refer to work that would substantial enough that it will likely take multiple sessions to complete and are often made up of several tasks.
Push Productivity by Pulling
Now that we’ve had a glimpse at the likely risks of a push based system (overload and burnout) and the key intrinsic benefit of a pull system (the aversion of backlogs), let’s look deeper at what it means to have a pull based system, how to implement it, and how to ensure it’s long term success.
Implementing a pull based system is much more than a simple system to increase productivity. It’s a way of claiming responsibility
It fundamentally shifts the attitude we have towards towards greater efficiency, responsibility, and most importantly accountability of our time and energy. This approach can lead to more thoughtful, high-quality work as you regain the time and space needed to effectively engage more deeply with your tasks.
An effective strategy is needed to implement a pull system that ensures that it effectively aids our management of projects. To do this we must have three key sections of our strategy: Implementing, managing and maintaining the pull system.
Implementing a pull system
The key feature of an effective pull workflow is a system to manage projects that avoids the risk of working on too many projects at one time. In Slow Productivity, Cal Newport suggests that we should limit the amount of work that we’re currently working on to at most three projects. There are several techniques to do that, however the one suggested by Newport and the one that I’ve found to be most beneficial is to track all projects that you’re currently commited to into two lists:
Holding Tank - The list where most projects are held until they are being currently worked on.
Active List - The list that contains the 2-3 projects that you are currently working on.
The projects that you are currently working on or which are most time critical should be added to the Active List. This list should be limited to at most 3 tasks to minimise the burden of an overload of project commitments. When you commit to new projects, first add them to the Holding Tank and when a space opens on the Active List (whether that is because the active project has been completed or become irrelevant), a project can be transferred from the Holding Tank to the Active List.
There is no limit to the amount of projects that can be held in the holding tank. But when scheduling your time, your focus should be directed most towards the Active List. It may also be worth splitting up larger projects into sub-projects. For example, instead of “Make a video on slowing down productivity” it may be split into a project for scripting the video, filming the video and editing the video.
You may be asking: “What’s the best way of planning the pull system?”. There’s no real answer here. You could set up the Holding Tank and Active List on a scrap piece of paper, in a notebook or on a digital app that can sync across devices. I like to use Notion for this for it’s advanced database handling tools. You can download my Notion Pull System Template for free here.
Managing a pull system
While a large part of the upfront work of implementing a pull system is the setup, it’s just as important to ensure that you’re managing that system effectively. In a pull system, it may come as no surprise but it’s the intake procedure that you ‘pull’ from that is critical. This can be done in two ways, depending on where the projects are coming from.
If you’re self-employed, self-studying, a freelancer or working on a side project (like this blog), it will likely be you that is the primary source of new projects on your plate. Of course, this isn’t a hard and fast rule, but in these situations, you will typically have much more control over the amount of work that is funnelled towards you: You decide what topics you’re studying, what freelance work you’re taking on, or what blog posts you’re planning on writing. While this may appear as an ideal situation for implementing a pull system (since you’re just ‘pulling’ from yourself rather than another team), it requires a certain level of discipline to work correctly.
In this case, the key is honesty with yourself regarding how many projects you take on and when. It relates to the infamous saying:
“We overestimate what we can achieve in a day and underestimate what we can achieve in a year.”
The other scenario would be in a more traditional environment of employment or education, where you may not have complete autonomy or control over the projects that you’re committed to. In this case, you may be working in an environment that hasn’t implemented a pull system and so projects may often be pushed onto you.
The key in this situation is transparency. Be clear with those who are pushing new work onto you with your current project commitments as well as give an estimate for the length of time the new project will take. It’s crucial here to build trust with those pushing the work onto you. Be transparent with your workload and capacity to take on new work and always deliver on the promises that you give to others - even if the terms of the promise have to be changed slightly.
Maintaining a pull system
The final consideration when implementing a pull system is how it will be maintained. Earlier in this blog I mentioned that there is no upper limit to the size of the Holding Tank, and while this is true, it is worth regularly purging and updating your lists once a week.
Remove any completed projects from the Active List, and replace them with projects from the Holding Tank. Delete any redundant tasks from the Holding Tank that are no longer needed and review any upcoming deadlines for all projects in both lists. Projects that are due soon should be prioritised and so it’s also worth replacing any non-urgent projects from the Active List with those in the Holding Tank that have looming deadlines.
Conclusion
In this blog post, I’ve introduced a method from minimising burnout and overload of tasks from Cal Newport’s ‘Slow Productivity’. This method is built on the principle of a ‘pull’ based workflow in which tasks are pulled from one stage of a project to the next only when there is capacity to do so. A useful way of implementing this is with a Holding Tank and Active List to manage projects in which only the three most crucial projects are worked on at any one time. If implemented correctly, the pull method can drastically increase productive output while minimising the risk of overworking, mismanagement of tasks and burnout.
What is Parkinson’s Law? And how to defeat it
One of the most infamous pop-culture quotes of all time comes from the Spider Man comics which states: "With great power, comes great responsibility". However, when you hear that quote, I doubt you think of how it can relate to time management skills. But I think that with slight adjustments, this quote can give some clear guidance on how to manage our time more efficiently.
Let's instead think of the quote as: "With more free time comes more responsibility". Now we can begin to gather some sort of understanding of what this principle is saying. Put simply, it states that as we are given more free time (usually experienced by those leaving school, at university or managing their own time/business), there is far more importance put on spending that time responsibly by planning and scheduling.
If you've left school, you've almost certainly experienced this. Through our early lives during school, almost all of our working time is dictated by timetables and schedules. But as we move through to college, university and the working world, we are faced with a bit of a dilemma: We have more free time, but we have to plan how we use that time to complete more tasks - often of higher complexity. This can be quite challenging.
What is Parkinson's Law
Ever thought about why students always leave assignments until the day before the deadline? Or why some have a simple task to do in a given day, yet take the whole day to complete it? There is this idea known as Parkinson's Law which states: "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". Briefly put, this means that if we plan on completing a task in a given time, we'll probably take the whole time to complete it. For example, if we gave ourselves a week to finish an assignment, we'd likely take the whole week to complete it. However, if we constrained this deadline to 3 days, we'd likely finish in that time constraint without compromising the quality of the work.
Even trivial tasks can fall victim to Parkinson's law, and you've almost certainly experienced it in one form or another. Whether that's as the student in the example above, or while setting deadlines for yourself. Although the deadline for the task might be weeks in the future, often times giving ourselves such a long time to complete the task can be unproductive and unhelpful.
1. Artificial deadlines
Another effective technique that can be used in conjunction with time blocking is the establishment of artificial deadlines. The concept of artificial deadlines is quite straightforward: you establish a deadline that is earlier than the actual required completion time. This strategy becomes especially beneficial in the context of projects that do not come with a strict, predetermined deadline.
For instance, in the case of writing this article, there isn't an explicit deadline set. However, in order to ensure that I complete this task efficiently, I've imposed an artificial deadline on myself. This self-imposed deadline serves as a motivator, pushing me towards completion. Without this artificial deadline, there's a chance that I might have lacked the necessary motivation to finish the task.
Employing time-blocking techniques in combination with artificial deadlines provides a robust strategy for mitigating the effects of Parkinson's Law, which states that 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion'. However, it's important to note that the most effective method for reducing the impacts of Parkinson's Law is to recognize its presence and influence in the first place. By being mindful of this phenomenon, we can take proactive steps to manage our time more efficiently.
2. Break Down Your Tasks and Deadlines
To counter Parkinson's Law, consider breaking tasks into manageable chunks, a method known as task chunking. This makes complex projects less overwhelming and more approachable by allowing focus on one piece at a time, thereby creating a sense of achievement with each completed part. Assigning a specific deadline to each task chunk enhances productivity and prompts action, helping to fend off Parkinson's Law, which dictates that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
By setting a limit on how much time each part of the task should take, you encourage efficient use of time. However, it's important to set realistic deadlines. Overly tight deadlines can cause stress and potentially compromise work quality, while too lenient deadlines may not provide enough motivation to get started.
3. Know what ‘Done’ means
A strategy to counter Parkinson's Law is to define 'done' for each task, a vital step in time management. Often, we prolong tasks beyond completion due to unclear endpoints stemming from perfectionism, vague goals, or overwork habits. This inefficiency wastes time and resources.
Defining 'done' involves creating a specific, clear completion criterion, such as a deliverable, an outcome, or a set of criteria. This definition should be so clear that there's no ambiguity about task completion. For example, 'done' for a report might be writing all sections and proofreading, while for a project, it could be achieving goals and delivering expected outcomes.
Having a clear 'done' definition allows you to focus on the task, prevent unnecessary work, and increase efficiency. The aim is not to work harder but smarter, aiding in countering Parkinson's Law.
4. Time-blocking
When I allot an entire day to write an article, complete an assignment, or delve into a specific subject matter, I often find that I end up using the entirety of the day to accomplish that singular task. This, however, changes when I have pre-planned engagements like a sports activity or a social outing with friends that take up around three hours of my day. Despite the time constraint, I still manage to complete the task at hand without compromising the quality, all within the reduced timeframe.
The secret behind my efficiency is a time management technique known as time-blocking. Time-blocking is a method where we dedicate specific blocks of time in our daily schedule to focus exclusively on one task. During these blocked-off periods, our attention is solely on the task at hand, with no room for distractions. This could involve blocking off two or three hours to wrap up an assignment, work on a project, or any other task that requires undivided attention. The crucial aspect is that the blocked time is reserved exclusively for the task we have assigned to it.
While time-blocking can significantly boost productivity, using it for every task may lead to the contrary. Overuse of time-blocking may lead to exhaustion and decreased productivity due to the intense focus required for each block. Hence, I suggest that time-blocking should be judiciously used for one or two of the primary tasks that need to be accomplished in a day. This way, it aids in maintaining productivity and focus, without causing burnout.
5. Have a reason to finish early
The reason why Parkinson's Law is so prevalent in university and business is because there often aren't enough incentives to complete tasks early. You may have even experienced this yourself. "Already finished your tasks? Here's additional work." or "You finished quickly! We’re shortening the next deadline."
Even leaders can find it tempting to refine a current task instead of starting a new one. This can serve as a safety net, helping to avoid the next, potentially intimidating task. The unknown can be daunting, but it's crucial to set a good example for your team. When you're done, finish early.
To counteract this, establish incentives for completing each phase of your work. Reward yourself for finishing early, whether it's by taking a short break, browsing the web, or going for a walk. Do something you enjoy and relish the satisfaction of earning it. The key is to connect rewards to results, not time spent. Make your goals specific and outcome-oriented – strive to 'complete this project' instead of 'spending an hour' on it without finishing.
How an organised desk increases productivity
When we have a hard time concentrating while working or studying, we'll often look at the way that we work, or the schedule we're following or the tools that we're using. But, one significant yet overlooked aspect is our working environment. As Jordan Peterson says in his book 12 Rules for Life: "Set your house in order before you criticise the world". We can extrapolate this to the importance of an organised desk: Don’t expect an increase in productivity if you’re working in an environment that doesn’t promote productive working.
According to research by the Journal of Neuroscience, a messy environment can compete for your attention and can lead to lower focus, an increase in stress and even anxiety. Put simply, working in a clear, uncluttered environment has the potential for serious returns in productive output. But, what are some of the ways to achieve a clean workspace that doesn't pile up with mess in a week?
📄 Start with a clean sheet
Starting from scratch is often the best and most effective way to begin clearing a cluttered space. When faced with a messy desk, it's significantly easier - and less overwhelming - to completely clear everything off your desk and then assess the importance of each item later, rather than painstakingly going through every single item one by one. So, begin by removing everything from the top of your desk. This includes all books, pens, pencils, and even larger items like your computer and monitor should you have one.
Once you've successfully removed all the clutter from your desk, you'll find it much simpler to visualise how you want your desk to look and where you want things to be placed. A clear desk provides a blank canvas, allowing you to efficiently organise your workspace in a manner that suits your needs and work habits best.
Having done this, seize the opportunity to give your desk a thorough cleaning. Use a surface cleaner to eliminate dust, stains, or any other mess that has accumulated on the desk. Make sure to pay attention to corners and crevices often missed during regular cleanings. By the time you're done, your desk should look as good as new and be ready to be used efficiently once again. Giving your workspace a fresh start not only ensures a clean and organised environment but can also enhance your productivity and work satisfaction.
🧺 Remove any unnecessary clutter
Begin by meticulously examining each item that currently occupies a space on your desk, critically evaluating their purpose and frequency of use. Unless these items serve a clear, regular, and vital function that contributes to your daily productivity, consider removing them from your immediate workspace.
This process may involve storing them in an organised manner in a different location, or if they are no longer needed or functional, discarding them entirely. This simple act of paring down can significantly enhance the efficiency and cleanliness of your workspace, making it a more conducive environment for work.
Commonly used items such as pens, pencils, and notepads are typically useful and may justify their presence on your desk. However, it's worth questioning whether you truly require an excess of these items accessible at all times. For instance, do you really need an abundance of more than 10 pens or 5 notepads cluttering your desk, or could some of these items be neatly stored away until needed?
Consider also other items such as hole punches, staplers, or calculators, which may not be used consistently enough to warrant a permanent place on your desk. These could also be stored away, freeing up valuable workspace.
Recognise that depending on your profession or individual needs, you might have items that are essential for your work but others might deem them unimportant. Hence, it's crucial to take time to carefully evaluate what constitutes essentials for you and declutter your workspace accordingly. This personalised approach will ensure that your desk is optimised for your specific needs, enhancing your productivity and overall work experience.
🗑️ Have a bin within reach
Having a bin within reach, preferably placed strategically at a convenient location close to your workspace, is a brilliant and effective way to ensure that any form of clutter or unnecessary items that collect on your desk can be quickly and efficiently removed. This simple yet practical measure can significantly contribute in maintaining a clean, organised workspace and a conducive environment for productivity. Furthermore, it can be particularly helpful when you're trying to sort out any miscellaneous papers, documents, or even personal items that you may have lying haphazardly on your desk. Often times, you might not realise or underestimate how little you need certain papers that have been piling up, creating unnecessary clutter and causing distractions. Therefore, it is sometimes worthwhile to take a moment to review these items, and consider removing them altogether for better workspace organisation. If for some reason disposing of these items isn't a viable option, then it would be highly beneficial to consider our next tip, which could offer an alternative solution to address this common issue.
🖥️ Declutter your desktop
It may come as no surprise that a cluttered computer desktop can significantly impede productivity, much like a disorganised physical workspace. When files and apps are scattered haphazardly, it becomes increasingly difficult to locate what we need, thereby wasting valuable time and energy. To alleviate this issue, it is crucial to maintain a clean and organised desktop, just as you would with your physical desk.
One straightforward method of decluttering your desktop is by removing unused or unnecessary applications. These might include programs that came pre-installed on your computer, or others that you downloaded but no longer use. By taking the time to identify and delete these applications, you can free up space on your desktop and make it easier to navigate.
Beyond just the desktop, it's also beneficial to organise and declutter your document files. It's important to remember that a decluttered computer is not synonymous with an empty one. Even if you have thousands of documents stored on your computer, having them organised into a logical, consistent filing system can dramatically improve your productivity.
Instead of having files misplaced in random folders or duplicates taking up valuable storage space, a well-structured filing system allows you to quickly and easily find what you need. This not only reduces frustration and time waste but also helps ensure your valuable storage space is used efficiently. By implementing these simple organisational strategies, you can enhance your productivity and make your digital workspace as efficient as possible.
🗂️ Segment your desk
Even if the primary use of your desk is for your computer, it’s still beneficial to divide your desk into various sections, each with a specific purpose. On my own desk, I've designated the right-hand side as the space where I neatly arrange my notepads. This arrangement allows for easy reach and access whenever I need to jot down any quick notes or ideas.
On the left, I store my collection of pens and pencils, which are essential tools in my day-to-day tasks. Having a specific place for these writing instruments ensures that they are always within reach when needed and reduces the chance of misplacing them.
In the middle of my desk, I place my monitor or laptop, which is the main tool I need for my work. This central positioning allows for easy viewing and access. Besides these, I also love to keep my plants in and around this area. They not only add a touch of nature and aesthetics to my workspace but also create a calming and refreshing atmosphere, enhancing productivity.
Regardless of whether your desk is primarily used for computer-related tasks, it is always a good idea to have a dedicated space for your papers. This ensures that you can review documents, draft ideas, or write without having to squeeze in between the keyboard or mouse. This method of organisation prevents clutter, promotes productivity, and ultimately creates a more efficient and enjoyable workspace.
🧹 Clean before you leave
The concept of maintaining a tidy workspace is simple but absolutely crucial for productivity. Every aspect of your desk, from the smallest post-it note to your stack of documents, contributes to your work environment. Maintaining a clean desk isn't a one-time task; it requires consistent effort. If your desk falls back into disarray within a week, then all your efforts dedicated to cleaning it initially would've been for naught.
To prevent this, establish a daily routine before you finish your work for the day. Organise your writing tools like pens and pencils into their respective holders, sort your papers and notepads into designated areas, and discard any unnecessary items or rubbish. These steps will ensure that you return to a clean, clutter-free workspace next time, providing you with a blank canvas to initiate your work.
It's crucial to leave your desk in the same condition you found it—preferably tidy and organised. This practice significantly reduces the transitional friction you might encounter the following day between arriving at your desk and commencing your work. It's much easier to dive into work when you're not confronted with a messy desk first thing in the morning. Thus, reducing this friction by maintaining a clean desk is an invaluable strategy to boost productivity and create a better working environment.