Since nowadays everyone is trying to get as many things done as possible, so they can have more free time or even more time to take care of other important tasks, you should definitely know about those ways to become unproductive, so you’ll be able to avoid them in the future and not let them interfere with your happiness. Do you always manage to accomplish all the things you have in mind or do you often realize that not even those 24 hours in a day are enough for you? It’s so easy to become unproductive, especially with all these distractions around us. Yet, sometimes you should just put yourself together and let nothing interfere with your work, and then simply focus on all the things you have to do. Here are a few ways to become unproductive very quickly that you should watch out for, so they won’t affect your professional accomplishments:
One of the easiest ways to become unproductive very quickly is by using lots of distractions, especially when you work. If you check your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram account every five minutes when you should be working, then it’s no wonder you can’t do your job right. Try to turn off your phone, unplug your Internet cable and turn down the TV every time you have to take care of some important task and don’t let anything interfere with your work!
If you’re always multitasking, you will become unproductive very quickly. Even though you think that you can handle it, I must tell you that you might be wrong, since it’s extremely difficult, even impossible to do several things at the same time, while still maintaining your focus. This will make you feel tired, it will exhaust you and the quality of your work will be poorer. I’m sure you’ve all heard people saying, “Multitasking is a great way to screw up multiple things at the same time,” right? Well, it’s pretty much true.
I know that sometimes you may think that you are the only person who can do a certain things right. Still, you might be wrong, because if you don’t let other people help you, if you don’t delegate tasks, you will shortly feel overwhelmed and you’ll become completely unproductive. If you do every little thing by yourself all the time, you will lose the spirit of teamwork and you will see things only from your own perspective and in the long term, this may affect the quality of your work.
If you always focus only on your weaknesses, you will not be able to see your qualities and you will not realize how talented you really are. Just remind yourself every now and then that you are a wonderful, talented and creative person who can face all the challenge you might encounter in your path, that you’ll be able to solve all the problems you might be dealing with if you work hard enough and that you will be more productive if you allow yourself you be this way.
You will shortly become unproductive if you’re always making things more complex than they really are. I really love this famous quote by Albert Einstein, who said that “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” Beauty does lie in the simplicity of things, so why make them more complicated than they are or than they should be?
If you reward yourself every time you have the chance to do it, even if you don’t deserve it or if you did nothing that should deserve a reward, then that’s a sure way to become unproductive very quickly. Try to educate and discipline yourself and reward yourself only when you get a certain thing done. For example, listen to your favorite tune after you’ve written two pages of that essay you have to turn in next week or eat a cookie after you’ve finished all your work during that day.
Procrastination is one of the habits everyone should break, so they can be more productive and get things done when they are supposed to do them. This bad habit will only make you feel more stressed out and exhausted when you realize that you don’t have enough time to take care of all your tasks and you will do your job poorly. Teach yourself some discipline, make a schedule and stick to it, no matter what. It will be a bit hard at first, but once you realize how many benefits this will bring you, you will wonder why you didn’t do this sooner.
There are so many things a person can do to become unproductive! I just mentioned a few in this little article but there are a lot more I haven’t talked about. Do you know any other ways to become unproductive very quickly? Please tell us about them in the comments section!
Sources: lifehack.org, makeuseof.com