5 Tips to Help You Stay Productive During the Pandemic
There’s no denying that staying at home and inside for a ridiculous amount of hours can be draining on both your mental and physical health. Staying productive might seem like a far stretch when you feel like you’re simply trying to stay afloat. Below are some small steps you can take to help reverse your mindset and get to a more productive state:
- Limit Social Media Distractions:
Limiting social media (that you are not leveraging) is a great way to keep you concentrated on tasks that matter and increase productivity. If you are not directly using social media for professional intent, then you are simply wasting your time. It’s true, and although many of us don’t want to admit the endless scroll is a waste of time, it is. There isn’t anything wrong with going on social media for a purpose (using it for business, to look up a recipe, to look for inspiration, etc.) but nobody can make the argument that scrolling for hours (if not for business purposes) will help you get ahead in life. You can limit your app usage by going into the settings of your iPhone and clicking “Screen Time”. You can limit each app individually or you can even set limits on your entire phone. I personally set mine to limit the use of my phone for a few hours in the morning and it forces me out of bed to do something productive instead of the typical morning scroll.
2. Meditate:
I was always intrigued by mindfulness and meditation, but it took the pandemic to really pique my interest. There are so many benefits to meditation such as stress relief, better self-awareness, and putting yourself in the present moment to address how you feel. It can also help with concentration at work, overall focus, and keeping you grounded. The best part, it only takes a few minutes! I use the Headspace app on my phone every day before bedtime. Some people prefer to meditate in the morning, it’s all personal preference. I love the imagery that HeadSpace uses and you can choose from a range of voice accents in case there are some that make you feel more at ease. Netflix has even added a full season of HeadSpace episodes. With this accessibility, there’s simply no excuse to put it off. That and the time that you’re meditating could be as short as 10 minutes. You can start by setting your alarm a few minutes earlier or dedicate a few minutes before bed. You might find it hard to get through 10 minutes at first, but start with 2 or 3 minutes and work your way up from there.
I am suggesting meditation, but this tip is really tied to keeping a healthy mental state during these trying times. If there is another route that works for you — then great! There are plenty of other options to address your mental health such as reading, writing, therapy, etc. Invest in yourself this year and your future self will thank you.
3. Live Out Your Purpose:
Your purpose keeps you grounded and dedicated and therefore more productive. While this might sound a little cliche, I have read up on countless self-help and productivity books and all of them mention some sort of reference to setting a purpose and living by it. The powerful thing about getting up in the morning and doing what you do is exactly that — you do it. It’s not a weird coincidence that Nike’s “Just Do It” is arguably one of the most well known and timeless brand slogans of all time. Sometimes all we need is a little bit of a push to get a task done and grounding everything you do with your purpose will certainly help you.
So, what are some ways you can start to determine your purpose? You can start by journaling every day. Sit down at night when your mind tends to race and simply write what comes to mind. This is not meant to be overly complicated, no critical thinking here. You simply want to write your thoughts down for future reference. Write for a few months and then go back and revisit what you wrote down. Circle words that come up often and look for themes that you see in your writing. This can help you eventually form a single sentence that says, “My purpose in life is to x”. Once you have it determined, write it on a piece of paper or sticky note and place it somewhere you can regularly refer to it. Having this in front of you to reference throughout the day is a powerful reminder. Remember to revisit your purpose statement often because it will change over time and that’s a good thing!
4. Be More Present:
I get it, it’s incredibly hard to be present while we anxiously wait for COVID to be over. However, it doesn’t help you or anyone else if you’re constantly waiting for COVID to subside when I can guarantee there is another life challenge waiting in the wings. I have always struggled with staying present and add on a pandemic, it's been a struggle. I recognize that this is something I am working on and with that, I am proud of the self-awareness I have achieved. I have found that meditation helps and just spending time doing the things you love — whether that’s connecting with friends and family or working on a hobby. Daily journaling is another great exercise to train your brain into reflecting on each day and encouraging a here and now mindset. As humans, it’s natural to feel like you’re constantly asking “what’s next” and “when will I feel like I’ve made it?”. The reality is, you never really feel like you’ve “made it” at any point in your life so why wish away every day that you could spend enjoying.
5. Stay Active:
Now that most of us are working from home it’s become even easier to disregard or make up excuses for physical exercise. Even the thought of having to get into a room with other sweaty humans all running around while wearing a mask is scary. I get it. However, there are other ways to stay active at home or outside. There’s no denying that a good workout or even a long walk will put your mind at ease and help give you those much-needed endorphins. Create a workout playlist, get a new workout outfit, or find a new workout platform to serve as your motivation to do some physical exercise a few times a week. This will only help you feel healthier, happier, and more energized to get things done. I also find that if I sit and think about working out for too long that it becomes that much harder to actually do it. I pick a few days a week that work best with my schedule, I get in the car, drive to the gym and get to work. I don’t think about it too much, I just do it and that has helped immensely.
I hope these tips help you push through and feel more productive. Keep in mind, we are all in a similar situation, and it is important more than ever to take little steps to care for your mental health and focus during these times. The most powerful thing you can do is just start and little by little the productivity will follow.
