Productivity – Page 6

10 Honest Tips to Beat Procrastination Holistically

We all put off important things because we may not feel like it. However, there are ways to beat this habit of procrastination. In the following article, we will explore ten honest tips to beat procrastination holistically.

01.Bribe Yourself

This may sound counter-intuitive, but sometimes you just need to make yourself a special beverage, like a latte, and then power through. Whatever your treat may be, it may be the catalyst to start you motoring along.

02.Shop First

They say that you should make your money first, and then go shopping. However, there’s no harm in browsing online for those bigger ticket items that you want. When you do this, you are essentially incentivizing yourself to do the hard work you’ve been putting off.

03.Streamline Your Schedule

Your procrastination might come from the fact that you are simply overwhelmed. You should look at your schedule and find ways to pare it down. In this way, you will find you have more time on your hands to get your work done.

04.Jump in Feet First

Sometimes, there is no better way to nip the procrastination bud but to just jump in feet first. Don’t dip your toe in and see if you like it. Take a proactive approach to starting by actually just beginning with an honest effort.

05.Don’t Ruminate on Past Failure

A lot of us hate criticism. We get and it almost disables us. All you need to do with criticism is learn from it. Sometimes the critic doesn’t even know what they’re talking about. Instead of letting yourself wallow in bed and have sleepness nights, just take the criticism and then forget it.

06.Follow Your Passions

Sometimes we are just not passionate about what we do on a daily basis. This can actually be draining. See if you can look into the type of work that recharges your batteries instead of wipes out your spirit.

07.Approach Your Work Comfortably

It can be that you are working too hard and not being productive enough. Try to see if there is a more comfortable way to approach your work. You might feel guilty, but a lot of successful people use this approach. It’s all about maximizing your time. Sometimes to maximize your time, you have to slouch a bit.

08.Try Aromatherapy

Now that a lot of us are working from home, you can try using a diffuser to heighten your senses. There are plenty of energizing scents out there like peppermint blends that can get you in a productive frame of mind again.

09.Remember That Talk is Cheap

You might be tempted to have a conversation with everyone you know about why you don’t want to be doing what you should. However, talk is cheap and in the time you took to make your phone calls, you could have been just getting down to it.

10.Love Your Life

We could all use a little bit of reframing in our lives. Start by looking at all the reasons why you are grateful for where you are in life. This can be a powerful reframing tool to make you see that what you are procrastinating really isn’t that horrible in the grand scheme of things.

10 Amazing Yoga facts you didn’t know

When people think of yoga they think of the practice that involves a lot of stretching along with meditation. Yoga is said to be great for overall health. There is more to yoga than just getting into some interesting poses. These are 10 interesting facts about yoga that you probably did not know.

01.More Than Stretching

Yoga does more for the body than just increase flexibility. Yoga will help stimulate the rest and digest systems to help reduce stress. This exercise will help improve immunity and will allow you to have increased energy levels. It will also improve your cardio and circulatory systems.

02.Practice

While you may think that yoga has been around for a long time it has been around longer than you think. It was being practiced 10,000 years ago. Some say that yoga dates back to Vedic Indian traditions.

03.Modification

There are some moves that you may have trouble doing and that is okay. Yoga can be modified to fit your needs. If you are going through physical rehabilitation you can practice modified yoga. If you have specific health conditions yoga moves can also be modified to fit your body and your needs.

04.Practice Time

You may think that you need to practice yoga for hours each day. All it takes is 10 to 30 minutes to see the benefit. If you have more time that is great but if you are pressed for time you can still see health benefits

05.Yoga is for All

You do not have to follow a certain lifestyle or belief system to practice yoga. While it can help you reduce stress and become more aware of things around you it is more for the body. You can practice yoga and follow any belief system.

06.Any Gender

While many think that only women practice yoga, it is good for men too. Any gender can see the benefit of yoga. If you are a man and may not want to go to a yoga class right away you can find many free yoga sessions online.

07.Poses

There are 196 different yoga poses and there are 84 classic yoga moves. There are different poses of all types of flexibility.

08.Yoga Teachers

Not all people that practice yoga is young. This once again shows that yoga is for everyone. Bette Calman for Australia is one record for being the oldest yoga teacher in the world. She is 85 years old.

09.OCD Help

Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a condition that affects millions of people. Yoga has been shown to help reduce symptoms related to this condition. A study from the Nonlinear Science at the University of California stated that people with OCD that practiced yoga have a reduction in their symptoms.

10.Yoga and Dogs

Doga is a type of yoga that begins in 2002 in New York. People would develop harmony with their dogs in a yoga session. The dogs can do light stretching with their owners.

These are some interesting facts about yoga that most people do not know. Yoga is good for the mind and for the body. It is worth giving this form of exercise a try.

How to Overcome Distractions in Life

Well, we have all been at that point when we are tempted to join social media when we should be working on an assignment or studying. And then there are those notifications we ache to see once there are notification sounds on our phones or the emails you keep on checking every 5 minutes so that you don’t miss any important message.

Well, distractions are here to stay, and research shows that they lower your productivity at home, school, and work. Therefore, if you want to avoid distractions, it’s essential to incorporate structure in your lie by managing your time properly and removing distractions. These few changes will enable you to overcome distractions and improve your productivity in your tasks.

Top 4 ways of overcoming distractions in your life

01.Avoid Electronics

The top way of eliminating distractions is putting away that smartphone, tablet or computer. They should be as far away as possible and powered off. Or better place them in the drawer or a room it will be hard to access them. If you’re using the device at work, then limit those apps that will lower your productivity.

Also, don’t forget to turn off notifications on your phone as social media apps can easily distract you for a longer time. Only turn on the important notifications, and you can utilize the “Do Not Disturb” feature that is available in many smartphones to avoid these notifications. Later on, you can check them when you’re finished with the current task.

02.Set Clear Objectives Each day

If you design many objectives, then you will feel overwhelmed and fail to achieve them all together, even before starting. But you can easily accomplish more and avoid distractions by listing only three objectives you want to accomplish each day. Write them on a note that you can easily access anytime. By listing a few daily goals, you will clearly define what you want to start working on. And you will focus more on these tasks; thus, your mind will less likely stray anymore.

When you wake up each day, ask yourself of the most important goals you want to achieve and note them down in a to-do list. Once you accomplish the most critical tasks, you can handle the rest later.

03.Give yourself a shorter time

If you have more hours, then there is no guarantee that you’ll accomplish more. This is because you give workers more time, then they will find ways of accommodating the remaining time with distractions. That way, if you don’t dedicate some extra time to other activities, then you will be tempted to play a video game or watch some YouTube videos. But when you have less time, you will avoid distractions and figure a way to complete the task on time. Therefore, with a short deadline, getting distracted will be more challenging.

04.Reward Yourself

Finally, it’s essential to reward yourself to ensure you keep the spirits and motivation high. By bringing in rewards, you will make it more enticing to complete a particular task. For example, if you reward yourself with a cup of tea, a television show, or internet time, then you will tend to avoid distractions as you’ll think of the reward you’ll get by avoiding it.

Avoiding distractions is the best way of hastening your productivity in different environments. Luckily, with our guide, it will be easier for you to avoid the distractions coming across your way.

How to Let Go of Anger

Life sometimes becomes too much for our inner self to handle and one of the ways we lay out this stress is through anger. Although anger can occur naturally, we always have reasons, including frustrating experiences and feeling like someone hurt us. Additionally, there are two kinds of persons when it comes to anger; those that get angry often and those that show a burst of rage when seriously annoyed.

Our body works by tricking us that we need anger to reverse an unpleasant experience or feeling. If we allow this to happen, the signs of annoyance may escalate to the point that we cannot control them. If you are struggling with anger and would want strategies to let it go, keep reading through the following tips:

01.Change your perspective

Learn to view problems in your life as critical lessons in a typical growth journey. Although it may be hard for you to overlook your problems for the first time, this strategy becomes more effective after assuming many minor life problems.

02.Take slow deep breaths

Breathing is a mind to body activity that can help trigger your entire system to calm down. Provided you change your breathing pattern, you can quickly come to terms with your relaxed state as you await full healing. To take good deep breaths, find a comfortable seat to relax on, breathe in through your nose and for a while and exhale heavily though your mouth to let off the breath and the frustration.

03.Meditate

If you are dealing with chronic anger, this might be the perfect solution for you. With meditation, you change how you view things around you, including people who have annoyed you. This kind of satisfaction is the number one anger killer for many down to the gut. Hold the breath people.

04.Forget awful past events

As mentioned in the beginning, life will never be fair for everybody and unpleasant events will always be there. However, it would help if you learned to move on even after an awful happening to keep anger away and live happily. An effortless way to help you forget things that made you mad is focusing on the good thing about the subjects that hurt you.

05.Keep yourself physically active

Any physical activity that will shift your focus from concentrating on the wrong side of your emotions can help keep anger at bay. Actually, with physical exercise, the tension will be over within a concise time and you can right away regain your joyous mood.

06.Contact a health professional

If you find that getting rid of emotions that results in anger is challenging for you, consider reaching out to a reliable psychotherapist. Always keep in mind that anger can easily consume you and your best self within a concise time. It would not hurt to hear what people who have interacted with several other resentment cases would advise about your situation.

The bottom line

It is serious that you may never know how dangerous anger is until you have entirely lost control of your emotions and the people’s connection very dear to you. To avoid these risky outcomes of anger, you must be ready to let it go as soon as you notice that you are not in your best behavior. Follow the above tips to get rid of this powerful but useless emotion and live a happy life after that.

How to Motivate Yourself When You Feel Depressed

Depression has become quite common and is widely known as the number one motivation killer. When depressed, you lose your focus, energy, and drive, and you get a feeling that makes you want to stay out of the light and let the darkness consume you.

The reality of depression is that the individuals who face it won’t easily accept lifestyle changes that are supposedly meant to make them feel better. A common response for such changes is “Easier said than done”.

The truth is that majority of the individuals who face depression already have ideas of what they should do to make them feel better, only that they don’t know how to do it. Besides, depression is a motivation, focus, interest, and energy killer.

Even though finding motivation when depressed is not easy, these ideas should make it easy to get you started, and find your way to recovery:

01.Set the bar low

When not depressed, your functioning ability is usually somewhere between 70 to 90%, but this goes down to about 20% when you’re fighting depression. As such, you can’t set expectations for yourself that are the same as or close to what you had when you were feeling good about yourself.

If you do so, there is a high probability that you will end up feeling anxious and overwhelmed, hence fail. This will make you feel ashamed and defeated, hence worsen your condition.

Rather, you should focus on accomplishing smaller, manageable tasks. If, for example, you wanted to finish your math assignment, aim to finish one problem first, then you can raise the bar once you’ve met your goal.

If it becomes hard to raise the bar and solve other equations as well, be content with what you’ve done already since you already accomplished your initial goal. Keep in mind that setting unrealistic goals only sets you up for failure.

02.Be compassionate to yourself

No matter the situation you are in, avoid beating yourself up for being “unproductive” and “lazy”. Doing so will only make you feel worse about your situation.

Instead, try to think about how you would encourage a friend who is facing depression and practice self-compassion. You can use a mantra or the same encouraging words that you would say to a friend who’s struggling with depression.

03.Exercise

If you can, it’s always advisable to engage in physical activities that will awaken your happy spirit. Exercising raises levels of the good-feel hormone in you, making you less susceptible to depression. Your exercise sessions should take preferably 2-3 hours a day, twice or thrice a week.

04.Get support or seek help

Some, if not most of us, have trouble holding ourselves accountable even at the best of times. You can only expect it to get harder with little motivation or energy. When such times arise, it’s always advisable that you confide in someone you can trust, and get help from them

You can get a friend to ensure that you stay true to your commitment or ask your partner to accompany you to a yoga session. Never be afraid to ask for whatever support or assistance you think may help you overcome your hard times.

05.Focus on how you’ll feel after a task

When fighting depression, even the simplest of tasks seem daunting. But that’s because you more than likely are focusing on the effort involved, rather than envisioning how you’ll feel after completing the given task. That’s why you should aim to focus on how you will most likely feel after completing a task, rather than during.

06.Set rewards

If you’re able to make the effort of achieving your goals despite your situation you, definitely do deserve a pat on the back. One thing to keep in mind is that if you want to reward yourself, you should aim to earn the thing that you love to do. Rather than binge-watching your favorite show, earn each episode by completing the tasks that you need to.

A caveat that you ought to consider, however, is that you should never come up with a reward system that only ends up feeding your depression. If, for example, your depression makes you want to stay in bed all day, avoid rewarding yourself with a nap. If the show you like watching the most is a downer that will probably make you feel worse, just reserve it for times when you’re feeling better.

The goal is to congratulate yourself for making the effort to do things that you, otherwise, wouldn’t have wished to do as a result of low motivation.

Final thoughts

The truth of life is that we move at different paces, and through the process, we face struggles and moments where we feel like we can throw in the towel. One thing to keep in mind is that such moments are normal. With roughly 121 million people around the world suffering from depression, you can be sure that you are not alone in your troubles.

The good thing is that there is always light at the end of the tunnel, and there is something that you can do to help you step out of the abyss. The strategies discussed above should go a long way in helping you get your life back.

The Ultimate Power of Confidence

Confidence in yourself gives you the ultimate power to face any task confidently and audaciously. I, self-confidence does not hold me back from anything. As a matter of fact, I appreciate my high level of confidence that allows me to make the decisions and choices I want in life without a feeling of overriding fear or concern. This doesn’t mean that I am always successful at everything I do, but by trying, I always realize that I am getting closer to a higher level of confidence.

Self-confidence doesn’t imply that you have to undertake every single task by yourself. It means that you can solve the ones you know by yourself and know where to seek for help on the ones you can’t do by yourself. Confidence is a trait that you learn as opposed to something you were born with. It is the power that drives you forward and enables you to find the ideal path amid the chaos and confusion of life. It is a requisite that you need to help you realize and achieve your goals in life.

All people have the power of confidence within them. Unfortunately, most people leave it unexploited for a long time while others use it parsimoniously like a cheapskate. The self-confidence of many individuals has been kept hostage by mistakes that they did in the past. However, since you can’t rectify your past mistakes, don’t let them spoil your bright future, so forget them and start building your confidence.

The first thing to do when regaining your confidence is appreciating and loving yourself. It is very challenging, if not impossible, to have confidence in yourself if you don’t even like yourself. Every one of us was born for a specific purpose. You should hence think about the things you love doing and try to be better in them. Otherwise, why should you spend your life doing the things you don’t like?

Low confidence levels often cause poor performance and mediocrity, but it’s not something you have to live with. More so, lack of self-confidence does not mean that other people can see. You can start building your confidence back by challenging yourself to take action about it. The easiest way to do this is by setting small projects and goals that have to be completed at a particular time. Every time you achieve the goals you have set, the little victories will convince your mind that you can do many things making your confidence grow. With improved confidence, you can take on significant projects and goals.

One thing you should always remember is that you are the most influential person in your confidence. More precisely, your mind is the main weapon you can use to strengthen your self-esteem and self-confidence. Be your own best friend and supporter, talk positive things about yourself, applaud yourself on every goal you achieve, and don’t let failure hold you back from trying again. You can also get inspired by the already confident people who have a sense of purpose. You should never listen to those who tell you that you cannot achieve a particular goal. Confidence gives you the ultimate power to achieve any dream, so its time you build yours.

How Insomnia Ruins Your Career

Insomnia is a state where a person fails to sleep the recommended eight hours. The person often has problems falling and staying asleep. Various factors contribute to the condition of insomnia. For instance, poor sleeping habits eventually cause sleep deprivation. Anxiety also causes a person to suffer from insomnia as it is a condition of constant worrying. More so, some diseases and medication also aggravate insomnia. Insomnia has a significant impact on a person’s career because it affects productivity. As such, this article will discuss how insomnia can ruin a career.

Insomnia reduces the productivity of an employee. Therefore the management will start complaining that a particular employee is not performing as expected. Sleep deprivation causes the employee to have diminished concentration. Thus, the employee cannot remain engaged for long, which affects the quality of work and contribution to the overall business. Also, the quality of decisions made by the employee reduces as a result of lack of sleep. The management can fail to promote the employee on account of non-performance, which affects career progression.

Additionally, insomnia affects the overall functioning of the employee. The lack of enough sleep indicates that the mind and body have not rejuvenated. Therefore there is a backlog of exhaustion that builds up over time. The employee will appear tired all the time, and this affects the interaction and job performance. Moreover, sleep deprivation predisposes the worker in making silly mistakes in the course of work. For instance, an accountant will feed in the wrong amounts in a balance sheet, which misleads the decision. Therefore the managers will not trust the employee with specific tasks.

Furthermore, insomnia makes the employee fail to compete effectively in the workplace. The employee feels overall exhaustion, which affects their morale and ability to compete favorably. Lack of enough sleep also leads to loss of interest, which affects the employee’s enthusiasm towards work. They only appear to work because it is a requirement, but they do not show any interest in the book. Therefore the loss of interest in work makes the employee perceive instructions and assignments as a bother.

People who have insomnia also become irritable and tend to get into fights with other people. Thus the management warns the employee, and if the employee remains in that state, they get fired. Therefore insomnia can cause loss of career. More so, insomnia also contributes to absenteeism, which affects the track record of the employee. More so, lack of sleep predisposes the employee to high blood pressure and anxiety, affecting productivity in the workplace.

Thus, insomnia is a medical condition that presents an inability to fall and remain asleep for long. The side effects of long periods of sleep cost so many people their careers. The employees suffering from this condition are unable to focus and concentrate on their work. They also produce substandard jobs because they are prone to making errors. Also, they become irritable and therefore cause unnecessary tension in the workplace. More so, if charged with the job of controlling machines, the employee can cause accidents. Thus insomnia interferes with the overall productivity of an employee, inhibiting career progression of the same.

How to Get rid of Negative Thoughts from Controlling Your Life

Are your negative thoughts controlling your life?

Well, there is no need to freak. It is a condition that is affecting thousands of people across the world. The perception makes people not to reach out and build social ties.Negativity can increase the level of toxicity in an individual’s mind and end up holding their life back. Getting rid of such thoughts is quite essential for your mental health.

However, overcoming negative thoughts is not an easy thing. It requires dedication and commitment to see the light at the end of the tunnel.In this article, you will learn how to get rid of negative thoughts from controlling your life. Let’s get started:

How to Overcome Negative Thoughts and Embrace Positivity

Getting a clear mind back is not a quick fix. It is something that requires practice and patience. Here are things to consider when looking to overcome negativity:

01.Gym Workout

Working out and lifting weights is proven to help overcome negative thoughts. The exercise tends to engage the body and help change the headspace. It makes the mind focus and constructive again. The workouts are known to release mental tension and worries.

02.Reach Out and Build Social Ties

Negative perceptions tend to make people not reach out and end up not building social ties. Failing to let issues out and talking over it could result in a severe mental health problem.The good news is that letting it out and talking over it will restore your positivity. This can be achieved by building social ties with a few trusted friends.

03.Replace the Surrounding Negativity

Negativity tends to occur due to the surroundings. Therefore, identify possible sources of negative thoughts from your environment. Replaces such surroundings with more positive sources to overcome negativity.

04.Find Something Good to Do

Setbacks and sufferings are the order of the day in human life. Sometimes, these situations can foster negative thoughts to crop up.The best option is finding something useful from these situations and pursuing it. It will help free up the headspace and restore positivity.

05.Meditation

Meditation is yet another technique proven to eliminate negative thoughts from controlling your life. It mainly focuses on taking a deeper breath of fresh air than usual for five minutes.Focus only on the air going in and out of the body. Try to resist thinking about other things during meditation.

06.Be Grateful for Small Achievements

Most people tend to get negative thoughts quickly. The situation makes them not to appreciate the small achievements they have made in life.Staying positive should be a habit, and it must start from appreciating small achievements in life. Feeling grateful every minute will help to get rid of negativity.

07.Bring Positivity to People

It is an ideal technique for those people who have been stuck in negativity. Adding positivity in the mind of people will help you to start feeling better and more optimistic.Giving a kind compliment and helping out tend to free-up the toxic mind. It is a perfect way of resolving recurring negative thoughts.

Home Tranquility: 7 Ideas for Leaving Work at the Office

For most people, it’s a struggle to completely leave work at the office when going home. This means that you carry the thoughts and ideas about work straight into your house. As a result, you kick up your feet and relax on the couch, but you find yourself constantly thinking about the office.

Note that this makes sense since we depend on our jobs for paying bills, buying clothes, and feeding us. However, you need to set a clear boundary between your work and the time you spend at home. This ensures you enjoy optimum home tranquility, while you prepare to head back tomorrow for another day.

Below are 7 ideas to help you completely leave work at the office and employ tranquility once you get home.

01.Stop overdoing it

As humans, we all have the desire to grow and become better than we already are. And for this to happen, hard is a constant aspect. That’s why most people overwork themselves to achieve more productivity in their field.

While this might be viable, you should know that we weren’t programmed to work 24/7. You need time to rest, and hard work doesn’t necessarily mean more productivity. So, once you are home, erase all thoughts concerning your work and take the time to rejuvenate yourself.

02.Reach out to a friend

Often, we are so caught up in the system that we even forget we have friends. And for most people, friends are only for weekend hangouts. This shouldn’t be the case and you should actually phone a friend to see how they are doing in the midst of the week.

This will take your mind of work as you’ll find someone to converse with and exchange non-work related ideas.

03.Prepare a routine

If you are a busy person working in an even busier environment, it’s easier to get overwhelmed with your work. Therefore, it’s necessary to set a routine for yourself and strictly adhere to its directives.

In the routine, distinguish work from home time to ensure you gain optimal productivity, while enjoying home tranquility.

04.Be present on your drive home

Paying attention to the surrounding environment when driving home will help you forget about the office atmosphere. Sightseeing is mind freeing will kick start you on leaving work at the office before getting home.

It doesn’t matter whether you know everything about the route you use back home from work; being present on your drive home is an easy way to forget about work.

05.Meditation

Meditation takes different forms and each of them can be a great way to help you forget about work once you are in the house. You can set aside at least 10 minutes to meditate and just shut down everything concerning work or how the day went.

This helps you eradicate any baggage and helps you relieve yourself of anything related to work.

06.Watch a show

Once you get home, that is your free time and you have to use it appropriately. You can decide to watch one or two of your favorite shows before doing anything else. This will convince your mind that you are at home and now, only home related issues matter.

07.Read a book

If you are not a big TV fan, seek tranquility in reading books after getting home from a long day. You can either office write a reading routine before leaving the office or just do it once you are at home.

How to Balance Your Professional and Private Life?

Maintaining a balance between your private and professional life is necessary when you work at home, and you have no one to answer to. As you grow older, both personal and professional responsibilities grow to the extent that you find it hard to balance your responsibilities.

When you balance your personal and work life well, you’ll be happier and more productive. Also, since you have people who rely you on both aspects, you should balance them. Besides, being successful is not only making money but also achieving success in different aspects of life including having time for your loved ones and getting new clients.

Ways of Balancing your Private and Professional life.

01.Try to Separate Work and Play

In this age of advanced technology, you can handle most tasks from home. If you are learning online or working from afar, then you’ll enjoy more flexibility in your routine. But the downside is the personal activities may overwhelm you to the point that you won’t get enough time for work.

Therefore, create a line of separation between home and office using a distinctive work zone. For instance, if you telecommute or study online, then visit a nearby library or a coffee shop and handle your tasks.

02.Create A Routine and Stick to It

When working at home, you should set time for work and always stick to it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself working into the wee hours of the night to complete your tasks. Also, at times personal issues can tempt you to immerse yourself into more work. But its wrong as you should have time for yourself, family, friends and health too.

For your routine to work well, you should also include a timeline of your activities. Many computer programs can help you design a schedule. But you can also use a custom word table or excel spreadsheets; indicate the dates, events and break each of them into simple components. Also, don’t forget to indicate the family commitments in your schedule i.e. birthdays, anniversaries and holidays as you’ll not be available on those days.

03.Design A Work space in Your Home

If you are working at home, then note that you’ll take long hours and is therefore essential to get the right equipment. This includes a support stand for your laptop, an ergonomic keyboard and a comfortable chair and a drawer etc. you should also assess your workspace ergonomically and design it to suit your job requirements

04.Manage Procrastination

Procrastination is the only standing block that can get into your way of working efficiently at home. Your personal and professional life could be put into a task as you always wait for the last minute to do things. Therefore, you will get distracted at work by personal tasks, or you could end up rushing work that leads to a poor quality job.

Maintaining your academic/career and personal life can be daunting at times. As an adult, you will admit to your work-life intruding into your personal life and vice versa. But with a balance in both lives, you will experience fewer burnouts and even improve your productivity.