5 simple habits to put in place for a more productive & less stressful 2022
Based on a Psychologist’s observations of common pitfalls
image credit marekuliasz on Shutterstock
Your time- your choice. Take charge.
When we distribute our time well we feel happier. Most people know this simple fact, yet far from everybody manages to live accordingly. The pandemic contributed to plenty of challenges and triggers. Having too much time often works the opposite way when it comes to productivity, as does having no routine.
‘If you want something done, ask a busy person’
(Benjamin Franklin)
To me, this quote sums up what I noticed in a lot of my clients during the pandemic lockdowns. The loss of routine and structure was catastrophic for a lot of people resulting in lowered productivity and major bouts of anxiety and self-doubt arising. Under normal circumstances, the structure of society ensures a level of routine, which in turn means that many individuals have never learnt how to create their own. A vicious cycle can quickly arise from not feeling capable of getting anything done as it tends to lead to further self-doubt, more anxiety and even less productivity.
It has not been easy for most people to have their life routines reset to zero and have to build their own. It did however force us to choose what we spend our time on as opposed to living life on auto-pilot and being too busy to notice what we are missing out on. This particular part I believe will have positive long term consequences for many. Aside from the less severe but noticeable effects discussed above, there was of course also the rise in loneliness, addiction, suicidality and severe mental health struggles that lockdowns paved the way for.
Too much unstructured time is difficult for people
Here are some of the more obvious observations that I made in 2021 through my work with clients:
- What many professionals first called ‘freedom’ of working from home- soon looked more like being a string-puppet going from a sleeping position to a sitting position with a laptop tray. Working from home became a self-imposed prison for a lot of people and erased healthy boundaries between work and life.
- Having no variety in one’s routine and little contact with the outside world is extremely detrimental to peoples’ mental health regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or profession. Period.
- The more time people spend on their phones, the more bored, unfulfilled, anxious and unwell they appear to feel. It erodes self-discipline, self-control and destroys our attention span. These are bold statements but most people would know them as being true by now.
- A fulfilling routine is not something that people are used to creating for themselves. Even those that thought they were masters of routine found themselves realising that the only reason they ever had it was because it was ‘prescribed’ by work/school/childrens’ activities etc.
- Humans do not thrive without real-life interaction. Whilst replacements via online activities certainly are better than nothing- it still leaves a lot to be desired for. Human beings need touch, face-to-face contact and community. Feel free to disagree.
- Thinking that we are efficient when we do everything at the same time is a humongous trap. Hanging laundry while doing an exercise class, clearing the tables while on a work call; It may feel as though we are ‘saving time’ and creating space for ‘later’ but I would beg to differ.
These are just a few nuggets of what was observed but I will focus on these for now as they are important and controllable.
Even if it will be difficult, you can change these patterns.
Small changes will go a long way. Here is my list of recommendations:
1. Reduce time spent on your phone.
Time spent on the phone is without a doubt correlated to a feeling of unproductiveness, boredom and dissatisfaction. Some clients I met with this year (most notably the age span from 16–25-year-olds) would be racking up some 12+ plus per day on their phones during the lockdowns. For them, the consequences didn’t stop at boredom. Many were displaying symptoms of clinical depression, high anxiety and at times also suicidality. Panic for having to ever face the real world again. Social anxiety and fear of having to have ‘live’ interactions ever again and reduced motivation to do anything at all. Hopelessness about not being able to have a life ever again and a sense of losing one’s lifeskills in general. Needless to say, many clients need far more intervention than reduced screen time to get well again. Still, excessive screen time will likely make things worse regardless of your baseline feelings.
How do I reduce my phone use?
It would be easy to assume that reducing phone use should be an easy task. This is far from the truth and you will likely find that you are going to struggle more than you realised when you attempt to. Staying away from your phone can be a bit like reducing drinking for an alcoholic while the bottle is standing in front of them. The phone will need to be tucked away. By all means, also apply the ‘screentime’ apps. Even if you can override them easily, they make for a needed prompt of how much time you spent on any given day.
A tried-and-tested technique is to leave the phone in a drawer or in a different room. Start building up from periods of say 30 min and work up to the desired time. You might also wish to allocate your phone-free time for periods of the day when being present-focused matters, for example during time with family, while focusing on a work task etc. Will the mind turn into an excuse generator? Yes, you can bet on it. ‘But what if someone needs me…’ ‘but what if my work requires me to…’ ‘I just need to check the weather etc. If there is a will there is a way. The withdrawal symptoms wean off quite quickly if you keep with it.
I should mention that when I refer to ‘phone use’ I primarily target online activities and aimless browsing and checking of social mediums etc. Speaking with friends and family is often a more focused activity that on the contrary can be uplifting and energising.
The rewards from less phone use
As I said, start with small bits and notice the difference in your focus and concentration. Also, note how efficient you become. Washing up might go from taking 30 minutes to 10 minutes when you are not also ordering bits off of Amazon or choosing the right tune on YouTube. This will also work as a motivator to take the technique further.
Research has shown that the phone should be out of sight as we otherwise still ‘fight the urge’ to reach for it, which in itself is destructive for our present moment focus. Read more about this in the books by Anders Hanson, a Swedish Psychiatrist with some excellent books on the topic of screen time and mental health. (see references below).
2. Planning and setting intentions
Plan the day better and ensure that there is sufficient variety, breaks and time-buffers. Aim for sleeping, eating and exercise to all be regular. They also need to be put into the planner with as much commitment and priority as tasks pertaining to work, childcare etc.
Most of us would like to fool ourselves to think that the basic things that keep us well will somehow happen regardless. I find that it is better to accept that they won’t happen unless they are planned well and time is allocated in advance.
When the intention is set right from the beginning, there is a mental determination and commitment that arises as a result. It is as though you are already rehearsing what you will be doing before actually getting it done.
This does help to get to the action. In therapy I will immediately point out when I hear people use language such as ‘I might try ….’ or ‘this week I probably should..’ when trying to commit to taking certain action steps. You know they are already setting themselves up for self-sabotage and excuse-making by the time the intention is vague. Be realistic with what you want to accomplish, but once it is clear in your mind make sure you set your intentions as if you mean it!
3. Do similar tasks in batches and at times when your energy for the task is right
Tim Ferris has always been a big spokesperson for this method and many other self-help gurus will be saying the same thing. I have observed in many high-flying clients who hold mega-important roles and manage millions of tasks; that this is something they do quite naturally. Emails are not sent while rushing for a train or from the pillow before bedtime. Not as a standard anyway. They have ‘slots’ for when they check and send emails, slots for phone calls and equally, slots for when they put their feet up and relax.
Sit down and ‘cluster’ your tasks and weekly activities up into groups that go well together and then try and organise your day so that there is time for a little bit from each category. This way you can rest in your mind that they will get done properly and as a bonus, you can mentally ‘park’ those tasks all other times. Something that reduces mental clutter enormously and enables your attentional resources to stay on task.
Doing things in batches is also useful. Without sounding like a housewife from the 1950s — there is a lot to be said for batch-cooking, packing the bags and planning for what to wear ahead of time. Removing small decisions such as ‘what to have for dinner ‘what shirt to wear’ etc can make life easier and prevents these small decisions from becoming distracting hurdles. it also ensures you don’t find yourself in the early morning with bags under your eyes searching frantically for a matching pair of socks and your kids’ missing school book.
Being big on juicing myself it took me 10 years of daily cleaning of the juicer (and one smart client pitching it) to realise that batch-juicing saves a lot of time every week too. Just apply this method to whatever chores you do regularly that you find consumes your time.
4. Use your best focus hours for attention-demanding tasks
How many of us have at some point realised we just spent our best focus-hours of each day doing things that do not require much focus at all? Yet if we use our emotions to prioritise we can easily end up fooling ourselves to believe that it makes sense to get small meaningless tasks out of the way first. By the time we then need our concentration to achieve a flow, the window has passed.
Planning is a critical component here as well; take a brief overview of your week, cluster similar tasks together and also create specific slots for when you do what. E.g, writing- between 9–10 am when my concentration is optimal, exercise when I still have energy and motivation in the morning. On the reverse, accepting that the laundry mountain can wait until the late afternoon or evening when energy is dipping, even though you might feel the niggle to just ‘get it done first’. This is yet another reason why working from home has been difficult for many people. Unless you are enjoying a plaza with your perfectly organised workspace, you might just find yourself triggered every minute by the chores staring you in the face from all around. As a small solution, it can often help to create even a tiny oasis where you can enjoy a clutter-free space that does not distract you.
5. Last but not least: Focus on ONE thing at the time
This piece of advice is implicated in all of the suggestions above but is so important that it deserves its own heading. If you, like me, struggle with multiple ideas, plenty of passion projects, excitability and impulses and an inability to pace yourself in life; this is even more relevant.
We can only do something well if we focus properly on it.
We also do not save any time by doing several things at the same time. Aside from things like sending invoices on a train journey or watching a tv-show while working out, generally, we are better off putting our entire presence to one thing at the time.
A few years ago I read an article in the news suggesting that a typical UK parent spend about 19 minutes per day with their kid. What!? How is that possible, I thought. Well, it is. Because they were measuring quality time. Not the type of time where you happen to be in the same house and everyone is busy fiddling with something else. The type of time where you give them your full presence and attention. So to use the context of children- try and make it a daily point to actually ‘give yourself’ to them for half an hour. Do it as a matter of priority and you will also see a difference in how they relate to you and how settled they appear afterwards. Again, apply this method to any area of your life or any human relationship and note the difference that it makes.
Happy new year everybody!
(2016) The Real Happy Pill: Power Up Your Brain by Moving Your Body
(2019) Insta-brain
