Your productivity deserves to live. Make sure you don't kill your productivity!

We often feel immense pressure to perform and come up with the best possible result. In search of that glory, we sometimes try different techniques that we believe will help increase our output and productivity. Usually, that isn’t the case, read on to find out what habits of yours hamper or kill your productivity. Being producing should always be in the radar of every student but we all suffer from common bouts of cluelessness. When time simply slips away from you, even though you have been hustling hard. Keeping busy and being productive are not even on the same lines of reality, contrary to popular belief. Here are a few ways in which you can ensure that you are at your optimal best and being truly productive. 

Saying ‘Yes’ all the time

Consistently saying ‘yes’ to any one and every one over your studies or any other thing will definitely hamper your productivity. Saying ‘yes’ all the time will eventually lead you to the conclusion that you’ve bitten off more than you can chew and finishing said tasks in the given time period is next to impossible. One should learn to say ‘no’ for their own good. Next time you think of helping out or volunteering, consider the fact that whether or not this is related to your own work and studies in any way. Will it help you get closer to realising your goals or not?

Highlight and define work hours

Set clear boundaries between studies and leisure. Finishing assignments when on vacation or studying while in front of the TV with family will only clutter and confuse things for you. These blurred boundaries can steal from your rest and relaxation time. Take a close look at your schedule: what are your regular studying/prepping hours? Segregating study and leisure times will help define boundaries and better equip you to execute all tasks at hand.

Multitasking

Contrary to popular belief, multitasking causes more harm than good. This is largely due to the fact that your attention is divided among multiple tasks and that leaves the door open for mistakes. Mistakes which you would have usually avoided had that not been the case. In other words, most of your energy is being devoted to switching tasks, rather than completing them. In addition, switching between tasks will require you changing your thought process time and again which will take a toll on you further.

Remove distractions

This is not news but the worst offenders that hamper productivity are definitely social media and textual interactions with friends, so it's important that you take steps ensuring you aren’t distracted by them. Other distractions include:

• Television

• Family

• Games

Think about the big picture

Keeping in mind the big picture is good till the time you limit it to when you’re not actually working. The reason being the big picture is obviously pretty big and involves a ton of steps into the future. It will be easy to become overwhelmed with how much work you need to accomplish before reaching your goal.

Stay away from perfectionism

Perfectionism in all its greatness will cause you to be more vigilant and cautious than one needs to be. Some of the ways it creeps in are:

• Unrealistically high standards you set for yourself
  Having such high standards leads to excess time spent on all tasks at hand which isn’t required. Time constraints set in and increases stress and pressure on you leading to poor performance in tests, assignments etc.

• Panicking when things don’t go according to plan
  Things don’t always go according to plan. It is not the time to be panicking. Rather, step back, breathe and look at the situation realistically. Brainstorm what needs to be done and execute it.

Stress

Stress is brutal on a person’s psyche. Different situations warrant different stress levels but our brain takes it as one and we act accordingly. Stressing about deadlines and stressing about some personal scenario is not the same but yet are treated as one. What this leads to is a lack of effective communication and an inability to critically analyse one’s own work.