Can a Productivity Ritual Help You Get More Done? Image courtesy of Gualberto1070 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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This is Week 24 of a Year of Living Productively
This week I tested whether a productivity ritual (as described by Simple Productivity Blog) of preparing for each work session mentally with prayer and physically by gathering materials would help me get things done. Scroll to the bottom of last week’s post for more details.
How a Productivity Ritual Saved My Sanity This Week
Gave me a sense of peace. I used to be careful to pray before I wrote. This week I realized I haven’t been and I haven’t enjoyed the focus and flow I used to have.
Helped me work more efficiently. I remembered to grab my blogging notebook, for example, and was able to get more posts written in less time than I have in weeks.
How a Productivity Ritual Made Me Crazy This Week
Not conducive to much of the week’s work. I hosted two large parties and a house guest this week. There wasn’t a simple way of “gathering materials” for this, though I made plenty of trips to the store! I’ve been going strong all day long and had rare occasions when I felt like a new work period was starting for which the ritual would be effective.
Kept forgetting to use it. I haven’t kept the usual schedule this week and this habit hasn’t been developed, so I forgot about using it. When I did remember, I wasn’t sure how to use it for the work in front of me.
Did a Productivity Ritual Help Me Get Things Done?
Yes, when it was appropriate. When I sat down at my desk to work on my blog, I loved it! Most likely I was intuitively using this ritual as I got everything together I needed for entertaining this week. I could have benefitted from it more had I been more efficient in gathering cleaning supplies and more intentional about praying before activity changes. It’s something I want to continue to do in the future without trying to shoe-horn it into all of my work.
**UPDATE**
I still use productivity rituals to good effect. I make sure I’m comfortable, check my computer, and pray before writing.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 25
The concept. I’ve already tested Pomodoros and found them to be beneficial. However, I was working for 50-minute periods. I already use ten-minute cleaning periods with the kids and they work. But I haven’t been using these short work periods that overcome resistance and procrastination in other areas of my life. For example, I have some paper scrapbooking kits that I keep saving for “when I have time.” You and I both know I won’t get to them with that criterion. This week, I’m going to spend ten minutes a day on them.
The other concept explained in Make it Happen that I was very excited about was making a list of things we want to create and things we want to conquer. This dichotomy really resonates with me. The labels we use for our work are very powerful. Imagine having a “to conquer” list vs. a “thankless” list. This week I want to create two scrapbook pages using a kit and I want to conquer selling things on eBay and Amazon. I already feel relieved thinking about working on this just 10 minutes a day.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Buy and read Make it Happen in Ten Minutes a Day {affiliate link} if you want to, but it’s not required. Choose a create and a conquer task for the week and work on them just ten minutes a day each. If you can’t afford twenty minutes a day, choose just one of these tasks to focus on.
Click here to see how my week of 10 Minutes a Day went.
You can now subscribe to productivity posts separate from the rest of Psychowith6 content here.
If you’ve tried a Productivity Ritual to increase your productivity, please comment. I will no longer be including polls.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
Can Beat the Week Help You Get More Done? Image courtesy of arztsamui / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This is Week 23 of a Year of Living Productively
This week I tested whether attempting to get a week’s worth of work done by Thursday (what I called Beat the Week) would help me get more done. 99u calls it “reward efficiency.” The motivation was to have time at the end of the week to do what I wished.
How Beat the Week Saved My Sanity This Week
The weekly planning focused my efforts. A number of productivity hacks I’ve tested have made me a believer in reviewing the week ahead. It helps me feel on top of things.
Helped me keep my expectations realistic. As I considered what I could really do in a week (a short week no less), I was reminded of how important this is for me to learn. I always think I can squeeze a year’s worth of activities into a week.
How Beat the Week Made Me Crazy This Week
Hard to maintain a closed list. I didn’t add new tasks to the week’s list, but they appeared and had to be done anyway. Even though I made progress, I didn’t feel like I was because of the other work I had to do.
I had a singular focus this week. I have an international house guest arriving this week and I found myself ignoring my list in favor of getting ready for his arrival. The list actually annoyed me like a distraction.
I felt like I was cheating. Because I didn’t do a good job of keeping my list manageable (especially in light of pressing commitments), I found myself postponing tasks I had included on the list. I didn’t feel I deserved the reward of time off since I hadn’t actually completed those tasks and quite frankly I gave up. I completed the most important tasks on time, but this felt due to the impending arrival of our guest more than anything.
Did Beat the Week Help Me Get Things Done?
Not really. I did work hard this week to get things done by Thursday, but not because I wanted time off. I really won’t get time off as I have an out-of-town trip and two big parties to get ready for. It wasn’t the best week to test this approach. I also think this approach could be useful in helping me be realistic about what I can get done. However, scheduling a la SmartPad already works for me in this regard.
**UPDATE**
Now that I keep Sundays as a completely free day, I find I am very motivated to get my work done by Saturday at the latest. In a sense, Beat the Week is working very well for me now.
The Productivity Approach I’ll Be Using for Week 24
Can a Productivity Ritual Help You Get More Done?Image courtesy of Gualberto1070 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This week I’ll be testing a Productivity Ritual. Simple Productivity Blogoffers three aspects to a ritual that can help us get more done: clearing the mind, gathering the materials, and resetting/shifting. For me, this is different than the morning ritual because it is done prior to each work period.
The concept. Clearing the mind helps to maintain focus on the task at hand as does some kind of a resetting ritual. Because I change activities several times throughout the day, I can benefit from this. I am going to pray before I begin a new activity period to satisfy both of these components. Not only will I be forced to focus on the anticipated work, but I should have a better attitude about the work.
The final aspect of a productivity ritual that I’m really excited about is gathering materials. Here’s why I’m so eager. I am one of the children’s worship leaders at my church and until recently I had begun to dread my week to serve. Pulling craft and music materials out of the cabinet was risky because it was stuffed and disorganized and nothing had been prepared in advance. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago when a new coordinator took over. Not only were all the supplies organized, but everything was set up and ready for me to use. I enjoyed leading so much in this environment that I told the coordinator I would serve more often.
The takeaway for me is that I am more productive (and happier) when I have what I need ready to go. I do this when I cook, but rarely when I work. For example, I will sit down to write a week’s worth of blog posts for The Inspired Day and realize that my blogging notebook is not on my desk. Rather than run to get it, I skip planning a week’s worth of posts at once, losing time in the process.
If you’d like to join me this week, here’s what you do. Read Simple Productivity Blog’s post on a productivity ritual. Decide how you will clear your mind and reset between activities and pledge to gather materials before you begin.
Click here to see if a productivity ritual worked for me!
You can now subscribe to productivity posts separate from the rest of Psychowith6 content here.
If you’ve tried Beat the Week to increase your productivity, please vote in the poll below.
Here are the links to the productivity hacks I’ve tried so far:
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
