A Perspective Change: Productivity Starts Now
By: Anisa Nasir
Tags: Productivity, Writing Tips, Journaling, Writing, Self

By Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash.com

“I woke up this morning to yet another snowstorm, and with the terrible weather comes the incredible urge to not be productive in the slightest (at least for a little while). However, as much as I’d like to remain in bed for the remainder of the day, there is still quite a bit of work to get done. I find that I’ve been having a much better time organizing both my work and personal schedules, and no longer makes me feel entirely overwhelmed. That is in part because of how much time and effort I’ve been putting into journaling lately, and how much clearer I’ve been because of it. I didn’t realize how much I needed to clear my head until I sat down to just let the thoughts flow, and I owe it all to an article I read yesterday that I will be linking below. I’ve spoken a lot about taking a step back when things seem to get a bit overwhelming, but lately I’ve been taking two steps forward, as I actively try to maintain my productivity all the while trying to keep my thoughts in check. It has certainly changed the way I start my day, and it sets me up for a productive work session every time.”

(Click here) for the amazing article I read on brain dumping.

Now that I’ve been able to clear my head a bit, focus all of my attention on the important tasks at hand, I can really see just how much I’ve benefited from it. I get work done so much more efficiently, now that I’m not spending too much of my time worrying about the other mundane tasks I may have to complete as the day progresses. I feel as though because I’ve begun to work a bit more efficiently, I have more time to get back to doing the things I love. I’ve been writing so much more (expect a short story to be posted on here soon), as well as continuing to whip my novel into shape to move forward with self-publishing. Today marks the halfway point of my first editing run through, and I can definitely say that the story reads with a lot more ease. That in itself brings me joy because I can appreciate how much progress I’ve been making lately.

My journal lately has been a beautiful mess of to-dos, task lists, books I want to read, things I want to do, busywork I need to get through, all in one clear place. It’s not so much working as a planner, it’s more so just so that I can start to prioritize. (Again, thanks to the article linked above. It really has begun to help me stay consistent). In the past, I’ve always had issues maintaining a healthy level of productivity while balancing all of the other things I need to get done on an everyday basis. For quite a while, all I had been looking for was balance. I don’t believe that I will ever get to a point where I won’t be overwhelmed anymore, but it does feel nice to have a place to offload my thoughts either at the start or at the end of my day.

As today progresses, I know I have quite a bit of novel editing to do, as well as spend some time writing my next short. Short stories have really helped me to stay writing, allowing me to enjoy the finality of a finished piece without turning it into a novel (if it doesn’t want to be). It also makes me happy to have something to share with you all, for it’s been a while since I’ve shared any written work of mine on here. So, with that being said, I hope to have a productive day and a productive rest of the week — just putting that out there now.

I hope you all have a productive week as well!

Thank you for reading!