How To Be More Productive

Thanks to a riddle shared in my family WhatsApp group this blog piece is a result of it. 

The puzzle was the picture of a messy kitchen (the one you can see here) that had different items kept all over and the ask was to find a key that was placed somewhere amidst the clutter.

My first reaction as soon as I glanced was to chuck solving it as it didn’t seem like I’ll be able to spot the key. I brushed off that thought telling myself to at least give it a try when another thought popped up. I assumed it would be too time consuming with really no definite guarantee so I simply must let it be. In the midst of this to and fro, I finally gave in to start the search. By the end of finding the key and feeling happy I also stirred up some life reminders.

• ·Beyond Comfort – At the start of anything that’s not routine, it’s normal to feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed but it’s not necessary that you stay fixed in that state. Cutting a string of thoughts is only possible by taking an action. Which way you would want to go is solely at your discretion.
• Goal Setting· Before setting on absolutely anything that you would like to do having a goal is the primary need. This definitely won’t be the first or the last time you have been reading the clichéd message about the importance of having a goal. At the start of the puzzle the goal was clear cut – to find the hidden key. Forget the society’s expectations and the timeline the others follow, a goal helps us understand what is it that’s absolutely important to us in our life and propels us forward in that direction. We’ll be able to easily distinguish a wish from a goal the moment we start putting ink to paper. Neither of us would want to be travelling a 1000 miles towards north when our desired destination is in the south. 
• Big Picture – I started solving it taking a glance at the entire image more or less registering what the various objects are and where are they placed. The skill of big picture thinking enables us to operate more effectively. Making your larger life goals a daily part of your self-talk will make you take action to go achieve them. 
• Bit Sized Tasks – There are only two ways to do a task – either haphazardly or in a structured manner. To keep the momentum going to achieve anything meaningful, breaking the larger goal into smaller size tasks makes it easier to work on. The picture in the riddle was all chaotic and it didn’t make sense randomly going around looking for the key. The image needed to be broken into smaller boxes and then I looked deeply into each segment. No matter how cumbersome the bigger endeavor is, focusing only on the smallest part of the work and ticking them off one after the other enables the giant accomplishments to seem achievable. 
• No To Distraction – In this day filled with distractions, don’t let them get to you and the way to tackle them is by simply keeping a separate window of time to engage with them. When I was exploring a particular area, I had to be sure the brighter colored, bigger sized stuff in other parts didn’t bother me. Checking out those social media notifications, wanting to be updated on what’s the latest news, satiating food cravings, all of it can be scheduled in the short intermittent breaks as you strike off stuff.
• Small Rewards – As you complete one task and before you move to the other, pat your back, take a break and then move to the next. Far too often we rely on others to give us the motivation to pursue our goals but not everyone understands them and that’s why we must learn to be our own cheerleader. Solving the puzzle left me grinning and I acknowledged myself with a tiny praise. As I finished it, I moved to the next activity of writing and finishing this post. 

And in this manner as you focus on one task at a time, eventually getting to where you want, you’ll come to a stage of less mental chatter that would mean both – greater productivity and a beautiful state of mind.  

Peace would then be closer than it seems 🙂 

As this blog reaches the end, search for the Peace symbol in the image below. Drop a ‘Yay’ in the comments if you found it.