Be 3x Productive

I have been spending last two years reading various books on motivation and investing, not to mention these are my two interest areas. I have been able to follow a certain life style using which I have sort of boosted my productivity by at least 3 times. Here are some tips and tricks I would like to share with you all, which I believe can certainly help you as well. I will try not to be cliche and boring however in case I am, my apologies in advance.

Here are my three simple tips which can help you do what I could achieve....

1. Get a planner: Some wise man once said, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".

Planning for your day in advance is a great productivity booster. You are more productive when you know what are you trying to achieve. Start your day with 10 min exercise by writing down the list of tasks which you are planning to achieve this day. Before you retire for the day, review what were you able to accomplish from the list and plan for the next day. We all think that we have a memory of a dolphin, unfortunately that is not true, hence it is better to write on a price of paper and then revisit it regularly.

Repeat this exercise at the end of the each day, week, month and year. This exercise will ensure that you are in total control of your life and you are fully aware of where your efforts are going.

2. Meditate - “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes everyday - unless you're too busy; then you should sit for an hour.” - Old Zen Quote

Meditation is such a powerful tool that literally can turnaround you life. We all have read and heard numerous stories where someone was going to end their life and meditation saved them. Well, is that even possible? Actually, yes!! Those 10-15 minutes of meditation help you to connect to yourself. Do you know we are living in information age where data is everything. We are never alone. We are always surrounded with 24x7 data download, be it TV, Newspapers, magazines, Mobile notification or music. Sitting peacefully doing nothing is next to impossible for many. I know people even go to washroom with a cell phone (previously newspaper but we evolved). Times are such that, the moment we don't have anything to do, we feel completely perplexed and confused.

When we turn to meditation or deep thinking we take back the power of self assessment and intuition. When we are not made to think by outer world, we start thinking from inside. We think only what we want to think, not what the mobile notification is asking us to think.

Try meditation by starting may be 2 minutes of silence and then gradually increase it on daily or weekly basis. You may also use this time to plan/review your day/week/month/year or what not. Try this, it really works wonders.

3. Be less social & more personal: Now this is a controversial statement...

Let me dive deep here and explain you why I think so. Recently we all heard about a famous film star who ended his life by committing suicide. Many speculated that this was due to depression and loneliness. I wonder if that was really true, this film star had over 9 million followers on Instagram. I got really surprised that someone with so may followers was feeling alone. When we dig deeper into this we realize, it is not follow-ship but companionship which matters in life. We all have friends and family members who know us and with whom we like to spend most of our time. Unfortunately with the advent of mobile phone, the whole world is now squeezed in a tiny box called mobile and we all have started thinking that this is our real life and these friends on Facebook, Instagram, whatsapp are our real friends and well wishers. Well, this my be true in some part however not in entirety. I advise you to do this exercise and put this post on your wall or story:

"Dear friends - I am in urgent need of some financial support. Can you reply me if you could help ?"

It will be really interesting to see how many replies you receive. Those responding to you may be your true friends. Just get rid of others. They are simply sucking your life's productivity and are of no value to your life.

Trust me, your cell phone is your biggest productivity sucker. Control the limit of your cell phone usage or else it is coming to control your life and mind. Instead of going extra social, keep your friends limited to the real companions who are with you when you really need them and who never expect anything in return. Avoid responding on their Insta, Facebook, whatsapp Status with those hearts and likes. It is tally waste of your productive time. Instead of this, call them and talk to them, spend time with them in person.

Try doing the above and hopefully this will drive up your productivity by 3x. At least it worked for me as I'd planned to write an article today and see here I am.

Task done!!