Contents
Don’t let these bad habits affect your productivity!
Mistaking movement for progress
You might misunderstand what productivity actually means. In this case, if you decide to wait around and watch things happen, it’s not progress. Merely observing the movement of your tasks doesn’t necessarily mean you’re getting the job done. For example, you feel like you’re being productive by opening every tab of your task but in reality you’re not getting any work done at all.
Fear of missing out
In this day and age, almost everyone is on their phone. Whether it’s checking the latest news and updates, or simply by taking a picture and showing the world what you’re eating for lunch, most distractions come from a term called FOMO, or fear of missing out. As long as the earth is still spinning, news will be constantly generating, and social media will be constantly moving. Everyone is pressured to be up to date, in fear of missing out on something that might be important. However if your job designation isn’t to know about the latest news, it doesn’t hurt to read about it later than everyone else.
Multitasking is a myth
Similar to the first point, many would believe the more tasks you’re trying to do, the more you will complete. This however, has been proven wrong in many ways. If you attempt to multitask, you’re gonna be left with a whole bunch of tasks that you’ll go back and forth between and eventually get nothing done. Your focus will be split between different tasks, allowing more room for mistakes rather than finished work. Avoid distractions and focus on finishing one task before moving on to another.
Trusting only your memory
No matter how confident you are with your memory, there will always come a time when it fails you. The older you get and the more work you’re assigned to, you will start having numerous deadlines and meetings that you have to be aware of and it’s nearly impossible to keep track of all of it. No matter how good you think you are at remembering things, sometimes things will just slip your mind and it’s human nature to easily forget things. It’s better to be safe than sorry and keep a to-do list to help you remind yourself of important things.
Putting wants over needs
Discipline yourself and prioritise your tasks first before doing anything else. It’s not easy looking forward to finishing work, so find something that can motivate you. Reward yourself after finishing a big project, and imagine yourself doing it. Give yourself something to look forward to and you will finish your tasks even quicker.