How to stay productive indoors

"I will start studying at 10:00am. Oh no!!  It is 10:07, I cannot start at an odd time. Let's start at 10:30," this is what I say to myself and the cycle goes on and on.

I am probably the biggest procrastinator in this world; at least as far my domain of knowledge goes. I always convince myself that I work best under pressure. But the truth be told, I only work under pressure.

I face a lot of difficulties in convincing myself to finally start work and then to complete it. However, during the "shutdowns", I learnt a few useful tips and tricks which worked well and now I would like to share those will all the readers out there.

Bribe yourself: I cannot even describe how well bribing works to remain productive. Let me elaborate: I have a finance class test next week. I have to read one whole chapter for that test and the chapter is around 30 pages. So to convince me to read the chapter, I placed 6 mini Twix bars after every 5 pages of the book. After reading five pages, I got one Twix bar as a reward. Now, this technique was not the best option health-wise, it worked like magic and I managed to get good marks on the test. You do not have to use chocolates to reward yourself. It can be anything as long as it works.

Do something that you detest even more: Another way to play with our brain to complete a task is to do something which we hate. The idea is you will hate doing the other task so much; your mind will itch to get back to the unfinished task. I hate cleaning my bathroom. However, since the pandemic began, we did not have any house help and had to do the chores ourselves. Whenever I did not want to complete an assignment or study for my tests, I decide to clean my bathroom instead. Trust me, the minute I get into that bathroom with the brush, my mind automatically pushed me to the study table.

Do not oversleep: As far as sleep goes, get your rest, because it is very important. I too am a great lover of sleep. There have been days I have slept for 12 -13 hours straight. But an ideal hour of sleeping is 6- 8 hours and whenever I sleep for more than 8 hours I tend to feel very lethargic and cannot get any work done the entire day. So try not to oversleep regularly.

To do list: To-do – list is an age-old trick which still works like wonder. No matter how small the work is, let alone calling someone, write the task in a to-do – list. Trust me, the satisfaction of ticking that point from the list after finishing a task will be the highlight of your day and after completing all the tasks of the list, you can binge on Netflix for as long as you want without feeling guilty.

Do it for 5 minutes: In most cases, starting the task is the hardest part. So when you feel demotivated in doing something, just tell yourself that you will do it for only 5 minutes. After doing it for 5 minutes if you do not want to continue doing it, leave it. In most cases, it is seen that people usually complete the task once they finally convince themselves to start it.

We are all in a global pandemic. This situation is new for all of us and it's hard to remain productive in this difficult period. However, we still need to get our work done within deadlines. So try to remain as productive as possible but remember not to put too much pressure on yourselves. We are all in this together and we will get through this very soon.