How to increase your productivity

by nuno alves

When I worked in my 9-5 computer-office job, as you might expect, there was generally an expectancy to continuously put out work for a certain period of time, then have a coffee break, then work some more, then the lunch break, rinse and repeat. You're expected to be there for a certain period of time, and put out a certain quantity of work during said time. Or else, you're not doing your job.

Since then, I've come to realize two things. First, the amount of work you do has little to do with the time you spend working. Secondly, the quality of work has nothing to do with the time you spend working.

You might spend a week's worth of time at work producing designing, creating documentation, going to meetings, etc.

The notorious individual who had a groundbreaking insight, an eureka moment, a breakthrough - or simply said a short sentence packed with wisdom, later turned into a quote - experienced it in a single moment. This breakthrough will then go on to make an impact upon an industry, a scientific field, large groups of people. A single moment's worth of work made a tremendous impact on the world, inscribed into the annals of history and lasting for ages.

I'm not saying one should attempt to have epiphanies all the time when working. I am, however, making the point that time does not equate to value. Nor is the human meant to be abiding to rigid schedules for work. It's not its ideal manner of working.

At this point, I've raised an issue that commonly leads to this question: if the office environment is too rigid, are you suggesting to  work at home? Wouldn't that keep me less motivated and more distracted?

Bear with me for a moment.

Sure enough, the more physical the job is - say, farming, or perhaps civil construction - the plants are not going to get seeded, and the bricks aren't getting laid, without simply putting the effort and time, and do it. However, once you add an element of creativity and variety to a work or job (and that isn't to say that farming or construction aren't creative!) curiously enough, you start talking about productivity.

The question usually means, "how do I keep myself motivated and my energy levels running high - instead of spending my time constantly on email, facebook, farmville, and searching cat pictures".

That's usually what "productivity" really means, is it not?

The issue is much more complex than the question "how can I work more" may imply. So let's try to run it through.

Office vs Home

Let's return to the office vs home issue. I've said that the rigid schedule (and boss/employer expectation) that says "you have to work at this and this time" doesn't make sense. It's anti-natural. It's simply an industrial-revolution-era routine, and mindset, that doesn't really apply to, let's say, "paper and computer" work. Furthermore, it's designed to fight laziness and dishonesty. You have to be there, show up for work, and if you've spent X hours at the job, you've worked. This is not so, as I have already proven, hopefully, that the quality and actual amount of productivity doesn't equate to the time you've spent working.

You feel this also, and it's why you're reading this text.

So facing a lack of inner motivation, and low levels of energy, it's fair to assume you'd face a situation of working outside the office environment, at home for example, as something that would distract and disperse you even more than at work. You may feel that the office environment's natural severe discipline and rigid rules inflict upon you a structure, a strict barrier that "keeps you working", and prevents your flimsy and irrational mind from wondering off.

However, the "office vs home" duality is really a bogus question. Because I guarantee you, that if you're placed in a situation where you're aligned with something that youreally want to do, and all the conditions to provide for it, you'll work overtime, everyday, with boundless bundles of creativity, focus, and energy gushing out from you.

So you see, there's no need for you to consider yourself a criminal, or a lazy good-for-nothing sob who only works when he's pushed to do it. You're taking upon yourself the industrial revolution vision of the boss towards the worker. There's no need to treat yourself like a criminal and self-inflict severe discipline upon you. Regardless of your workplace being the office or the home, it's not really the place that's in question here. What matters is the work itself you choose, if you are personally aligned with it (we'll get to that), and if the rules and expectations of the work environment match the creativity"rate" of the work itself.

If you've noticed, the workplace at Google, for example, fosters an environment full of toys, tech, swimming pools, leisure rooms, all the high-end food you can eat, all the things you'd want to do, and above all else, there's the aura of not having to work. Despite people being hired for their skills and brilliance, they pretty much can do, within a reasonable perspective, whatever they want, without schedule or regulations. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fosters in some aspects the same informal-yet-committed work perspective.

But when a Google worker comes up with a brilliant idea, a flash of creativity, during the day or during the night, what happens?

Hell digs himself in front of the computer and won't stop day and night until he manifests that idea, no matter what.

And he'll drag countless others.

I ask, then, what kind of work is being done, compared to a regular office job with regular "rules"?

If your mind is saying  to yourself "yeah, but guys at Google are all geniuses, while I'm struggling just with keeping my job here" - first, just notice how your brain is telling you that story. Yell at it: "shut up brain, I'm reading something here".

Good. Because that's a lame excuse. I mentioned Google as an example of a relaxed work environment that is (very) productive nonetheless. Just because you don't think yourself as a mathematical genius doesn't mean you can't have a certain kind of inspirational and creativity qualities - which you surely do. Einstein constantly flunked at school. Furthermore, I'm sure you know of other relaxed work environments, of startups, or otherwise relatively young (or young-minded) people, who have fun at their jobs, with their friends, without the 9-to-5 mentality, that are productive nonetheless. They've typically found a second ingredient, that we haven't talked about yet: something they liketo do, something they want to do, and henceforth, objectives.

I hoped I conveyed by now that strict rules and discipline aren't the most conductive mindset to work. That energy is in fact creepily negative and limiting. I know this because I was there, I left, and I as I looked back, I saw it for what it was. Only at that point can one truly realize how downputting and soul-crushing it can be.

So if you are afraid of not being productive if you don't have rules inflicted upon you, don't be. That's not the issue. The issue here is another one: you wanting to do the work.

A Work You Love

Now we'll have to touch the painful bit: whether you really want to be doing that work or not.

You can at this point replace "productivity" with "Creativity". Because that's what you're doing: creating, and being creative. That's what you want. Your energy levels stem from creativity.

Every human being was put here to do something. That something will come from its creative self. Even if the office worker dreamt of having a farm, at some point he grabbed hold of his life and took it there. And when that farmer looks at the sky for clouds and rain, when he spots the colour of the plant, the moisture of the soil with his hands, and the bugs in the crops, he's not passively doing something just because: he's got love for it. He wanted it. This love and wanting is also creativity. It's the person's heart that's speaking to him. And from it, he created his own life for himself.

If you're having issues with motivation and productivity, chances are your spirit is wanting to endeavour in more creative pursuits. And when you're going to move that mouse to click that document or that appointment, your mind then quickly shifts to facebook instead.

Understand that not all productivity issues revolve around seld-discipline, motivation, and rules. Sometimes, you have to dig within yourself and question if you like doing what you do. I think that's what's most important. If you just intend to force yourself to just work more, by means of more self-discipline, you're just putting chrome wheels and leather seats on a 40-year-old crumbling car. It'll look nicer, maybe run a little faster. But it won't get any younger. Or smell better.

Maybe you're already doing something you like, and your personal answer is only on gathering a little more discipline and maturity. It's possible. I gathered a lot of that by working where I worked, and learning where I graduated.

But you have to be willing to face this self-exploration. Simply because otherwise you won't ever make any progress in a meaningful way.

Most of the modern-world population that works in an office-like environment does face the issue of motivation and focus, with varying degrees of severity. The core issue is generally the same: humans are intuitive creators, not repeating robots. They'll never adapt to just obey.

We've been taught that fun is childish and irresponsible. That you have to be serious when working. But the productivity you seek, when you feel it, are you serious or are you having fun? Fun in creating, building, exploring, learning, expressing.

You're frolicking on facebook to feel some of that fun you're intuitively missing.

The main ingredient, then, is actually liking what you're doing. And this aspect doesn't revolve only about the work itself. It also relates to the environment, the people you work with, even the physical location. What you like is a global, integrated thing. Therefore, it's not implied you need to quit your life and go solo. If you truly prefer to work in an office environment, and/or with friends/co-workers, then that's what you should be looking for.

In these cases, your soul searching may lead you to sniff around for different opportunities, or to see if your friends would tag along with you in a new investment. In other cases, however, the issue is clearly more severe than this. The computer programmer really wants to explore wildlife, the marketing analyst really wants to do computer programming, the housewife really wants to do Reiki. In these situations the issue is obviously deeper, more complex.

Understandably, coming to the realization you want to be doing something else can be a daunting moment - because you've realized you don't want to be where you are now. And this causes an emotional detachment, which can be see as scary. "If I don't want to be here anymore, then how am I going to continue to work? How am I going to do something I don't want to?" Also, the prospect of simply dare to make changes in your life, and to risk new paths, possibly in the midst of children, mortgages, and responsibilities, can be daunting indeed.

But I have news for you: coming to that realization is a GOOD thing, not bad. Because:

1 - Knowing what your dreams are GIVES YOU SERENITY. Where previously, your inner desires were just blocked. And your Spirit was restless, like a prisoner with his mouth covered up with a cloth, unable to speak, only mumbling, yet trying to shout something to you. This was a great deal from where your restlessness came from. Knowing what your dreams are, even if you don't actively pursue them, makes you feel assured. There's calmness in the certainty from the heart.

2 - You bringing forth a desire to do something else will begin to manifest opportunities to it. It's in fact the only way. This is a metaphysical thing, a "the secret"-like thing. But that's how it works. Your new idea is being maintained in your thoughts, in your mind and heart, and for as long as you do, it will gain strength, like a snowball (it can also shift and evolve, assuming clearer forms over time). And, inevitably, that idea will begin to sprout in your reality - if you allow yourself to hold it.

3 - You don't have to change anything NOW, if you feel you can't. Instead, simply rest assured in the fact that at some point you may eventually be able to pursue your dream. In fact, instead of sapping your motivation, this can be a very liberating thing to feel. The moment I knew my job and career wasn't really what I wanted to invest in the long run, that relieved me from all the pressure of succeeding at it - and from all the expectations of others over me.

Dare to dream!

And if you by any chance think you don't want to do anything, don't worry, because that's not really true. Maybe you're incredibly tired and you need a period of job intermission, or take a hiatus travelling the word.

But the core truth is that no human really wants to literally do nothing. Inevitably, if you give yourself to it, the ideas, inspiration, will, and the means to achieve it, will start to come your way, in order to place you with what it's in store for you.

In Portugal there's this unspoken, implicit, yet very strong, stigma about the lazy slob who doesn't want to work or put an effort, and who's feeding off the system. I'm sure that there's a version of that everywhere throughout the world.

I don't believe in lazy humans. I only believe in humans who haven't found their calling.

If you haven't found your calling, you're going to deal with it in a variety of ways. One of them is "lack of motivation", which most likely will be just a way of your Spirit saying to you "no, this is not what I really want to do".

Forcing people into working to earn their sustenance, health care, etc, is not the answer. It actually backfires, by forcing people to stay at jobs they don't like. It's only then that the "effort" and "work" issue appears. The issue is is not fighting lazyness (it keeps us blocked in the problem), it's making feasible and viable for people to find their own calling in life.

I hope by now I have addressed the issue of finding whatever it is that you want and LOVE doing, or at least, dispelled some of the fear of the soul-searching. So let's assume you're contemplating it, or maybe even taking your first steps in that special area. We now have the main ingredient, that is, the willpower. We have something youwant to work on.

We still have to bolster productivity/creativity, however, because those "distracting" issues might still pop up.

Re-Arranging Your Outer and Inner Space

This is valid whether you've found out your life calling or not - although, of course, it will be much more effective if you have.

Not all situations are "perfect". You're also not perfect. You are bound to carry your own personal bits and bops, which may affect the conductivity of your creativity, even if you're doing something you love. Don't ever expect to be "perfect", or for your creativity to be pouring out constantly - at least without any issues whatsoever.

The key to this point is clearing up the clutter, both in your work environment, and in your own attention focus.

I wrote an article called "Why TV Is Bad For You" (in my website) about the numbing effects of television, but most notably, how it occupies your mental space.

It is possible that when you watch less television, you'll be freeing your mind so that there's more space for your natural creativity and ideas to come forward. This would be an example of clearing something that is occupying space needlessly. Treat these things like occupying space, literally, even it it's your mental space, your time, or your energy.

In a similar note, the little habits and distractions all around you, such as links to facebook, etc, all have the ability to very subtly lure your mind away from your primary focus. Primarily, because you might be accustomed to do so. If you're not completelyinto it, you might be tempted to click on the sideways instead of in the main thing.

Here is where a little bit of old-fashioned discipline does come in. Remove from your surroundings the things that might distract you, in away that you don't easily come in contact with them as you work. If you're at home and you're tempted to watch TV, don't work near the TV. If you have in your desktop or browser links to whatever, remove them.Creativity is a tunnel through which things flow, and you want to not have holes in it, or things cluttering it, so the energy might flow uninterruptedly. In that sense, then yes, you should "force" yourself to not click away and not make it easy for you to be distracted.

Then again, if in a given moment your mind just wants to be distracted, and just isn't in the mood to work, then you need to just respect it. Go away, do something else, rest, take the time off. Again, not being able to do so immediately punishes and suppresses your you for no reason. You are not a machine and you aren't supposed to be. You go through moods and predispositions, and you'll do yourself a grand favor if you just allow it, and not punish yourself for not being constantly full swing. In the long run, if you're not really into the work you're doing, maybe it's time to go back and do a little more inner searching.

Maybe your energy levels are being affected by something other than work itself. Maybe it's got nothing to do with your work at all. But nevertheless, your spirit is asking your attention to it, and it's therefore, inevitably, something you should address.

You simply need to be in touch with your SELF at all times, and be able to respect its flow. If you can't do so, you're at a loss right there.

In that note, then, the great big thing that occupies a lot of space, and stands directly in your way, is, as I've said, the traditional work mentality and the expectations of others (your boss and the chain of command). The ruleset of regular "jobs". Why? They lower your energy and mood and end up blocking your creativity. A stressed and pressured state of mind is perhaps focused for a time, perhaps attentive, but NOT creative. A creative mindset is free and relaxed. This is the very reason the rule set and discipline of regular work is counterproductive to creativity.

Thus, an extreme case of clearing cluttered space is removing a job you don't like from your reality. That alone releases an immense space for new things to appear. This is not a joke. You'll see it when (if) you do so.

Do you understand, then, why fixed rules and time sets do nothing for the quality of your work? You might experience punctual deadlines at some points, or otherwise rushes of performance to finish something. And that's natural. But understand that, as it's well documented in mainstream studies, you aren't supposed to function at peak performance constantly. Even top athletes and performers get used to time their physical peak when they really need it.

You need to be able to connect consistently, on a regular basis with yourself, and with your own way of coming into a state of inspiration.

It doesn't necessarily mean being literally alone. You may feel creative when talking to certain people, with your friends and co-workers, or doing something together. Or, looking at nature, or a scenery, or art. Whatever it is, you'll want to retain contact with those things that bring about, and draw upon your best moods. As you may guess, this is a nice, pleasant experience.

If you do work based at home, doing something that isn't necessarily shared by yourfamily as an activity or interest, then you should take care that you have alone time, and a personal secure space/time to where you can retreat to in order to be "productive" (read: creative).

If you need healing or therapy, spiritual or not, in order to handle those things that you bring about with you and block your natural flow of creativity, like fears, trauma, or behavioral patterns, then you can do those as well. You may find that this ties in with all the rest.

All of these are examples where you may be called upon to exercise your discipline a bit, that may draw on your maturity and self-determination. But if you're (hopefully) in a context where you like what you do, there's no need for the harsh, cold, nazi-style discipline and rules. This kind of discipline is something you do as a support for your favored activities as work. You mature as well as have pleasure.

Why? Because now you want to do the things you do. As I've said, that's key. That's where everything else stems from.

You'll hardly call it work, or productivity. That's only something you say when you haven't found your calling yet.

Otherwise it's called "playtime".