4 psychological practises that will increase your productivity

Updated on October 10, 2022 14:37 PM by Laura Mendes

As W. Timothy Gallwey noted in The Inner Game of Tennis, his classic work on peak performance:

Without paying some attention to the comparatively underutilised inner game skills, playing any game cannot lead to either mastery or satisfaction. This game takes place in the player's head and is played against challenges like distractions, anxiety, self-doubt, and self-loathing. In other words, it is performed to eliminate any mental patterns that prevent brilliance in performance.

In other words, even if you master the best productivity frameworks, tactics, and strategies available, you will still struggle to complete tasks if you are at war with your mind.

Instead of using more productivity tricks, true productivity comes from training your mind and emotions to support your task.

Work to develop these four psychological habits if you want to avoid procrastinating and become more productive regularly.

Also read: Easy Methods for Reducing Stress and Anxiety

Compassion for oneself

Nothing will stifle your work more quickly than a tendency toward self-criticism and judgement.

Unfortunately, most of us learn as children that being hard on ourselves is the best way to encourage ourselves to complete tasks and be productive.

The Drill Sergeant Theory of Motivation is what I refer to as. Most of us learn that if we're not hard on ourselves about our job, we'll end up easing or not getting things done, just like the hard-ass drill sergeant who hurls insults and put-downs at his recruits to "make men out of them."

So, starting at an early age, we form the bad habit of talking negatively to ourselves about our tasks:

You think to yourself, "God, you're such an idiot — how did you miss that one?" after receiving an "A" on an exam. You concentrate on the one question you missed.

Your mind is always worrying about all your employer and coworkers' unfavourable reactions as you prepare for a big presentation at work.

Your mind starts telling you to pick up your old watercolour hobby as soon as you consider that you should. I kid you not. I've tried to pick up painting again for ages, but I never seem to keep at it.

But here's the thing:

The majority of successful people achieve achievement despite, not as a result of, their critical self-talk.

And while most of us manage to maintain some level of productivity despite our terrible self-talk, it has a lot of negative side effects, like worry, tension, low self-esteem, etc.

However, this is even worse than all of that:

We are prevented from reaching our creative and productive potential by negative self-talk.

Unfortunately, because it has been ingrained in many of us over the years, the habit of critical self-talk and self-judgment can be challenging to break.

However, there is a remedy: self-compassion.

Also, read :3 limiting notions that undermine your self-assurance

Self-compassion entails treating yourself sympathetically, upbeat, and realistically when you are struggling, just as a good friend would.

Remind yourself of the numerous components that functioned incredibly well rather than concentrating on the one or two errors in your work.

Instead of imagining the worst-case situation and catastrophizing, imagine the initiative succeeding spectacularly.

Instead of focusing on your past mistakes, consider your prior accomplishments.

Techniques of fear and negativity cannot sustain real productivity.

Try practising self-compassion instead. I believe you'll discover that you will feel much better while working and produce far better work.

Also read: The 17 best money rules for building wealth over time

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Updating Expectations

The most undervalued quality of truly productive people is flexibility.

Other terms and concepts that often come to mind when we think of the word "productive" are things like "strong," "self-disciplined," "focused," "mentally tough," etc.

All of these qualities are crucial for productivity, but they frequently mask a quality that is just as crucial for maintaining high levels of productivity: flexibility.

Flexibility is the ability to modify our actions and perspectives in response to changes in our objectives or surroundings.

For instance:

You've been working by yourself on a specific project at work for the past few months. This is ideal for you because you tend to be a bit of an introvert and find working with other people confusing and distracting. However, due to a change in the project's goals, you are now needed to work in a team.

How do you plan to manage that?

Can you adjust and find a way to continue producing even when working with others?

Or, given your annoyance and frustration with this most recent adjustment, will you hesitate and give up?

You anticipate working most of Saturday to complete your major launch. It's easy to see how things could get troublesome if that assumption persists.

You sit down to work but find concentrating difficult since you are so exhausted. This causes a lot of negative self-talk about how you should just put up with it and keep going. The more you try, the more mistakes you make, leading to more irritation. You haven't made nearly as much progress as planned by midday, so you just give up and watch TV the rest of the day, feeling frustrated and angry.

Also read: You Can Learn Anything with These 10 Mental Models

Clarification of Values

Unsurprisingly, one of the main reasons for low productivity is procrastination.

The fact that we don't genuinely value the thing we're working on is one of the main causes of productivity, which should come as no surprise.

Even though I claim this shouldn't come as a surprise, I'm constantly surprised by the number of individuals who believe they should be able to work extremely hard on anything.

However, there's a problem.

Why wouldn't you want to put it off when working on a task you don't particularly care about?

Look, we all have to do some things, whether or not we want to or value them (homework, weekly reports, taxes, etc.).

However, to think that we should be able to complete these tasks with enthusiasm, motivation, and not a single trace of procrastination is absurd! Of course, you'll want to put off doing anything when it's something you don't value!

That does not imply that there is a problem with you. It indicates that you are an ordinary person. In fact, the desire to put off doing anything is advantageous since it provides you with knowledge...

Your mind will frequently convince you that your work is meaningless when you feel the want to put it off.

Also, read:7 psychological ways to improve the productivity workplace

And while you can always resist the impulse to put off your task, giving your procrastination, some space might be more beneficial than fighting it.

If you discover that you constantly put off doing the same tasks, that may be an indication that you need to give your work and whether it truly reflects your values some serious thought.

Naturally, this could raise some important, frightening questions, such as "Should I consider changing careers?" However, just because a question is frightening doesn't make it any less significant.

You only get one life. If you don't have to, do you truly want to spend it doing activities you don't find significant or things you value?

Try listening to procrastination rather than seeing it as the adversary.

Also, read:6 ways to improve productivity and mental health

Confidence

Suppose you followed the advice in the preceding paragraph and took advantage of your procrastination to define and clarify your values and the kinds of tasks you genuinely wanted to be working on:

You're an engineer, but you're thinking about changing your field because social justice is your true passion.

Although you are employed in the marketing department, your preferences and skills would make sales a better fit for you.

Because of work and family pressures, even though you love to write, you haven't done it in a while.

Although this is a great start, it's only one part of the solution.

You still need to pursue your goals and make them a reality once you've determined your beliefs and the type of work you genuinely want to be performing.

Making the transition can be frightening, to put it mildly, even if you know the work you're doing isn't important and even if you've found a new type of work you'd rather be doing.

If I recommend leaving my secure and wealthy engineering position to work for a social justice non-profit, what will my spouse and family say?

Do I possess the experience necessary for a sales position? My boss will never take the risk...

There is a lot of dread and anxiety associated with making a significant change to the type of work we do because of all the concerns and insecurities accompanying it. And that anxiety and terror can hold us immobile and helpless.

Assertiveness is the cure for all of this dread and paralysis.

Being assertive means having the guts to pursue your goals despite your doubts and uncertainties.

For instance:

You could assertively bring up the subject with your spouse even if you aren't quite ready to leave your work and let them know you're seriously considering it.

Being assertive can entail emailing your management to let them know you're interested in changing departments.

Saying no to your evening ritual of watching the news for an hour and substituting writing time might be an example of assertiveness.

Naturally, it's simpler said than done.

Starting small and gradually moving up the ladder is the secret to developing more assertiveness.

Imagine you were considering quitting your job and starting a new career, but you felt too nervous to inform your husband. You could start by bringing up your dissatisfaction with your employees on an ongoing basis. Once you've gained some confidence, start mentioning how passionate you are about a different line of employment. When you both feel more at ease with the subject, you could bring up the possibility of really quitting your work.

Being productive is challenging when you're not engaged in meaningful work. Furthermore, it's challenging to accomplish important tasks if you lack the confidence to speak up for what you desire.