If you’ve been trapped in the dungeons of unproductivity and have no clue how toescape, here are 5 ways you can kick start your productivity and jump back onto the productive path:
1. Visit a graveyard: Reconnect with your purpose and remember where you are heading. Visiting a graveyard pushes you to do something about your life and not sit idle. Spend some time quietly thinking and contemplating death, life in the grave, and what you would want to take with you to the Hereafter in terms of your good deeds, and actions.
2. Think BIG: One thing that never fails to infuse productivity juices into my bloodstream is thinking BIG! Think of a project or even your role at work or at university, and start imagining what you can do with that role/project if you supersized it, dreamed outside of the box! Now stop imagining and start putting together a 10 year goal, 5 year goal, 2 year goal, 90 days goal and 1 month goal toachieve your MEGA vision and you’ll be surprised how this clear mental image of your goal can push you to be constantly productive!
3. Get BUSY! You know what they say, if you have work that needs to be done, give it to a busy person. This is because a busy person hasn’t got the luxury to loiter around and contemplate the 100 things he can spend his next empty hours doing, they are completely booked out, and they need to literally book whatever slot of time they have to get more work done. So get busy with useful projects, community projects, family projects – and bi’ithnillah watch your productivity sky rocket!
4. Watch TED: I love watching TED talks – not so much for their content, but the fact that each TED speaker has dedicated their lives into something that’s affecting lives and helping people. I find it inspiring that so many people from different backgrounds, educations and skills achieve so much, yet sad that I less frequently see such productivity and dedication from the brothers and sisters of our Ummah – where are the goals to aim high to do righteous deeds, to leave a legacy that will continue tobring reward after we die? We seem to simply want to do the bare minimum and survive life instead of living life by harvesting in it with great projects!
5. Start Fasting: Ok, this might sound weird. But if you want to kick start yourproductivity, especially after days of being unproductive, decide to fast (the Islamic fast) the next day. Fasting has four benefits for you:
1. you’d wake up early to have your suhoor before dawn which means you’ll have those blessed early morning hours to do some good creative/productive work
2. the rest of the day you’ll be keeping busy to keep your mind off food
3. you’ll actually find your energy levels increase (ever realized how overeating on a regular basis makes you feel sluggish and lazy)
4. you’ll feel so much happier when you break your fast at the end of the day since you’ve made an achievement for that day for your akhira, that alone would kick you toa productivity spur in the following days insha Allah! Also, instead of fasting one day, make it a productive habit and fast every Monday and Thursday as per the Sunnah.
Well that’s all, five ways to revive your productivity when you feel down! Share your tips below on how you kick start your productivity!
