About a week ago, I wrote an article detailing a productivity “hack” I implemented that increased my productivity tenfold.
I Wish I Knew This Productivity Hack 5 Years Ago (533% More Blog Posts Published)
It was a strategy where I added up what I completed, like the number of blog posts and videos published, and put it against my original goals.
For example, in September, I ended with:
- 14/10 Seeking Alpha Articles
- 9/25 Medium Articles
- 2/10 YouTube Videos
The strategy helped immensely by keeping me on track every week and ensuring I was always working closer to my goals.
However, seeing my strategy has left some wondering, “Why didn’t I track my progress daily?”
Theoretically, tracking my progress daily should keep me on track every day, rather than weekly, when I might have a few off days.
Well, I have tried something similar, but the results weren’t that great.
I used to journal daily, but it wasn’t a habit I could maintain. It always started great, but at some point, I would feel like I was trying to force the journaling and ultimately burned out.
The lesson from my daily journaling activities is why I no longer push myself to complete tasks as much as before. This seemingly counterintuitive where I push things back has actually helped me become more productive.
Your Willpower Is Finite
Okay, I don’t want people to think you should procrastinate. Whenever you have work, start on it right away.
However, you don’t necessarily need to finish your work right away.
When I first started out as a blogger, I used to try these challenges where I would publish as much as I could in one day. I believe my record was four blog posts in one day, each around 1,000 words long.
Unfortunately, the problem was I would publish less than one per day for multiple weeks after.
What happened was I consumed all my energy and willpower to force out content in one day. There was no way I would recover my ability to work after one night — especially if the previous day cut into my normal sleep time.
If you expend all your energy to force more work out, you’ll start a vicious cycle where your next day’s work is low-quality and requires you to pull even more willpower to try to do what you set out to do.
At some point, you just burn out.
Having experienced this cycle personally, I no longer force myself to adhere to strict targets if it means sacrificing my sleep and work quality.
I might be in situations where I know I’ll be able to publish another blog post or video if I push myself to keep working past my bedtime, but I choose not to so I can continue to produce high-quality work the next day.
Yes, there are situations where you have strict deadlines and need to pull the all-nighter. Just understand, however, that your work quality will drop the next day.
You can think of this like you’re driving a car.
You don’t want to drive to the point where you run out of gas and need to push the car to the gas station. Instead, leave some fuel in the tank so you can refuel and drive continuously.
Originally published on Medium.com. Get a Medium membership and read articles like this one ad-free.
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