Do you have rush syndrome?
If you constantly feel a lack of time and live in endless stress, you may have “rush syndrome.” This term was coined by cardiologists Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman, Type A Behavior and Your Heart, after noticing that many of their patients complained of time pressure.
Experts described the disease as follows: “Relentless attempts to achieve more or an obsessive desire to do as much as possible in less time.”
People with “rush syndrome” think quickly, speak quickly and act quickly. This seems to be peak productivity. But no. In fact, they cannot afford to take even a minimal break, they feel constant stress and because of this they become less effective. In addition, “rush syndrome” leads to increased production of the hormone cortisol, which, in turn, can provoke serious health problems, such as depression. Prolonged secretion of cortisol as a possible mechanism underlying stress and depressive behavior.
How to become more productive
To overcome the “rush syndrome”, review your schedule. Do not take on several tasks at the same time and complete tasks one by one: first the important ones, then the unimportant ones. The main thing is to calm down, take a deep breath and allow yourself breaks.
Get organized
Why can't more people become more organized? Someone might think that a person lacks willpower. But in fact, everyone has the ability to self-organize. It just needs to be developed. How to do it? The first thing a person must understand is that it is uncomfortable to work in chaos. When unnecessary things come into view while working, they take away attention and the person stops concentrating on his main work. To prevent this from happening, a person must tidy up his desk. Do you work with papers? Designate a separate drawer for them in your desk. Are there no papers in your work? Then leave only your computer and pen on your desk. No mugs, figurines or pencil holders are allowed. A sterile clean desk helps a person concentrate and get into a working mood.
The situation with a cluttered workplace shows the situation with clutter in a person’s head. The cleaner the space around a person, the better self-organized and disciplined she is. Professional self-organization begins with order. After you've cleared your desk and cleared your office shelves of clutter, you should organize your computer and planner.
You have no deadlines (or they are too vague)
You probably feel freer if you have a whole week to complete a simple task. You can do it slowly, double-check it several times... or rest the whole week, and on the last day throw yourself into work headlong and make a lot of mistakes in a hurry.
How to become more productive
Deadlines discipline you and prevent procrastination from taking over all your time. Make a to-do list for each day and for the week ahead. This will help you distribute the load and get everything done. And remember: you can’t put off tasks until the last minute.
Learn to categorize things according to their importance
In one of the publications, we already wrote that any work will not be a joy if you do not learn to distribute tasks according to their degree of importance. Keep a notebook or use an electronic organizer to plan your tasks depending on their priority. Do the most urgent things first, then in descending order of importance. Mark everything that has already been completed. This will allow you to constantly keep before your eyes a list of the most important tasks and understand which of them have already been completed and which are yet to be done.
You refuse help
Perhaps you like to do everything on your own because you are afraid of showing weakness or you hate teamwork. But not all tasks can be completed alone.
How to become more productive
If you feel tired, don't be afraid to delegate responsibilities and ask colleagues or friends for help. If they are all busy, there is also a solution - invite them to work next to you. This will make it easier for you to concentrate Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are: Your neighbor’s example will inspire and prevent you from getting distracted and procrastinating. This method is regularly used to treat people with attention deficit disorder, but it also works for those who simply have difficulty concentrating.
Learn to ignore tasks
Even if you managed to pull yourself together and set priorities, the following problem arises: how to deal with non-priority tasks?
Because I work in IT, every day I see how the backlog is rapidly replenished. It is so huge that I can’t imagine how big the backlog is for Google, Apple and others like them. What to do with an endless list that never ends?
After my colleagues and I set priorities for the next six months, I began to deal only with priority tasks and discovered that:
If you ignore non-priority tasks for a long time, you can see how someone else performs them. Or how they are forgotten.
This is a pleasant discovery. Because they will ask me for priority tasks; few people care about the operating system.
Of course, we have a regular review of priorities in connection with newly received requests, there is also a “second queue” - where all the little things go, so it all somehow moves and is processed. But this does not cause stress for me personally, because I always remember the main thing and build my day around it.
You always say yes
If you are up to your neck in deadlines, but agree to take on one more task. If you respond to any request from your colleagues and participate in all discussions at work, even when they do not relate to the common cause. If you are in a hurry to help a friend, although you don’t have time to do anything yourself. It's time for you to learn to say no.
How to become more productive
If you've watched the comedy Always Say Yes with Jim Carrey, you probably know that failure doesn't lead to anything good. Don't be afraid to say no to a job offer if you're too busy, or not to go out with friends if you're not in the mood.
Psychologist's advice
Psychologists tell us how to learn to manage everything at work and at home. Here are the main recommendations.
- Get enough sleep. This is one of your main tasks. 7-8 hours of sleep is necessary for good health and well-being.
IMPORTANT! The ability to focus and spend less time on complex tasks is directly related to the duration and quality of sleep.
- Don't skip breakfast. A cup of coffee will help you cheer up, but will not fill you up. Brain activity is stimulated by nutrients, do not starve your brain.
- Give yourself a good mood in the morning. Don't read the news or watch TV before work. Pleasant music, light exercises, and a delicious breakfast will set you up for a productive day. In the morning you can even exercise without compromising your service.
- Social networks absorb your energy in huge quantities. As a result, the ability to focus on what is important and think creatively decreases. Give up social media for a few days and you will be surprised how much your work productivity increases. By
You lack motivation
There are a little more tasks this month, but the salary is fixed and will still not change. There is no point in cleaning, because within a day the apartment will be dirty again. Going to the gym in winter is a waste of money because your body is hidden behind layers of clothing. If you think that it’s easier to let everything take its course and relax on the couch, stuck in some new series, you lack motivation.
How to become more productive
Finding motivation is not an easy task. But it can be solved! First, look at your affairs from a different angle and think about positive results: do the job perfectly - your boss will praise you, and maybe you’ll also receive a bonus; If you do the cleaning, the apartment will become cleaner; go to the gym - you will feel better. If that doesn't work, try the carrot and stick method. “Stick” - scold yourself if you are too lazy, “carrot” - mark your small victories on paper and rejoice at even the slightest success.
If you were lacking motivation and were waiting for a magical sign - here it is! The third stage of the Great Lifehacker Challenge starts in December, which will help you become mega-productive and, in addition, win an iPhone XR. Over the course of a month, we will tell you where to look for inspiration for work, what to do if you haven’t gotten enough sleep, how to achieve your goal, and much more.
Your task is to carefully read texts and listen to podcasts, answer test questions and earn points. If you score more than others, you will get an iPhone XR, no, it doesn’t matter, but you will become the best version of yourself and have the opportunity to win a trip to Thailand. A trip to the sea can go to anyone who accumulates more than 70% points in at least one of the challenges. It's time to act!
Participate in the Big Challenge
You strive to bring everything to perfection
The desire to bring everything to perfection is commendable, but if you constantly do not have time to do anything, it is better to forget about it. Research by Dr. Simon Scerri from Dalhousie University showed Implications for understanding the (mal)adaptiveness of perfectionism: the higher a person's perfectionism, the lower his productivity. This happens because perfectionists:
- spend more time on each task;
- they don’t start work for a long time because they are waiting for the perfect moment;
- forget about the big picture and focus on the little things.
How to become more productive
Remember that there is no perfect moment. Therefore, there is no need to wait for him. Just take action.
Structure your working time
To help your work flow more smoothly, try to give your work routine more structure by including coffee breaks and exercise. In developed countries, such breaks are mandatory. They help you relieve mental stress, take a short breather, and do some physical exercise to shake up your body and oxygenate your brain. In our country, such tea breaks often smoothly flow into intimate conversations about problems in our personal lives, new purchases and other pressing issues that are completely unrelated to work. Try to better differentiate the time allocated for work and rest, and you will notice that you are less tired and have time to do more.
You are working at the wrong time
If you arrive at the office a little late, first drink tea with your colleagues and look for the strength to start, most likely you will get almost nothing done during the day. The fact is that the most productive time for work for most people is the morning, and peak activity is 11 o'clock. After this, the desire and ability to work decline rapidly. When Do People Actually Get Work Done? . And after 16:00 productivity generally begins to approach zero.
How to become more productive
Conduct an experiment: for two weeks, write down in your diary how determined you were to work at different hours. For example, “13:00 - I just can’t concentrate; 19:00 - I feel a surge of energy.” This way you will find out your most productive time and be able to redistribute the load.
If you have a strict eight-hour schedule, try to complete all your major tasks in the first half of the day. And after lunch, do some revisions and minor things.
Do you have chronic fatigue syndrome?
If you can't concentrate at work, return home, immediately collapse on the couch, and after a lazy weekend you feel exhausted, you may have chronic fatigue syndrome.
Other symptoms of this condition include apathy, aggression, poor sleep and forgetfulness.
Chronic fatigue syndrome can occur for two reasons:
- Physical fatigue. It appears if you constantly do hard physical work or exhaust yourself with workouts in the gym. In this case, the body develops a lack of actin and myosin - proteins responsible for muscle contraction. As a result, you feel constantly weak and cannot work normally.
- Mental fatigue. It occurs if you think a lot and rarely exercise. Then cortisol accumulates in the body, and you become irritable and exhausted.
How to become more productive
You need a rest! Go on vacation or at least take a day off on Friday, then you can do nothing for three whole days in a row. The main thing is don’t work during the weekend, otherwise nothing will work out.
You don't like what you do
Everyone has encountered this. A terrible and complex report, an exhausting workout in the gym or general cleaning of the apartment - we try to put these tasks off until last, and then we forget and simply don’t complete them.
How to become more productive
To tackle an annoying task, you can try two ways:
- Find something you don't like even more. For example, you can't finish a difficult book that you were asked to read at work. At the same time, you hate washing dishes. First, get rid of the dirty dishes, and then start reading: the brain will perceive the latter as a pleasant activity.
- Make a list of tasks. To motivate you more, write down how long it will take you to complete each item. For example, “disassemble a closet - 40 minutes.” Then you won’t spend a long time tuning in and looking for strength within yourself, but will simply go ahead and do the annoying task.
How to find time to do household chores?
Does your home routine terrify you? Let's talk about how to cope with things without stress.
Cooking food
If you don't have time to cook after work, listen to our recommendations.
- Make sure to stock your refrigerator for the entire week. It is irrational to waste time in queues after work.
- Choose one day a week to go to the supermarket. Make a sample menu for the week and buy all the necessary products according to the list. If you don't have a car, buy a bag with wheels.
- If you prefer not to eat processed foods, make homemade preparations - meat and vegetable cutlets, dumplings - in case you feel unwell or arrive home late. Otherwise, you won't have time to do anything around the house after work.
- Save complicated meals for the weekend if you like to cook. Daily meal preparation should not take more than 40-60 minutes.
- Buy all the necessary time-saving devices - multicookers, large pots and pans. Prepare for several days.
Cleaning
If you don’t have time to clean up after work, then the best way is to keep it clean and tidy every day.
- Immediately put clothes in the closet or laundry basket, put all items back in their place after use, and do not accumulate dirty dishes.
- Rational owners immediately wipe down the stove, wash the plumbing in between, and sweep the floor after cooking.
- Consider purchasing a dishwasher and a robot vacuum cleaner; with such helpers, your life will become easier and more enjoyable.
Try to follow these rules. Then there will no longer be a need to spend hours cleaning the apartment on weekends and carry out general cleaning once every six months.
ADVICE! Train your children to help you around the house. Organize a competition to see who can wipe off the dust the fastest, polish the mirrors until they shine, or wash the shoes. A small prize will be a great incentive.
When you do household chores together, you not only get the job done faster, but also unite the family and teach your children to take care of others.
