Professional Homework

Do you recall the days of home work back as a student? Those assignments from the daily class lectures, opening the student diaries to review the topics of revision and those faded memories of classroom deviating you to concentrate on completing the same. Those stares outside the window, as the streets bustling with the chaos of home coming of others, chirping birds, picturesque sunsets and those lucky neighbors playing street games, all while you have trouble finishing your home work that may decide your fate of the next day!

?Well, while those days have passed, we are back in circle of life where we’ve been lucky enough to witness the “Work From Home” era, a blessing in disguise, from the awful pandemic!

?As somethings remain constant, we are back to that phase of “troubled concentration” that’s been impacting both productivity and the work life balance. Some of us may have mastered it, but let’s be truthful there have always been times where we’ve ended up scrolling social media reels or countless YouTube videos, ending up procrastinating our work, thus , leading to long work hours without time to spend with friends and family who stare at us from the other rooms or windows with pity.

?Well, as much as we all blame work and the boss to take the curse for long hours. But in most cases, it’s our non-productive time that leads to the collateral impact on our life which runs in a never ending loop! I’ve been dealing with few such days since a while and have been looking out for some tips and tricks for subconscious concentration efforts. Below are a few that I’ve found helpful, (convincing myself for now) which could bring back that lost concentration of yours. Nope, not meditation, I guess that’s for people who unlocked the “Next level” with more coins in their store.

?Journaling:

Well, we all hated this since childhood with senseless “Dear Diary” stories. But as you progress in life, it’s important to write down all your “To-Do” activities and self-reflection on the elements that impacted your mood. This helps as a morning breakfast for your brain, that will keep you productive energized across the day. Start of with simple things like Commute Minutes, Sacred Hours, Procrastination Schedule, Work To Do and most important aspect is to add your personal “To-Do” list to the same journal, well some may disagree but I personally feel that journaling must be work + personal life so it doesn’t make you hate work, rather accept it as a part of life.

?Commute:

I guess the physical activity is hysterically associated with physique, while the actual benefits lie in the head! Yes, the aspect of commute is most part the exciting or conscious element in work life as we travel to work. The brain? perceives this activity as a preparedness for a productive day at work and you are all set into a mood. With work from home, this is a lost routine which tricks the mind to continue your couch potato routine as you drift in limitless mobile scrolling or TV streaming. Make a habit of a short walk prior to your work, as you think about your journal from earlier night prioritizing tasks in your head. Break that routine headspace and move your body, before you walk into your WFH setup that you’ve been bragging to colleagues and friends.

?Productive Hours:

Well, hand to your heart, answer yourself on the true work hours in a office life. Kindly, delete those water cooler discussions, tea or coffee breaks, long gossips etc usually the key productive time for an average individual is roughly 3 hours (Source: Internet). Work from home comes with an unspoken or least spoken enemy, the freedom to waste time without anyone around to judge unless your job involves calls for 8 hours. A human being’s cognitive ability cannot last for 8 hours and if it does, you are looking at a drained week, month or even an year risking your performance or your health. Hence, it’s important to understand your mind and outline respective peak hours where you could channel thoughts towards non trivial work that requires analytical or creative element of your brain. These are the hours, you remain in your full potential and this may vary from work profile, environment or your personality itself like a few are morning person, a few afternoon and few at nights. Know yourself and respect your productive hours, dedicate that as a food to your work and that helps your with all those fancy productivity rules on internet.

?Procrastination:

Ah! This is the biggie the most common satisfaction we all human beings cherish almost every day. Let’s acknowledge the fact that procrastination is an addiction, which the more you avoid the more it gets tempting. Accepting this as a part of routine is what helps you to minimize this bad habit, and channel as a fruitful escapism. Think of it like the food you avoid during diet, which you end up eating more eventually risking the diet plan. In actually theories, and in fact our life stories itself suggest that procrastination is rejuvenating and hence, we fall prey often. So how to deal? Simple, schedule a time for procrastination and route all your senseless activities there such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube or day dreaming. Set a reminder of pockets throughout your day once every 2 hours for 10-15 mins, go have that cheat activity of yours and get back to routine.

?Well, that’s all for now and I know this may be too much and imho feeling the same myself but hey I could see a sense shift in my work life a bit! Try to adopt, if not you learn more about yourself and do drop in your inputs that help become more productive at home!

P.S. Like to share credits to multiple sources on internet who've been sharing inputs to improve concentration. Images generated by AI, for copyright flag contact AI directly.