Image by Ahmed Rabea (license).
I don’t write a lot about applications/programs that can help you become more productive. I’m not really that much of a tech geek and loads of people know tons more about this than I do.
But one small program that I like immensely and that is a part of my daily routine is the Morning Coffee add-on for Firefox. It allows you to add your favourite websites and then when you press a button - located beside the Home button - in your browser all those websites open up in tabs.
Three reasons why I like Morning Coffee:
- Makes it easier to be disciplined. One big problem with being productive is all those interruptions. You work and then you think “oh, I wonder if something has happened in my in-box/on Facebook/on my blog”. And then you lose focus and spend 30 minutes just surfing around aimlessly. With this add-on you can add all those email/blog/social media websites and make a habit of just checking them via you Morning Coffee button. Perhaps once in the morning and once at night. Instead of running around online 10 times a day and getting stuck in procrastination.
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Image by notsogoodphotography (license).
“Between stimulus and response is the freedom to choose.”
Viktor Frankl
If something happens in your everyday life that could trigger negative emotions and behaviour on your part, what do you do? If you feel lazy or uninspired or angry and hateful, what do you do?
One way to handle such situations is to act as you would like to feel.
Let’s say that someone you know is having success. Maybe s/he’s gotten a promotion at work or finally paid off his/her debt. Perhaps that person is doing better than you in school.
Maybe you get angry or envious. Perhaps you start trash talking the other person. That’s not uncommon. It’s also a pretty reactive behaviour. And deep down you probably don’t want to take that negative route. Well, you don’t have to.
Make a conscious choice
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For many years I tried listening to some excellent songs while studying or doing some other work.
It felt pretty great just sitting at my desk or lying in bed with music in the background and a book in front of my nose.
It didn’t turn out that great results-wise though. I learned and got things done. But it took a long time.
Finally I realized that I had to let the music go if I wanted to improve my focus and effectiveness.
Today I use what you may call a cone of silence while I work. How do you create one? You unplug and remove as many distractions in your work environment as possible. Some examples:
- Unplug your internet cable. If you don’t, it may be tempting to just take a short breather online. Perhaps check your email or your RSS-feeds. Or chat for a few minutes with some friends via IM. This breather usually expands and before you know it your 5 minute break has become a 35 minute procrastination-session.
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One simple yet powerful thing you can do to remove quite a bit of suffering from your life is to be accepting.
The funny thing about a problem is that the negative feelings you may feel because of it do to a large extent not come from the problem itself.
It comes from your resistance to the problem.
And, of course the problem already is – you can’t go back in time and change something - so resistance is a bit unnecessary.
Much of the pain in your life is needlessly created in your mind. You may fear something. And it might be a little dangerous. But often we add probably 80 percent or more to the problem with the help of our minds. We build these spectacular negative fantasies of what may happen if we do something. When we finally do what we feared those fears pretty much never materializes.
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It was back at the university that I first came across this technique for improving the way you criticise.
Whenever we had done an exercise in writing, editing or something like that we used this method.
After some Googling I’ve discovered that in English it’s called the Sandwich-technique. It’s divided into three steps.
But before you use it to criticise it might be useful to stop and think for a few minutes. Ask yourself:
- Is this something worth bringing up?
- Is there really a problem?
- If there is, then is it really that big of a problem or just something I have magnified in my mind?
- Maybe I’m just feeling angry/down/sour and want to get express those feelings by lashing out?
Think about those questions. Often when you slow down and think about if for a few minutes you discover that there may not really be a need to criticize.
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