The Pull of Work
I have been paying attention to my hobbies lately. This has seen me work like never before.
For the very first time in my life, I have worked at one thing for this long. It is paying dividends in terms of happiness (for happiness is found only in progress), and I am hoping that it will pay other dividends in terms of profits (the hobby-to-business process). Alhumdulillah.
I am all but absent from social media, my phone’s usually on silent (or just turned off!) and I check emails once or twice in a day.
And here’s the thing: I did not have to tear myself away from these tools. It happened automatically, such was the pull of work. In fact, I have to remind myself to check email to answer important questions and queries.
There’s a hole in the roof of my office: that’s my productivity shooting through.
And here’s why:
- When you find work that is interesting, productivity just happens.
- When you find a good enough reason to do something, laziness and procrastination disappears.
If you have not found something that pulls you, keep looking. Your hobbies may be a good place to start.
And if you are being lazy on a task or a project, sit down with a pen and a paper, write down “Why should I finish this?” and then brainstorm as many answers as you can. At first, it will feel childish, stupid and a waste of time. Keep at it. For at least 15 minutes. That’s not long, right?
Keep writing down the reasons WHY you should finish the project. Soon you will find the reason(s) that will:
- inspire you,
- scare you,
- entice you, or
- all of the above
Then you won’t need anything else. You may then need to balance your work time with your health, your family, your society etc, but your work will get done. Period.
These 5 to 15 minutes once/once a week/once a day/whenever will be the 20% that can fix the 80%. God willing.
Let me know if this works for you.
Here’s to finding work that pulls! Happy Sunday and may God make it easier for you to do what you do.
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The tool RescueTime is highly recommended. You can get it for free.
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