{"id":36210,"date":"2015-12-09T21:39:53","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T05:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=36210"},"modified":"2015-12-13T17:59:01","modified_gmt":"2015-12-14T01:59:01","slug":"4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><blockquote><p>I&#8217;ve seen guys sit the whole day doing nothing, and I hate it when people are unproductive. I don&#8217;t like a guy who sits on the couch all day. &#8211;\u00a0Olga Kurylenko<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I&#8217;m the guy who used to be so unproductive my priorities abandoned me.<\/p>\n<p>And I never retrieved them until I replaced my bad habits with good habits.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Playing video games till stupid 0 clock at night.<\/li>\n<li>Waking up and doing the same thing over throughout the day.<\/li>\n<li>Reading the online news frequently.<\/li>\n<li>Overdosing on TV without any moderation.<\/li>\n<li>Lack of real focus, goals, or what was truly Important to me.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Yep, I&#8217;ve abandoned that way of life after I decided to wake up from my slumber.<\/p>\n<p>And <strong>being unproductive taught me 4\u00a0things about productivity.<\/strong>\u00a0You&#8217;ll find this short list useful.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>1. Productivity starts with passion.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"qt_390020\">Productivity is being able to do things that you were never able to do before. &#8211;\u00a0Franz Kafka<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Think back to the time you were in high school.<\/p>\n<p>When you studied courses you had zero interest in, were you ever productive?<\/p>\n<p>What about a particular job you&#8217;ve worked at in the past that was too mundane. Did you ever feel productive?<\/p>\n<p>And what about when you&#8217;ve felt guilty after spending hours on Facebook doing nothing of importance.<\/p>\n<p>Did you ever feel productive whilst doing it?<\/p>\n<p>Productivity starts with passion.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When you&#8217;re interested in what you&#8217;re doing, it&#8217;s easier to be productive.<\/li>\n<li>When passion is the driver of what you&#8217;re doing, productivity is no longer a chore.<\/li>\n<li>When you&#8217;re passionate about what you do, the urge to get something done is greater.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Passion is defined as &#8211; an intense desire or enthusiasm for what you&#8217;re doing.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s easier to do something you get &#8220;lost&#8221; in then it is to do something you despise.<\/p>\n<p>Passion is necessary for productivity.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h3><strong>2. Productivity starts with discipline.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"qt_132691\">We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. &#8211;\u00a0Jim Rohn<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>This will sound contradictory to what I said about passion, so hear me out.<\/p>\n<p>While it&#8217;s true passion is a part of productivity, you can&#8217;t be passionate about everything you do.<\/p>\n<p>Therefore self discipline is also a necessity when it comes to productivity.<\/p>\n<p>Sometimes tasks and activities that are a top priority aren&#8217;t things we enjoy or love to do.<\/p>\n<p>For example &#8211; I can&#8217;t say I love exercising. Sometimes I don&#8217;t feel like exercising either.<\/p>\n<p>But I discipline myself and do it anyway. Then I end up feeling so much better afterwards because it&#8217;s a productive use of my time.<\/p>\n<p>So whether you dislike:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Exercising.<\/li>\n<li>Customer service.<\/li>\n<li>Recording Periscope streams.<\/li>\n<li>Editing blog posts.<\/li>\n<li>Dealing with technical stuff online.<\/li>\n<li>Managing your email Inbox.<\/li>\n<li>Prospecting.<\/li>\n<li>Creating\/editing videos.<\/li>\n<li>Teaching\u00a0on camera.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Discipline yourself to <em>just do it<\/em> and get it over with. You&#8217;ll thank yourself for doing it afterwards.<\/p>\n<p>1 tip I&#8217;ll share is when doing something boring or uninteresting, listen to music while you&#8217;re doing it.<\/p>\n<p>It works well for me and makes it more interesting.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>3. Productivity starts with purpose.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote><p>He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.\u00a0\u2015 Friedrich Nietzsche<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is the most Important step. Productivity without purpose is like a key to the ignition.<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t start your car without first putting in the key to start up the engine.<\/p>\n<p>The same applies to productivity.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve learned you&#8217;re less likely to be productive if there&#8217;s no purpose behind the task or activity.<\/p>\n<p>This is the reason some kids mess around in school and seem &#8220;unfocused&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>This is the reason some millennials (my age group) hang around on street corners doing nothing for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a fact that whenever I lacked purpose in my life, my time was spent on things that don&#8217;t matter.<\/p>\n<p>Like excessive video gaming, girl chasing and doing things for the &#8220;sake&#8221; of it.<\/p>\n<p>Pump some purpose into your life, write it down and you&#8217;ll witness the magic that happens as a result.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>4. Productivity starts with BIG goals.<\/strong><\/h3>\n<blockquote>\n<p id=\"qt_125753\">Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success. &#8211;\u00a0David Joseph Schwartz<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When you have no goals, there&#8217;s nothing to work for.<\/p>\n<p>When you have no goals, there&#8217;s nothing to get excited about or look forward to. Which gives you the excuse to be unproductive.<\/p>\n<p>But when you do set yourself some real, purposeful goals, your productivity starts to kick in. Because:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You know what you&#8217;re aiming for.<\/li>\n<li>You know what you want, down to the finest detail.<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;re clear on your targets.<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;re aware of the difference it will make by achieving it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That drives you to get important things done more often than not. And that gives you a reason to use your time more wisely.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of setting small, unexciting goals like &#8211; write 1 article per week. Try an article a day.<\/p>\n<p>The bigger the better.<\/p>\n<h3>So to summarize this post.<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li>Develop a passion for what you do.<\/li>\n<li>Discipline yourself to do important things you don&#8217;t want to, but may dis like.<\/li>\n<li>Clarify your purpose.<\/li>\n<li>Set purposeful goals and make them big,<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><strong>Got something to say? Speak your mind in the comments! Then spread the word by sharing this post.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Thanks for reading. \ud83d\ude42<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8212;-<\/p>\n<p><em>Theo Ellis is a content creator who&#8217;s committed to\u00a0making a difference for the better. He shares his personal experiences to help you grow your confidence and be inspired to take action. Checkout\u00a0his blog &#8211; <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"http:\/\/justbereal.co.uk\" target=\"_blank\">justbereal.co.uk<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m the guy who used to be so unproductive my priorities abandoned me.<\/p>\n<p>And I never retrieved them until I replaced my bad habits with good habits. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9186,"featured_media":36211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[17,6,39],"tags":[4783,4641,4631,66,4634,3637,4640],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Being unproductive can teach you a lot when you learn from the lesson and the mistakes you&#039;ve made. Being unproductive taught me 4 things about productivity\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Being unproductive can teach you a lot when you learn from the lesson and the mistakes you&#039;ve made. Being unproductive taught me 4 things about productivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"theojellis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-10T05:39:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-12-14T01:59:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/television-remote-control-525705_1280-1024x682.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"682\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@theojellis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Theo Ellis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/television-remote-control-525705_1280-1024x682.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/television-remote-control-525705_1280-1024x682.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":682,\"caption\":\"Being Unproductive Taught Me 4 Things About Productivity\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/\",\"name\":\"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-10T05:39:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-14T01:59:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/770d291d6df58f2142af34b6ac6c71b0\"},\"description\":\"Being unproductive can teach you a lot when you learn from the lesson and the mistakes you've made. Being unproductive taught me 4 things about productivity\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/770d291d6df58f2142af34b6ac6c71b0\",\"name\":\"Theo Ellis\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fa4fb527fc810d9a76f334f21655dba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fa4fb527fc810d9a76f334f21655dba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Theo Ellis\"},\"description\":\"Theo Ellis is a straightforward blogger from the UK who's committed to helping you overcome your self confidence and self esteem issues. So you can build the confidence you deserve.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/theojellis.com\",\"theojellis\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theojellis\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/theo-ellis\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity","description":"Being unproductive can teach you a lot when you learn from the lesson and the mistakes you've made. Being unproductive taught me 4 things about productivity","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity","og_description":"Being unproductive can teach you a lot when you learn from the lesson and the mistakes you've made. Being unproductive taught me 4 things about productivity","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/","og_site_name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain","article_author":"theojellis","article_published_time":"2015-12-10T05:39:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2015-12-14T01:59:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":682,"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/television-remote-control-525705_1280-1024x682.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary","twitter_creator":"@theojellis","twitter_site":"@pickthebrain","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Theo Ellis","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/","name":"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/television-remote-control-525705_1280-1024x682.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/television-remote-control-525705_1280-1024x682.jpg","width":1024,"height":682,"caption":"Being Unproductive Taught Me 4 Things About Productivity"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/","name":"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2015-12-10T05:39:53+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-14T01:59:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/770d291d6df58f2142af34b6ac6c71b0"},"description":"Being unproductive can teach you a lot when you learn from the lesson and the mistakes you've made. Being unproductive taught me 4 things about productivity","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/4-things-unproductive-taught-productivity\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The 4 Things Being Unproductive Taught Me About Productivity"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/770d291d6df58f2142af34b6ac6c71b0","name":"Theo Ellis","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fa4fb527fc810d9a76f334f21655dba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1fa4fb527fc810d9a76f334f21655dba?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Theo Ellis"},"description":"Theo Ellis is a straightforward blogger from the UK who's committed to helping you overcome your self confidence and self esteem issues. So you can build the confidence you deserve.","sameAs":["https:\/\/theojellis.com","theojellis","https:\/\/twitter.com\/theojellis"],"url":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/author\/theo-ellis\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9186"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}