A Headless Chicken Ain't Productive
How having a vision and a "why" allows you to defeat bouts of unproductivity
Hello everyone 👋
I got my Invisalign in on Thursday, and now my teeth hurt. The price of beauty I guess haha. In other news, I’m already 1/3 finished my 2nd semester this year. Time flies by so fast, and it’s so crazy to me.
This Week’s Work ⚡️
Put some thought into YouTube — I finally figured out what I was going to do this week on YouTube. I’m especially feeling very inspired after talking to one of my YouTube inspirations from Australia just the other day. Check out his channel here! As promised, here’s an updated Notion breakdown of my thoughts on YouTube, and my creative pipeline moving forward.
Finally caught up with my lectures — I’ve been struggling trying to keep up with all of the lectures on top of my extracurricular commitments. I got the chance to catch up this week though, and am feeling quite good about it!
Next Week’s Goals 🎯
Wake up at 5am consistently — I’ll be honest, it’s been a while since I have been able to wake up at 5am consistently. Last time I did was about a week ago. For some reason, my bed has become a lot comfier :( Hoping to find the self-discipline to get back into this good habit.
Ace my first midterm — I have my first midterm of this semester coming up on Thursday: Organic Chemistry. Looking forward to starting this semester off on the right foot and (hopefully) doing well on it!
The Reasons Behind Unproductivity 🤷♂️
This week, I put out a video on YouTube talking about being in an unproductive slump. It’s true—I haven’t been feeling as motivated and driven as I normally am. After almost doing this online school thing for almost a year, it’s definitely so easy to fall into this state of “I don’t want to do anything”.
This feeling of being unproductive doesn’t come to me often. And it got me thinking: Why do we get into unproductive slumps? This is a hard question to answer, but here are a few thoughts that I had:
Lack of accountability or guiderails to keep you on track
Being paralyzed by doubts or fears
Having a reactive, instead of proactive, mindset
Having a decreased amount of discipline
Spending too much energy on things you can’t control
These are very real and credible reasons as to why we become unproductive or unmotivated to accomplish the tasks we set out to achieve every day.
But, the main reason why we fall into these bouts of unproductivity, is because of our lack of vision and purpose; when we lack our why.
Having a “Why” Roadmap 🗺️
Looking back, I’ve always had a vision as to why I do the things I do. As I was telling Sebastian this week, my autoimmune diseases that I’ve had really propel me into doing the things I do, and provide me with a foundation for all of my actions.
When I’m surrounded by people, physically moving locations, and am directly involved in the environment that fulfills my why, it’s a whole lot easier to stay consistent and productive. Undoubtedly, this pandemic inhibits a lot of those activities and ultimately hinders one’s productivity.
It’s okay to be unproductive, don’t get me wrong. I just know that it’s not a good feeling. To get out of it, just question your why; your purpose.
Just like a headless chicken runs into everything in it’s path, someone without a vision or a why, isn’t able to find that inner motivation to continue doing the work that they’re genuinely passionate about. That’s why I’m a firm believer of starting with why. Get your head back on, and that’s when you’ll find a reason to wake up to every morning.
Combatting unproductivity starts by asking yourself why—why you’re feeling this way, why you do the things you do, and why you have the goals that you have.
Cool Bio this Week 🦠
🕰 UK SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 increases chances of dying by 35% — LSHTM released a study concluding that this new variant is not only more transmissible, but also may cause more severe illness. But, the study didn’t consider any underlying comorbidities, and also doesn’t seem to be affecting all age groups proportionately (older ages still getting the brunt of it). Remember to mask up fellas.
Quote of the Week 💭
“We all have two lives. The second one begins when we realize we only have one life.” - Confucius
Vid of the Week: Dealing with Unproductivity 🎙
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