There are several reasons why people work better in the afternoon. <ul><li>Based on circadian rhythms, some people just naturally focus better in the late afternoons or evening.</li><li>Working from home has also played a role in uncovering natural energy patterns.</li><li>Parkinson's law is at work here too. It is the idea that work expands to fill the time allotted. In the morning, we feel we have all the time in the world to focus on our to-do list. But when 2pm rolls around, we kick into high gear and accomplish all our tasks with the limited time left.</li></ul>

Why some people are more productive in the afternoons

Get the most out of those three hours of work. Reserve that 2 to 5 pm time slot for tackling your big projects. When you do your most important work during your peak energy, you can work quicker and more accurately. Use your mornings for tasks that you can easily accomplish, such as attending meetings, answering emails, and tidying up your computer files.

Work with your natural energy instead of against it

Once you're feeling creative, you want to maximise that time. Silence your phone and other devices that compete for your attention. Close additional browser tabs that may be distracting you.

Ensure you are ready when you enter your peak hours

The shift from morning to afternoon productivity may be due to working from home and the resultant blurring of our work and personal lives. Our daily morning commute was pretty important. You used to have a routine that got you from home to your place of work. If you no longer commute, you don't have that ritual to signal to your brain that it's work time now. To overcome those blurred lines, you can make your morning time feel more "official" by going on a "false commute", even if it is a walk around the block to switch your mindset to think about what you want to achieve at work.

Create a “false commute”

If you've identified co-workers who share your work and energy patterns, consider asking them to be your "accountability partner." Brainstorming and bouncing ideas around with your accountability partner will help to motivate you. Then, when they're in a similar rut, you can be there for them, too.

Partner with other people who find morning productivity challenging

productivity

Productivity

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

timemanagement

Time Management

Help! I Only Feel Productive In The Afternoon

“You can’t control time, but you can control your attention. We can all improve productivity if we can systemize the way we work. Instead of looking for the latest tips and tricks, we need to work on attention and workflow management to improve productivity. This involves a collection of behaviors, not done by an app or software.”

<ul><li>Reactive and Distracted: This state is superficial. Your attention is divided and you may be trying to multitask. </li><li>Daydreaming: This state is when you are choosing not to focus on anything in particular. </li><li>Focused and Mindful: This state is where you’re fully present and deliberately avoiding distraction. </li><li>Flow: If you’re lucky, your brain can tip from focused and mindful into flow. This is a state and not a behavior. It’s when you’re laser-focused and fully absorbed in a task. You are disengaged from your sense of self and work is effortless. </li></ul>

4 brain states and how they impact your productivity

The ultimate goal of attention management is to recognize which brain state you’re in and then shift to the one that will help you produce your best results in that moment. Each of the four brain states has a related amount of attention and effort or control.For example, if you are in a reactive and distracted state while you’re trying to work on a project, you won’t be able to get traction. This state is not conducive to focused work. But if you can recognize that’s where you are, you can take steps to move into a focused or mindful state, says Thomas.

Using the 4 states

“Attention management skills are critical to taking back control. They allow you to refocus your day on your priorities, so you can make progress on meaningful work instead of reacting to every incoming [demand] on your attention.”

Instead of using traditional time management techniques, we need to manage our attention and workflow.


How to tap into your brain’s 4 attention states to get more done

When we nap, sleep pressure is released, increasing cognitive function, performance and memory while reducing stress and sleepiness.A successful power nap should leave you feeling refreshed and prepared to cruise through your to-do list in no time.

Power Naps

Enjoying a coffee 15-20 minutes before lying down helps to prevent the brain from absorbing adenosine, a chemical that causes drowsiness and sleep. By the time you wake up, the caffeine will have kicked in, providing an extra jolt of energy.

Start with a Cup of Coffee

<ul><li>Noise-free, dark and cool (60-67 degree Fahrenheit/15-22 degree Celsius) environments are most conducive to productive sleep. </li><li>Try to wind down before attempting to sleep. Perhaps try a short meditation, go for a walk outside, or listen to calm music.</li><li>If you have been trying to fall asleep for longer than you’d like, but still can’t seem to relax and go to sleep, it can be a good idea to get up.</li><li>To aid sleep, the sleeping space should be used for sleeping, and when we can’t sleep and start to worry, we start to relate that place to worry instead of the ability to relax and to sleep.</li></ul>

Set the Stage

Naps that exceed 20 minutes can increase sleep inertia, or in layman’s terms — give you that heavy feeling after you wake up. Sleep inertia happens when you awake from a deep sleep. <ul><li> To ensure you are hitting the power nap ‘sweet spot,’ set your alarm for 15-20 minutes. The exception to this rule is if you’re sleep-deprived and have the luxury of being able to nap long enough to complete a full sleep cycle, which is at least 90 minutes.</li><li>The best time to nap is between 1PM – 3PM when most of us experience a natural dip in energy. </li></ul>

Timing is Everything 

Did you know there are a few things that could be hindering your power nap? The next time your post-lunch yawn sets in, consider these three go-to tips.

health

Health

Mastering the Art of the Power Nap: 3 Go-To Tips

Each Day Grants us a limited amount of Time Capital : 24h. Or 86.400 seconds.Similarly our daily Energy is limited : a few thousands calories every morning. Collected through our nutrition and our relationships.

Our Daily Time and Energy are Limited

Most People live in either :<ul><li>Regret of their Past : Nostalgia.</li><li>Hopes for their Future : Expectations.</li></ul>Past moments can never be retrieved. We have no Power on either Past nor Future.The only Moment we can control is the Present Moment. This instant. Be conscious & mindful ; it's already gone. Concept of Mindfulness : Our instant emotions in the present moment are the only true thing we can control.

Past Moments Are Gone Forever. Mindfulness

Each of us invest this limited Time ~ Energy Capital in various universe. Here are some examples of these investments :<ul><li>Work</li><li>Family</li><li>Friends</li><li>Children</li><li>Meals</li><li>Sleep</li><li>Meditation</li><li>Art, Creation</li><li>Exercise</li><li>Learning</li><li>Day Dreaming</li><li>Etc ;</li></ul>

We should be Free to Choose Where to Invest Our Time ~ Energy

An Employee working on a Job invests his Time & Energy in a Company.Similarly an entrepreneur invests his Time & Energy in a Project or Enterprise (synonymous in latin languages). In Reward for this investment, the Employee is granted Money. Therefore Money is a conversion vehicle ; a mean of transfer for the Time & Energy invested.This money will be Available and useful for Future Transactions into more Energy or Time.

How Can Money Be Time & Energy

Money ~ Time ~ Energy

This Powerful Equation helped me reprogram my personal relationship towards Money.

Chacune de nos journée nous accorde un capital temps limité : 24h. Ou 86.400 secondes. De la même manière nous disposons d’un capital énergie limité. Quelques milliers de calories par jours. Ce…

philosophy

Philosophy

moneyandinvestments

Money & Investments

technologyandthefuture

Technology & The Future

Life Currencies : Time ~ Money ~ Energy

It seems in recent years being busy has become the rule rather than the exception for many people. If you feel busy and stressed and don't have a lot of time to work stress relief into your schedule, you may end up feeling tired and lethargic or overwhelmed and plagued by chronic stress.Clearly, stress relief is important, and this is particularly true for busy people. However, those of us who are most busy may feel least able to take on new habits. We may be concerned with the time that would be required to learn about a new habit.

7 Top Tips on Stress for Busy People

The following are ways to get more energy, relieve stress, and find extra time in your day—a must for busy people everywhere!If you feel overwhelmed by stress during the day, a busy schedule may prevent you from being able to do what relaxes you the most, whatever that may be. However, there are some quick ways to feel better without taking hours you don't have to do so.

Find Some Quick Stress Relievers

If you're one to grab a cup of coffee or can of cola when you need a little extra energy, you may be making yourself more tired in the long run! This is partially because caffeine can keep you from experiencing restful sleep at night, creating a cycle of chronic sleep deprivation.

Limit Your Caffeine Intake

When your schedule's busy, often sleep is the first thing to be cut back, either intentionally or by default. This is unfortunate because it can leave you feeling lethargic and lead to errors that take more time out of your day to correct.

Get More Sleep In Your Life

If you're feeling lethargic, a little exercise will actually leave you more energized, not less.4While busy people have a hard time fitting exercise into the schedule, there are some tricks that can help you get the exercise you need without spending hours at the gym, such as breaking up exercise into smaller chunks and spacing them out during your day, when you may naturally have time available.

Build Quick Exercise Into Your Schedule

Much of your experience of stress hinges on your attitude and what you tell yourself about your situation.5 For example, learning how to view stress as a 'challenge' rather than a threat can leave you feeling more energized.

Develop a "Can Do" Attitude

If you don't have time for a new stress management regimen, these stress relievers provide maximum impact for minimal time expenditure. Things like taking your vitamins and playing music in the background, for example, fit nicely into even the busiest lifestyle but provide surprisingly significant stress relief benefits.

Build Fast Stress Relief Into Your Lifestyle

People have different reasons for being busy, but many people find themselves busy no matter what their circumstances because they have trouble saying no to other people's demands on their time. There are things that you can do to start saying yes to a freer schedule and saying no to other people's demands on your time. Telling people you don't have time, giving yourself time before you say yes, and saying yes to other things are three steps that you can try.

Learn to Say No 

How do you manage stress in your busy life. 

It seems being busy has become the rule rather than the exception. Read ways to get more energy, relieve stress, and find extra time in your day.

mentalhealth

Mental Health

7 Tips for Anyone Who Always Feels Too Busy

Being a person who is lazy and is not doing anything can't make you a successful person in life. To be the best version of yourself and to increase the rate of chances of success there are some specific pillars on which one needs to work upon. While working for success one must obey all those rules in order to reach the maximum potential.

How To Reach Your Maximum Potential?

Time wasting is similar to wasting your life, your each second is worth it. While you waste your time you go far away from success, the more you waste it the more you go far. Time wasting is a famous trend throughout today's youth. Not everyone has the tendency to control themselves. But readers if you manage to save your time then I bet you are one of the future millionaires.

Time wasting and Time management

Here's how wasting of time affects youth life :- 1. Wasting of time increases workload . 2. Wasting time makes you more stressed . 3. Wasting time makes you do your work at the last minute .

Disadvantages of wasting time

Hard Work leads you to the success of one of the most evergreen posts of today's youth. In some senses it even sits perfectly, hard work never disappoints us. In order to achieve the finest goals that you have set for yourself you must work hard.

How hard work leads you to success ?

Well, Everyone here uses the same quote that consistency is the key to success in life and eventually at a time yes it is correct. That consistency is the key to success but have you ever wondered how to be a consistent person in a life? Not everyone can actually do it. In order to be a consistent person you need a lot of effort and a controlled mind and that's nearly impossible.  While you are a beginner, being consistent is a key to success but there are few things that you need to keep in mind before you are working on it.

Why is consistency important for success?

How to reach your maximum potential?, Get your best version out with this article 

Being inspired is a very tough task . But not the impossible one , introducing you the best and evergreen blog that will make you inspired everyday .we will provide you the quality of content just for free

habits

Habits

How to reach your maximum potential 

Productivity is a term which defines your efficiency baked by attention and skill and your will to do the tak and the outcome which adds something to your life. This might be anything which a person like or a particular job Or studies which you're into.

Productivity!! 

Do you often find your workday spiraling out of control? You start each day with a plan to get so much done, but soon find yourself becoming distracted, focusing on low-priority tasks and, simply, procrastinating. So how can you regain control of your time? One-size-fits-all lists on how to be more productive don't work; we’ll outline productivity techniques that can be adapted to your personality and working style.

Workload!!! 

Use these principles to help guide you through your workday.All workers and workdays are unique. With fewer companies and employees adhering to a traditional 9-to-5 day, the differences in our workdays are becoming more pronounced. But putting those differences aside, three overarching ideas apply to all our productivity tips. <ul><li>Trust the small increments. You can’t expect to change years of working habits overnight. Small changes in how you work can gradually add up to big changes in productivity. Try one tip to start, and keep adding more as you find the strategies that work best for you.</li></ul>

How To Improve Productivity? (1/2) 

<ul><li>Be accountable. Whether it’s weekly check-ins with a co-worker or setting your own deadlines and announcing them to others, having to answer to someone else can often force you to get the job done.</li><li>Forgive yourself. You are human: Accept that you are sometimes going to slip up, become distracted and have a bad day. It’s more important to move on than to dwell on your mistakes.</li></ul>

How To Improve Productivity? (2/2) 

Think you can get more done by juggling multiple tasks at the same time? Try calling your co-worker while typing an e-mail and checking your Facebook page. You may feel as if you’re being productive, but you’re probably not getting any of those tasks done efficiently.

Don't Multitask 

We all have a limited amount of cognitive bandwidth — the number of thoughts and memories we can hold in our minds at any given time. Your brain may delude itself into thinking that it has more capacity than it really does, but it’s really working extra hard to handle multiple thoughts at once when you are switching back and forth between tasks. Your ability to get things done depends on how well you can focus on one task at a time, whether it’s for five minutes or an hour.

Brainy!!! 

How to be good and efficient at your work ? Better tips to improve your work efficiency and boost up your productivity. 

Take control of your time at work. We’ll outline productivity techniques that can be adapted to your personality and working style. 

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

How to Improve Your Productivity at Work - Business Guides

You’re not just trying to start running; you are a runner. You’re not just trying not to smoke; you’re a nonsmoker. This is a mindset, a mental shift, a decision toward resiliency. It’s also one small shift in thinking that can pay big results. This is part of the inner work.

Turn your habit into your identity

You do it for yourself because you want to do it, regardless of what others want you to do.If you have a good reason behind why you’re developing a habit, and if you intend for the habit to be sustainable and ongoing, it helps to recognize that within you is the person you are becoming.

Your habit needs to be completely you.


You may find that it helps you sustain your behavior patterns by thinking of them as rituals instead of habits. It’s a small reframe, but perhaps the idea of doing something ritualistically gives you a more spiritual or sacred purpose behind your motives for sustained change.Rituals takes away the question of whether or not you’re going to do something. <ul><li>It’s one less thing to think about. It also happens to create urgency and importance to your projects. You have something that you could put on your calendar.</li></ul>

Reframe Your Habits As Rituals

In many cases, your habits, however positive and meaningful, have to take up their residence in your lifestyle at some point in time. In other words, habits force you to choose what you aren’t going to be doing instead at that time. Not only do they require choices be made, but they may bring up the question of sacrifice.

We all want a magic pill that will give us the perfect focus we need when we need it, and we also want a magic number. There is no magic number for how long it will take for a habit to develop. That depends on the nature of the habit, the resiliency of the person, and the context of the person’s life: age, responsibilities, experience with other habits, good and ba

There is no magic number for how long it will take for a habit to develop.

Habits can be transformative. 	- Little by little, day by day we can crack the code of the change we want to manifest in our lives. We like to think about habits because habits are actions. - Habits are the outward behaviors we integrate into our lives. Topics like mental health and self-awareness aren’t as tangible. - But most of the time we find our habits are unconscious. They’re on autopilot. We are “creatures of habit” as we say.

Some say a habit can be formed in 21 days of consecutive application. Many others say a good rule of thumb is to expect something more like 90 days before a habit is truly in the automatic category…

problemsolving

Problem Solving

Six Thoughts for Using Habits to Your Advantage

Take baby steps. You can’t move a mountain. When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time. Have you heard sentiments like these before? Of course you have—breaking projects down into their component parts is oft-repeated advice when you’re tackling something big.

We think it’s a term that perfectly captures the essence of this tried-and-true wisdom. It’s way easier (not to mention far less overwhelming) to focus on putting one foot in front of the other—rather than gazing with dread at the entire marathon route ahead of you!

Breaking tasks down helps us to see large tasks as more approachable and doable, and reduces our propensity to procrastinate or defer tasks, because we simply don’t know where to begin.

One step at a time: You know breaking projects down into small to-dos is a sure-fire way to get things done. But why? In this blog post, we explore the scientific reasons why microproductivity is an effective method for completing tasks efficiently. 


What's Microproductivity? The Small Habit That Will Lead You To Big Wins

The Roman-era Stoic philosopher Seneca once joked that the one thing fools all have in common is that they are always getting ready to live but never actually do.That was 20 centuries ago. For tens of thousands of years, people have been procrastinating just like you do today: They put things off, delayed, made excuses, and wished their deadlines would disappear. And just as it does with you, this caused them anxiety, made them piss off their colleagues and families, and, worst of all, wasted time.

Fortunately, unlike our ancient counterparts, we have ages of wisdom to help us avoid the mental traps that lead us to procrastinate.Here are seven anti-procrastination tactics that are rooted in ancient philosophy and can be applied in the modern world.<ol><li>Action by action</li><li>Create a routine</li><li>Use a counterforce</li><li>Get one small win every day</li><li>Free yourself from the inessential</li><li>Face your important tasks head-on</li><li>Creat a sense of urgency</li></ol>

7 Tactics Of The Ancient World That Have Stood The Test Of Time

Don’t let your imagination be crushed by life as a whole… Stick with the situation at hand, and ask, “Why is this so unbearable? Why can’t I endure it?” You’ll be embarrassed to answer.—Marcus Aurelius, Meditations , 8.36

Action By Action

With any goal, our imaginations often run wild envisioning all the things that can go wrong. While it <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=645f7253d2&e=47e85155f0">can be productive </a>to think about the troubles that might lie ahead — the Stoics used an exercise called premeditatio malorum , or “premeditation of evils,” to prepare for potential adversity — imagining the worst usually just causes us to become paralyzed with fear. This is why <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=ba27c1cfdc&e=47e85155f0">Marcus Aurelius’ </a>advice was to keep in mind that a life is built action by action. No author ever writes a book, he would say. Instead, they write one sentence and then another and then another.

In the sports world, University of Alabama coach <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=e856728e5f&e=47e85155f0">Nick Saban </a> taught his players to ignore the big picture — important games, winning championships, the opponent’s enormous lead — and focus instead on doing the absolutely smallest things well. He would tell them, “Think about what you need to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”

In many circumstances, we do not deal with our affairs in accordance with correct assumptions, but rather we follow thoughtless habit.—Musonius Rufus, Lectures and Fragments , 6.7

Create A Routine

<a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=3e0e5428e4&e=47e85155f0">Epictetus </a>once said that “every habit and capability is confirmed and grows in its corresponding actions, walking by walking, and running by running… therefore, if you want to do something, make a habit of it.” If you don’t want to do something, he said, make a habit of doing the opposite. For this reason, the Stoics were big on <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=0cc8982e90&e=47e85155f0">habits and routines </a>. They believed that in a world where so much is out of our control, committing to a routine we do control is a way of establishing and reminding ourselves of our own power.

Without a disciplined schedule, procrastination inevitably moves in with all the chaos, complacency, and confusion: What was I going to do? What do I wear? What should I eat? What should I do first? What should I do after that? What sort of work should I do? Should I scramble to address this problem or rush to put out this fire?

That’s torture. Seneca would call it a design problem. “Life without a design is erratic,” he wrote. “As soon as one is in place, principles become necessary. I think you’ll concede that nothing is more shameful than uncertain and wavering conduct, and beating a cowardly retreat. This will happen in all our affairs unless we remove the faults that seize and detain our spirits, preventing them from pushing forward and making an all-out effort.”

The writer Haruki Murakami talks about why he follows the same routine every day. “The repetition itself becomes the important thing,” he says. “It’s a form of mesmerism. I mesmerize myself to reach a deeper state of mind.” Procrastination feeds on our uncertainty. Routine eliminates that uncertainty. We know what we do and when we do it.

Since habit is such a powerful influence, and we’re used to pursuing our impulses to gain and avoid outside our own choice, we should set a contrary habit against that, and where appearances are really slippery, use the counterforce of our training. — Epictetus, Discourses , 3.12.16

Use A Counterforce

When a dog is barking loudly because someone is at the door, the worst thing you can do is yell. To the dog, it’s like you’re barking, too. When a dog is running away, it’s not helpful to chase it — again, now it’s like you’re both running. A better option in both scenarios is to give the dog something else to do. Tell it to sit. Run in the other direction. Break the pattern. Interrupt the negative impulse.

The same goes for humans. When a bad habit reveals itself, counteract it with a commitment to a contrary virtue. Sometimes, when you find yourself procrastinating, it’s best not to dig in and fight it. Instead, get up and take a walk to clear your head. Try what artist <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=c02ad43abe&e=47e85155f0">Austin Kleon </a>calls productive procrastination: “A kind of promiscuous working in which I procrastinate on one project by working on another, sometimes switching between two or more projects until all the projects are done.”

Oppose established habits, use the counterforce of training to get traction and make progress, and channel the negative impulse into something, anything, positive.

Well-being is attained by little and little, and nevertheless is no little thing itself.—Zeno

Get One Small Win Every Day

Seneca wrote a lot of letters to Roman knight Lucilius. Through them, we get the sense that Lucilius struggled with many of the things we all struggle with: anxiety, distraction, fear, temptation, and self-discipline. It’s good that he had a friend like Seneca—someone who cared about him and told him the truth. One of Seneca’s best pieces of advice in those letters was actually pretty simple. “Each day,” he told Lucilius, you should “acquire something that will fortify you against poverty, against death, indeed against other misfortunes, as well.”

One gain per day. That’s it. This is the way to curbing our procrastinating tendencies: remembering that <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=6248dee44d&e=47e85155f0">incremental, consistent, humble, persistent work </a>is the way to improvement. Your business, your book, your career, your body — you build them with little things, day after day.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is a filmmaker, entrepreneur, author, former governor, professional bodybuilder, and father of five. He’s also a fan of the Stoics. In <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=e6c8537fe1&e=47e85155f0">a recent video </a>, he gave his best advice for staying strong during this pandemic: “Just as long as you do something every day, that is the important thing.” One thing a day adds up. One step at a time is all it takes. You just gotta get one small win. And the sooner you start, the better you’ll feel—and be.

It is essential for you to remember that the attention you give to any action should be in due proportion to its worth, for then you won’t tire and give up, if you aren’t busying yourself with lesser things beyond what should be allowed.—Marcus Aurelius

Free Yourself From The Inessential

Procrastination can often be a product of overwhelm. We have so much on our to-do list that we don’t even know where to begin, so we don’t begin. Seneca liked to use the word “discursive.” When we have our attention pointed in so many different directions, we have it pointed nowhere. He compared it to the nomad: “Everywhere means nowhere.” The way forward is to <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=c4cef2512c&e=47e85155f0">zero in on what’s most important </a>.

It was Aurelius’ simple recipe for improvement and for happiness. And the fact that it came from such a busy man with so many obligations and responsibilities should not be forgotten. “If you seek tranquillity,” he said, “do less.” And then he follows the note to himself with some clarification: Not nothing—less. Do only what’s essential. “Which brings a double satisfaction,” he writes, “to do less, better.”

Follow this advice today and every day. So much of what we think we must do — and what we end up doing — is not essential. Rip off the chains of obligation to these things. Then you’ll be able to better do what is essential and get a taste of the tranquillity that Aurelius was talking about.

Yes, you can — if you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life, and stop being aimless, stop letting your emotions override what your mind tells you, stop being hypocritical, self-centered, irritable.—Marcus Aurelius

Face Your Important Tasks Head-on

All the crises, distractions, and temptations we face today have their analogs in the past. So we should listen to the command that Aurelius gave himself on one of those days when he was struggling to stay focused: “Concentrate every minute like a Roman — like a man — on doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness, tenderly, willingly, with justice.”

From his stepfather Antoninus, Aurelius learned how to work long hours and “stay in the saddle.” He never shirked hard work or avoided his most unpleasant duties. He had a job to do and didn’t complain about it. “Never be overheard complaining,” he wrote, “not even to yourself.”

Putting off our responsibilities is easy. Complaining is easy. Both are as natural to us as breathing. But what good has either ever done for anyone in the long run? Sure, shaking your fist at the sky and venting your frustrations can feel liberating in the moment, but has it ever changed your circumstances for the better, solved your problems, or made you happier?

Has procrastinating ever made your life less stressful and more efficient? I’m willing to bet the answer is no. This is why we must follow Aurelius’ lead and focus on the important tasks in front of us. If we can win that battle first, the rest of the day will be a breeze.

Stop letting yourself be distracted. That is not allowed. Instead, as if you were dying right now… Stop allowing your mind to be a slave, to be jerked about by selfish impulses, to kick against fate and the present, and to mistrust the future.—Marcus Aurelius

Create A Sense Of Urgency

An adage of author and historian Cyril Northcote Parkinson was that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” Today, we know that principle as Parkinson’s law. So, if you have two weeks to write a paper for school, it will take two weeks. If you block off all day Sunday to clean your house, it will take all day. If you give something unlimited time, it will take forever. When we’re pressed by a deadline, we don’t procrastinate.

We can use Parkinson’s law to our advantage. The Stoics did. <a href="https://ryanholiday.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=dcd3642d86121fbcaa9914228&id=ca67770c23&e=47e85155f0">Memento mori </a>— the reflection on mortality — was their reminder. Remember that you are mortal. Remember that you are always pressed by a deadline. Remember what Aurelius said: “You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.” It wasn’t to create panic, but priority, humility, urgency, appreciation.

As wonderful as it would be if there were no such thing as death, we can use death as a tool: We can use it as a spur to move us forward. We can use it as a reminder of what’s truly important and use our time accordingly.

The Roman-era Stoic philosopher Seneca once joked that the one thing fools all have in common is that they are always getting ready to live but never actually do. That was 20 centuries ago. For tens…

How to Beat Procrastination Like a Stoic Philosopher

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