'Digital workspace' refers to the virtual applications and sevrices that you use to get your work done. While employees and students may not have a ton of control over their physical workspaces, they do have quite a bit over their digital ones. Just like physical workplaces, organisation and fixed systems can help boost one's efficiency in doing work with digital tools.

Importance of Digital Workspaces

<ul><li>Cal Newport is a professor and researcher that writes about productivity and living a more fulfilling lifestyle. </li><li>In his books Deep Work and Digital Minimalism, Cal criticizes the increasing digitization of Workspaces and the rise of attention hogging services like Social Media.</li><li>He recommends certain strategies to limit the interference of these services into our lives</li></ul>

Digital Minimalism and Deep Work

<ul><li>Step 1: Write down your core responsibilities and general work use </li><li>Step 2: Is this the best way to fulfill these tasks? Is there a better alternative? </li><li>Step 3: When you come across a new app, ask yourself: </li><li>Who was this app made for and what is a unique feature it offers?</li><li>Is this additional feature(s) compelling enough for me to migrate my present system there?</li></ul>

How to choose the right digital tools to use

Notion is an all in one workspace that can be tailored for individual uses. In the article the author uses Notion for:<ul><li>Task Management</li><li>Homepage</li><li>Notes</li></ul>Notion is available at: https://www.notion.so/

Notion

Super Productivity is an app that allows you to track time spent on tasks and also doubles as a Pomodoro Timer.It's available at: https://super-productivity.com/

To Do List and Pomodoro Timer

A list of tools to get the most out of your day

productivity

Productivity

How I maximized by digital productivity

We all fall into productivie slumps from time to time, often when we don't have a proper structure to our day, or when an existing structure is taken away. Without proper plans and structure we often procrastinate and even though we're getting our tasks done, the gap between assignment and completion is huge. We may write it off as free time, but is time spent worrying over pending tasks actually free?

Productivie Slumps, Procrastination and Free Time

Follow these steps to regain your productivity if you're in a slump:<ol><li>Gather Data about where and when you're wasting your time</li><li>Analyse the data and identify possible triggers/causes of Procrastination that you can directly tackle</li><li>Find strategies to overcome these triggers and causes according to your life and personality</li></ol>

Taking back control during a slump

Flow is the psychological state of feeling and doing our best, being in this state increases productivity and creativity immensely.To achieve flow while working at home:<ul><li>Set Clear Goals a day or night before</li><li>Concentrate intensely for 90 to 120 Minutes at a time</li><li>Practice mindfulness</li><li>Create some tactile way of marking tasks as 'Done'</li></ul>From <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/how-to-find-flow-while-working-from-home-steven-kotler.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this article</a>

Achieving Flow while working from Home

Everyone has different period of time during which they have low energy or just can't bring themselves to focus. In order to alleviate these times one needs to figure out how and when such levels strike, and think of strategies to combat them. One of the most common times is in the afternoon, to deal with the 'afternoon' slump, check <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CPia5ubDQSB/?utm_medium=copy_link" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this post</a>

Dealing with low energy and focus levels 

When we have free time, we may often end up filling it with scrolling through social-media or other attention depleting activities. If you know you can't, or are having trouble maintaining focus during a particular time, then consider planning some leisure activity to perform at that time. This could be in the form of:<ul><li>Arts and crafts</li><li>Catching up with a friend or family member</li></ul>Or anything else that is mentally engaging in a realm other than the one you usually work in.

Planning your leisure

By scheduling several similar tasks to be done together, you can save time without reducing quality. A common example of batching is washing all your dirty clothes together, instead of washing each t-shirt as soon as you take it off. Applying the same principle to tasks that use the same skill will help you warm up and save time.Use batching in:<ul><li>Checking and replying to your e-mails</li><li>Planning meetings and calls</li><li>Completing similar tasks</li></ul>

Batching similar tasks

If you keep running, without slowing down, you’ll eventually crash because your legs can only work so much. This crash is called burnout, a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that can lead to frustration and reduced drive to do what you aim for.The best way to avoid burnout is by taking breaks helps you refresh your mind, gives you a breath of fresh perspective and replenishes your focus, boosting Productivity.

Burnout and Breaks

How to get out of a slump, regain the ability to work and be effective.

How I reclaimed my productivity

This book is based on the premise of two virtues.Resume Virtues are the ones you list on your CV. The skills that you bring to the job market and contribute to one's success in the business world. Eulogy Virtues are the virtues that define you for those people that you are not in business with, the ones that get spoken about at your funeral.

Resume Virtues and Eulogy Virtues

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success—“résumé virtues”—and our core principles. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Looking to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade. Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth. “Joy,” David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.” Praise for The Road to Character “A hyper-readable, lucid, often richly detailed human story.”—The New York Times Book Review “This profound and eloquent book is written with moral urgency and philosophical elegance.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon “A powerful, haunting book that works its way beneath your skin.”—The Guardian “Original and eye-opening . . . Brooks is a normative version of Malcolm Gladwell, culling from a wide array of scientists and thinkers to weave an idea bigger than the sum of its parts.”—USA Today

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

books

Books

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • David Brooks challenges us to rebalance the scales between the focus on external success—“résumé virtues”—and our core principles.   NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE ECONOMIST   With the wisdom, humor, curiosity, and sharp insights that have brought millions of readers to his New York Times column and his previous bestsellers, David Brooks has consistently illuminated our daily lives in surprising and original ways. In The Social Animal, he explored the neuroscience of human connection and how we can flourish together. Now, in The Road to Character, he focuses on the deeper values that should inform our lives. Looking to some of the world’s greatest thinkers and inspiring leaders, Brooks explores how, through internal struggle and a sense of their own limitations, they have built a strong inner character. Labor activist Frances Perkins understood the need to suppress parts of herself so that she could be an instrument in a larger cause. Dwight Eisenhower organized his life not around impulsive self-expression but considered self-restraint. Dorothy Day, a devout Catholic convert and champion of the poor, learned as a young woman the vocabulary of simplicity and surrender. Civil rights pioneers A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin learned reticence and the logic of self-discipline, the need to distrust oneself even while waging a noble crusade. Blending psychology, politics, spirituality, and confessional, The Road to Character provides an opportunity for us to rethink our priorities, and strive to build rich inner lives marked by humility and moral depth. “Joy,” David Brooks writes, “is a byproduct experienced by people who are aiming for something else. But it comes.” Praise for The Road to Character “A hyper-readable, lucid, often richly detailed human story.”—The New York Times Book Review “This profound and eloquent book is written with moral urgency and philosophical elegance.”—Andrew Solomon, author of Far from the Tree and The Noonday Demon “A powerful, haunting book that works its way beneath your skin.”—The Guardian “Original and eye-opening . . . Brooks is a normative version of Malcolm Gladwell, culling from a wide array of scientists and thinkers to weave an idea bigger than the sum of its parts.”—USA Today

David Brooks

The Road to Character

The superhero 'Daredevil' is blind, but his acute awareness of his surroundings turn him into a legendary superhero. On several occasions, Daredevil has used mindfulness meditation to trackdown Villains and heal himself. This post is an experiment with Mindfulness meditation, trying to recreate the iconic superhero's powers.

Daredevil's Real Superpower is Mindfulness

mindfulness

Mindfulness

The Matt Murdock Meditation

Our lives are just like stories, and psychological research has shown that those that have a stronger 'Narrative Identity' live longer, healthier and happier lives. Narrative Identity is an individual's internal account of connections between past and present, and their expectation of the future. Those that craft better stories, live better lives.

Being a Storyteller Improves your life

How Storytelling makes your life better

A constraint is a state of being restricted, limited or confined within prescribed bounds. Think of all the possible creative ideas as grass in a huge field, and your creativity is a horse that’s running through this field, searching for the best plot of grass. If you don’t set up a constraint, the horse will run wild, being unable to focus on a single plot, because a better plot may always be available. If you set up a fence (constraint), it will help keep your horse within a specific area, it can cover the ground quicker, finding the best plot of grass quickly, and start eating.

Limitations Increase Creativity

‘Flow’ is the psychological state during which we feel and perform our best. Creativity and Productivity has been proven to increase during flow. Flow is achieved through some external triggers that are all activated when we set limitations. These triggers are: <ul><li>Risk : Time pressure is form of risk that is created through time constraints.</li><li>Clear Goals : Constraints help you set clearer goals.</li><li>Challenge to Skill Ratio : Resource limitations pose challenges, and force you to apply their existing skills in a better way.</li></ul>

Creative Limitations trigger the flow state

<ul><li>Committing to a schedule or setting a deadline: reducing the time you can spend on topic choosing and devoting more to actual creation.</li><li>Following a strict process or limiting the number of tools you can use</li><li>Setting a word, time or some other kind of limit (Eg. This article should be less than 1000 words, or, This painting should only have 3 things in the foreground , etc.)</li><li>Letting go of perfectionism, embracing rough corners and experimental stuff to help you grow and learn</li></ul>

How I maximized by digital productivity

How I reclaimed my productivity

The Road to Character

The Matt Murdock Meditation

How Storytelling makes your life better

Ishan Puranik