Let's Talk Productivity: a gentle reminder

Confession time: sometimes I spend more time thinking about being productive, rather than actually being productive.

Before bed, I’ll write lists after lists after lists in preparation for my early awakening the next morning, in the hope that I’m going to have the most productive day ever.

And… sh**t, it’s already evening again and I’ve done a big f**ck all. Out comes the list again, no tick at the end of each task in sight, and solid evidence of how unproductive I’ve actually been in my ‘most productive day ever’. I almost feel like even the to-do list is staring at me, judging, as I for one am certainly judging myself. Not one single task ticked off. Arghhhhh!!

Does this mean I’m lazy? Does it mean I’m not cut out for academia? But I work long hours some days, and I sometimes even make myself endure 4am starts so that there are more hours in the day – I can’t be that lazy, can I? I clearly have the drive to work and work hard? 

The negative self-talk swiftly creeps in…

Sometimes I can frustrate myself so much. I will go weeks/months with such a solid work ethic, making the most of each day as humanely possible and just generally getting shit done. I thrive off work, and most importantly, I thrive off working hard. If I feel like I’m not putting the hours in, then I feel like I’m not worthy enough to get the grades I want. After all, the more you put in the more you get out, right? You can’t expect to get the grades you want if you’re not willing to work for them. But then at such crucial times, when deadlines are fast approaching and I have no time to waste, my body just seems to flat out refuse to work! I can go 2 weeks without getting anything hardly done at all. I know it’s normal to have the odd unproductive day, but my ‘unproductive day’ quite literally turns into unproductive weeks, and it's so disconcerting. I want to work, but I just can’t seem to focus or get into the zone. Sound familiar to anyone? 

I’ve been trying really hard to tackle these ‘dwindling periods’, as I like to call them, head on. Because like I say, when the unproductive spell hits me, it always hits me for way longer than a mere day or two – to the extent where I genuinely forget what it feels like to actually work for longer than three hours  –  which is so inconvenient, especially when I have no time to waste and need to get work done. When I’m in these dwindling periods, I really do feel unbelievably rubbish about myself which, in a way, I’ve realised makes me more unproductive. I get myself into such a panicked state which makes me avoid work even more, as my brain tends to go to jelly! It’s as if I get myself into a cycle of working unproductively, which I then have to work really hard to snap out of. It’s a mindset situation, as with any situation for that matter.

After talking to others about these 'dwindling periods' I realised that I wasn't alone, and that others too can go through periods of feeling super unproductive and unmotivated. I realised it's normal to just have a couple of weeks (or longer) where your creativity, ideas, inspiration and work ethic just seem to hit a dead end for a bit of time. We're only human after all, and sometimes we just have to hit the reset button. So, here are a couple of things that I’ve personally learnt triggers unproductivity that can last longer than a day, and what can be done about it: 

1) Burnout. Oh, it’s this word again. It comes in different forms and guises. I mentioned it in a post first term, as I felt like I burnt the candle out at both ends, and I did it again last term too. This is the main cause of my unproductivity (why can’t I learn my lesson?) If you’re feeling like your brain has quite literally been fried and every time you attempt to work none of the words you read no longer make sense, then you’re probably burnt out and *need* to take a break. If not, you will never get out of this downward spiral of unproductivity, as I learnt the hard way. 

2) This leads onto my next point which is to never put too much pressure on yourself to work a certain amount of hours per day every day. One of the biggest and probably most important lessons I’ve learnt last term about productivity, is that you don’t have to work 13 hours a day to be productive and get lots done. For some reason, I built up in my head that if I don’t work longer than 10 hours in a day then I’ve not been ‘productive’. Why is it that we feel like we have to work inhumane hours to feel productive? All around social media there’s a barrage of ‘who has time for sleep when you’re hustling?’ posts, which tricks you into thinking that if you’re not quite literally making the most of so many hours in a day then your work ethic is "LAZY AF".  Erm, no. I realised that this wasn’t the case when I did work those type of hours and then, as consequence of doing that, burnt myself out the following week for days because I was just SO god damn tired. I can remember thinking ‘why am I THIS tired?’ and then I remembered the amount of hours I just worked in the 7 days prior and was like ‘oh’… 

Let’s get one thing straight. Working long hours doesn’t mean you’re more productive. In actual fact, I found that some of the best work I produced was in the days I worked far less hours, but I made those hours count. I noticed when I had planned to work more hours in the day, I would find it easier to procrastinate and not use those hours effectively. Perhaps less is more? Maybe it’s time to banish this idealised view that working 12/13 hours a day makes you more productive, because that’s not always the case. You can be much more productive if you work 5 hours in a day because of the mere fact that you’ll actually be able to focus and not be as drained from relentless hours of work on end. 

3) In a high-pressurised environment, like academia, it’s just so important to be kind to yourself. Are you finding it difficult to get in the mode and write those paragraphs that need to be written? Or are you struggling for the life of you to get those journal articles read? Then just take a little break away from it all and don’t punish yourself for it. Sometimes just accepting that the day isn’t going as productive as you want it to be and doing something else is the best thing you can possibly do. Give yourself a bit of self-care instead and do something for you. I read a quote recently which really resonated with me when I was feeling so unbelievably tired and unproductive:

‘You can’t pour out of an empty cup. Take care of yourself first, everything else second’

Ultimately, without being kind to yourself and allowing yourself to have regular breaks, the work you will produce will more than likely not be your best work. You can’t work if you’re not feeling the best version of you and if you feel burnt out and tired. Go out for the day and don’t think about work, catch up on sleep, binge watch Netflix and get yourself feeling refreshed –  just take a solid few days off guilt-free. Cut yourself some slack in this game, because you’ve only got you to rely on. 

To make this post a little different, I asked a couple of PhD students the question, ‘how do you have a more productive day?’, to showcase some further insight on this wonderful topic of productivity from other people’s experiences. 

PhD student, Emily Gibbs answered:

“ I try to set myself little goals, even really small ones like answering an email, and make a list either before I go to bed or first thing and then I just try to go through and check everything off. I like to feel like I have achieved lots of little things rather than setting myself one big goal and feeling bad about not completing it. I think in general having a tidy work space and putting motivational music (usually video-game related) helps me to stay focused and inspires me to keep working! I also generally try to put myself in the frame of mind that what I am doing is fun! Although writing essays, answering endless emails, and reading can feel tedious and sometimes it feels like you don’t enjoy what you do anymore – I just always try to remind myself why I am doing it in the first place and re-read fun/interesting things I have written myself/recently read and remember that although its “work” it’s still mine, and it’s fun(ish)! I think lastly and most importantly its super important not to punish yourself if you just can’t feel productive. Sometimes you are desperate to work and you just can’t produce anything and it’s forced, I think it’s important to recognise you aren’t a robot, you’re only human and it doesn’t matter what everyone else is doing – just take a break and come back to it later – I always have my best ideas when I’m not trying to have them ” 


PhD student, Rosie Mutton answered: 

“ First of all, I find a quiet environment where I know I won’t be disturbed by lots of noise or crowds of people. I listen to motivating film soundtracks on low volume, as I can enjoy the music without distracting myself by singing along. (I also find that Spanish pop music works just as well – it is quite upbeat to listen to, but as I don’t speak Spanish I can’t sing along. It can sometimes be a bit more interesting and motivating than listening to the same few soundtracks on repeat). I find that making a ‘to-do’ list helps because I can visualise what I need to get done that day, and how much time I need to (realistically) spend on each task. It also makes me feel as though I have achieved something when I can tick off a task – small achievements help me to feel that I am making progress. Although it is really important to remember to take regular breaks, sometimes I find I am most productive when I immerse myself in longer periods of intense working (say around 2-2 ½ hours at a time), interspersed throughout the day with a long walk or longer break time. This helps me as I have time to fully concentrate on the task I am trying to complete, knowing that once I have finished it, I have a long break to look forward to. While these are the three things that I find help me to have a more productive day, I have found in the past that some days are just more productive than others, and when I have tried to replicate what happened on a productive day, it hasn’t worked out as well. Sometimes I seem to be my most productive when I go with where the day takes me, without worrying too much about making and sticking to a plan ”



If you've read this and have been able to relate to it, or if you've read it and got something out of it generally, I hope it's helped in some way and been a gentle reminder that we all go through phases of feeling uninspired and unproductive. Accept the dwindling periods, they will pass, and until they do ensure you keep rested. 

Em x 

PS. Want to get to know me a little better? Follow me on Twitter and say hi!  @EmilyJLynn