作为一个注意力易分散的社交媒体重度依赖症患者,当被通知由于疫情原因必须在家办公的那一刻,我是慌张失措的。
心想,这下完了,看来我要天天工作到深夜了。因为我在家的常态是:
无意识的频繁查看手机里是否有未读信息,
一听到应用提示音就会立马放下手头的工作,
经常漫无目的地坐在沙发上刷微信朋友圈。
过去的几年里,我也是尝试了无数种方法,希望改掉坏毛病。但似乎都收效甚微。看到这里的你是不是也有所共鸣呢?
就在上周,时间控学姐参加完Anne Lee的一个“微习惯”讲座后却让情节直接反转。运用她介绍的一些简单的微习惯后,我惊讶地发现原来自己是可以很高效的!那么现在就让我们直接进入分享环节吧 :)
几招宅家「微习惯」,改变工作与生活……
“微习惯”的模型究竟是什么呢?
作为人类,我们天生懒惰。只有当我们打心底里希望养成某个新习惯并且可以轻松完成这个动作时,这条新习惯才更有可能培育成功。
微习惯的概念,最早由斯坦福大学的行为科学家BJ Fogg提出,他认为:简单是养成新习惯的核心;即任何新习惯必须紧跟在已经存在的习惯之后发生。
也就是说一旦做完(每天重复的)老习惯(比如:刷牙),新习惯就要开始(比如:给自己一个大大的微笑)。这样,那些能够自动完成的老习惯,才会提示大脑去运作新习惯。
一个连贯的微习惯就在形成了:刷完牙后-给自己一个大大的微笑。
但是,有了这些还不够。还需要即时庆祝的神助攻!
原因何在?
因为这种“点赞”可以让你提升自我成就感。研究表明,只有当我们自我感觉良好时,我们才会更愿意在下一次继续做同一件事,从而让好习惯持续。
那么我们该如何庆祝自己的成功呢?方法很多,取决于你的性格。
如果你性格外向,可以大声哼唱几句你喜欢的歌曲,舞动一下身体或对自己大喊一声“耶!”。
如果你性格内敛,给自己一个明媚的微笑或竖起大拇指可能会更适合你。我本人就非常享受在日历上打勾勾的感觉,成就感满满!
好啦,现在让我们立刻将这一理论付诸实践,揭开时间控学姐最爱的四条微习惯神秘面纱吧!
吃掉一只青蛙
微习惯1:刷完牙后,我会说:“我今天要吃的青蛙是…”
这个主意来源于时间管理畅销书《吃掉那只青蛙》。因为对我而言,比起写一份长长的待办清单这样做会简单很多,同时还会避免可能会因挑战失败而重度受挫的内心
这只青蛙就是你一天中最重要的事,你认为自己最有可能拖延或难度系数最高的任务。试想一下,如果你早上就能独吞一只活青蛙,那么在接下来的一天中还会有什么比这更糟糕的事吗?如果你是学生党,这也许意味着你可能再也不用连夜赶作业啦。
举个例子:我上周四的青蛙是将一个活动的具体框架发送给我的经理。于是在那天早上我花了整整两个小时完成了此任务。当按下“发送”键的瞬间,我的内心成就感爆棚,好心情更是延续了一整天。
手机电脑零干扰
你可能会质疑:这怎么可能?尤其是现在我们必须依赖这些设备进行远程学习或办公。让我告诉你,这是可以实现哒!学姐亲测有效哦。
微习惯2:早餐后,我就将手机切换为飞行模式,然后把它放到另一个房间。
你可以设置固定的时段,例如上午9点至中午12点。
这对我的效率提高尤其明显。通常,我需要花至少一整个周末才能完成一篇文章。然而当用了此条微习惯后,我最近的那篇文章竟只花了一天时间!我发现没有了触手可及的手机,我可以更专注的去搜索资料并创作。整个世界也突然安静了很多。感觉自己又重新拥有了一股能量,终于可以不被手机所控制啦。甚至感觉没有手机世界似乎更美好。
微习惯3:打开电脑后,我将登出所有的社交媒体帐号。
(如果你是用手机上课的学生党)登陆Zoom帐户后,我将关掉所有社交媒体的提示功能。
温馨小贴示:你可能需要让你的家人和朋友知道你的手机闲置时段,以避免产生不必要的担心。
番茄模式 (Pomodoro Technique)
Pomodoro(番茄)工作法又被称为25分钟工作法。该方法使用一个定时器分割出25分钟工作加5分钟休息的组合。因为大多数人的最佳专注时段一般是25分钟。不过你的情况也可能会有所不同。在实践中不断调整咯,但我建议定时最长还是不要超过1小时。
微习惯4:打开浏览器后,设置番茄计时器
温馨小贴士:在一个番茄时段尽量只做一项任务。你还可以在桌旁备一张纸。这样,如果你想到了其他紧急任务,可以随时记录下来。
这条微习惯对我完成自己不喜欢做的事或不知道从何开始的任务帮助很大。我会强迫自己坐下来,打开计时器,然后给自己打气:倩倩,只要做25分钟就行啦。相信你可以做到哒。如果你是学生党,不妨每天分配一个番茄时段给你的一个科目大作业。跨出第一步永远是最难的。一旦你开始写,很可能就会泉思涌动,甚至连休息都不要啦。
(对了,顺便说一句,文末将有彩蛋哦!我最爱的三个免费番茄计时器送给你。)
那么在5分钟的休息时间你一般会如何奖励自己呢?
作为一个爱自然的吃货,我会跑到自己狭小却舒适的后院里,用心感受着眼前的一切,拥抱当下的美好。暖阳,混杂着草木香的空气,清脆的鸟鸣伴随着与树叶温柔嬉戏的微风声,还有养眼的绿树林以及偶尔窜入其中叫不出名字的花色鹦鹉,身心得到完全的放松。当然,我也喜欢细品一些健康小零食,比如生胡萝卜条搭配自制核桃青酱,回味无穷。
但是,每个人都不同。如果你喜欢气味,那么点燃一盏香烛可能对你会很有吸引力。
除了工作学习外,社交时间也必不可少。比如在周末和在乎的人儿来一个Zoom云晚餐或电影之夜都是很不错的选择呢~
好了,以上就是今日份的分享啦。希望对你们有所帮助,也期待听到你的进展,更希望你能在不远的未来拥抱自己的蜕变。也许此刻的你就可以给未来的自己写一封祝贺电邮哦。设置下拆封时间(6个月或一年),以此来测试你的预言技能!人生因这些小小的期待而精彩,不是吗?
你有什么好习惯呢?欢迎留言哦~
我个人很心水的三个免费番茄计时APP作为彩蛋送给你:
电脑专用款:https://www.pomodoro-tracker.com/
基础款,不过你可以选择添加待办清单,以此看到你的成长足迹。
手机电脑通用款:Forest 专注森林和潮汐
这两个应用程序有一个共同的亮点:能在你的番茄专注时段屏蔽你希望屏蔽的不相关网站。
Forest专注森林 https://www.forestapp.cc/
每当你成功专注25分钟后,就会在APP上看到你的种子成长成了一棵大树。这样的视觉奖励是不是很酷呢?你甚至还可以和身边的小伙伴们比比看一段时间下来谁种的树最多。
潮汐 Tide - Sleep. Focus. Meditation. Relax.
它的亮点是其具有多种white noise(大自然温和音乐)和冥想功能。
When studying or working from home, do you have the temptation to:
Constantly check your phone?
Scroll through all your social media pages aimlessly?
Or drop everything as soon as you get a notification?
If you said yes to any of those scenarios, I can help you break these bad habits to become more productive and focused. As a self-proclaimed social media addict with a short attention span myself, shameful to admit, I’ve always desperately wanted to solve this problem. However, after trying so many different methods for years on end, I almost lost hope, because none of them really worked :(
However, recently a ‘Tiny Habits’ Workshop presented by @Anna Lee changed my life. I was amazed and thrilled to find out how productive I could be after applying these simple techniques! So I want to share it with you all today . Ready?
This ‘Tiny Habits’ method was created by a behaviour scientist @BJ Fogg.
He believes simplicity is the key to form a new habit. As human beings, we are inherently lazy. So it is only when we really want to develop a new habit (which is very easy for us to do), we will have a higher chance to make it stick.
That’s where tiny habits come into the picture.To develop a new habit, it needs to be completed straight after one of your already existing habits (e.g. brushing your teeth). This allows your old habit to act as a trigger for your newly found habit.
Yet, that’s not enough. You need to add an immediate celebration after doing the new habit. Why? Because it reinforces the action and makes you feel good. Research shows only when we are feeling good, we will be more inclined to do things continuously. So how should you celebrate your success? It depends on your personality:
For extroverts: sing a few phrases of a song out loud, move your body, or shout: ‘Yay!’ to yourself.
For introverts: give yourself a smile or a thumbs-up.
Now let’s put this theory into practice. Here are my top four tiny habits to stay productive.
Eat a frog
Habit 1: after I brush my teeth, I’ll say: “my frog today is…”
I got this idea from the book ‘Eat That Frog’. I found this works much better for me than writing a long to-do list and being afraid of failing to achieve items on that list.
The ‘frog’ is your number one priority: the task you find the most difficult or the one you will easily procrastinate. Imagine: if you can eat a live frog as the first thing in your day, what other worse things can happen for the rest of that day.
For example, one day my frog was to create a very important event to send to my manager. After spending two hours creating an event in the morning, I felt a massive sense of achievement when I finally clicked ‘send’; that happy mood carried me over the rest of my whole day.
Eliminate distractions from your phone and computer
You might wonder:
How is it possible to eliminate all screens when using phones and computers are a necessity for online classes or work?
It is not possible to do this entirely, instead, we must rid the distractions from these devices rather than the devices themselves.
Habit 2: After my breakfast, I switch my phone to aeroplane mode and put it away in another room. (You can set a time frame, such as 9am-12pm.)
I found this habit super useful.
Normally it takes me at least a whole weekend to write an article. By using this method, I finished my latest article in only a day! Without my phone, I found it much easier to stay focused on my research and writing. My world became much quieter too, I felt I finally got my power back. I was not controlled by my phone. I even felt like I didn’t want to own a phone anymore.
My phone on the top of my bookshelf (unreachable)
Habit 3: Once I turn on my computer, I log out of all my social media accounts and turn off all notifications.
A kind reminder: you might need to let your family and friends know your mobile free periods to avoid some unnecessary worries.
Pomodoro mode (tomato technique)
Habit 4: Once I open my internet browser, I set my tomato timer.
Work for a 25-minute block then have a 5-minute break. Because 25-minutes is the optimum focus time for most people, but yours might be different. Try out different times yourself to find out your optimum focus time.
This really helps me to complete the tasks which I don’t like to do or don’t know where to start. I then would set the timer and persuade myself:
Come on Qian, only 25 minutes. You can do this.
If you are a student, you can use this for your big assignments. Every day, just simply assign a tomato block for those assignments. Because to get started is usually the hardest step. Once you start, you may not even want to have a break
REMEMBER:pick only one task for each tomato block and have a piece of paper beside you. This way, you can take notes if any other urgent tasks pop into your head.
(By the way, I have a gift for you at the end: my three favourite FREE tomato timers.)
How do you reward yourself during a 5-minute break?
I love nature and food. Therefore, to run in my small yet cosy backyard gives me great pleasure. Warm sunshine, fresh air and sweet plants, chirping birds, and green trees relax my body (especially eyes) and mind.
My walnut pesto dip with carrot sticks~ My lovely backyard~
However, everyone is unique. If you are a scent person, to light a candle might be more appealing to you.
Of course, your day is not all about getting things done. You need to have social time too. Leave some space for it, such as organising a group dinner or movie night over Zoom.
These are my top four habits. I hope you find them useful, and please let me know how it goes. I can’t wait to hear how your habits have changed since reading this. Maybe you can even write a congratulatory email to your future self. It’s fun to test our prediction skills, right?
A perfect email example!
What's your favourite habit? Comment below!
My top 3 FREE tomato timer apps:
1. Pomodoro Tracker https://www.pomodoro-tracker.com/
Web-only, very straight forward and has the option for you to add your to-do list so you can have a record.
2. Forest https://www.forestapp.cc/
Web and App: A tree will be planted every time after you manage to focus on 25 minutes. What a cool visual reward. You can even hold a competition with your friends to see who grows most trees.
3. Tide https://tide.fm/en_US/
Web and App: has varied background white noise and meditation sessions.
Notes: for Forest and Tide both have a great function: block websites that you are tempted to visit during your focus time.