A little late, I realize, but I did want to jot down some of my post-Easter thoughts to follow up with my proactivity lenten resolution.
I remember one day, a particularly productive day of spinning, homeworking, and designing circuits, I had a very revealing AHA! moment. Perhaps it didn't occur to me during my bitter hate rants against school, but now after having a clear mind and ready-to-go attitude, I realize now that the thing that truly drives productivity is brain chemicals. As a huge biology nerd, this makes me very happy, as it validates my theory that you can truly assess someone in every aspect of their life by looking at their physical well-being. But going back to brain chemicals. You do what gets you the feel-goods, whether its working out, eating, sleeping, etc. and you keep doing it because you get the ultimate endorphine boost from it.
An addendum to this is realizing what will make you unhappy. Like homework, sitting in class, being hungry, etc. So how do you alleviate these things? With your brain chemicals. Obviously, if you're hungry, you fix that by eating. But what about those unhappy irritating things that you have to suck up and do? My solution: You literally have to force the endorphines to come out in these cases. Make it fun, make it engaging, make it whatever you need to. Make it interesting and get through it. And once you're through it, remember how you made it interesting and habituate that feeling until it's an addiction.
So essentially, get addicted to being productive. It's all about baby steps too. Too many times this year has my brain gone on overload just thinking about everything at once. The irony of productivity is if you try to do everything at once, you accomplish nothing. But by taking it step by step, piece by piece, making everything little thing count, the details will lend themselves into something great.
I recently heard a speaker give out this challenge to his audience: "I challenge you to find out one interesting thing about a new person everyday. I promise you if you try this, you will have less hate in your heart." He had been talking about the shooting at the Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, but I also take this as another sign that life can only be approached one person, one problem, and one step at a time. To be productive, to be successful, to not waste away your own wild and crazy life, the key seems to be to slow down and focus on what's in front of you.
