Ways to Improve Productivity and Creativity Despite Having a Short Attention Span

Aside from the COVID-19 pandemic, a short attention span might be another pandemic we are unwittingly living with in recent times. Due to having short attention spans, a good number of us have issues with being as productive as we ought to be.

Because we are aware of ADHD, we find ourselves identifying with it, even without a proper diagnosis from a professional. 

In this piece, I will share with you how to break away from the trap of misdiagnosing yourself with having ADHD while coming up with ways to be more productive at what you do, despite being prone to having a short attention span.

What Happens When Your Hobby Becomes a Chore? (How Finding Fun in Writing Can Boost Your Productivity)

Many of us loved writing as children; we saw it as a pastime. At the same time, a good number of motivational speakers tell us how to find our passion—“Turn your hobbies into a career,” they say. That saying possibly, nudged us into following a career in writing.

However, no one warned us about the likelihood of questioning the career choices we have made based on our hobbies and passions. Sometimes, it would seem, our dreams of spinning careers out of our hobbies insidiously morph into nightmares when we start perceiving writing as a chore.

From interacting with different writers, I realized writing only becomes a chore when we approach it from a place of defeat. Joan of Arc said, “All battles are first won or lost in the mind.” Easy tasks are only difficult in the mind. A defeatist mindset makes us think, “Oh, this looks so hard! How am I ever going to start?” 

The mind holds on to this first impression we have, and you know what they say of first impressions: They last forever, and it is hard to change them. This negative first impression runs in the background while we ruminate on the job at hand. Instantly, we decide we don’t like it, and before we know it, we find ourselves procrastinating on the task.

Then there comes anxiety because a part of our minds is aware of the deadline. Eventually, imposter syndrome enters the group chat. We find ourselves doubting our abilities. The horror of it all! 

Writing was fun while we were younger because we mostly wrote things we loved while there were no deadlines or pressure. However, these two variables are absent in the course of writing at our jobs. To remedy how writing was becoming a chore for me, I found myself coming up with ways to find joy in writing. 

In this post, I will share with you tips I used to find joy in writing. Of course, these are not set in stone. I encourage you to borrow elements here and there from my experience, look inwards, and fashion healthy methods that would work in your personal context.