Tag: work

Top 10 Research Grants for International Scholars

by Shashikant Nishant Sharma

Certainly! Research grants are crucial for scholars to fund their investigations, experiments, and studies. Here are ten notable research grants across various fields:

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  1. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants: NIH offers a wide range of grants supporting biomedical and health-related research. These grants vary in focus, from basic science to clinical studies, fostering innovative discoveries and advancements in healthcare.
  2. National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants: NSF supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. Grants cover diverse areas such as astronomy, biology, computer science, and social sciences.
  3. European Research Council (ERC) Grants: ERC provides funding for pioneering research in Europe across various disciplines, encouraging high-risk, high-gain projects that can lead to significant breakthroughs.
  4. Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Grants: HFSP supports collaborative, interdisciplinary research focused on the life sciences, providing grants for scientists from different countries to work together on innovative projects.
  5. Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grants: This foundation offers grants to address global health issues, poverty alleviation, and education. Their grants often target innovative solutions and technological advancements with the potential for large-scale impact.
  6. Google Research Awards: Google supports academic research in computer science and related fields, providing grants for projects that can contribute to technology development and innovation.
  7. Wellcome Trust Grants: Wellcome Trust funds research in health, medical science, and medical humanities. They support a broad spectrum of projects from basic research to applied science.
  8. The Fulbright Program: Fulbright awards grants for international educational exchange for students, scholars, and professionals to study, teach, or conduct research. It promotes mutual understanding between people of different countries.
  9. NASA Research Grants: NASA funds research in space exploration, aeronautics, and Earth sciences. Grants support projects ranging from astrophysics to climate studies and technology development for space missions.
  10. Social Science Research Council (SSRC) Grants: SSRC provides funding for social science research addressing critical global issues, including inequality, governance, and human rights.

These grants not only offer financial support but also provide scholars with opportunities for networking, collaboration, and dissemination of their research findings, contributing significantly to the advancement of knowledge and innovation in various fields.


Research Grant		URLProbable Application Period
National Institutes of HealthNIH GrantsVaries; Check Funding Opportunities
National Science FoundationNSF GrantsVaries by Program; Check Announcements
European Research CouncilERC GrantsAnnually; Check ERC Funding Calls
Human Frontier Science ProgramHFSP GrantsAnnually; Check Application Deadlines
Bill & Melinda Gates FoundationGates Foundation GrantsVaries; Check Grant Programs
Google Research AwardsGoogle Research AwardsAnnually; Check Application Periods
Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust GrantsVaries; Check Grant Schemes
The Fulbright ProgramFulbright GrantsAnnually; Check Application Deadlines
NASA Research GrantsNASA GrantsVaries; Check Funding Opportunities
Social Science Research CouncilSSRC GrantsVaries; Check Grant Programs

Please note that the URLs provided here are placeholders and may not directly link to the specific grant application pages. It’s advisable to visit the respective organization’s official website for accurate and updated information on grant opportunities and application procedures. The application periods for these grants vary widely, so checking the websites regularly or subscribing to their newsletters can keep you updated on application deadlines and grant cycles.

How to properly plan out your week

Become more organized

To be successful and reach your goals, you need to be organized.
One first step in this direction refers to starting your day planning: choosing the agenda that works best for you can be a game-changer.

Practice a lot

Acquiring organizational skills, as in getting better at planning, can take a while. While finding the appropriate agenda is essential, making a habit out of using it is just as important.

Plan important moments monthly

When preparing your schedule monthly, make sure to add not only the daily tasks and objectives but also the big moments.
For instance, integrating your friends’ birthdays can prove both useful and time saving for the future.

Establish a day for planning your schedule

Establishing a certain day, when you can sit and plan your next week can prove extremely useful.
For instance, choosing Friday to be that day, seems pretty clever, as this day marks both the end of a working week and, why not, the beginning of another one.

Manage priorities first

To have successful days at work and not only, make sure you keep track of your tasks. Furthermore, taking care first of the priorities should be on everybody’s calendar.

Necessities are the real thing

Whenever you plan your schedule, write down whatever you need to do, but not everything you need to do.
Some tasks do not require being noted down, as they have become part of a daily ritual and can not be forgotten.

Use colours to plan your agenda or not

You choose how you want your planning to look like, therefore avoid trusting too much others’ opinions, but rather choose to prioritize your own.
For instance, using colour appeals to many individuals, but not to everybody. Just choose your style and get started.

reference

https://www.domino.com/content/how-to-plan-your-week/

How to prioritize work

Learning how to prioritize

It means getting more out of the limited time you have each day. It’s one of the cornerstones of productivity and once you know how to properly prioritize, it can help with everything from your time management to work-life balance.

Master lists

Capture everything on a Master List and then break it down by monthly, weekly, and daily goals.

  • Start by making a master list—a document, app, or piece of paper where every current and future task will be stored. 
  • Once you have all your tasks together, break them down into monthly, weekly, and daily goals.
  • When setting your priorities, try not to get too “task-oriented” – you want to make sure you’re prioritizing the more effective work.
Eisenhower Matrix

The matrix is a simple four-quadrant box that answers that helps you separate “urgent” tasks from “important” ones:

  • Urgent and Important: Do these tasks as soon as possible
  • Important, but not urgent: Decide when you’ll do these and schedule it
  • Urgent, but not important: Delegate these tasks to someone else
  • Neither urgent nor important: Drop these from your schedule as soon as possible.
The Ivy Lee Method

Rank your work by its true priority with the Ivy Lee Method:

  • At the end of each workday, write down the 6 most important things you need to accomplish tomorrow. 
  • Prioritize those 6 items n order of their true importance.
  • When you arrive tomorrow, concentrate only on the first task. Work until the first task is finished before moving on to the next one.
  • Approach the rest of your list in the same fashion. At the end of the day, move any unfinished items to a new list of six tasks for the following day.
  • Repeat this process every working day.
The ABCDE method

Instead of keeping all tasks on a single level of priority, this method offers two or more levels for each task:

  • Go through your list and give every task a letter from A to E (A being the highest priority)
  • For every task that has an A, give it a number that dictates the order you’ll do it in
  • Repeat until all tasks have letters and numbers.
Set the tone of the day by “Eating the frog”

Once you’ve prioritized your most important work, it’s time to choose how to attack the day. How you start the day sets the tone for the rest of it. And often, getting a large, hairy, yet important task out of the way first thing gives you momentum, inspiration, and energy to keep moving. 

Warren Buffett’s 2-list strategy

Cut out “good enough” goals with Warren Buffett’s 2-list strategy.

  • Write down your top 25 goals: life goals, career goals, education goals, or anything else you want to spend your time on.
  • Circle your top 5 goals on that list.
  • Finally, any goal you didn’t circle goes on an “avoid at all cost” list. These are the tasks that are seemingly important enough to deserve your attention. But that isn’t moving you towards your long-term priorities.
The sunk cost fallacy

Humans are especially susceptible to the “sunk cost fallacy”—a psychological effect where we feel compelled to continue doing something just because we’ve already put time and effort into it. But the reality is that no matter what you spend your time doing, you can never get that time back. And any time spent continuing to work towards the wrong priority is just wasted time.

REFERENCE

https://blog.rescuetime.com/how-to-prioritize/

Human skills for the future of work

“Becoming is better than being.” – Carol Dweck

Empathy Mindset
  • Listening: Ask questions to understand.
  • Appreciation: Show sincere appreciation and celebration of others’ contributions.
  • Self-Awareness: Part of feeling what others feel is also about understanding your own biases and limiting beliefs.
  • Judgment: When people seek advice or share a problem, they are not looking for your criticism. 
  • Presence: Time is one of our most valuable assets, so be there fully.
Emotional Intelligence

Being aware of how your behaviour affects others is at the heart of emotional intelligence.
This means building self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management.

Effective Communication

Consider the following principles:

  • Intention: Know what you want to say and be clear about your objective. 
  • Organization: Take the time to organize your thoughts and straightforwardly deliver them.
  • Framing: “I think, I feel” is much more effective than starting with “you,” which puts people on the defensive.
  • Affirmation:  Asking if the information makes sense may reveal a potential problem. 
Curiosity + Instigation

Curiosity is a natural part of any creative cycle. It paves the way for “possibility thinking,” rather than business as usual. 
Instigation is an invitation to challenge quick fixes, lacklustre solutions and mediocrity. 

Strategic Analysis and Analytical Thinking

Strategic analysis helps to identify complex problems by providing a top-level view into the interconnected web of what can often seem like isolated issues.
Analytical thinking enables people to suspend emotional decision making and instead look logically at evidence-based research and tests.

Complex Problem Solving

To get into problem-solving mode, you need to understand the true problem at hand, identify challenges in the way, resist simple solutions, identify constraints and pathways to feasibility, and, above all, make sure you’re open to experimentation. 

Conflict Resolution

Among the most effective skills to learn to resolve conflict are mastering deep listening, mediation and facilitation. 
Giving people the benefit of the doubt and leading with curiosity are also powerful tools. 

Negotiation and Persuasion

They are not required just for the sales team. You need to be clear about what you want and what you’re willing to let go of to get it.

Leadership

A great leader will understand that it’s not enough to build a culture, it needs to be protected and maintained. 
A great leader also needs to make difficult decisions and hold everyone, including themselves, accountable.

Reference

https://creativecloud.adobe.com/discover/article/ten-human-skills-for-the-future-of-work

5 Ideal Websites For Finding Freelance Work

The primary independent positions sites adopt an all inclusive strategy to work postings, which mean you can find a wide assortment of independent freedoms in whatever field you’re searching for work. There are such countless assorted sorts of independent positions.

What is Freelance Work?

Freelance work is a specific work or administration given by an individual exclusively and independently without being devoted as a representative.

A Freelance proficient is an independently employed proficient specialist organization who indirectly offers different administrations like Programming, Web plan, Graphic plan, composing, video creation, Music, deciphering, and so forth.

Top Websites for Freelance Jobs:

• Simply Hired:

Perhaps the best thing about Simply Hired is that you can glance through independent positions in your close by area. Additionally, there is a stock of top compensations and a device to figure your charge. This is obliging to even out for an exact work you need to do.

• Up work:

Up work is a passage for landing independent positions. It extends to all inclusive employment opportunity identified with IT and systems administration, administrator work, information science, bookkeeping, interpretation, and so on You can use this independent site for students to send boundless recommendations to customers. When you start a relationship with another customer, you will be invigorating an expense of 20%. It is an exceptionally responsive site for novices.

• Freelancer:

It is like Up work; you can construct a consultant profile and start offering on positions posted by customers. Freelancer.com represents in excess of 50 million clients starting at 2021. It’s a predominant decision for the individuals who favor working distantly and get their feet in independent commercial centers.

• Fiverr:

Fiverr is a site that helps you to land your position as a specialist. It presents occupations associated with computerized advertising, interpretation, composing, sound altering, video altering, and so on This site additionally gives a simple method to fabricate a rousing portfolio.

• User Feel:

User Feel entryway gives site testing occupations in more than one language. For instance, the analyzer can within reach audit in the local language. To turn into an analyzer, you require enrolling on this site and breezing through a preconditioning assessment. This is the main method for accomplishing outsourcing fill in as an analyzer.

Good and Bad effects of competition in Life

Winner Winner Confidence booster!

Get set go!! What do you make of that? If you think its competition, you are absolutely right! In Today’s fast moving life,this phrase makes sense most of the time in every field. Yes, competition,the act of trying tobwin or gain something by defeating others, is the policy we bear in mind in completing any task how much ever minute it may be.

One of the main advantages of competition is, it provides purpose and firmness to the mind. It gives us an impetus to pursue our goal, despite the difficulties that comes along the way. Here, ego also plays a major part as losing means one is inferior to the other. This might help in increasing confidence level. If its a challenge, why not gain the pleasure by surmounting it?

Even for a trifle task, one thinks that he must be the first one to finish it, thereby forcing each one to give their level best into it, yielding a better result altogether. This trait can be observed in children too. They try to compete in any task given to them and feel very good about themselves once they finish it. This simple instance shows the infuence of competition.

Now-a-days, children are very witty, which increases the level of competition.With numerous opportunities and resources come greater competition. This can be observed in various competitive exams. The cut off marks are such that, by a point difference people lose.This induces more stress in people which might be positive or negative, depending on each individual and circumtances.

Competition provides the opportunity to select the best among the bests. It is the best way to analyze ourselves and keep a track of where we stand among our peers. It also gives us chance to improve ourselves and achieve better when the next opportunity knocks our doors.

The monthly or annual exams students face is a trailor to the future competitions we might encounter. Many children as well as adults bear the opinion that exams are unnecessary and irrelevant. On the contrary, without a definite reason, it is highly unlikely that people learn what is to be learnt.

The importance of competition is such that we must always engage in improving ourselves to be on par with the bustling world. Only when we compare and compete with people, our areas of strength and weakness is revealed to us. This is help in finding direction to move forward in life.

Coming to the disadvantages, it depends on one’s mentality and view point. If one is pessimistic, the idea of competition might be discouraging to him. Whereas, if he is optimistic and ready to take on challenges, it might actually help in pushing oneself to improvise on all levels. The reality stands that competition is everywhere. One can either moan about or make the best out of it.

In conclusion, one musy always try to have healty competition in mind. Especially in this competitive world, competition is a must and the one conpeting with full determination will be the winner of the competition called life.

Why it is easier to quit!

Hanging the boots and calling it a day is the easiest thing to do, whatever the duty maybe, there’s no denying that.

Kicking the adversities in the face and eagerly setting forth for excellence is what takes courage and dedication. 

Quitting is never the right way out of anything, no matter what ever it may be, quitting will never be the answer.

Lets face it, whatever the task at hand maybe, it’s always easier to quit than to strive for it. Making the clear distinction of the ones that do and that don’t, being the former ones the who worked towards it. 

Look for inspiration 

Falling short for inspiration to do something is common, it’s only human. Whenever you fall short of inspiration to strive more, take a break and bask in the motivation that’s around you. The world is an inspiring place if you look at it the right way. Be it fellow beings or even other species, nothing good ever happens easy.

Don’t take failure as an excuse to quit. The potential of a person is wasted when one succumbs to failures.

Be persistent be consistent. The world rewards the ones who work towards their dreams. ‘Rome wasn’t build in a day.’

Just because your efforts doesn’t show much results doesn’t mean you’re wasting your time, growth takes time. Keep at it, you might not know when you’ll make it.

Believing in your own self is everything, if you don’t believe in yourself, then who will?

Losing sight of the fact that the only thing that’s stopping you from achieving what you want is only you at times.

It’s important to pick up from where you fell and not compromising on your values, reminding your own self that and walking the walk rather than talking the talk is what is necessary.

There’ll always be resistance, but pushing against such resistance is what is human nature is designed for. If a person constantly pushes himself against resistance and after a point, easily attains the tasks, it naturally means you’ve got better at it. Focused efforts towards the goals one wants to achieve should be the motto in life.

A lesson that you also learn from struggling is that not all struggles are meant to be won. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. Making fighting for a better dawn even more meticulous.

Perceiving the ones who often worked hard for their work as the luckier individuals is obviously bonkers. Not paying respect and attention towards their perseverance and their dedication! Luck happens when efforts meet the opportunities.

People are indeed wired wrong, they shy away from being open and embracing their weaknesses and shortcomings and working towards eradication of the same, for a better tomorrow. 

The success being evolving into a much better version of themselves. New and improved to be precise.

Successes and abilities paints a fancy picture of you are. But as humans we all know that ‘all that glitters is not gold’, we weren’t conceived to just be something that we are not. Growth comes from struggles, in our process to get better and more better at the things that we indulge in truly.

If we called it quits after the first fall, we as a species would’ve never achieved half the things we accomplished as of today. For a better day is just around the corner.

Online Classes During Pandemic

COVID-19 began in the month of December in 2019 and soon it grew into a pandemic, leading to several losses of lives and locking down of many cities. Social distancing became the key to escape out of this problem. But, with this solution came other problems. We are able to follow social distancing by keeping us locked in our houses but this stopped students’ education too. But we can’t just stop everything due to this COVID thing. We need to find an effective solution to continue the education of students. We need to continue the functioning of schools and colleges.

Online Classes

In the times of the internet, the one and the only solution are online classes. The online way to share knowledge and information now is the internet. It has proved to be a real miracle these days, connecting millions and making information access fast and easy. Be it school, college, tuition, or coaching classes, knowledge is now being delivered to students who are sitting at their home and can learn things sitting there only. Students now need a mobile or desktop and fast internet connection to attend their online classes and learn things. It is not possible for a pandemic to stop students from learning.

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How it is a different experience?

This way of learning is totally new to everyone, be it students, be it teachers or be it parents. We were already involved in some small ways of e-learning but a complete shift towards this type of mode is  something new and challenging to everyone. Teachers are continuously involved in finding new ways to make e-learning more interactive and interseting for students. They are continuously evolving their way of teaching and trying to give them a class-type of feeling. Teachers are also learning to adapt with new softwares and explore things. Students are learning how to deal with online homework submissions, doubt-sessions and examinations. But, the problem is that the medium of interaction is always an electronic device. Hence, students are subjected to fatigue and mental stress. They seem irritated and develop body pain sitting still at a particular position holding their phones or laptops. Students are also developing stress on eyes. It is quite difficult for them to adjust with all of these. It seems that this way of teaching costs their health, both mental and physical. Besides this, internet is not available to all the areas of the country and to all the students. Poor students can’t afford high speed data. This method of teaching, is thus, a barrier between poor students and education. It is a harsh truth that they are left behind. We need to work together towards this to make education available to underprivileged students also.

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The power of “Now”

Life, a very adventurous journey has three divisions, present past and future. We all have only one life and we want to live it to the fullest and make the best out of it. In our life, we have to deal with the present, past, and future. Thus, we are often confused about which moment of life is more important and should be given maximum attention. Let us try to figure this out.

Looking into the past and future

We all tend to be far-sighted, thinking of future plans, future goals, etc. We work for our future, we save for our future, and we plan for our good future. We work hard to achieve our future goals. But, we are uncertain of our future. Yup, are you sure your future will come? No one knows. Thinking of the future and making plans according to is also important, but getting lost in these plans is not the correct way. Working in a way that misses out today and seems promising of a good future is where we are getting ditched because we will be investing in something that does not exist.

Past, on the other hand, is what we already created. It is impossible to change now what we have done 10 years ago. We can only learn from the past to improve our present and future. So, there is no point in living in the past. If we live in the past, we are stuck.

Live in present. But, why?

“If you want to conquer the anxiety of life, live in the moment, live in the breath.”

Think deeply and question again. Are there three divisions of time or is it only one? Are there past, present, and future or is it only present? Confused? It will be clear.

Our present makes our past and our future. How? What we have today will become our past tomorrow. So, by living in the present, we create our past. By making our present beautiful, we create memories and by doing mistakes now, we create lessons to learn. Basically, it is possible to add what we want to add in our past. It is possible to create our past by designing our present in the way we want. We can also make our future in a similar manner. Whatever we do today will be reflected in our future. Whatever we want in the future, wherever we dream to stand in the future, it begins from the present. We have to work today only to reach where we want to be in the future. Our performance today decides what we will get in the future. If we want to get the best out of our life, we need to live in the present and give the best today, there is no other option.

“The present moment is the only moment available to us, and it is the door to all moments.”

“Now” is the happiness

The best and most important moment is now. It is not possible to grab it or hold it. What is possible is to enjoy it, make it the best by giving it the best and staying in that moment. Neither our past is bad, nor our future may be. It’s just certain instances of past that are bad or according to us and an imagined situation of future that may be overwhelming or fearful. But, the most precious moment is now. We enjoy it to the fullest. If we merge with the present we are truly living or we are dead. Living the present is happiness, it is the true pleasure. Make your each second beautiful. Embrace it.

present moment - large

 

 

Balance life with balance

‘Balance’, a word, simple and easy to understand but yet difficult to put in reality. The most crucial thing for the smooth running of life is ‘to maintain balance’, balance in everything, the balance of emotions, the balance of relations, the balance of food, the balance of thoughts, the balance of exertions, and whatnot. As we grow, we discover that a mistake we did earlier in life was due to a lack of balance of certain things at that point in time. Any problem that we face can be solved if we are able to identify what all things need to be balanced to manage this problem.

how-to-improve-work-life-balance-for-your-employees

Life is all about maintaining a balance between various factors/parameters that govern our life. And this balance is unique for each individual, in the sense that the importance of various elements of one’s life is different for different people. No one can decide it for us that how much importance to give to certain things that to others to maintain a balance. The balance of various things of our life that we make depends on our priorities, our comfort, our boundaries, and our mind and heart. The balance of things for a perfect life for two different people can often be very different.

We can understand it in this manner: whenever we cook food, we add all the spices in some specified amount according to our taste depending on the level of spicy food we prefer. Also, we add salt according to taste. If we try to add more of any particular spices, let’s say red chili, then it may ruin the taste of food for us as we can’t eat that spicy. However, the same food can still be found yummy by some other person who loves to eat spicy and is comfortable with eating spicy food. The same is the case with adding more or less salt. Here salt and various spices are similar to the various important elements of our life.

A perfect balance is a solution to every problem. But the reality is, it is quite difficult to figure out what is a perfect balance for us, what will work for us. It is a process of self-learning and self-realization. We can learn this only after making some mistakes as we move forward in life.

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Let’s discuss some of these balance that we need in brief:

  • The balance between various relations – We humans hold tons of relations in our entire life. It starts from the day we are born and it keeps on increasing as we grow. Each relation is important and can be maintained through proper balance.
  • The balance of thoughts – We need to balance between positive and negative thoughts. Though it is said always to be positive and always think positively, it is not true. It is also important to have some negative thoughts. It helps us to make back-up plans, it makes us aware, it can also boost us sometimes. But, again, a balance between the two is important.
  • The balance of emotions – We are humans and emotions are the gift we got that make us different from other creatures. Each human gets all types of experience. Even if you are a saint, you will find yourself getting angry. The thing is how you took your emotion and how you are managing it to bring the best out of you.
  • The balance of food – We need a balanced diet to maintain good health. A balance of various nutrients namely, protein, carbohydrates, proteins, fibers, etc is important for a healthy lifestyle.
  • The balance between work and home – Another important balance is the balance between work and home. Our work helps us to improve and grow and it keeps us focused, our home is our strength, it is our backbone and provides us emotional support. It is important to have a balance between the two.

So, the trick is to figure out the balance which will work for us in life and work with it. We should also understand that what might be a perfect balance for us today may not be a perfect balance for us tomorrow. So, it needs to be a bit flexible. We must realize that the small word ‘balance’ has a big importance for the smooth functioning of our lives.

8 habits on how one can be more productive

We all know some or the other person who is a do-er, always getting things done. They know how to do their tasks effectively and on time. The one who manages to finish 2 hours task in just 30 minutes. You could even describe them as robots because no one can work the way they do.

Ever realized what makes them so different? How come they are so productive? Well, one can’t be that in one night, it will require building certain habits.

Habits of Highly productive people

  • Always do the most important task first: No matter how difficult an important task is, always make sure to do it first. This will help in reducing your procrastination level and help you in time-management. It’s easy to spend the whole day ticking off the small tasks from your to-do lists, but it won’t help. As you might cross the deadline of the tasks that were supposed to be done urgently.
  • Be away from distractions: It is not necessary to pick every phone call. Your friends can wait but your work can’t. Make sure to cut off from social media when you are working. Turn off all the notifications if you think it can disturb you.
  • Know your work habits: Are you more capable of doing things alone? Are you more efficient in working during the night instead of the day? How much break you need in a day? Analyze it, figure things out, and do the tasks accordingly.
  • Get bored: You must have never thought in dreams that being bored can also come out as a productive habit. Being comfortable with boredom is necessary. Get more comfortable doing nothing or sit idle. This period can be helpful in thinking- can be an idea, situation, or anything. Be at ease during this time.
  • Use 80/20 rule: 80% of the results will come from 20% of the efforts. This rule is been followed by most entrepreneurs and businessmen. Highly productive people identify 20% of the most important task that they have to do in a day in increasing efficiency. Then, they look for ways to cut down the rest 80% of the task or schedule it for later, to find more time for things that make a bigger impact.
  • Break tasks into smaller pieces: Break your large to-dos into smaller ones. Set more small goals for every task. This becomes more specific, will give you the best results, and reduce your stress.
  • Work before you get inspired: There are a lot of people who come across saying they need the motivation to do the work. Highly productive people instead focus on getting the work started, no matter they are inspired or not. Taking action is what leads to motivation. Start working and the motivation will follow.
  • Don’t be a multi-tasker: When you multitask, you aren’t doing multiple tasks at once, instead, you’re switching your focus between things. Every time you switch the task, you have to refocus on others. Although multitasking is ok sometimes, try to avoid it most of the time.

 

 

Why it’s okay to not be productive right now

Pandemic or not, your self worth is not proportional to your productivity

Like me, if social media has become your only out to boredom, you may have noticed conversations about the notions of ‘productivity’ rocketing. Whether it is your twitter mate updating you with their daily baking sessions or an Instagram friend showing off the pages and pages of work that they finished, or your family groups bombarding you with motivational posts about how to spend your free time, if you have any. There’s so much pressure right now to make the most of this ‘free’ time. It’s exhausting to even try to keep up. The rhetoric around productivity is so romanticised, glamorised and even glorified. However, every time I come across a reminder to be productive, I find myself thinking whether is it really a practical thing or can being productive everyday be a damaging to oneself?

As a university student doing her under graduation, the increase of workload, since the onset of Coronavirus in India, hasn’t gone unnoticed- being given a task after task, a deadline after deadline took a toll on all students. At the start of lockdown, I had internals, I was constantly pulling all nighters revising for the tests, completing assignments and keeping up with the daily workload of the online lessons. In this sense, it felt like nothing even while being locked up in our homes. There was always something that had to be submitted, something that needed to be revised or something that I needed to start working on. I was trying, as was everyone, but oftentimes, it felt like all the efforts amounted to nothing in the end. The workload didn’t end with the end of the semester, having to take-up internships in the middle of a pandemic caused immeasurable pressure and paranoia. My work plans are disrupted by distractions, I find myself unknowingly overextending and the balance between work & free time has become invisible. Not to mention the stress is unavoidable, and I constantly find myself waking up wishing for the day to end.

Is there anything that can be done?

Last year, if someone told us that we would be trapped inside our homes in a state of quarantine due to a deadly pandemic, we would have laughed it off. So, at the time our worst and unimaginable fears are coming true, being plunged into uncertainty does not mean that we have to function effectively alongside it. And therefore, being productive is no longer as important as it was before.

It is of utmost importance to acknowledge that not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to use this situation to hone their skills, try new hobbies, explore new passions or build something unforgettable. In the midst of rapid unemployment, losing your loved ones, anxiety caused by separation from friends and family, isolation and loneliness, bad mental health is inevitable- and that’s okay. It’s okay not to be okay, it’s okay needing to take time off. It’s okay to listen to your body. Don’t be mad at yourself for not being able to deal with the situation as efficiently as your friend or your parent or your Instagram mutual. Getting out of the bed at a reasonable time is a task enough. Not putting off taking care of yourself and your needs is a task enough. Keeping up with your friends and checking up on them is a task enough. Spending time with your family is a task enough. Doing these tasks is no where near the perfect productive day I imagined – and it won’t be for a long while. I was meant to be getting excited about interning opportunities and travelling more and capturing more. Now when everything has gone south, the task of prioritising yourself is a rebellious act.

How can we change this mindset?

If you’re anything like me, university and work mean that I can not entirely ignore all my responsibilities in favour of self-care. Prioritising what you have to do is a good start to make sure you can do what needs to be done. Practice different methods or working. For me, sitting at my desk for more than 7 hours, staring at the laptop screen is quite overwhelming, mentally exhausting and doesn’t leave me feeling fulfilled. Taking breaks to perhaps watch an episode from a show that I’m currently hooked to or to mindlessly scroll on twitter ensures that I feel the balance.

This unsettling environment can be taxing. Forgive yourself for making mistakes.

Three Ways To Prevent Virtual Communication Fatigue While Successfully Working From Home

During the coronavirus-led lockdown, the concept of ‘workplace burnout’ has taken an all-new meaning, with employees having to deal with virtual communication fatigue. 

While working from home has been a sought-after perk for some employees, we have entered a new reality of frequent online meetings and an inability to disconnect from the job, which has created a new stressor, known as communication fatigue. With the coronavirus pandemic, companies across the globe opted for the work from home model to ensure the safety of their employees, and to follow the social distancing guidelines. 

As time went by, several organisations realised the benefits that work-from-home provides both for businesses as well as their employees. Many large organisations such as Facebook are considering permanent work from home policy for their employees. Twitter has already implemented work-from-home measures during the lockdown and declared it a success. 

In this context, the concept of ‘workplace burnout’ has taken an all-new meaning, with employees having to deal with virtual communication fatigue. Today, with the array of communication and conferencing platforms available, employees are continuously connected virtually with their colleagues, seniors, clients and more. 

This communication overload is resulting in employees feeling drained at the end of the day with virtual communication fatigue being one of the most talked-about topics today. With this perspective in mind, below are four ways to identify and prevent virtual communication fatigue: 

  1. Virtual time off 

As the work-from-home trend continues, many people within the workforce are noticing the blurred lines between work and home since they both are part of the same space today. It can be tempting for employees to schedule back-to-back meetings to get through the day quicker, but doing so can cause signs of fatigue to appear earlier than expected. While most of us take the support of caffeine to look and sound fresh, it can only do so much when up against consistent virtual meetings. To combat virtual communication fatigue that comes with a busy virtual meeting schedule, the cure is as simple as scheduling breaks during the day. Taking breaks at regular intervals will help you to recharge before the next call appointment and allow for extra planning so the next interaction goes as effortlessly as the last one. And your break doesn’t have to involve sitting at your home workstation. An effective break should include moving around to get your blood flowing and introduce a change of scenery. Talk to your family members, quickly whip up a salad or just take a power nap. 

  • Set a deadline and create an itinerary for every video call 

We’ve all been there before: one co-worker begins the meeting by asking how everyone is doing, what’s their current favourite thing to do and before you know it, half an hour is gone by without any discussion of the true topic at hand. As much as everyone loves to hear all about each other’s lockdown life; too much talk can cause meetings to go longer than planned. To prevent this, create an itinerary ahead of time. By scheduling minutes and other talking points, your meetings will run effortlessly while also limiting everyone’s virtual time to prevent communication fatigue. 

  • Block your front camera view 

One of the biggest contributors to video call fatigue is keeping the self-view feature open during meetings – no matter how wonderful your look turned out. As humans, we’re not used to staring at ourselves constantly. Regardless of how you feel about your quarantine look, self-view induces a feeling of anxiety; worried about how we look, sound, or what’s going on with the lighting and background. To prevent any sort of communication fatigue from view yourself, simply turn off the camera feature whenever you’re not presenting or not expected to talk. If you’re worried about how you’ll look on camera, open up your camera app before a meeting to make any last-minute adjustments, test the lighting, or make a quick location change. If closing the self-view isn’t possible on the platform you’re using, you can block it off by taping a piece of paper.