5 Ideas to survive the NETFLIX binge

Over the last couple of weeks and months I have realized that routines and fixed schedules do not work for me. Every once in a while I try to setup a schedule for my days and months, but every time just after a couple of days something comes up or happens that ruin the entire schedule I was working toward.

All the great productivity hackers say that to have the highest optimized productivity one must stick to a fixed schedule, but none of them tell you how to actually achieve that. They will share their favorite tools to hack productivity such as To Do apps. But none them actually explains how to work as per those To Do’s.

So how do we actually get these productivity hacks and tricks work for us? How do we stick all those ideas shared by so many self help guru’s?

I have no idea, because over this weekend when I planned to do some productive tasks for this blog, I ended up Binge Watching Luke Cage on Netflix. But I have been struggling with this issue for past 5–6 weeks now, every other week I end up wasting an entire weekend or an entire night when I could have worked. So over time I have realized a couple of things to get back on track after that wasteful weekend.

I would love to share these Ideas and tricks with all of you, these ideas are simply learned with experience over time.

1. Take a break but don’t let it break you — The most common problem one faces when working on something you are passionate about or enjoy is that we just can’t stop working. But if we do not stop and take a break we may end up burning out and then we wont be able to work at all. So it is highly critical that we take breaks from the work time to time. But it is also critical that the break we take is short enough that we don’t end up being demotivated and disinclined. We have to find a balance between the two outcomes of taking a break.
2. It only takes a small effort to get back in rhythm — After every break that happens, when you try to get back to the rhythm you feel a powerful resistance to stay in the break and not doing anything. This resistance is what makes you unwilling to work again, but if you apply a little force against the resistance and go through it you will realize it much easier to get back into rhythm than you anticipated. So whenever you feel you are facing resistance to get back in the rhythm just apply a little force and you will be back in the rhythm.
3. Avoid temptation — Today due to the internet our attention span is decreasing and the Internet itself is utilizing that by generating small byte size content to keep us hooked for longer and longer. For example Netflix releases an entire season of a show in a single day, and right after and episode completes it gives to option to continue watching the next episode. And we always end up watching the entire season in one sitting. So the biggest challenge today is to avoid being pulled by the temptation. We have to stay strong against it and persevere.
4. Shake things up when you get back in rhythm — When trying to start again after the break don’t just start with the same old routine again. Change things up, this will help reduce the resistance you face while starting again. If you did something in the evening before going to bed, now start doing that right after waking up in the morning. Basically by doing this you are shaking off the effects of the long break.
5. Good Music inspires — Music is the heart and soul of everything, it inspires and motivates you to get things done. It simply gets you in a state of mind where you are willing to work all on your own. So when trying to get back in the routine for regular work always listen to good music which inspires you.

Well these are a few ideas that help me get back into the rhythm after a long Netflix binge session.I hope these ideas help you get back in the rhythm too after a long break. If you have your own ideas and techniques that you use to get back into the rhythm please share below.

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