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Transcript

Finding Ways to Increase Productivity · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to talking facts what you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and consumer sciences extension program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
• 0:25
  Hello and welcome to talking facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  I am your host,
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  Mindy McCulley,
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  family and consumer sciences extension specialist for instructional support at the University of Kentucky.
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  My guest today is kelly may,
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  senior extension associate for family finance and resource management.
• 0:43
  Welcome kelly.
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  Thanks for having me out here.
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  So we are going to talk about a fun topic which is increased productivity and we're going to talk about finding flow.
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  So I'm excited.
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  Are you excited?
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  Excited?
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  I think it's a good feeling and we're gonna talk about how to capture that good feeling.
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  Yes,
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  I think that will,
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  we will have lots of fun talking about this topic.
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  So let's just get started with what is flow.
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  So have you ever been so engaged in an activity?
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  That time seems to melt away.
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  You're working along and you look up and it has just been hours and you've really enjoyed what you're working on.
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  Has that happened to you?
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  I do find that that happens to me sometimes it's either I'm really,
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  really engaged in what I'm doing and then sometimes it's because I really am enjoying what I'm doing.
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  It could be two different situations without find myself and those are both important components of finding flow if you want to do it intentionally.
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  So flow happens when you become absorbed in a job while you are enjoying it and it can happen with your work.
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  It can happen at school or it can happen while you're playing or during your hobby time flow can increase your concentration and improve your personal productivity and we love and family finance and resource management to talk about productivity and how we can manage our resources to be more productive people.
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  And so with some effort flow can be intentionally achieved.
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  So how can we set the stage to make sure that we are more productive and that flow will happen.
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  So first of all stop multitasking and I know we don't always like to hear that because the world wants us to multitask were asked to do so many things,
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  we're all stretched in a million different directions,
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  but research suggests that doing several things at once keeps the brain from deeply engaging with any one task.
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  And flow cannot happen if you're not fully engaged.
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  So the biggest thing you can do is to set aside specific times to work on projects without distractions.
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  Now,
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  besides that,
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  researchers have noted eight specific components to creating an optimal flow experience.
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  So if you want to try to make your own flow setting and sort of set the stage so it can just happen naturally,
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  there are a few things you can do first,
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  it must be a task that is doable.
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  It's something you can complete and we'll talk more about that in a second I think so we're not eating an elephant.
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  No we might be eating a frog,
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  right?
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  We might eat a frog.
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  But it's something we can accomplish.
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  So it's not necessarily something you like.
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  That's what the frog is,
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  something you don't,
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  but it could be any type of activity.
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  As long as it's something you can accomplish,
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  concentration or focus needs to be able to happen.
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  So again with not multitasking,
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  being able to really hone in on what you're doing.
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  So we need to turn off our email so we don't hear those beets right?
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  Yes,
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  there should be clear goals for the task.
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  It helps if you can receive feedback,
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  especially immediate feedback.
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  The task should be absorbing.
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  So you can be so involved and that helps your other worries and frustrations just fade away.
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  It helps to have control over your actions.
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  So you are you are driving,
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  you're in charge and you stop worrying about yourself and you find that time stands still so those hours fly by that the minutes might feel long.
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  I had to think about that one for a minute.
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  The hours fly by but the minutes feel long so you feel like you've got time to plenty of time to accomplish it.
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  But when you turn around and look at it it's like how did I get here in this amount of time because I feel like I haven't,
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  it hasn't taken any time at all.
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  I got it.
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  Okay wow.
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  So let's talk about that doable thing.
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  What exactly could that doable thing be?
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  What does that mean?
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  Yeah,
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  it needs to be something you can complete.
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  So whether it's a work project or again a hobby or playtime or you're working on a paper for school or something,
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  it can be any kind of work or project but it needs to know it's not necessarily something that's easy.
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  Right?
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  So challenge and skill are both very important to flow and they have to be in balance.
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  If a task is too challenging it makes us anxious or frustrated,
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  right?
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  If it's way too hard we do not feel good about it.
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  So it's really hard to find flow if you're not feeling good about the situation.
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  However if the task is too simple it doesn't require good skills,
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  you could be totally bored with it.
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  So there needs to be a good balance between challenge and skill and that helps you work at your peak capacity.
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  And so that's how you find that rhythm and that flow that we call it,
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  that keeps you working at your best.
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  So for example last weekend I decided or not last weekend but over the winter I decided that I wanted to redesign my flower beds.
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  And so last weekend I took on the challenge and dug up old things,
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  put in new things,
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  changed the shape and replanted some of my old plants and put in new plants,
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  but I've changed color schemes so that I've got a nice flow of,
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  of colors and a flow of my annuals and perennials so that I'll have things blooming at different times.
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  So all of this required me to really think about how and when things would bloom and what colors would be blooming at the right times and all of that sort of thing.
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  So it required me to use a lot of brain power.
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  But it also required me to use a lot of muscle power to make it happen as far as when I was doing all the planting and arranging and,
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  and digging up and replanting and,
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  and the weekend was gone before I knew it because I was really working pretty much all afternoon,
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  both saturday and sunday,
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  making sure that I got my flowerbeds planet.
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  So I was in my flow.
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  Right?
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  Right.
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  So you,
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  so you felt good while you were working on it?
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  Right?
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  Oh yeah,
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  my muscles hurt.
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  But I felt,
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  yeah,
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  that's after.
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  That's what,
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  so after your actions,
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  you're not worried about it,
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  you had a plan,
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  your task was doable.
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  You were doing all the things on this,
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  this eight item list and I bet you got feedback.
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  I bet you drug somebody from your family out to look at it after you were done.
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  That's right well,
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  and I'll get more feedback as the summer goes along and we have different stages as as my flowers are working out there.
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  So that's great.
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  Yes.
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  So yeah,
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  I I get that I was in the zone I guess this is what I call it,
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  but flow is what that's where you were calling it here.
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  Yeah.
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  And and so it's that process that's enjoyable.
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  And if it's enjoyable,
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  we want to do it again.
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  And this causes us to stretch our skills and find new ways to use them.
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  So the next time you design your flowerbed,
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  it may be even more elaborate because your challenged level and your skill set have grown correct.
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  Exactly.
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  So is there anything else important that we need to do to make sure that we're creating flow.
• 8:34
  Glad you asked me that.
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  The last thing I wanna mention is attitude,
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  attitude is everything um pretty much with everything in life,
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  right?
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  But you work on a task,
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  don't worry about the reward,
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  you're gonna get trying to find enjoyment in the work itself.
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  If the task is not something you enjoy,
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  we talked about how it's not necessarily something easy.
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  Sometimes it's a project that's difficult or stressful.
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  Part of that is the attitude you take towards it and to see it as a challenge rather than a threat.
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  So that helps you tackle it and it helps us control our stress level and again,
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  you know,
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  balance that anxiety and and find that control to help us get through the project,
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  but not just get through it,
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  enjoy it and to find that rhythm to get in that zone and put it right.
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  Exactly.
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  So if we go back to my flower bed example,
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  I don't really care what anybody else thinks about my flower bed in in all reality,
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  I'm the one who's gonna get enjoyment from the fact that it's,
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  it's blooming and growing the way I want it to now.
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  I think that other people will get some enjoyment from it.
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  But in the end it's what matters to me,
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  right,
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  because I'm the one who's put all that work into it.
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  So in that work is more enjoyable when you're using your skills and you find enjoyment in the work if it's something you find worthwhile and that was a project that was worthwhile to you.
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  Exactly.
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  And I probably could have recruited other people to help me do that.
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  But it wouldn't have been,
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  first of all,
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  it would have been my project so much anymore and they wouldn't have enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed it because it wasn't their project.
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  So I get it.
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  It was my flow,
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  not there,
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  that was your flow.
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  You found it.
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  Well,
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  thanks kelly for sharing with me today.
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  I know that we have lots of other great things that we can can do to increase our productivity.
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  But finding flow is definitely one of those things that we can all work towards and hopefully be more productive in our work in our life and in our play.
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  Thank you so much for having me well and join us again on talking facts.
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