In addition, many private employees have gone through the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic lockdown with half, cut or even no pay. It makes sense to have a backup source of income more than ever before.

Even if the growing costs of living weren’t a factor, having a secondary source of income is always a good idea. Earning money on the side, whether for meeting financial needs or as a hobby makes sense.

Let’s explore things that you can do on the side to increase your income.

1.  Call Center, Web Site Support

Pakistan falls among the cheapest English speaking population in the world. Many businesses from the US, UK, Australia, and Canada look for low cost but fluent English speakers for call centre, customer service and website chat support jobs. If you have a good accent, and typing speed you can work part-time and opt for work from home options. You need to have a strong English speaking and typing speed for such jobs.

Many such jobs are available on freelancing platforms like Fiverr, Upwork, and Freelancer. However, getting a project is a matter of consistency and patience. There are many fraudsters also looking to get work done for free so make sure that you use your common sense in dealing with people on any platform.

2.   Start a Blog, vLOG, or Instachannel

Assess yourself and your hobbies, do you enjoy gardening? Or do you love animals? Can you give 1 or 2 hours of your day daily willingly to this hobby? Based on the answers to these questions, you can decide to write (blog), record or photograph your activities to make a blog, vlog or Instagram or YouTube channel about your hobby. Many people start blogging about fashion, makeup, technology, cars, cooking, celebrities, entertainment, and gossip. Many others write about other channels and media accounts. The key is to have good quality and not to copy other channels. Originality is always welcome.

You must make sure that you have enough material to write or speak about for at least six months. And if you want to write, make sure that you are comfortable writing about whatever you decide to write about.

Once you have a certain level of visitors, usually over 1000 visits a day, you can have ads placed on your account. This is usually done through Adsense or Info link.

3.   Data Entry

Data entry is a skill that is in the most demand on most freelancing platforms. Data entry is all about typing. You need to have basic level English and good typing speed to get the job done. However, usual data entry projects need a lot of time. It is better to pick up one-off small projects from freelancing platforms like Freelancer, Fiverr and Upwork.

Again, all freelancing platforms require effort to bid for projects and it takes time to build up a client base.

4.   Reselling Products

One new side business that has grown with the growth of online shopping is that of reselling goods. Many people are going for reselling clothes, perfumes, cosmetics, mobile accessories, kitchen and household items and even small electronics. It usually involves designing a Facebook or Instagram page. Many resellers build a WhatsApp group for broadcasting live sessions to their regular clientele. The main requirement is to build up a client base and sell whatever items you can earn a profit off.

This is a fairly easy market to get into and is also competitive as many people are

5.   Referral Marketing

For those with a strong social network, you can utilize your contacts to refer them to businesses. This is similar to what bloggers and social media influencers do through their channels.

6.   Photos and Digital Artwork

There is a steady stream of demand for unusual images of everyday objects. Similarly, digital art is something that is taking off in a big way and if you have an aptitude for digital art, you can earn a good income by picking up projects through local advertisement and media agencies as well as through freelancing platforms.

7.   Arts and crafts

If you have a unique skill, like making wooden items, jewellery, knitting and crochet, or painting, you can make things in your free time and sell them online via OLX, Facebook or Instagram.

8.   Part-Time Accountant, Bookkeeper and Office Assistant

Many small businesses are willing to hire people to manage their accounts, do basic bookkeeping or manage their office schedules if it will save them money. These are all activities that can be done remotely. Since our time zones are different, you can easily pick up a job that requires 1-2 hours of work from you at night or over the weekends. One person I knew used to do this work during their lunch break at work.

In the case of accounting, you need to be familiar with Google Suite, QuickBooks and Cloud services.  Many agencies are available online that are looking for bookkeepers and virtual assistants to source jobs to.

9.   Online Tutoring

Tutoring students, whether physically or remotely is a great option, particularly for people good in tough subjects like maths, physics, accounting, and finance. Many agencies are available that source skilled tutors for foreign students.

Similarly, many people look for online support for life coaching in key issues like positivity, fitness, weight loss, and public speaking. These are all fields in which both physical and real-time support can be offered to earn a decent income.

10.   Social Media Management

Like the items listed here are mainly based on using social media, many businesses also need to hire someone to help manage their social media presence. This is a very diverse field. Some businesses need someone to design posts and caption pictures for their social media accounts. Others require more advanced promotional campaign designs and posts on various forums. Some also just need someone to handle customer queries and book orders for them. This is something that can be managed after some trial and error.

These job options need to be approached with some research and caution. All can generate a substantial income on the side for you and can become an alternate career if you want to take it as a full-time career.

However, like all things, side income streams need time and effort to give results. Many scammers and frauds are operating, both in Pakistan and on online forums and platforms.

Many scamming sites look to get information from you to use for malicious purposes that pose as reliable clients and businesses paying high salaries. Work hard, but don’t be so eager to get work that you skip doing your background research into the site, business that you are in contact with. Look for site reviews, google the client’s name or the company he/she represents. A very useful resource in background checks is LinkedIn. You can always see if the person you are talking to is actually working for the company they claim to represent.

Seasoned recruiters working online are aware of the scams that freelancers face and genuine recruiters or clients are willing to accommodate freelancers’ conditions when starting work. Never hand a project over without partial or advance payment. Make sure to finalize payment terms as well as payment gateways if getting clients from some website and not through freelancing platforms. Some clients do not have flexibility in payment gateways and the payment terms should be clear before you work on their project.

Freelancing platforms take a percentage of your earnings, and many clients fool new freelancers by finalizing work terms off the platform to “save” commission charges. This is a huge red flag. Never agree to work off-platform without advance or full payment. Almost all freelancers and remote workers have a horror story to share of scams and losses they faced due to lack of research and moving off-platform.

Sadia Zaheer

Sadia Zaheer holds a Masters in Business Administration from IBA, Karachi. After working in several financial institutions in Client Management, Corporate Lending, Islamic Banking and Product Management she jumped careers to pursue a career in writing.
She is a Finance, Business and HR Development writer with four years of experience. She reads a lot and takes care of her multiple cats to remain calm.

The post 10 ways to increase your income in Pakistan while working full time appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

SUMMARY

This article is a short handbook for all the CEOs and people in senior managerial positions, this article is also a good read for the employees to avoid distraction and establish a path to more efficiency and productivity.

This articles also caters to the emerging trend in Pakistan, which is the culture of Start-ups and how these young entrepreneurs should ace their multi-dimensional race against time-resources-management. How they can effectively manage all by eliminating things are not so important in nature which can be delayed and handled by a sub-ordinate which can be spent on other things.

There are multiple tips for the CEOs to accommodate and increase their organization productivity by encouraging employees to take ownership, to be responsible for the task-assigned, how a little thank-you and appreciation can go a long way to keep the company thriving. Apart from that just all organizations and their bosses need to understand that SMALL THINGS CAN HAVE REALLY BIG IMPACT!

A Company means any company has only one matchless role: the role of chief executive officer. We all understand the responsibilities and power this tittle carries, but as goes one of the very important quotes: “With great power comes great responsibility.”

The true talent of the CEO: Match talent to value

So we understand that It’s the most authoritative and sought-after title in business, it is far more exciting, fulfilling, and significant than any other. We all know how and what the CEO controls, he has the authority to control and govern the company’s biggest moves and his performance accounts for 45 per cent of a company’s performance.

Despite the lustre of the role, serving as a CEO can be all-consuming, lonely, and nerve-wracking. According to a study, just three out of five recently appointed CEOs live up to performance expectations in their first 18 months on the job. The high standards principles and expansive expectations of directors, stockholders, clients, and employees create an environment of unrelenting scrutiny in which one move can affect the CEOs performance and the person must learn on the job, and they must learn while every stakeholder is watching and perform as required.

If you ask any successful investors what they look for in portfolio companies, and many will tell you they’d rather put money on an average strategy in the hands of great talent than on a great strategy in the hands of average talent.

The CEO’s job is like no other in the organization. We also need to understand the consequences of each decision made and its infinite impact. Senior executives are, by definition, ultimately responsible for every decision and action of every member of the company on board. Including some of those decisions and actions of which they are not even aware.

CEOs even the newly appointed ones are allowed a few mistakes. Not surprisingly, research shows that between 35% and 50% of all CEOs are replaced within five years. Looking at the stats it seems like it is a costly proposition for any organization, as no company can lose its front-runner without losing some sense, even temporarily, of its identity and direction. Any such activity can make or break even an accomplished career.

For all the scrutiny and analysis of the CEO’s role, though, little is solidly understood about what CEOs do to excel. Some of the things they are doing regularly are to “set the strategy,” “shape the culture,” and “get the right team.” Perhaps that’s not surprising industry contexts differ, as do leadership preferences but it illustrates that fellow CEOs don’t necessarily make reliable guides.

With this article, we set out to show which mindsets and practices are proven to make CEOs most effective. What does it take to make a great CEO, how one reaches that position? Is it short term or it is the fruit of a long-running effort?

We need to determine how closely they adhere to the mindsets and practices that are closely associated with superior CEO performance. Our hope and anticipation are that all CEOs, new or long-tenured, can use these tools to better apply their scarce time and energy.
Six main elements of the CEO’s job are

• Setting the overall and corporate strategy,
• Aligning the organization,
• Leading the top team
• Working with the board,
• Being the face of the company to external stakeholders,
• Managing one’s own time and energy.
• The allocation of capital.

What Makes a Great CEO

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is one of the most misinterpreted roles in a company. The position is accountable for holding the dominions of the company, leading everybody toward business success.

Thousands of ambitious young entrepreneurs start new companies each year, meaning more people than ever are functioning as leaders. What about a great CEO? How are they? How do they operate? They’re a much rarer breed. Many of us accept as true that a CEO is some kind of all-powerful, highly competent mortal; probably built by robots, something Alien not from amongst us. Yet, it’s often the human aspects that set great CEOs apart from the rest of the lost.

What are the roles and duties of the CEO?

The classic job description of a Chief Executive Officer includes the following duties;
• Set a company’s direction and create a strategy
• Decide and model upon the set and agreed values, behaviour, and culture of the business
• Structure and lead the C-suite department, so other employees in the respective department could follow the suit
• Assign budget and resources to different priorities within the business, based on corporate objectives.

Business leaders might get some assistance on these tasks, but don’t let that fool you. It takes hard work, dedication, and a thick skin to take on the role. That being said, sometimes someone of this position can forget the traits, behaviours, and attitudes of what made their most-admired CEOs so brilliant.

In this section of the article, we have explored the qualities of what we believe to be successful leaders in business.

Inspire, engage, and energize

The most notable and the first is, a great CEO knows how to get the most out the productivity of their staff. They create an encouraging corporate culture which empowers the workforce to be effective while adhering to the company’s overall mission and higher values.

They make their teams lives easier

An insightful CEO should always strive to boost staff productivity and improve efficiency and proficiency within the business. CEO provides them room to perform effectively; they should also ensure that every task allocated is essential. Nobody should be compiling endless reports for no eminent reason, filling out unwarranted and needless forms or holding long, drawn-out meetings unless they’re genuinely useful.

They’re not afraid to unsettle old traditions

It’s easy for companies to consume processes and habits without questioning whether it’s still the most effective means of operating and working. Strong and efficient leaders can recognize when methods have become tired and require innovation. Outstanding change can insert life into an organization and quicken the pace of its growth and development. At the same time, good and seasoned leaders need to know and understand how to take calculated risks when it comes to driving innovation. They’re careful and cautious and at all means avoid leading the company into troubled waters.

They understand mistakes happen

A true leader and CEO in order not to suppress creativity, make employees believe that they are free to take risks and try out new things without the fear of punishment and retribution. Any mistake they make does not make them a lesser performer as a CEO understand no matter how strong of a performer a staff member is, they’re still human and likely to make mistakes. A good CEO can distinguish between errors that are made out of negligence or not. They also take suitable action to provide better sustenance and ensure the mistake isn’t repeated.

They’re excellent communicators and even better listeners

Effective communication is vital in any business and every phase of life, and a strong leader must possess those skills. They should have the ability to be consistently explicit, whether it’s setting the deadlines, expressing company needs or displaying teams how things are done. It also helps with employee encouragement and boosting morale. Good CEOs are dedicated to paying attention to their team members, customers, and shareholders. We need to comprehend that they are humans too and they’re not experts at everything! They recognize this, and also identify that they will have a more successful business by getting advice and insight from their teams.

They invest in learning and development

No matter the industry you are working in, the change is constant. All industries are dynamic and on top of this, year after year, we’re welcoming a new generation into the jobs market complete with next-generational updated skillsets. It doesn’t matter whether an employee has no experience or whether they have 50 years long experience under their belt, a strong business leader can make out that every employee within their company should be granted with the required training and be updated with the tools to keep their skillsets relevant. In return, the business will benefit from all these skills. It would at the same time create goodwill and loyalty amongst the workers as well.

They don’t micro-manage

The quickest and the most irritating and disgruntled staff is to constantly tell them how to do their job, monitor and observe their every move. If the staff feels their self-worth and value is being challenged, they find it more difficult to get on board and feel aligned with company goals. While guidance and support can encourage innovation, intervening and interfering kills productivity and creativity. A good CEO knows that employees should be given independence, trust and space to succeed. Tell employees what you expect as an outcome and its role in the company’s bigger picture but leave it in their basket to decide how to achieve the desired objective.

They instil a healthy work-life balance

Seasoned Leaders give the utmost importance to their employees’ physical health and mental well-being. Part of this includes having a healthy mind. Excessive overtime should be monitored, and only be allowed under special circumstances and on absolute essential times. It should especially be looked into if it is being carried out on days off. Plans and deadlines should always consider the number of hours genuinely required to be put in to get the results, being careful not to depend too much on extra office hours. When projects mandate more time than allotted to a normal workday, a strong and robust Lead stays behind with his team. Nothing builds bitterness amongst employees than when the CEO regularly leaves the office promptly and the team is anticipated to continue work during their leisure time.

Gives praise for good work

One of the traits of a respected CEO is that he will always recognize employees for their successes and achievements. He will never take credit for their work. Not only does it give employees endorsement that they’re doing their work correctly, but it also motivates them to keep working hard and striving for more. It costs nothing to the business, only takes a minute, and upsurges office morale. So, it’s important to not only reward and acknowledge your employee’s hard work but is recommended to encourage them to take time off and take well-deserved breaks when they’ve worked hard and achieved something great. They will come back to work feeling recharged, refreshed, and ready for another sprint of efficiency.

Well, we have been seeing in Pakistan there has been a lot of START-UPS coming into the limelight, there is a whole budding culture of entrepreneurs who are coming into the market with some brilliant ideas to upgrade our lifestyles and solutions to make our lives simpler. But at the same time being new in the field and creating something new they might feel overwhelmed and overburdened at the same time, we have enlisted productivity Techniques for Busy Start-ups CEOS.

Managing the Hierarchy….

The best CEOs take a systematic approach of matching talent with roles which can create the most value for the company. The first important step is discovering which roles matter most. Careful analysis typically produces findings that surprise even the sassiest CEOs.
Out of the 50 most value-creating roles in any given organization, only 10 per cent normally report to the CEO directly. Sixty per cent are two levels below that level, and more 20 per cent sit farther down the line of delegation.
Most astonishing of all is that the remaining 10 per cent are roles that don’t even exist. Once these roles are acknowledged, the CEO can work with other executives to see that these roles are managed with increased rigour and are occupied by the right people.

 Productivity Techniques for Busy Start-up Business CEOs

According to the literature we have and the examples we use of Tim Cook emailing Apple employees at 4 am, or Mark Cuban not taking a vacation for seven years, we have all heard of CEOs’ legendary work ethic. But one thing that needs to be understood early on is do you need to mimic their peculiar productivity techniques to grow your small business to an empire?

The answer can be probably not. As an entrepreneur, you should know that your “most prized resource is your time.” “Being busy is not always the same as being productive.”

One key challenge for SME leaders is to be able to their time while still guaranteeing that their business thrives. This can be complex and tricky, particularly when you may be working with a small team with the constraint on resources, and often have to pitch in with some of the not linked tasks yourself. In short, you need a strategy to be as productive as possible. So, below we have collected some simple but efficient production techniques that you can use today in your life as a small business decision-maker.

Ready to learn how to be more productive… Let’s go!

Productivity technique 1: Plan your week ahead

This may sound trivial, but once you start the week, it becomes very difficult to plan properly. Every new task takes precedence over another. In a particularly small business, it may seem difficult to create any structure and assembly of things. But how you spend your time greatly impacts the success of your company. So take a little time at the end of each week before you start the new week to reflect on the upcoming week and consider the following:
• Check your meetings for next week
• Identify tasks to be completed
• Block time for each task and plan around them
• Set deadlines for tasks
This simple productivity technique, enlisting everything will prevent less important tasks taking over because you have already set your time aside. You can adopt various productivity techniques which will prove helpful for differentiating between important and less important tasks, and the following two models stand out for this purpose.

The Pareto Principle – 80/20 Rules: The Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule states that 80% of results come from 20% of the work. What this means is that a lot of the work isn’t going to affect the big picture, so focus on the activities that are most crucial to driving the business forward. If something in your schedule is not critical, either delegate the task or drop it completely.

Productivity technique 2: Optimize your meetings

According to the Time to transform research report, 50% of all small and medium business CEO thinks that general admin tasks including staff meetings are the single biggest time waster. And to some extent, it stands correct which means one should dare to eliminate unnecessary meetings.
Do the CEOs need to realize that do you need to meet just to hear an update on the status of a project?
You can also do this regularly at an updated Google Doc, Trello or Kanban Board do the job instead? Without wasting the time in a meeting, where it takes time to assemble, sit, discuss and much more time and activities would be incorporated.

• Try and stick to these rules to get the most out of any meetings you hold:
• Set clear goals for every meeting
• Set clear rules for everyone
• Ensure everyone is prepared (and has a role in the meeting – allow people who are not necessarily needed to skip the meeting)
• Impose a limit on meeting time per day
• Experiment with very short stand-up meetings

Don’t set a default meeting time of one full hour maybe you can finish quicker or even program them for a maximum of 30 min per meeting not more than that. Send a follow-up to every individual involved via email stating any decisions made, the required next actions and who is responsible for them right after the meeting to keep everyone on the same page.
Also remember the golden rule: Only meet if you have a clear objective – all else is a waste of time.

Productivity technique 3: Practice good email hygiene

The overflowing email inbox is the nuisance for many entrepreneurs. So, how can you be more productive in answering your emails? Let’s start simple: start with: A sorting system, such as folders, will help to improve the stream of emails as they come in. You can also specify rules that automatically by putting software in place that put emails in the correct folder in your email client. Most email software offers options to sort between important and unimportant messages. Once you have this in place, you can focus on the crucial emails.

Answer emails that will take less than two minutes
One rule-of-thumb about answering emails is if you can answer it in less than two minutes, do it now. If not, send a brief message explaining when you will be able to respond and add it to the list of to-dos.
Check emails in bunches
Another great productivity technique to reduce the constant distraction is to only check emails at certain times of the day and to disable notifications. If you are concerned about missing an urgent message, you can always set up a custom alert for your most important senders.
Use email automation software to induce facilitation
As a small business leader, you may often find yourself following up on your marketing emails to try and convert a lead. Software like ZOHO Marketing Cloud and CRM can automate a lot of your email workflows, including your lead nurturing process.

Productivity technique 4: Automate business processes and workflows with productivity software

There are many great productivity enhancer tools on the market. The main question is: How can you make sure that you choose the best tool for your company’s needs and requirements? And, how can you be more productive if you start using these tools? Often, it’s best to start with recognizing the specific problem you want to solve using the tool.
There is no doubt that productivity tools do increase efficiency. So while there are many excellent productivity tools out there, for a more comprehensive solution, you should consider a full-fledged CRM.

Productivity technique 5: Manage your energy

Recent #TimetoTransform report found that 45% of SME owners had experienced negative effects on their health due to lack of time. Overworking is not only likely to decrease your overall productivity, but it could also cause adverse health issues. So, this productivity technique talks all about taking time to decompress, staying healthy and conserving your energy. Finding time for this is crucial to your success.

Defining Employee Productivity…

“Work is often conceptualized linearly”.

The linear way means that the more hours one puts in any work, it is believed there is more inclination towards the indication that how productive they are. In the present day, we appreciate a more refined and layered definition of productivity by and how the concept has evolved over the last several decades.

We can see productivity in multiple ways and have multiple measures through which the productivity of an employee could be rightly managed.

Matrix of spent V/S Results produced
Productivity through time spent ad results achieved

Let’s step into a time machine and travel back to a rougher and unforgiving industrial time, a time where labour was abundant, cheap, and workers were valued mainly for their net output and the time they spent in factories. During this era, productivity evaluated the absolute output of a worker or a group of workers. And the ultimate goal of business owners was to maximize worker’s productivity or output at all costs. Case in point, it was highly common to find industrial workers working 80-100 hour weeks during this time.

In 1926 Henry Ford popularized the 40-hour workweek after discovering that working an inordinate amount of hours only yielded a small increase in productivity and only for a short period.
So we should all say…Thank you, Mr Ford.

The current actuality…
We now have labour rules and laws in place to protect workers from being exposed and being exploited to such extreme and harsh working conditions. However, even within the 40-hour workweek, many companies still approach productivity from an undeviating perspective.

In the modern context, does working more guarantee higher productivity?

Let’s go back to our college and university days, and recall that have you ever pulled an all-nighter to produce a presentation or essay at the last minute? Perhaps you ended up with multiple pages in a short amount of time great, by all accounts; you were “productive.” Which means the real question is how did that presentation or essay turn out? Would you call that your best work? Maybe and Maybe not, Bottom line: Just because you’ve produced something, doesn’t always mean its high quality or valuable work.

As another case in point, Microsoft Japan recently rolled out a bold initiative to improve work/life balance a 4-day workweek. What Microsoft Japan found when decreasing the number of hours worked in a week; the company’s overall productivity soared, by 40% to be exact! This proves an important and counter-intuitive point: Thoughtful, creative, and intensive work doesn’t always unfold in such a linear way.

In short, today looking at the way the world is working and things happening in a more parallel manner working more hours don’t automatically mean an increase in productivity.

Although argumentatively the industrial sector still exists, and a linear model of production sometimes applies, the total output shouldn’t be the only measure of performance at work. For creative, tech, and a multitude of other industries, the value or quality of that output is just as significant; employee performance and productivity metrics should always reflect that.

Let’s unpack this idea a little further…

How to measure productivity

In our contemporary working environment, the definition of productivity should take into consideration the value and quality of production as well. A traditional model of productivity is limited and doesn’t give us a granular understanding of the total output of one’s work. In sum, a more fitting definition of productivity means producing valuable and quality work in a short amount of time.
Factors Affecting Employee Productivity

Hub-spot conducted a countrywide survey and analysis of more than 2,000 professionals and found interesting statistics regarding barriers to productivity in the workplace:
61% think loud colleagues are the biggest office distraction
89% prefer to work alone to hit maximum productivity
40% consider impromptu meetings from coworkers stopping by their workspace as a major distraction.

The modern-day office is predominant with obstructions to efficiency. For simplicity, they can be reduced to a few all-encompassing themes.
Let’s take in a picture this…it’s 9 am on a Monday.
You have a hot cup of tea and a scrupulous to-do list by your side. That needs to be done today. You crack your knuckles and get ready to start the week off on the right foot with aims high and eye on the trophy.
A few minutes after the beginning of your day and you’re feeling great and all charged with the excitement of work, ideas are unsurprisingly flowing, you think to yourself, and feel that “this is going to be my most productive day.” Suddenly, you’re jerked out of focus by a TINKLE!
All of a sudden you realize so many things happening at once, social media notifications are coming in, and your phone begins to flash and vibrate. Your attention changes away from your work and onto your flashing phone, you suddenly notice a group of colleagues standing near and loudly chatting over a cup of tea and you ask yourself “Were they this noisy before?” you completely shift your focus to that thing and lose your train of thoughts…
Then, your gaze quickly darts to your second screen, you notice a red insignia pop up on your email app. These messages are perhaps not urgent; you’re actively fighting the urge to check them, but it’s still an interruption and disturbance. By now, your concentration is shattered. And before you get time to look at the clock again, it’s almost lunch, and you’ve only produced a portion of what you intended to.

Three main types of productivity obstacles:

1. Environmental
Noise distractions
Visual distractions
Human distractions

2. Organizational
Unrealistic goals
Lack of flexibility
Multitasking
Unclear objectives & mission
Missing/faulty tools

3. Psychological
Lack of communication
Lack of trust and respect
Negativity

Labelling and targeting the obstacles to productivity is important because it will allow you to quickly identify which category needs the most attention in your organization. Moreover, some categories are more manageable to treat than others. That said, by further unpacking these obstacles to productivity, we can reduce them into two main categories: external and internal. Think of these, not as binary categories, but rather living on two ends of a continuum.

External barriers to productivity

Thinking back to the run-of-the-mill workday scenario aforementioned in this article, you can easily paint a picture of what external barriers to productivity look like.
The regular workday is filled with hundreds, if not thousands of these external micro-distractions. These are often palpable components of work such as sounds, visual diversions, digital notifications, loud coworkers, and so on.
But external barriers to productivity just don’t stop there. Other external barriers that are slightly less tangible exists, such as
• Multitasking,
• Missing or faulty tools,
• Murky goals, and
• Being overworked
These barriers can also result from poor organizational practices and expectation management.

Distractions an obstacle to Productivity

Humans can produce exceptional work when they are purposeful, strong-minded, and, most importantly free of distraction.
The difficult thing is distractions are inescapable in our tech-driven world.
You’ve probably faced that dilemma of wanting to start an important task, only to find yourself deep in cat videos an hour later. Distractions fuel procrastination and are the opposite of productivity. Statistics on productivity in the work context support these assumptions. For example, a study by Hubspot found that office workers spend 28% of their day on unnecessary distractions. That’s more than a quarter of the day! Other studies suggest that people are spending only about half the workday on legitimately productive work.
The question which arises is, what are they doing with the other half of the day?
As you can imagine, these daily losses in productivity have a significant impact on a business’s bottom line.

On the other hand, we can’t expect humans to be as productive as machines either. So one thing that we need to ponder on and remains questionable is: Exactly how can a business maximize their human resources, all the while ensuring to treat and recognize their employees humanely and fairly?
Potentially the idea of productivity from a modern perspective is a good place, to begin with, Also, we need to be aware and understanding of both the internal and external barriers to productivity and the ways and means to maximizing productivity in a modern work setting becomes possible.

The bad news which they carry is that: These barriers fuel stalling in work being done and wreak havoc on a worker’s ability to get to work, focus, and focus. The good news that we have here is that, however, is that these barriers to productivity are the most noticeable and actual, therefore they are easier to treat and minimize with proper mediation and mechanism.

Internal barriers to productivity

To comprehend internal barriers to efficiency and productivity, let’s consider a situation as will help to think about the following scenario.
A hardworking and motivated employee feels that his/her hard work is unrecognized in the day-to-day. Managers are strained and anxious, and the business overlooks and undermines regular open and honest communication. As a result, busy supervisors only make time for acknowledgement during the time-period of formal evaluations, which is just a handful of times a year.
Sometimes an employee that works day-in and day out just wishes for a genuine “thank you” or “good job” at the end of a long and tiring week. The weeks and months go by, and this employee continues to put in the same effort in the work done, but a lack of recognition continues. As the simple and basic need for appreciation goes unmet, and then there is a slow decline towards detachment begins. Truancy usually follows. Until eventually, full disengagement occurs. Productivity ultimately suffers.
Internal barriers to productivity, such as
• Lack of communication
• A need for autonomy
• Praise,
They all pose a significant challenge as they are mostly invisible, and as a result, more difficult to identify, measure, and ultimately treat.
Companies need to adopt the Employee Engagement Program comes in to disassemble psychological barriers to productivity by fostering an environment of continuous real-time feedback characterized by mutual respect, trust, appreciation, and, most importantly, recognition. All these things can work as fuel and inject an absolute vigour in the employees to work and perform better.

How to Improve Employee Productivity?

A singular magic one-size-fits-all solution to maximum productivity doesn’t exist. Improving productivity takes the application of a wide variety of tried and true strategies, tips, and research-driven hacks.

Pro tip: Looking at your top performers and their productivity hacks can often help.
That said, a lack of productivity stems from many things: ranging from internal factors such as employees feeling unappreciated to external factors like a noisy office, and everywhere in between.
Many successful organizations have the first-hand experience tackling this issue, and other businesses can benefit from their experiences. Let’s have a look at the top approaches for improving employee productivity.

Limit interruptions & minimize distractions

Management can’t wipe away all distractions, but they can certainly help and provide support to minimize them.
To exemplify, let’s say that a manager works with an “open concept” workplace, mean the employees should know that that if they want to have an extended one-to-one conversation with somebody on the “floor”, they should use the meeting room or lounge area, to not disturb or distract the flow of work of others around them. And for employees, who often have to be on call, a designated area should be created that is closed off from the rest of the group so the member of staff can make a call without troubling or disturbing everyone else.
Management must intercede to ensure the office environment is controlled.
• There should be designated areas set up for deep (and silent) focused work
• spaces for teamwork
• Areas for free socializing
One thing that needs to be ensured is that the employees respectfully follow guidelines and utilize the space effectively; you can help minimize environmental distractions as much as possible and remove those entire barriers that are very common and lead to non-productivity.

Give regular recognition

When immediate rewards and instant gratifications are just an effortless click away, self-control and working hard for distant rewards usually take a back seat. As a result, distractions take over, and efficiency and output suffer.
The object lesson: Ensure clear rewards are always in sight. Organizations should not delay rewards or the importance of praising and appreciating employees should not be reduced to formal evaluations which takes place only a few times a year. Do it time and again. “Celebrating successes (big and small) should always be a top priority for managers”.

A 2019 study conducted by Deloitte called “The Practical Magic of Thank You” found that for their day-to-day work, employees appreciate a verbal and straightforward ‘thank you’ the most. The giving of consistent feedback and recognition can also be facilitated with the help of engagement and reward programs being designed and incorporated in the company SOPs and company book.
Implementing an engagement and rewards program and making all employees aware of all these programs fosters an environment of trust and satisfaction, and workplaces that boast a positive atmosphere based on mutual respect and trust are shown to be more productive and profitable. In addition to recognition and reward, organizational research suggests that taking vacations and breaks is necessary for maintaining mental energy levels and overall productivity. Increase Productivity with an Engagement Program.

Work in intervals & prioritize

If there’s no systematic way to approach work, employees easily fall into the trap of being unsure where to start and feeling overwhelmed often resulting in intense anxiety. Tell and advise them to take a break and leave their position, a few minutes stroll and back on their work would give them a better perspective on work.
One thing that needs to be remembered at this point, inactivity quickly follows. Uncertain, unrealistic goals and a full plate of work can be downright paralyzing. Fueled and fired by the fear of failure, this anxious energy makes people vulnerable to temptations of the instant-gratification variety. Like pointless social media use, for example.

The cure: Managers can help employees with efficiency by ensuring that goals are realistic, actionable, and organized in order of priority.

In short, goals that are broken down into more deliverable and manageable mini-tasks clear up the path to success, and work becomes less daunting as a result because of the complete focus and the confidence which is felt while achieving them. In short, when employees feel supported and reassured, anxiety and pressure slowly subside, and the desire to indulge in procrastinating activities simultaneously diminishes.

Offer Incentives; build Loyalty to reduce turn-over

The productivity and loyalty of an employee can also be enhanced by providing him with the right benefits and sharing some of his financial burdens by providing his/her health insurance for himself and his family, this sharing of burden does not make him risk-free but also provides him mental peace to deal with any unforeseen medical situation that may arise due to increasing uncertainty and health problems. The health insurance for employees can very easily be purchased from Smartchoice.pk under corporate plans and quotes offered by Smartchoice, we get you best rates from all the reputable insurance providers with add-on benefits and cashless claim facilities. We would recommend each organization with a team of as small as 10 members to as big as hundreds and thousands of employees, these benefits acts as a win-win situation for both employee and the employer.

Trust and Productivity go hand-in-hand

Whether you’re an HR or managing professional, you’re probably overseeing and managing groups of educated and mature adults, not children that need constant supervision. Why then would you control and monitor your team as if they were? Always remember in an organization that “Trust and productivity go hand in hand.”

To sum it all up, you need to show your employees and members of the team through your words and actions that you have confidence and trust in them and their abilities, which would encourage them and make them feel complimented and independently fulfil their expectations. Give workers flexibility and ownership over their work and projects and hold them accountable, they will most likely live up to that expectation and even exceed it, because, at the end of the day, people want to see themselves as the wheel contributing on their own, not as a part.

As the saying goes,” Trust fuels productivity”

Stiff and rigid management negatively impacts morale and engagement, and employees may surrender to a self-fulfilling prophecy. In short, if they feel like you can’t trust them, they will act and do untrustworthy things because you don’t trust them to begin with! A 2015 Harvard Business Review report shows that trust helps employees feel less stressed and focus more intensely on their tasks without the constant fear of being fired, reproached, or ridiculed by peers.

Micro-monitoring undermines productivity

When management operates from a place of scepticism and constant worry, it tightens its grip over employees. As a result, managers may monitor (what they consider) productivity closely, or might impose screen monitoring software, they often block access to social media, or prohibit employees to text or take personal calls during work. Although it may seem like a logical solution, tightening and compressing your grip over employees has been shown to erode morale and group trust.
Constantly monitoring and policing the employees to the point where they are practically being persistently under the microscope will undoubtedly affect motivation and undermining engagement and productivity as well. Even if your intentions are in the right place, heavily monitoring productivity through software often produces the opposite of the desired outcome.

Collaboration & Productivity Software

Traditional methods of tracking work progress, productivity, and goals include excel sheets and good old fashioned to-do and priorities lists. Sometimes even manual book-keeping we used to keep track. Now, a multitude of cloud-based applications and software exists to help maximize productivity and generate collaboration between teams.

Here are a few quick tips to help stay focused:

Learn to say “No”
To do this, sometimes you just have to say “no” to non-essential tasks, meetings or requests of your coworkers. That way you don’t waste time by composing a new email or message or spending unnecessary work-time and be confident every time you need to say “no” or they are essential to your work that you need to do at that time.

Do Walk and Talk Meetings…

Try standing desks and walking meetings this would save time. Standing meetings are effective against back pain. Human beings have not been designed to sit for a long time, so try and be active whenever you can. This will increase your energy level throughout the day. Another way to avoid being static and stationery is to take walk-n-talk meetings. Try taking the small meeting to grounds instead of going into the bounded conference room with your colleagues, subordinates and superiors– there is evidence that walking increases creative output by 60 per cent.

Plan a day as per Energy Level

You know yourself the best Plan your day around your activity levels. If you are most productive in the morning, keeping that in perspective you should schedule your most important tasks accordingly. This is a great productivity booster, as you can plan the things that require less energy later in the day.

Final Thoughts

Humans are not specialized task robots or automated mechanized individuals with artificial intelligence who have their own emotions and feelings unlike those unfeeling machines and both are quite the contrary to each other! In the long-run, treating them as machines and just gauging their productivity against the time they have put in and it being the only parameter of efficiency is detrimental to overall employee engagement and in extension, productivity.
At the beginning leaving the employees to dive and swim themselves may feel counter-intuitive, but the more rigid you are with your staff and the more you place restraints and limitations on them, the more productivity will suffer as a result. However, this not means that you let your employees run wild and free and leave them to their device to manage and decide everything. It means acknowledging your human labour and acknowledging them as humans with feelings and emotions.
The key to maximizing overall contribution and output is finding a sweet spot where your organization stays knowledgeable and realistic about the limits of cognitive effort and attention while respecting and trusting employees as autonomous individuals. Also, engage them by providing them with incentives and bonus.

Be the CEO you want to work under, the one you would like to build your loyalty too, the one you would like to stand by for years and years and build your own and company portfolio. Be the team member you own yourself to be! Ensure the Best Practises in your company to decreases employee turnover and increase productivity.

Khurram Zahid

The post A Comprehensive CEO Guide to Employee Productivity… appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

Aaah…

These seem like ideal days or we can say days we look forward to…certain things are already hovering over minds which plan to do once we get rid of this contagious COVID-19 and these days of isolation and social-distancing just are the spots in our memories.
Well some of us are looking forward to small and basic bounties of life that maybe we dint acknowledged or felt thankful for while we had it. As Boris Yeltsin said in 2003, “We don’t appreciate what we have until it’s gone. Freedom is like that. It’s like air. When you have it, you don’t notice it.”

So what are the basic things people looking forward to most, post-pandemic?

From getting haircuts and beauty treatments to enjoy live music, restaurants, get together and events… social media analysis shows what people are most looking forward to doing after lockdown.
Living through the latest lockdown, citizens are starting to realize what they are missing and how important in life “NORMALCY” is and how not having the routine, it affects our functioning and wellbeing of our emotional and physiological needs.
If we apply artificial and human intelligence, social media, and watts-app conversations around the topic of COVID-19 and we can easily analyze what people are missing the most and what is that they are looking forward to once the lockdown ends.

People have their set wish-lists and priorities of things that they are looking forward to, like hanging out with friends and meeting family are top amongst the list, but apart from just fulfilling our social cravings some important things also needs to be done that we have realized that how important they are during this pandemic lockdown.
This situation has also helped us realize that there are few things some very big loopholes in our system and also opened our eyes to a proverb that is “every crisis has a silver lining” or “every problem is a birth of an opportunity”.

We have figured out Seven (7) things that you need to do post COVID-19…to stay updated and informed regarding what is happening around the world and in Pakistan.

E-Databases

The present pandemic has exposed the importance of having the databases present digitally, it has opened the whole new Pandora box and shown us the implication of not having E-Databases. As we saw that once the lockdown was implemented the fact of the matter is that we do not know the facts. Pakistan has remained a ‘data-less’ society for 72 years. Our digitally-challenged bureaucracy has kept Pakistan bogged down in the form of forms and files, on photocopies and affidavits, and signatures and stamps. In simple words, we are digitally unprepared to cope with the current crisis and for creating a better future. Pakistan thus has a stark choice. Make radical changes to its governance and processes or simply be forgotten by history.

Pakistan needs to desperately realize the need to help and make things better for its ordinary and forgotten citizens. It has mustered enough funds and good intentions both being necessary but not enough. The reason is simple, the Pakistani system does not know who its ordinary people are, what their names are, where they live, and what they do. Not only that, but it also has no record of the existence of its 60 million unregistered children. It does not know who and where its 25 million out-of-school children are. It does not know who, how many and where its homeless, unemployed, daily-wagers, plumbers, street vendors, masons, janitors, bus drivers, housemaids, cashiers, street children are, besides a host of other individuals who need support because they cannot work from home. Pakistan needs to digitize all aspects of its governance and to downsize its dysfunctional bureaucracy.

Acquire Soft skills

The quarantine and lockdown have ensured that to move forward in the present market scenario one needs to constantly update their soft skills. These skills help you remain and maintain relevance to the job market as you have more to offer than others which provide you with a competitive edge over others in the playing field.
Once this ends there would be another epidemic that shall be “economic emergency” since the world is going to face serious economic crisis, as the business would not be having much stronger consumer markets hence the production of goods and services shall not be required in a volume as before. So you need to stand out of the crowd and bring added value to your package which you bring to the company you are hired.

Digitization of Businesses

This pandemic and lockdown have made us realize that every business needs to have a presence both online and offline. No business at this age cannot survive just having a presence on one platform (either offline or online). The business needs to ensure that it has active outlets both online and offline. Online means social media, website, third-party platforms, offline means, physical outlets, small stores in malls, and kiosks where need be. The brands need to use effective marketing and public relations tactics once the lockdown ends. For brands which are looking to reconnect with consumers, it is going to be about demonstrating the value of the brand experience.

Get Insured

One thing that we have learned during this time, it’s that life is unpredictable, it’s full of surprises and risks which are known-unknown. Some risks are also associated with other risks that are materialized when a certain situation occurs.
So to relieve yourself from added stress and tension, transfer your risk to the insurance provider. There are multiple insurance plans available to help you out under any circumstances, for instance, there is a health insurance plan for any unforeseen health emergency, term-life insurance that shall provide a lump-sum cash benefit to your family in case of accidental or natural death, hospital cash plan that protects your pocket in case of hospitalization as daily cash benefit is provided if you are admitted to the hospital, personal accidental plan in case of accidental death starting from as low as PKR399/- only and many other plans, all these buffets of insurance plan is available at Smartchoice.pk with exclusive product adviser for each plan that would guide yours throughout the process making your journey easy and hassle-free.
You can also avail customized corporate plans which ensure maximum coverage in minimum price also from Smartchoice.pk just login to www.smartchoice.pk and Get set to insure!

Bring Innovation to the table…

As we mentioned before “every crisis open’s doors for a new opportunity” the important part is to realize and analyze where should we nail in next. For instance, many small and medium businesses have closed during the pandemic never to open again, but at the same time, many other businesses have sprung to life.
So, as it is very said in Urdu “zarurat ijaad ki maa hai” which means “necessity is the mother of all inventions” it is important to remember that you remain innovative and creative and figure new ideas and business models that can be implemented post-COVID-19. There is always room for good and viable business ideas that can comprehend the needs and requirements of society dynamically and are according to the present order of society.
As a human, we know that even in the most broken situation, there are individuals who come up with great big business and I am certain we will see that when the dust clears.

Set-Up Savings Account!

Unfortunately, sometimes we learn the hard way that… “Something should always be kept aside for rainy season”.
Well, to be thankful it’s in our genes to save some and spend some, but the millennial have not been sticking to the age-old tradition of practicing such thing. This epidemic has taught us that “old is gold” well it means that whatever our ancestors, father, and fore-fathers have taught is correct. We should save money for our dreary days, when there is no sunshine and it’s all sad and gloomy you have enough money to put food on the table for a considerable amount of time.
So, keeping the current scenario in perspective many people don’t save keeping the money at home can and should open up a savings account to save money, set a % from your income that you should put in your savings account every month diligently and dedicatedly.
Putting away a fixed income would help you in saving up money not for just an emergency but also for any endeavor that you make want to undertake as an individual or with the family if you have a certain amount set aside it can help more than once. Even if God forbid! You encounter another situation like COVID-19 you would be able to cope up with the situation.

Be-Prepared…

If we have not learned anything from this epidemic, we have learned this one thing is that as a human being, professional, business owner, students, house-wife anyone being in any walk of life or any stage of life, you just need to make this your “MANTRA” from now onwards is “TO BE PREPARED FOR ANYTHING”.

COVID-19 has affected everyone in a different capacity and different manner but has taught multiple things that we shall carry with us for the rest of our lives and would be a story to share with our future generations to come.
So aforementioned is are some of the most appropriate things that we should do and adopt and consider once we overcome this situation and the lockdown. These things will help us gear up for the future and anything that comes our way!

Khurram Zahid

The post 7 Things TO-Do Post-COVID-19! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

Depression a term that we all have heard so many times yet the majority of us don’t understand the actual reality of it or we don’t realize the impact it has on the person’s life. In Pakistan usually, a person suffering from depression does not even apprehend what is depression.

The reason being the lack of awareness and information about such sensitive and complex issues that do not only entangles a human’s heart but also his mind and halts the growth and prosperity of the person.

Cognizance against depression can create a better atmosphere for the person and their family to handle the issue at hand. The more a person knows about depression, the more empowered they will be to find a treatment that works for them. It can be helpful to learn about depression in general, including its causes and symptoms.

Knowing what prompts depressive episodes can help people avoid or manage triggers, which may reduce future depressive episodes. Educating friends and family members can also help, as loved ones can watch out for warning signs and be supportive when a person is having a difficult time. It is also important for people to get to know their symptoms and warning signs so that if they are feeling worse, they can identify this.

What are the signs of depression?

You may have noticed a change in the way you’re responding or feeling about things. The following points are indications that it could be depression:

• Persistent sadness, lasting two weeks or more.
• Loss of interest in your favorite things.
• Finding no fun or enjoyment in life.
• Loss of self-confidence.
• Feeling guilty, bad, unlikeable, or not good enough.
• Feeling empty inside.
• Feeling useless or unable to cope with life.
• Feeling bored all the time.
• Increased feelings of anxiety.
• Inability to see a future for yourself.
• Thinking everything is pointless.
• Thinking life is not worth living.
• Thoughts of death or suicide.
• Wanting to go to sleep and never wake up again.
• Especially low mood in the mornings.
• Feeling more irritable, frustrated, or aggressive than usual.
• Trouble concentrating on things, poor memory.
Other signs may include:

• Loss of energy, feeling tired all the time.
• Changed sleep pattern – difficulty getting to sleep, bad nightmares, waking in the night, waking up too early, or sleeping much more than usual.
• Spending less time socializing with friends or family.
• Loss of sexual desire.
• Changed eating pattern – loss of appetite, weight loss or comfort eating.
• Getting lower grades than usual at school, college, or university.
• Not going to school/college/work, or becoming disruptive.
• Becoming a hypochondriac, worrying lots about the illness.
• More headaches, backaches or stomach aches than you normally get.
• Turning to alcohol or drugs to try to make yourself feel better. (Source: https://www.outlife.org.uk/)

Measures to overcome depression

Think in bits and pieces instead of the whole picture

Depression can tinge recollections with negative emotions that might lead to bad thoughts and apprehension. You may find yourself focusing on the one thing that went wrong instead of the many things that went right.

Try to stop this overgeneralization and thinking too much about the whole thing. Push yourself to recognize the good. If it helps, write down what was happy about the event or day. Then write down what went wrong. Just thinking about one thing may lead to severe unhappiness try to think about the bits that made you happy and recollect those memories now and then.

Seeing the weight you’re giving to one thing may help you direct your thoughts away from the whole and to the individual pieces that were positive.

Set attainable goals

A lengthy to-do list may be so weighty that you’d rather do nothing. Instead of compiling a long list of tasks, consider setting one or two smaller goals. That would help you achieve something difficult to achieve or difficult for you to complete. Set out easily doable tasks

For example:
• Don’t clean the house; take the trash out.
• Don’t do all the laundry that’s piled up; just sort the piles by color.
• Don’t clear out your entire email inbox; just address any time-sensitive messages.
• Don’t take the long route to solve any issue; just sort them on priority bases
• Don’t think about making everyone happy; think what makes you happy
When you’ve done a small thing, set your eyes on another small thing, and then another. This way, you have a list of tangible achievements and not an untouched to-do list.

Reward your efforts

All goals are worthy of recognition, and all successes are worthy of celebration. When you achieve a goal, do your best to recognize it and you have the right to feel happy about it?

Celebrate every little and big thing that brings a smile on your face. You may not feel like celebrating with a cake and confetti, but recognizing your successes can be a very powerful weapon against depression’s negative weight.

The memory of a job well-done may be especially powerful against negative talk and overgeneralization. It would act as an energizer in a time when you are feeling low or down and would motivate you for greater achievements.

Do something you enjoy…

Depression can push you to give in to your fatigue. It may feel more powerful than happy emotions. As negativity makes you tired and the burden of it makes you feel lethargic.

Try to push it back and do something you love something relaxing, but energizing. It could be playing an instrument, painting, hiking, or biking. These activities can provide subtle lifts in your mood and energy, which may help you overcome your aforementioned symptoms.

You can pursue activities like

like listening to music….
Research and a Trusted Source indicates music can be a great way to boost your mood and improve symptoms of depression. It may also help you strengthen your reception of positive emotions. Music may be especially beneficial when performed in group settings, such as a musical ensemble or band. You can also reap some of the same rewards simply by listening.

Spend time in nature
Mother Nature can have a powerful influence on depression. Research suggests people who spend time in nature have improved mental health. Exposure to sunlight may offer some of the same benefits. It can increase your serotonin levels, which can provide a temporary mood boost. Consider taking a walk at lunch among the trees or with friends in your local park. These activities can help you reconnect with nature and soak in some rays at the same time.

Spend time with loved ones

Depression can tempt you to isolate yourself and withdraw from your friends and family, but face-to-face time can help wash away those tendencies. If you’re unable to spend time together in person, phone calls or video chats can also be helpful. Try to remind yourself these people care about you. Resist the temptation to feel like you’re a burden. You need the interaction and the connection with the people around you.

Try something new entirely

When you do the same thing day after day, you use the same parts of your brain. You can challenge your neurons and alter your brain chemistry by doing something entirely different. Research also shows doing new things can improve your overall well-being and strengthen your social relationships.

To reap these benefits, consider trying a new sport, taking a creative class, or learning a new cooking technique. These techniques would help you deviate from your negative thoughts and anxiety and would open avenues to enjoy new things in life.

Volunteering

Knock out a few birds with one stone, as we rightly put in Urdu (Ik teer sey Do Shikaar) spending time with other people and doing something new by volunteering and giving your time to someone or something else. You may be used to receiving help from friends and family, but reaching out and providing help may improve your mental health more as there is nothing more soothing then helping others as many times in life we have been helped too.

Added Bonus: People who volunteer experience physical benefits, too. This includes a reduced risk of hypertension.

You can also use this as a way to practice gratitude

When you do something you love, or even when you find a new activity you enjoy, you may be able to boost your mental health more by taking time to be thankful for it. Research shows gratitude can have lasting positive effects on your overall mental health and it also makes you feel content and satisfied in life.

What’s more, writing down your gratitude, including writing notes to others can be particularly meaningful, as we don’t know what shall happen the next moment in our lives so sharing what we think about others and being thankful for what we have can make a huge difference in your and your loved one’s life.

Incorporating meditation may help

Stress and anxiety can prolong your depression symptoms. Finding relaxation techniques can help you lower stress and invite more joy and balance into your day. Research suggests activities like meditation, yoga, deep breathing may help you improve your sense of well-being and feel more connected to what’s happening around you.

What you eat and drink can also affect how you feel

There’s no magic diet that will treat depression. But what you put into your body can have a real and significant impact on the way you feel.

Eating a diet rich in lean meats, vegetables, and grains may be a great place to start. Try to limit stimulants like caffeine, coffee, and soda.
Some people also feel that they have more energy when they avoid sugar, preservatives, and processed foods. If you have the means, consider meeting with a doctor or registered dietitian for guidance. You can also have chocolates as a mood booster as research has proven that having chocolates especially dark chocolate can make your mood better.

If you’re up for exercise, consider a walk

On days when you feel as if you can’t get out of bed and want to just lie down, exercise may seem like the last thing you’d want to do. However, exercise and physical activity can be powerful depression fighters. Research suggests that, for some people, exercise can be as effective as medication at relieving depression symptoms. It may also help prevent future depressing episodes. If you’re able to, take a walk around the block. Start with a five-minute walk and work your way up from there.

Getting enough sleep can also have a noticeable effect

Sleep disturbances are common with depression. You may not sleep well, or you may sleep too much. Both can make depression symptoms worse. Aim for eight hours of sleep per night. Try to get into a healthy sleeping routine. Going to bed and waking up at a set routine every day can help you with your daily schedule. Getting the proper amount of sleep may also help you feel more balanced and energized throughout your day.

Consider clinical treatment

You may also find it helpful to speak to a professional about what you’re going through a therapist or a psychologist can help you to deal with depression and anxiety with the right counseling and help you to find the path to relaxation.
They can assess your symptoms and help develop a clinical treatment plan tailored to your needs. This may include traditional options, such as medication and therapy, or alternative measures, such as acupuncture. Finding the right treatment for you may take some time, so be open with your provider about what is and isn’t working. Your doctor will work with you to find the best option.

Keep this option as your last resort to overcome anxiety and depression.

Keep a journal

Keeping a journal is a powerful strategy for fighting depression. Writing down thoughts, feelings, and problems can allow individuals to identify patterns, triggers, and warning signs relating to their depression. It helps you to channelize your thoughts and emotions. It can also give people perspective on particular issues and help them generate solutions. Writing things down can be especially helpful before bed, especially if distressing thoughts are hindering sleep. If people do not feel comfortable keeping a journal due to privacy concerns, they can destroy the paper afterward. Some people find the act of writing itself therapeutic.

Another journaling option is to make a list of things for which a person is grateful. Researchers noted positive effects on the brain in people who kept such a list. People sometimes refer to this as keeping a gratitude journal.

Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness involves focusing on the present moment. It stops people from concentrating on the past or worrying about the future. Anyone can practice mindfulness at any time, but some people may find it helpful to begin by using an app or attending a class. Recent research from 2019 links mindfulness practices with lower levels of depression and anxiety.
Pairing mindfulness with cognitive therapy may prevent the recurrence of depressive episodes as effectively as maintenance antidepressant medications.

Visualize a happy memory

The subconscious responds very powerfully to feeling, and the more of a sensory experience you can make your reflective memory, the more effective it will be. Utilize all your senses, can you see, hear, smell, touch, and taste that happy memory. We should make every attempt to live in the present moment, but are times where we have to search in the past for the good stuff.”

Conclusion

Depression is a treatable mood disorder. People can recover from depressive episodes with lifestyle changes, coping strategies, talk therapy, or medications. For most people, a combination of these methods is necessary.
How much of your life do you spend in the present moment? How much time do you spend daydreaming, ruminating about the past, or worrying about the future? “If you are one of the 75% of the adults in Pakistan struggling with depression or anxiety, begin to take control over your life today,”

Khurram Zahid

The post How to Fight Depression? A Self Help Guide!! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.

The New Year stands before us like a fresh chapter in a book.

Well, now’s your chance to sit down and prepare a list of important lifestyle changes you want to make, and being the charitable and caring bunch that we are here at Lifehack, we’ve decided to give you a bit of help – because since the majority of people fail to stick to their resolution, you’ll need all the help you can get.

1. Get in shape:

Losing weight or getting your body in shape should be on the top of your list. It’s easy enough to start an exercise and diet program, but the trick is to find a decent one that will give you steady results and will be easy to stick to in the long run. Have a look at the exercises and diet you wish to undertake to make the best out of your resolution.

2. Start eating healthier food and less food overall:

This is an extension of the previous resolution. Switching to a healthier diet can be incredibly tricky when we are surrounded by cheap and tempting junk food. However, with a good amount of determination and some basic tips you can slowly develop healthier eating habits.

Learn to control emotional eating as people in strain and stress tend to eat more and that too is junk which is more tempting, be aware of reasons for diets to fail and remember everybody is different, make use of some plans and take help of your friends to stay motivated, also rather than some boring healthy food, try to find and cook yummy healthy recipes.

3. Stop procrastinating:

The biggest barrier that keeps most people from reaching their goals is the desire to relax and do something fun instead of working hard. Once you get used to procrastinating it’s difficult to snap yourself out of it, so you’ll need to put in a lot of work to change this habit. This new year pledge yourself that you “work comes first” remind yourself that “working hard can bring in a lot of rewards”. So put this resolution down in your book to achieve goals.

4. Improve your concentration and cognitive skills:

People always try to find ways to improve their focus and cognitive capacities through mental exercise and herbal medicine to help them to be alert, attentive and active. Today we can use anything from apps to ancient meditation techniques to boost concentration and hone our mental skills. If you go through with this New Year resolution, not only will you be able to control your mood, learn faster and have easier time-solving problems?

5. Meet new people and be friendly:

When we get stuck in a rut, we usually end up staying at home most of the time, missing out on a lot of interesting opportunities for networking and having fun. Meeting new people can be beneficial to your mental well-being, help your career and make you a people’s person, so don’t be afraid to get out there and make some friends. Overcome your shyness, get some knowledge and go and get to know new and interesting people and make new friends, as it said “you never have too many friends” but at the same time be wise when choosing your friends.

6. Become more active and agile:

Some people don’t really have a big weight problem, and they even get some exercise a few times a week, but usually, they just sit around the most of the time at home and at work, which can have a negative effect on their posture and health. In that case, make your resolution for 2020 that would find ways of moving around more throughout the day instead of staying hunched over the computer. It’s even more fun if you share your activity with friends and family, so look for some creative activities to make the most of your day with your loved ones on the go.

7. Become more confident and take some chances (Basically, be a risk-taker):

If you are confident other people notice it, and it is much easier to have your opinions heard, ask people/anyone around you what goes around in your head, be it a question at work or asking a person you like on date it would also help you get ahead at work as well. A good dose of self-confidence will help you lead a much happier life overall. Don’t hesitate to get some input on ways to boost your confidence.

8. Earn more money and fulfill dreams:

Even billionaires are always looking for ways to earn more money, and an additional source of income to make life a bit more comfortable, plus it can also help you fulfill your dreams, for instance, it can be opening of a restaurant, having a successful business set-up, setting up an online platform, having finances at the right place and at the right time can go a long way. Fortunately, there are plenty of options available to earn that, like having side jobs, working as a freelancer or using the internet to your advantage, so this New Year lets initiate a resolution to add more money to the kitty.

9. Become more polite and courteous:

Good manners have always been an important part of a civilized society. They make it easier to connect with others, avoid offending people and will ensure that others perceive you as a good and trustworthy person. So know the etiquette. Saying NO is not at all being rude or impolite, but the way it is conveyed is more important. Always ensure that anything which is communicated is done with the right intention and the right tone.

10. Reduce stress and live worry-free:

They say that stress is one of the biggest killers, and it can have a very destructive effect on your relationships as well as your health. It may be an unavoidable side effect of our hectic modern lifestyles, but it can be effectively managed with the help of useful, unconventional and easy to practice tricks for stress management or simply relaxing through breathing exercises and meditation. This New Year Promise yourself that you would “Live more and worry less”.

11. Learn to be happier and content with your life:

Problem with the majority of the people in Pakistan is that even those that are in decent shape make a good living and have stress under control can still be unhappy. It takes time and patience to learn how to find joy in the little things and not to let problems bring you down. Always remember contentment is the key to happiness, and it has nothing to do with your materialistic needs and desires. The secret is to be “happy in the state you are and accepting it with grace”. So let’s make a point this year to count our blessings and be happy.

12. Get more quality sleep:

With big TVs, computers, smartphones, tablets and all sorts of gadgets with glowing lights and beeping alerts, it can be hard to get enough sleep at night. You should be gunning for at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and there are fairly simple ways to achieve this number if you intelligently balance it all, it would also help you to get healthy skin and a bombastic fruitful routine. So these 2020 let’s balance our social world with our dream world.

13. Give up bad habits:

That a lot of people don’t know how to kick these habits away from themselves, smoking or any other harmful substance will not only endanger your health but can burn a hole in your wallet as well. Just be prepared to dedicate a lot of will power to giving up any of the bad stuff once and for all. Let’s say Hello to a healthy 2020 with a bright smile and active sight.

14. Watch less TV/use less mobile phone:

The average person wastes a lot of time in front of the TV, time that could have been better spent developing skills, learning or keeping your body active. Promise yourself that this year you would cut down on TV time/mobile time, you will realize just how long and productive a day can really be.

Books are an excellent way to gain a lot of knowledge on a huge variety of topics and are also a great exercise for your brain. It’s not that difficult to go through 20 or more books in a year only need to make it a habit, discover your type of books and find a bit of time for reading here and there. Undertake this habit and be wiser and astute this 2020!

15. Find a significant other:

To all the single beautiful people out there, make a Promise to your ownself to make this incoming year fascinating and scintillating by finding “That Special One”. We all need someone to hold at night, talk to and share our deepest secrets with, but finding the right person is a matter of trial and error. We need to go out and get to know a few potential partners before we can find the one that we can get along with really well. Get inspired and find love.

16. Buy health insurance:

A healthy lifestyle is a key to a good life but at the same time, you should also ensure that under any unforeseen circumstances you are rightly covered and have a sufficient cover for you and your loved ones. So this 2020 brings your health insurance to the top of your priority list and make sure that you fulfill that resolution as it does not only protects you financially but also reduces your emotional stress and trauma.

17. Become tidier and organized:

There are a lot of people out there who can’t really get their stuff organized, and a cluttered desk or chaotic home will negatively affect your productivity and even your mood, so it helps to clear the clutter, clean your house and lead a tidier and more organized life. It is said healthy surroundings lead to a healthy mind which can enable you to enjoy a healthy life. This year try to be cleaner and a tad tidier, which would lead to lesser socks loss and more savings….

18. Learn how to dress in style/Dress for a purpose:

The way you dress can say a lot about you, and wearing the right clothes can make you seem powerful and confident, which in turn can help you land a job, get promoted, and catch the eye of a lovely guy or girl. No matter if you’re male or female, know the dress code and live with style. Remember that a dress does not bring worth to a person but wearing the dress the right way brings worth. So…dress to impress but also be comfortable with whom you are, there is no harm to adopt a few things as there is always room for improvement but always be true to your own self, so start this 2020 with a bang!

19. Spend more time with the people that matter:

There is just too little time in this life for us to waste it on insincere, duplicitous and toxic people. We should focus on the people whom we care about deeply and who care about us, as this is the best way to stay happy. This 2020 expresses love towards the people you love, as time and tides wait for none.

20. Be more grateful:

If you haven’t climbed aboard the gratitude bandwagon yet, this is the year to do it. There are studies that show that gratitude can make you 25% happier. Think about that for a second: you can be 25% happier simply by taking the time to count your blessings and think of all the good things in your life! Smile big and smile bright this 2020!

21. Enjoy the little things:

Living life to the fullest doesn’t just mean setting big goals like going bungee jumping or learning to scuba dive. It also includes learning to enjoy the little things. That is, learning to appreciate life’s simple pleasures, such as the following:
• Going outside at night to look at the stars
• Doing “ooh” and “aah” at the small things that give you joy
• Walking barefoot in the grass
• Being excited a night before the adventure trip.

22. Bring more peace in to your life:

I think I can safely say that we all want more peace in our lives. And by this, I mean more inner peace, contentment, and serenity. Resolve to bring more peace into your life in the year that’s about to begin by accepting what is, practicing non-judgment, and teaching your mind to become still and telling it not to overthink. Believing that whatever happens it happens for a reason and there is a divine force looking out for us. Finding pleasure in the ibadah and peace in sajdah is best for any momin Muslim, so this year make a resolution to find the “Peace within and around”.

23. Be kinder to yourself:

You may not be able to control how kind other people are to you, but you can always control how kind you are to yourself. This upcoming year, set the resolution to believe in yourself, respect yourself, and treat yourself well and be a good companion to yourself. In fact, take it even further. Make 2020 the year you fall in love with yourself. It would make everything and everyone around you greener and prettier.

24. Create a positive attitude:

Having a positive attitude opens your mind to new possibilities, it makes you more resilient, and it can even help you to live longer. Greet the New Year with a smile and resolve to stay positive, no matter what happens. Have faith and trust in God…things will fall into place at the right time! Patience and perseverance is the key.

25. Travel:

Plan a vacation. The world is a beautiful place, and there are many things to see. Next year, visit a country you’ve always wanted to see. If you’re not sure how you would achieve a goal to travel in 2020, work hard for it and work hard and then travel hard or play hard, it would be the fruit of your hard-earned money.

Conclusion

A New Year is like a blank notebook. You get to write anything you want in it. Fill the first page of your notebook with your New Year’s resolutions. Use the 29 ideas above for inspiration. Live your best life by setting resolutions to make 2020 your best year ever.

Khurram Zahid

The post 25 New Year Resolutions for 2020 That You Should Follow! appeared first on Smartchoice.pk.