I’m a student who loves and pursues creativity. Creativity—the ability to synthesize the novel from the known in the magical process of convergent thinking—is my passion. Being able to contribute a unique mark to the world’s collective knowledge is no small feat! I guess I could call myself an artist, then, a term who I think everyone should adopt so long as they prioritize learning, innovation, and open-mindedness. I enjoy painting, drawing, designing, making music, web design, and playing sports in my free time, and as a job, I’m looking forward to a career in academic research where I’ll hopefully have more freedom to explore my intellectual interests.
Living productively is a difficult endeavor. All my life, I have wrestled with the balance or lack thereof between completing work to enjoy life afterward and enjoying the work itself as an equally lived part of my life—often, this being the case when I struggle to even distinguish the two. This is where positive psychology has exerted a transformative influence on my life outlook: increasingly, I seek to live a fulfilling, intentional life above all.
Regardless of how much I enjoy what I am currently absorbed in, I want to feel like I am making progress toward my goals. To increase my focus and live more actively in the present, I have implemented several behavioral interventions to successfully boost my productivity. First, I’ve started cognitively disassociating work from play. Instead of eating, watching Netflix, and studying for exams at the same desk, I apportion my tasks to the mental as well as physical domains in which they belong. A similar environmental change is the simple act of dimming lights when bedtime gets closer and brightening them in the morning to modulate melatonin levels (and regulate sleep onset!). Another strategy is meditation, the short daily act of participating in judgment-free self-awareness exercises that stress mindfulness. This initially seemingly vacuous task can reap dividends by gradually honing your attention toward specific tasks. A fourth practice on which I rely on mental clarity is exercise! Daily vigorous activity to clear my head after a long day’s work—or even before—is a method I have found highly satisfying for maintaining my physical as well as mental well-being under stressful circumstances. This applies to both weightlifting as well as cardio conditioning, although I generally find the latter to be even more effective for focusing.
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