These are the five things that have dramatically increased my productivity and positively changed my life.
1. Get Enough Sleep
Of course you've heard this one before...it's just too important to ignore. It might not be the same for everyone, but at least for me, one crappy sleepless night can dramatically change how productive I am the entire week. Sleep is just a natural, necessary process of human nature. So, why do we fight it so much? Why do we refuse to prioritize it?
It's so important, for your productivity game, to figure out how many hours of sleep you need. YOU. Not the average human, you. If you have no clue what that is, you can maybe try going to bed at the same time every night and letting your body wake up naturally. After one or two weeks you'll know the exact dose your body needs to be at its highest performance the next day. You'll never even have to worry about that part of your energy being drained, you'll just have it there at your disposal, everyday.
2. Move Your Butt
We all know how important and healthy exercise is for our bodies. But, let's talk about our minds. When you're exercising you release so many good chemicals that make you happier and provide you with an energy boost. It might not feel like that when you're getting in the habit of working out. Once you're over that slump, however, exercising is a huge energy and focus booster.
Think about those lazy days where might be binging a TV show. The longer you're on the couch the harder it is to get up. Well, it's kind of like that with life. If you find a little bit of time to get moving and get active, you're gonna want to feel like that in other areas of your life as well.
3. Connect Your Why With Action
Everyone knows that having a clear why is incredibly important. But, I think we need to take it a step further and make sure that our whys are connected with an action, something you can be, something you can achieve or tick off a checklist. Sometimes, regardless of how important that why is to you, it's just not enough to get you moving. Having a clear set of actions you can take to reach that might. In general, I try to make sure that for everything that I do I have a why, and for every why I have an action I can take.
For every action have a why, and for every why have an action.
4. Plan, Plan, Plan
I mean, a huge part of productivity is being efficient, and that's where planning comes in. It's just so simple. Planning will allow you to take those actions in the most efficient way possible. So, why would you not plan?
The reason why planning is essential to productivity is because it allows you to know exactly what you should be doing at all times. One of the greatest reasons why people procrastinate or waste time is because they don't know what they're supposed to be doing so they might end up scrolling or watching Netflix. Creating a solid plan fixes that.
5. Tailor Your Surroundings
This one is totally underrated. Your surroundings affect you. The colors, the light, the noise, the temperature, the mess, it all affects you. Whether you notice it or not. So, if they are something we can control, set them up to our advantage, right?
What I mean by tailor your surroundings is setting up you space so it encourages you to focus, and to get the things you want to do done. Leveraging your space can dramatically change your efficiency, focus, motivation and therefore, your productivity.
Bonus: Prioritize Rest
This is something that I only learned until recently, which is why I thought it was so important to share it in this list. We often forget to do this intentionally. We end up watching endless hours of mindless TV, or passively scrolling through instagram, and call that our rest time. While doing those things is fine, it's important to remember that there is more to rest than that.
Resting allows you to replenish your energy so that you can be your best self in the future. I now do this on a regular basis mainly by having a clear end to my work day. I am still "productive" after work, but mainly on things I want to do and that are some form of self care. The most important effect this has is replenishing my will power. We all need a moment in our day to throw our plans out the window and indulge a little (in a healthy way if possible). This allows you to show up the next day, ready to abide by your plans and get things done.
Incorporating these six things regularly into my life has allowed me to stay productive and still have a balanced life. Give them a try and let me know how it goes!
You can watch the accompanying YouTube Video here.