Struggling with productivity and maintaining your focus and energy level high throughout the day? Sometimes it takes very little adjustment in our set of habits to allow us to feel fulfilled.
By definition, a habit is simply a sequence of actions you follow regularly. In this post, we’ll be talking about 6 simply actionable habits that you can incorporate in your day to day from tomorrow – no need to wait for Monday.
Build an evening ritual.
Calling it routine sounds boring, but what about ritual? Much more exciting right? It is true that we are what we repeatedly do and prepping for the next morning could guarantee you a productive and fulfilling day. First of all try to go to bed always at the same time allowing enough hours to rest before your alarm goes off. Then think about what you enjoy and can help you wind down: drinking a herbal tea, journalling, reading a chapter of your book, having a skin routine that makes you feel pampered, listening to a podcast, catching up with your partner after a long day. Prepare your clothes for the morning after before climbing into bed. Try to repeat the pattern over and over until it becomes habit. When directed towards what matters, routine is what will allow us to stay on track, reduce the willpower we need, and move further, faster.
Focus on one thing at a time.
We all try to multitask but whether you got to this conclusion by personal experience yet or not, we are simply not good at it. Break big work load into smaller pieces and concentrate on the execution of each of these small tasks. Instead of having 100 tabs opened, decide for how long you wanna work on each of them and focus on one at a time. If you complete that said task within that time good, if not you can tick it off your list for that day and come back to it the next.
Connect with your food.
Like I said above we aren’t good at multitasking and chances are that if you are eating while at your desk or on the phone your body – or better your brain – won’t register that you are in fact ingesting food. Hence you might not feel full and/or end up overeating. Think about it: how long does it take you to eat? 15/20 minutes? Take a break from anything you are doing and from any type of technology, slowly chew each mouthful and come back to work more productive – and with a satisfied stomach!
Think more positively.
A positive thinking translate into a positive attitude to life – we know that. But maybe after a stressful commute, a train cancelled, a colleague that is giving us hard time or technology failing to collaborate we struggle to remember that. Well, try to get into the habit to focus on the positive thing that happened that day: maybe a smile on the train from a stranger, maybe a good workout, maybe the blue sky. Whatever made a somewhat positive impact on your day try to write it down or tell your partner/family about it rather than always focusing on the drama.
Quit sitting for too long.
It is not a mystery that a sedentary lifestyle can translate into posture and health issues. Sitting for long periods of time, especially with poor posture, makes our hip flexors tight, which causes the glutes to lengthen to compensate. Over time, this compromises the ability of the gluteal muscles to activate properly, leading to a condition called gluteal amnesia – or what I like to call it “Lazy Butt”. When your glutes can’t do their job, other muscles in your body have to work harder, which ultimately can overwork them, leading to poor body alignment and aches. Tight hip flexors also make it harder for your pelvis to rotate properly and inhibited mobility in this area can cause compression and pain in the lower back. My point is – do you really think you can counteract the negative effects of sitting for at least 8 + hours per day in 45 minutes workout? I didn’t think so either! Get into the habit to take regular breaks from sitting. Go make tea, be the one who does the coffee rounds at Starbucks, when you go to the toilet stretch your chest and hip flexors, essentially find any excuse to stand up. They don’t need to be long breaks, just small and often.
Snack on exercise.
It is a misconception that we have to workout for a prolonged period of time and consecutively. In the specific most people think that they have to exercise for 1 hour. Well, that’s not true. If you are actually doing a Tabata or a HIIT session you won’t be able to sustain the high intensity required for the workout to be effective for one hour. Wake up 10 minutes earlier to do a core routine, or take a 20 minutes brisk walk (and some fresh air) during your work break. Do 10 press ups before cooking dinner, you call it. I’m confident you’ll find that you have more energy afterwards, and you’ll feel better overall.
