7 Habits That Helped Me Boost My Productivity
They worked For Me — They Might Work For You Too
When we think about productivity, some think of it as doing more and others think of it as doing better.
For me, it’s a little bit a both.
I mean, I’m not satisfied with doing just one thing better and call it a productive day.
For you, the case might be different. But there is no right or wrong. What matters at the end of the day is that you feel satisfied and happy about yourself that you did well that day.
Now, you might be wondering: “So, how can I have a productive that?”
Whilst this can work for some, others will find it inconvenient to follow. And that’s totally fine. Pick what works for you, and ignore what doesn’t.
So what are the things that worked for me?
1 — cold shower in morning
You might already be feeling shivery and uncomfortable from imaging yourself doing this.
I was the same.
More precisely, I still feel the same even now, even after God knows how long I’ve been doing taking them.
Every day, the same thought in my mind telling me that it’s unnecessary and giving me all sort of excuses not to turn that cold knob.
And sometimes I fail to triumph over that thought. But the day I fail to hop in a cold shower is the day I notice a difference regarding my willingness to take on challenges and be more productive.
And I manage to be deaf to those excuses and get my cold shower in the morning, it just feels awesome afterward. It helps me have that winner’s mindset during the day and helps be more productive and more alert.
2 — Skipping breakfast
I hear you already mumbling:
“Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.”
Studies have shown that there is nothing “special” about breakfast.
Skipping breakfast is also considered a form of intermittent fasting, aka : 16/8 intermittent fasting
But regardless of it being backed by science or not, this work also like a charm for me.
Having an empty stomach in the morning helps me to have a sharp and clear mind.
I operate better this way.
3 — Eating less carbs
Now, after skipping breakfast, I gotta eat, right?
I’m a fan of bread, rice, potato and whatever has carbs in it. I didn’t choose them, they chose me, lol.
But after eating these for lunch/late breakfast, I find myself getting sluggish and sleepy. And all I want to do for the rest of the day is just nap.
And you’ve guessed it right, I’m not productive then.
That took me a long time to figure out, since I consume bread with pretty much everything. And it was the last thing I thought about cutting out in lunch.
But once I cut those carbs out during the day, I noticed that my sluggishness went away, so it meant more focus, alertness and productivity.
I still eat them at night though :)
4 — Planning beforehand
Planning beforehand is a one of the essentials of productivity.
I used to not even know what I’ll be doing tomorrow. And when tomorrow is here, I just pick whatever comes my way and work on it.
At the end of the day, I realize that what I’ve been working on wasn’t the top priority task and feel that my day was wasted doing something that was last on my list.
Planning your day the day before helps you work on the task that require the most attention first and help you feel that sense of control of your day.
5 — Not waiting for motivation
I always believe that I needed motivation before I could start anything.
I needed that pep talk, that drive, that voice that tells me to do it. So, every time I felt that lack of motivation, I opened YouTube and searched for motivation videos.
It felt so good, so motivating!
Just as one video ends, I hop on to the next one.
“Came here to get some motivation, might as well get the most motivation I can”
Next, next, next…
Instead of doing the work, here I am fooling myself into believing that I needed motivation, and that I needed the utmost level of motivation that I could get.
And here I am, the sky has turned black, and I’m still watching videos and haven’t done sh*t yet!
“I’ll do it tomorrow”
Wrong!
Waiting or looking for motivation is a form of procrastination.
When you have to do something, you just have to go and do it! You don’t need to read a book about it or watch a whole course about it!
One simple example is cold showers. Yes, again! But bear with me! If I waited for motivation to do it, do you really think I will do it? 100% no! The less time there is between the thought of having to do something and the action, the better.
You shouldn’t give yourself time to think and come up with excuses.
Just go and do it! It will be painful, yes! But it will help you build mental resiliency.
And next time, you won’t need motivation. Motivation will need you!
6 —Not scrolling on social media
There are a lot of disadvantages of using social media aimlessly.
Here, I will be talking from experience.
Scrolling on social media, especially first time in the morning, sucks all my energy and attention. Whether it’s 15 min or 30 min, and sometimes more because you really can’t feel the time fly, the moment I wake up and try to be productive, I just can’t.
I feel drained from all my drive and just sitting in front of my laptop in a vegetative state.
My day is wasted, and it’s still the morning!!
The moment I have decided to not touch my phone in the morning is the moment when it all changed.
No more instant gratification, no more easy dopamine. I must and had the energy and the drive to work and be productive.
I like to think of it as a bucket full of energy and drive that resets every morning. If you choose to scroll on social media, you take some out of that bucket and give it to the social media platform.
If you do that longer enough, you’ve left with nothing.
7 — Working out in the evening
You already know the benefits of exercising, and I won’t teach you what you already know.
But, from my experience, working out in the afternoon works best for me.
Sometimes I just feel sleepy and lethargic, especially in the afternoon. And when I decide to do my workout then, I get this immediate thought:
How am I going to workout when I already feel tired and lethargic?
But the first time I did it, regardless of my state, although maybe I didn’t have all the energy to do the workout properly and to the fullest, I just felt so much better afterward.
The fatigue, the restlessness of the mind, the lethargicness all disappeared like magic. And I also learned that the mind is a liar.
And now I gained another half a day of productiveness and sharp mind when I thought my day was over at noon.
