How to Find Stillness, Productivity, and Enjoyment Every Day
5 ways to fill your days with positive activities
Success is nothing more than an accumulation of positive acts.
How can I succeed in business? What’s the secret to becoming a full-time writer? And where can I find the magic formula for learning new skills?
Those are common personal growth questions that many people ask themselves.
They believe that someone has a recipe for success and that they just need to find it. Those thinking patterns hold you back.
No matter if you’re building a business, learning a new language, or improving your physique, a combination of small habits will lead to success.
You need to become a little bit better every day and add a small piece to the puzzle.
That’s where stillness, productivity, and enjoyment come into play.
No matter what you are trying to accomplish, you’ll need those three elements daily.
First, stillness will help you remain calm, focused, and determined. Productivity, on the other hand, will help you achieve more in less time. In other words, you’ll use your time wisely. Finally, you need to enjoy your endeavor to stay motivated and retain your purpose.
Together, the three can help you attain any summit by creating a daily merger of calmness — ensuring that you do the work without distractions, productivity — boosting your time management, and fun — transforming arduous chores into playful challenges.
How do we combine the three?
There are various effective methods to incorporate these three positive states into your everyday life.
On this basis, here are five ways to find stillness, productivity, and enjoyment every day.
Structure your day around a few core activities
The first step toward finding the tools to succeed every day is to structure your day around a few primary activities. These are the habits that secure your stillness, productivity, and enjoyment.
When it comes to “productivity monsters,” few people compete with Britain’s World War Two leader Winston Churchill.
When addressing the US Congress in 1941, Churchill said the following:
“My life […] is already long and has not been entirely uneventful.”
That was an understatement.
Churchill worked 110 hours a week for five years and traveled an estimated 110,000 miles by air, sea, and road between 1940 and 1943 alone. He even wore a specially designed suit that allowed him to nap comfortably in the office. That was his tenure as Prime Minister.
Long before that, he had made his name as a prolific writer and journalist. Between 1898 and the end of World War One, Churchill wrote seven books. He also chronicled various wars from the frontline — all while holding political office.
Churchill was a workhorse but also a productivity monster. So, what was his secret?
The “old warrior” was a complex persona, but one critical part of his life was simple: his routine.
Churchill planned every day around a few core activities.
He would get up at 7.30 am, have breakfast, and work. Around 11 am, he would take a walk around his garden. His short walking stint preceded a multi-course lunch. After eating, he would work a few more hours before taking a nap. Churchill saw his naps as essential productivity boosters, allowing him to do “a day and a half’s work in 24 hours.” After napping, he would take a bath — another core habit — and get ready for dinner. His dinners were long, alcohol-infused, and heavy. Finally, he would work for another hour after dinner and go to bed well after midnight.
There is no point in copying Churchill’s routine. There is, however, one primary lesson to follow: Churchill’s core activities — his walks, meals, naps, and baths — ensured his productivity, mental clarity, and fitness. They also gave him daily enjoyment as well as serenity.
Despite all the alcohol and cigars, his political career lasted into his 80s — and he lived to the age of 90.
Consequently, find your focal activities — the ones that provide stillness, productivity, and enjoyment — and plan your days around them.
Live one day at a time
“Waking up this morning, I smile. Twenty four brand-new hours are before me. I vow to live fully in each moment.” — Thich Nhat Hanh
If you want to become more productive, start by living one day at a time.
Amid our ambitions, projects, and fears, we sometimes fail to connect to the present. The future absorbs us, and we forget to practice mindfulness in everyday life.
You might think about a future pay-rise. The prospect of a new career looms on the horizon. And you desperately want a summer body for next year.
Ask yourself: what can I do today to get a little closer to these targets?
Instead of pondering your long-term career growth, start by implementing a small change today. Try to add a new win to your resume.
In this context, Lifehack champions the idea of learning one new thing every day:
“Make it a point to learn at least one new thing each day: the name of a flower that grows in your garden, the capital of a far-off country, or the name of a piece of classical music you hear playing in your favorite clothing boutique as you shop.”
If you want to change your life, start by utilizing the next 24 hours. Whatever you want to achieve, the next 24 hours should be your top priority.
Schedule downtime every day
In our uber-busy lives, downtime isn’t always a given. We get up, go to the gym, devour our breakfast, commute to our jobs, try to impress our superiors, get home, spend a few hours reading and watching Netflix, make love to our partner, and go to sleep.
Many people live so quickly that downtime becomes a rare occurrence — a luxury.
That’s where daily sessions of downtime come to fruition. By taking a few hours out of your schedule, you acknowledge the importance of stillness.
If you want to remain calm and productive over long stretches, you need to give your mind time to shut down and enjoy the emptiness.
During my time in the finance sector, I worked 14-hour days. I didn’t have any free time as I worked on side hustles at night. Close to insanity, I needed to make a change.
I started to go on 30-minute walks during my lunch breaks. I wouldn’t take my phone with me, and I wouldn’t schedule any meetings. The walks became lifesavers. I had purposely designed them as “do nothing time.” As such, they ensured that I would encounter the second half of the day in a still and refreshed state.
Do more of what makes you happy and less of what makes you unhappy
There are thousands of books on happiness and satisfaction. Scientists analyze the Japanese concept of finding your ikigai and dive into distinct cultural definitions of happiness.
I believe in a much simpler method.
If you want to be happier in everyday life, take out your journal, and determine which mundane activities increase your happiness.
As an example, after analyzing my habits, I discovered that the following activities created daily surges of joy:
- going to the gym;
- drinking high-quality coffee;
- reading one hour before going to bed;
- listening to soothing deep house music; and
- giving and receiving compliments.
In contrast, the following activities made me unhappier in everyday life.
- watching news reports;
- arguing about banal problems;
- drinking alcohol; and
- thinking about politics.
I implemented a simple strategy:
Do more of what makes you happy and less of what makes you unhappy.
In the following days, I did more workouts. I listened to my favorite music more often. And finally, compliments multiplied.
Conversely, I stopped watching the news altogether, drank less alcohol, and avoided as many arguments as I could.
The effect was profound. Even though I didn’t become 100% happy all the time — an impossible state — my moodiness disappeared, and my overall satisfaction increased.
Set mini-goals every day
Finally, one of the most effective ways to find stillness, productivity, and enjoyment every day is to set mini-goals.
A small achievement — like finishing a work assignment or completing a gym session — will contribute to all three elements. A mini-goal can be the completion of your most critical task for today.
First, you’ll know that you have finished the day’s most crucial to-do. That feeling will spawn a sense of tranquility and further your stillness for the rest of the day.
Secondly, mini-goals are powerful productivity tools. By breaking down your goals into smaller, more achievable targets, you work purposefully on particular tasks. You’ll have well-defined time blocks that will bolster your productivity in everyday life.
Lastly, mini-goals will add enjoyment to your days. Every time you attain a mini-target, you’ll feel victorious. You’ll start to celebrate small wins and enjoy the process.
Final thoughts
Stillness, productivity, and enjoyment are three pillars for a successful day. Building a productive routine, ensuring mindfulness and downtime, and celebrating small wins will help you achieve bigger goals in the long run.
By focusing on what you can do today instead of imagining every future potentiality, you’ll take a step-by-step approach to any endeavor.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, but you can add one stone to your success every day. And each one of these stones will matter when it comes to the solidity of the final structure.
