Have you ever felt that your productivity levels are low or dropping for some reason? There’s nothing to fear. This is a common phenomenon that every human being in every part of the world experiences at various phases of life.
How does one wriggle out of such situations? Here’re eight very simple ways to boost daily productivity. Practice them daily and you’ll experience an amazing surge of energy that lasts throughout the day.
8 Ways to Boost Productivity
These eight ways to boost daily are in use across the world. These are time tested and proven methods. Above all, they’re simple to practice in our daily life.
Get Adequate Sleep
There’s a lot of debate over how many hours of sleep does a human really need. However there’re increasing evidence that an adult female or male requires between eight to nine hours of sleep daily.
Because our body undergoes a lot of important functions when we sleep such as tissue repair. The brain also relaxes when we sleep.
Lack of sleep is the primary culprit for drop of productivity among humans. Hence, ensure you have eight hours of sleep daily to boost daily productivity.
Have Hearty Breakfast
There’s a reason this morning meal is known as breakfast. Because, you’re ‘breaking fast’ after nearly 10 to 11 hours, including eight hours of sleep. During this time, your body’s energy levels start sagging.
Though you’re fresh after an eight-hour sleep in the morning, this energy requires a boost. And the best way to boost your energy for the day is by having a hearty breakfast.
Again, there’re debates over what a healthy breakfast constitutes. According to various nutritionists, healthy breakfast should be rich in protein to provide energy and should be balanced with carbohydrates and other nutrients. A hearty breakfast keeps you energized through the day and boosts productivity.
Avoid Video Games/ Movies on Mobile
The adage: “We live in an era of smartphones and dumb people,” seems to be coming true nowadays. Most people that commute by public transport can be seen playing video games or watching movies during the morning hours.
Understandable that long commutes can be boring and monotonous. However, playing video games of any sort and watching movies impacts our brain adversely and generates negative thoughts. Hence, drop in productivity is imminent.
Psychologists are aware of the evil effects of gaming and watching movies on the human brain. Because movies and games generate emotions. Furthermore, movies take people to fantasy land and they’re unable to cope with reality when they reach workplace.
Take Short Breaks
There’s only so much our brain can cope up with at any point of time. If we try and focus on the task at hand for too long, we experience mental fatigue. And that leads to a drop in productivity.
Therefore, it’s advisable to take a few minutes break, albeit at your desk to allow the brain to refresh and regain focus.
Nowadays, top executives utilize a technique known as ‘power meditation.’ This means, ceasing work for a couple of minutes at meditating at desk. It involves clearing the brain of all thoughts while grasping awareness about our environs and our breathing. This technique works wonders to boost daily productivity.
Minimize Smartphone Use Considerably
In fact, large corporations do not permit most employees to use their personal smartphones unless absolutely necessary. That’s because smartphones sound all sorts of alerts, buzzes and alarms almost every minute.
These tend to break concentration and forces us to check whether there’s something really important like an emergency at home.
Switch off your smartphone and use after work hours only. Instead, use an ordinary one that doesn’t have instant messaging apps and messengers. Keep the number private and insist that it’s for genuine emergencies only.
Prioritize Your Priorities
The best way to boost daily productivity is to prioritize your priorities rather than what’s important. There’s a vast difference between priorities and importance. Often, important things can wait a little while priorities need immediate attention.
Prioritizing your priorities is possible if we make an astute list of what would be more beneficial or better serve the purpose of our organization.
Nobody denies the importance of important things. However, we have to clearly define what needs to be done first to achieve a larger goal than what’s important but not really urgent. Learning to define priorities and working on them is the best way to boost daily productivity.
Unclutter Your Mind & Desk
Workplace ambience plays a major role in boosting or waning productivity levels. A cluttered desk often leads to a cluttered mind. The very glimpse of a desk cluttered with papers and files is enough to sound alarm bells of daunting tasks that lie ahead. And these subconsciously create a clutter in the mind.
Mental clutter wreaks havoc on your productivity. It dents your confidence and overwhelms your energy levels. As a result, you feel tired even before starting the day’s work.
Keep your desk clear of all unwanted files and paperwork. The sight of a tidy desk works subconsciously to boost energy levels and directly boost productivity.
Leave Office at Office
Meaning, never take your work related burdens back home. If you do so, you’re missing or even robbing your family, friends and yourself of quality time relaxing. Consequently, the quality of your personal, social and family life will experience severe imbalance. Work related worries can make you irascible and liverish at home. This cascades into frayed tempers and strained relationships.
This has a snowball effect that spills all the way down to your workplace. You’ll arrive emotionally and physically stressed at work. The result is low productivity.
Instead, leave your work related worries and stress at the office when you depart for the day. Enjoy the commute or ride and spend quality time with family or social circle. We humans require healthy entertainment too. And of course, a fitness regimen to ensure excellent health.
More on Daily Productivity
There’re no magic mantras to boost daily productivity. Instead, a series of small disciplines put into practice daily will have magical effects on your productivity. It’s myth that overworking is good. Instead, it can lead to several emotional disorders, cause addictions and result in dysfunctional relationships.
Therefore, striking an astute work-life balance is of utmost importance. And such work-life balance needs to be nurtured with adequate rest and relaxation, nutrition and fitness, among other elements.
Closing Thoughts
The first step towards boosting daily productivity lies in self-discipline. That’s the main reason that militaries around the world inculcate strict discipline among service personnel. Nothing worthwhile can be achieved sans proper discipline.
Ends.
