7 Healthy Steps to Have The Most Productive Day Ever
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With so many of us currently working remotely in 2020, it is easy to struggle with what to do to be productive at home. With so many tasks to do daily, it can be anxiety-causing to calculate how best to spend your day effectively. In fact, this struggle to organize tasks into a daily productive schedule can be one of the leading causes of work paralysis.
For those going into the office, you may face constant daily disruptions from conference calls, meetings, and coworkers. Constant interruptions can prevent you from working effectively and not only cause stress, but can also impact your work-life balance. When the pressures from work bleed over into your home life, it can have a negative effect on your sleep, lifestyle, and even mental health. So what are the keys to productivity? While each individual’s work schedule may vary, these simple productivity tips can get you started on a more productive day and create a healthier lifestyle in the process.
7 Daily Productivity Tips for Work
Turn these unique productivity tips for working from home into healthy habits to help create the most productive day possible.
Create a Schedule the Night Before
If you want to be productive every day and control your time, the first step in time management is creating a daily schedule. By creating your schedule the night before, you are able to have all of your tasks already designated for the day, organized in one place. This creates an easy to-do list that ensures that you do not forget any smaller tasks and can organize your time in an efficient manner.
This schedule creation the night before can also create a calming effect on your mental health as you purge your mind of having to remember each individual task and project for the next day, allowing you to sleep more deeply and avoid the stress and anxiety that comes from feeling overwhelmed.
““If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And if it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.””
Start Your Day with the Largest Task
Perhaps one of the most productive work habits, “eating the frog” means starting your day with the largest task. This may be the one item on your to-do list that you dread the most or is simply a project that you have trouble focusing on. When you start filling out your schedule for the next day, organize your tasks by starting with the “frog.” This way, you accomplish the most important tasks early in the day before your concentration may wane, leaving yourself plenty of time to complete smaller tasks throughout the day.
Pick One Task You Can Finish Quickly
After you have identified your biggest task of the day, quickly follow it up with a smaller, easy-to-accomplish task. This quick work break is similar to making your bed in the morning. It allows you to quickly and easily check off an item on your to-do list, helping you to feel productive throughout the entire day. It also provides a short mental break from the longer or more intricate tasks of the work day.
Set a Mindful Morning Routine
Want to create healthy habits in the morning? Start by creating a mindful morning routine to increase your mental health with these five action items.
Set intentions for the day
What is your daily morning mantra? Setting an intention for the day is like setting a statement of purpose. What do you want to accomplish today? Remind yourself that you are worthy. Remind yourself that it is okay to not complete every task because you are only human. Setting this intention or mantra is a great mental health exercise that allows you to dig deeper into your self and align your mind with your daily goals.
Make your bed
What might sound like a pointless task, can actually have a large impact on your wellbeing throughout the day. In a commencement speech at the University of Texas, retired U.S. Navy Admiral Seal William H. McCraven encouraged students to make their bed daily. It reinforced the importance of life’s smaller things, he said, as well as starting the day with a feeling of accomplishment. Not only that, but clutter is one of the most often overlooked causes of anxiety at home. Making your bed each day is a small task that can pay big dividends.
Eat a good breakfast
Food is fuel. With busy morning schedules, it’s more important to set aside time to enjoy a hearty breakfast, and not in front of the television or your computer. After a solid night’s sleep, your body is coming out of a fasting state. Eating a quality breakfast gives your body the fuel it needs to jumpstart the metabolism, keep blood sugar in check, and make sure that you have the necessary ingredients to power your brain all day long.
Write in a Gratitude Journal
Much like making your bed, taking a few moments to write in a gratitude journal can help set you up for a successful morning. This practice of writing is meant to help you focus on the good in your life, so that you start your day on the positive note possible. This does not have to be an elaborate writing assignment. In fact, it could be a short list of 2-5 things that you are grateful for in each day. These items may change daily or stay the same, but allow you to reflect on important aspects of your life before getting started with a busy work day.
Quiet Time to yourself
Especially with the increasing popularity of Zoom calls, it is important to take some screen-free time to yourself in the morning. Take this quiet time by reading a book or listening to a podcast. If the weather is nice where you live, start your morning by taking a walk alone or drinking coffee or tea on your porch or patio. Breathing in fresh air or getting a little Vitamin D can be a mood booster to start your day.
Block Out Your Time to Focus
Another great productive thing to do everyday is make sure that you block your time. When you are creating your daily schedule, assign tasks not only an importance level, but a time limit as well. For example, set yourself aside 30-minute to an hour to answer emails during the day. By utilizing this strategy, you can bulk respond to emails and not get off-track on tasks during the day. This also ensures that you don’t miss important emails and forget to respond. Use this same method on other tasks throughout the day to help schedule appropriate amounts of time to prevent overextending yourself. Not only that, but create a reward system for each task. When you complete each item before the scheduled time ends, give yourself an extra break. This encourages you to be efficient with tasks to earn downtime before starting another project.
Schedule Breaks
No one is able to work consistently all day. In fact, it’s been suggested that the human brain can only focus for approximately two hours before it needs a 20-30 minute break. Create good personal habits by scheduling downtime to allow yourself to recharge and come back to a project. If you suffer from perfectionism in the workplace, walking away from a project for a mental health break almost always results in a fresh outlook upon your return.
Have a Snack in the Afternoon to Prevent a Slump
While the body’s natural circadian rhythm operates on a 24-hour clock (causing a “dip” in the afternoon between 2:00-4:00pm), one of the leading causes of tiredness in the afternoon can be linked to lack of food. Much like our circadian rhythm, our bodies cycle our blood sugar around our meals. This means after a large meal, you may experience a bout of sleepiness as your body tries to regular your blood sugar with an influx of insulin. But, avoiding food in the afternoon could have the opposite effect as the body experiences a dip in blood sugar. Avoid this afternoon slump by including snacks into your workday.
Tip: For the most benefit, don’t reach for the energy drink or sugary snack! Instead, eat a snack that is full of carbohydrates, fat and protein, as this will leave you feeling fuller, longer. Examples of great afternoon snacks include: turkey and cheese rollups with a side of grapes or hard-boiled eggs and almonds.
Book list for additional reading:
What’s your go to productivity trick?
