Hello there! This blog post is all about the importance of lifestyle habits to improve your productivity at work. Some of these habits can be relaxing before starting work, setting goals for the day, listening to music at the office or while working or even taking a walk before starting work.
Do you want to feel more productive? In order to do so you need to think about what habits you could try implementing into your day.
Itās hard to be productive when youāre not feeling well, but there are some lifestyle habits that can help boost productivity. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can do wonders for your body and mind, so itās worth taking the necessary steps to make good habits a part of your routine.
Here are my 5 personal lifestyle habits that have helped increase my productivity at work and I hope it can help you too!
1) Listening To Music Intentionally
What do I mean by listening to music intentionally? For most of us, it can be an unconscious habit to just plug in everyday and let our mind wander, we often listen to music while we āmultitaskā such as during our commute to work or probably while we workout.
Iāve learned that by blocking out some time for music intentionally during your day maybe just 30 minutes or so can help improve your mood and productivity for the rest of the day.
And this means to not do anything and only focusing on the music or song you are listening to.
It has helped improve my mood and emotions and allowed me to be more focus in tackling the tasks I have for the day. I believe the music you listen to matters and itāll probably have a different effect if you listen to Rock or EDM.
I enjoy and tune in to some Deep Focus, Lo-Fi and Icelandic Chill music which Iāve recently got into.
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2) Running At Night
This is probably something many of us do but to be more specific, I like running only at night.
Yes this is partly due to the 365 days of summer we have here in Singapore but looking at it in another perspective, it actually helps to improve my productivity at work the next day.
After a day at work, I try to find some time usually about 30 minutes or less to go for a comfortable jog to āunwindā my mind and thoughts for the day. This also helps prepare me for bed after I go home for a cold shower and I find that it helps me sleep better.
Some of us may think that itāll be too tiring to go for a jog after a long day at work but it actually helps us to rest better and gives us more energy for the next day.
You do not need to set a quick pace because itās not really a strenuous workout session, treat it as a therapy for your mind and a way to clear your thoughts for the day.
If you find it hard to go for that run and procrastinating you can take a look at the related reads below.
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3) Meditating
Another great way for me to feel less overwhelmed with the work I had for the day and also prepare me for the next day is by meditating.
As many of us know, meditating is an excellent way to take good care of your mental health as it helps to address your stresses, reduces anxiety, depression and even lowers blood pressure.
Iāve been introduced to meditating some time ago but I didnāt have the time and habit to practice it and recently Iāve downloaded the app Balance which offers a free trial for a year and each session only takes 3 minutes.
If youāre a beginner like me, using Balance is a perfect way to start as it personalises a schedule for you based on your meditating experience. It is guided as well with a soothing voice telling you what you should be focusing on like you inhale and exhales.
I am not affiliated with Balance by any means and there are other apps like Calm and Oak which you could try. Do leave a comment if you have any other recommendations!
Taking 3 minutes of your time to improve your mental health everyday is really reasonable and I meditate around 7pm where I have the most free time. After which, I combine it with my nightly run and I feel really fresh and good. This has shown to increase my productivity at work.
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4) Reading
Reading books is by far the most life-changing hack Iāve done in my life.
I started reading books consistently since the beginning of 2020 and it has not only increased my productivity but also my knowledge and wisdom. Iāve always knew that reading books is a good habit but I couldnāt get myself to read consistently until I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, it changed my perspective on many things in life and I continued reading more books even though I donāt find myself getting āsmarterā.
Then after a year of reading, I realised my knowledge of many things have grown (base on the books I read) such as marketing, business, habits and general wisdom.
This has helped increase my productivity at work as I have sharpened my mind and gained more knowledge related to my field of work (such as blogging and marketing) and I see an exponential improvement in my problem solving skills.
Though it does not directly affect your productivity in the short term, it pays dividends as it helps develop your mind and widens your worldview which eventually makes you more creative and also helps to improve on your focus at work.
I believe no book is a bad book and you can read any genre you like but try to make it a balance and explore different kinds of books. For starters, you can read books that interests you such as Fiction and once you begin to enjoy reading, start venturing out into the the amazing world of books that can improve your knowledge and skills.
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5) Take Micro Breaks
Believe it or not, the best way to increase your productivity at work is by not working too much.
Taking Singapore into context, our work culture has always been doing work non stop and working for 8 or even more hours per day (especially during these work from home periods). Most of the time during the work day, are we actually doing productive work? If you cannot say for sure that you are, or if you find yourself overworked you should start taking micro breaks.
This can be done on an individual level whereby you take 5 minute breaks after every 45 minutes or an hour of work. The idea is simple, the longer you spend focusing on a task, your attention span decreases and youāll find yourself wandering off physically and mentally.
To solve this, you take intentional breaks and try your best to not think about work during the 5 or 10 minutes of breaks. Just like meditation, it can be really difficult at first because your mind has already warmed up but it really works in the long run.
The human mind is just not designed to put in productive and constant work throughout the day, this is why there are many controversies around the world about the 8 hour work schedule.
Iād say weāll probably be sticking to this 8 hour work day for the next few decades of our life if anything were to change so itās better if we can adopt micro breaks on an individual level. I can relate this to a quote from trading and investing
We win by not losing
By not burning out or overworking ourselves, we become consistent and can increase our productivity at work.
We win by not losing.
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- Is The 8 Hour Work Day Schedule Really Productive?
- The Pomodoro Technique: How To Work & Study More Productively
- Productivity vs Efficiency: How To Achieve More By Doing Less
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed the article, feel free to share and comment!
See you on the next one!
