It’s easy to forget that we humans are physical beings.
Many entrepreneurs and knowledge workers spend their days indoors, hunched over their keyboards, valiantly trying to subdue their hydra-like to-do lists while their minds whirl at a million miles an hour.
Gentle reminder: That overworked brain lives in your body. You can improve your brain’s ability to perform – and your success and day-to-day happiness, too – by taking care of your physical health.
Contrary to popular belief, being more productive isn’t about becoming some sort of lifehacking, app-wielding superhuman so you can plow through an epic to-do list and collapse at the end of the day, satisfied because – why, exactly? You got more stuff done?
It’s not about getting more done. (Though improving your productivity will increase your output.)
It’s about feeling good because you’re progressing toward your goals.
It’s about being more effective by managing your time, attention and energy, and making sure you’re doing the right things.
What are the right things? The short answer is, the right things to do are those that further your business and personal goals and are in alignment with your values.
We delve deeply into goals, ambitions and values in our flagship course, Giant Academy: a 6-week course for entrepreneurs, marketing managers, and anyone who wants to know how to be more productive, effective and knowledgeable in the marketing realm.
Here in this blog post, we are going to focus on an aspect of productivity that often gets overlooked: physiology.
While you’ve probably seen some of these tips before, you may not have considered the fact that they can improve your performance along with your physical health.
6 Physical Keys to Productivity
Move
You don’t have to do CrossFit on your lunch break. Just move around. Go for a 15-minute walk. Carve out half an hour after work three times a week to do Couch to 5k. You’ll feel happier and more energetic, be healthier, and, yes, get more done.
Take breaks
Rest your eyes. Stretch. Move deliberately from task to task with short rest periods in between rather than darting between half-done tasks like a squirrel on Red Bull.
Breathe deeply
Once every couple of hours at least, close your eyes for 30 seconds, picture a soothing scene (or nothing at all), and just take deep, slow breaths. Yes, we’re kind of talking about meditating.
Snack right
Skip the soda in favor of sparkling water and some fruit. Stash almonds, beef jerky, cheese sticks and other small but protein-rich snacks in your workspace. The “sugar crash” is real and will crash your productivity along with your mood.
Zap stress
If you get daily infusions of the fight-or-flight hormone cortisol thanks to overwhelm or a toxic or poorly managed work environment, you will be less productive overall because part of your brain remains occupied with whatever tasks or issues are contributing to that stress. Identify what parts of your environment and habits are causing stress and make a plan to address them.
Click the button below to download the FREE Productivity Planner and Networks of Help template, and take your everyday performance to another level.
