How can individuals create a personalized habit-building plan that aligns with their goals and values? And How do daily habits and routines impact overall productivity and success?
Productivity is one of the most important components of personal and professional growth. It comes as no surprise that many of us look to the daily routines and habits of productive people to be more successful.
Productivity isn’t about getting sheer quantities of tasks out the door or looking busy all the time. Instead, it’s applying yourself to achieve great results in your work and meaningful growth.
This level of productivity doesn’t happen overnight, but don’t worry, many have achieved it before. The key to it? Is Consistency.
You don’t need to be productive to be consistent. In fact, it’s the other way around; by building consistent routines, you can achieve productivity. Let’s dive into productive habits you can build to help bring out the best version of yourself.
Productivity isn’t something you can claim. There’s a science behind it, and its foundations are built on developing habits.
Research shows that habits and routines have a positive impact on our cognitive abilities. Even simple, seemingly trivial tasks like stretching in the morning or taking a short afternoon nap can:
Boost your ability to focus at work,
Improve your decision-making skills,
Sharpen your critical thinking abilities.
The human brain loves routines because they provide a sense of stability. Since it’s human nature to feel anxious over things we can’t control, the predictability of routines provides us with relief. In turn, this enables us to use our brain to its full capacity.
Additionally, routines reinforce positive behavior and give you a sense of accomplishment every time you knock out something on your to-do list.
The more you practice routines, the better your brain becomes at allotting resources for them. Over time, you’ll be able to finish tasks faster while consuming less mental energy. It becomes like muscle memory.
This is what productivity is: the human brain’s ability to automate.
3 morning routines that boost productivity
1. Eat a healthy breakfast
The brain needs fuel to work its magic. The expression “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” didn’t come out of nowhere studies show that skipping breakfast impairs cognitive function and work efficiency.
Making a balanced breakfast part of your daily schedule nourishes your body and charges your brain for the work ahead. When you eat breakfast, the boost enables you to take out your most challenging tasks right away and achieve hot streaks throughout your day.
2. Meditate and practice breathing exercises
3 Step Meditation
(Source: Canva user)
Maybe the early bird gets the worm, but it isn’t uncommon to feel a rush of anxiety as you start your work day and face the piles of to-dos in front of you.
This isn’t your fault. Your brain just came out of several hours of relaxation, after all. No athlete enters a competition without warming up. Meditation is the mental counterpart to that.
Make it a habit to meditate and slow down your morning routine before work. Instead of looking at your work as one big entity, look at it as a collection of individual tasks, each of which you are more than capable of handling.
Unlike how it’s portrayed in movies, productivity isn’t about being caught up between ten things at the same time. Contradicting as it may sound, calmness is a primary driving force behind a productive day.
3. Do physical exercises
Grogginess is not a companion you’d want to have when you start your day. The few hours in the morning before you tackle your responsibilities will set the tone for the rest of your day, so spend them practicing healthy habits.
Exercise, when done properly, can supercharge your body and mind for the upcoming day. It doesn’t have to be intense — basic activities like brisk walking or jogging get your blood flowing and cause your brain to release mood-enhancing endorphins.
Exercising is the best way to rinse grogginess off your system. It boosts your energy levels and overall mood, setting the stage for sustained productivity.
Another workday habit that enhance efficiency, Is to focus on one task at a time.
Despite its detrimental effects on a person’s mental ability, many people consider multitasking to be a normal part of work. While it may feel like you’re progressing in multiple tasks simultaneously, this fragmented approach to work impedes deep work and leads to reduced efficiency in the long term.
On the other hand, there are few productivity habits as successful as single-tasking. By dedicating your full attention to one thing at a time, you’re allocating the full extent of your cognitive abilities to accomplish the task. Single-tasking also enables you to enter flow states and stay organized more easily.