Do you feel productive?
Or do you feel like you can’t handle the day? Waking up feels like a huge task every and don’t even bother thinking about working.
You’re lacking a productive mindset.
Of course, not every day can be productive and it doesn’t have to be, but it feels much better when you think you’re controlling that.
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” — Lao Tzu
Here are 6 daily habits that will make you more productive (especially in the morning).
1 — Sleep for better focus and productivity
Sleep is very important.
Not only for your body to regenerate and energy levels to restore but also to increase your focus and productivity.
When you don’t get enough sleep, you’re more likely to make mistakes, like:
- Careless errors.
- Forgetting important things.
- Risk of accidents.
- Regretful decisions.
That’s definitely not what you want. You need to create a sustainable routine and stick to it.
Things you could try:
- Make a sleeping schedule that you stick to every night.
- No screens at least 30 minutes before bed.
- Short meditation session before bed. (download my free meditation guide here)
Calming yourself and relaxing before you go to sleep is very important. If you can’t fall asleep you’re only frustrating yourself by laying there.
More tips to fall asleep faster:
- Drink relaxing and calming tea like camomile or other green teas without caffeine.
- Try this military sleeping method.
- Listen to brown noise or put on a fan that works like a metronome.
But the most important thing is to make sure you’re actually tired. If you’re having too much energy you should get rid of that first.
2 — Wake up early for better results
Waking up early is a controversial take.
As many are trying lately, getting up early has become very popular. Mostly because they think it’s beneficial for productivity.
Waking up early gives you more time to get things done before the day gets too busy — it also sets you up for a more productive day overall.
There are 3 ways to do this:
- Radically: change your wake-up time to 5 A.M. and get yourself a lot more time to do deep work or a workout.
- Gradually: change your wake-up time at a slow pace with 10 minutes every day to get used to your new times.
- Slowly: just wake up 30 minutes earlier every day to get the day started without actually doing work.
If you’ve got this little extra time, try to focus on the most important tasks.
3 — Exercise for energy and focus
Do you feel a lack of energy when you wake up?
Doing exercise or workouts might help you. It’s a great way to boost your energy levels and improve your focus.
Because it releases endorphins, that make you feel better and give you focus for the day. But it also increases blood flow to the brain to activate your creative processes.
So if you feel:
- Stressed
- Restless
- Tired
You should consider doing a short workout session in the morning. I’d say 30–45 minutes would be enough to boost yourself for the day and make you a lot more productive.
But don’t forget to eat breakfast afterward.
Besides all that, it also helps you sleep better at night, so if you’re having trouble sleeping, try exercising that day.
4 — Plan ahead for productivity
Good planning is crucial for productivity.
Without a good, well-structured plan you’ll almost certainly fail. That’s not what you want. Take a couple of minutes and make planning for the next period of time.
Why?
Writing down your top priorities for the day and scheduling time to work on them can help you stay on track and avoid distractions.
Here are some tips:
- Start with a big target. If you don’t know where you want to go, it’s going to be very hard to go in the right direction.
- Break down your tasks. You should always cut your bigger goals into pieces, this makes them less scary and confronting.
- Use project management tools. Planning on paper or from your head is almost impossible. Using tools like Notion can help massively.
Planning out your day helps you to be more productive.
When I was working on my internship I often didn’t know what to do and had moments where I just watched my screen for minutes long — then I decided to make planning for myself (for every hour).
Then there was pressure to perform, and it worked.
5 — Take breaks to avoid burnout
Most people lose focus after they’ve taken a break.
It’s common for people to take a 30-minute to a one-hour break after a couple of hours of work.
This makes you tired.
Because your body and mind have been constantly working (active) it takes time for it to adjust to the “rest or break mode”.
During your break, you may have relaxed too much, which can actually make you feel more tired — your body then released hormones that make you feel sleepy.
This also applies to taking a break after eating a lot of food.
What’s better?
You should try the 30/5 — method.
Instead of taking a long break after a long time of working, take shorter breaks after shorter times of working: 5-minute breaks after 30 minutes of work done.
Why does it work? Because you don’t have the time to get tired or distracted.
The same applies to your mobile devices, you don’t need 24 hours of charging before you can use it again for the same 24 hours, right?
Be careful with your breaks.
6— Celebrate your successes
Do you reward yourself?
When you reach a goal, take some time to celebrate your success. This will help you stay motivated and on track. Reward yourself with something you enjoy.
This associates a positive feeling with reaching a goal. Then it’s more likely that you’ll be productive in the future.
But make sure:
- The reward is something you actually enjoy.
- You make the reward proportional to the goal.
- You celebrate smaller victories as well.
Take some time to think about what you would really like, and then make sure to give yourself that reward when you reach your goal.