Healthy Habits Proven to Keep You Productive - Part 1 🌼
- The Foxs Fern
- Jun 26, 2020
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 24, 2020
Evening everyone! 🌼
I've been inactive for the past couple of weeks, preparing new things for the blog, my business and hopefully the future after lock down. Truth is this post was actually a job submission, but that didn't quite go to plan!
So here's some healthy habits that I've found really helpful lately to keep me productive!
Healthy habits are one of the easiest things to teach yourself with a small amount of routine and these ones are PROVEN. Yes, you heard me! Proven to keep you productive at home.
Currently we are all striving to keep our productivity to a high whilst juggling, work, at home schooling and of course the emotion that comes with a pandemic, but I have a feeling these healthy little habits will make all of it a lot easier.
In this post, I’ll be covering the following:
Part 1
🌼 Food and Diet
🌼 Exercise
🌼 Time Management
Part 2
🌼 Locking Away Bad Habits
🌼 Evaluate Your Space
So, let’s get this productivity ball rolling!
🌼 Food and Diet 🌼
When you’re in a rush and lunchtime approaches, you may feel that a ‘quick lunch’ at your desk is all you need, however you may be wrong.
It is important that when lunchtime rolls around you take that break! It is estimated that up 40 percent of workers eat at their desk to power through with work. Well in lock down it is also estimated this may be up to 65 percent of people! Guys, it is called a Lunch Break – Take that time away from your desk.
It has been proven that when you spend time away from your desk you will come back to work feeling refreshed. If your desk is in the same four walls and you take yourself out of that environment, whether it’s a small walk whilst you eat, or simply sitting in a new room. A different layout and different location will help your mind feel separated from work and allow you to fully make the most of your break!
Another thing I would highly recommend is planning your meals! A lot of people plan dinners, but when you’re working you don’t want to go to the fridge and be intimidated by all those ingredients and end up with the same sandwich all week! There are some amazing easy lunch recipes out there that can be made the night before and quickly snapped up for lunch, giving you more time to relax. There is a link in the "Sources" below that is really good for helping start a meal plan!
There are also some amazing snacks you can keep on your desk that are healthy and will give you that afternoon burst you need to complete your day! A small bowl of nuts is the best thing to keep beside you whilst you work, they aren’t just a yummy snack they will keep you alert for the day!
Almonds and Walnuts are high in antioxidants, Vitamin-E and amino acids, these are all properties that give a natural increase in performance and help to increase memory. Don’t worry if you’re not one for snacking, you can also get your boost through your liquids!
Water and green tea are two of the best drinks you can consume whilst at work. Matcha is one of the most popular drinks around right now because it has the best concentration of green tea for energy production!
If you’re anything like me, I’m not one for green tea and find it hard to keep to the healthier side of life, but for the moments where you’ve finished one of your biggest tasks of the day – Dark chocolate. I know, who would think this would be on the list, but it is! Dark chocolate contains caffeine, which everyone knows is going to give you that boost of energy, not to mention magnesium which will help lift that stress from your shoulders and hopefully help you see further tasks as something you can conquer.
🌼 Exercise 🌼
For those of you who are thinking “Oh no” Don’t worry I’m not about to recommend a sprint in your workday.
A study showed that workplace exercise increased productivity by up to 79 percent and low intensity excessive was more beneficial than high intensity. So, doing 30 minutes of yoga before you start work could start you off for a more productive day. Yoga is also a great stress reliever that will help you keep calm against those seemingly impossible tasks.
It has also shown that getting up and taking a 2-minute walk throughout the day can boost your productivity, so when you’re stuck on a task, go get those creative juices flowing by doing a little walk around your house. Maybe even check in on a pet, family member, or hop in the garden for a few rays of sun.
It is also really important to schedule your exercise to suit you, maybe when you’re feeling stuck in that work slump, record the time and see if you can find a pattern within your week to help you timetable when to do your exercise.
Overall it is recommended to get 30 minutes of exercise a day on 5 days of the week for a healthier lifestyle and it will seriously lift that level of productivity.
🌼 Time Management 🌼
Whether you’re a student, parent, working or unemployed, no matter what you do time management is always key and if your aim is to be productive it is worth taking a few minutes to prepare your time.
Time management is one of the hardest things to do because when you’ve had a long day at work it is easy to get buried under the things you still need to do tomorrow and forget to plan out what you are going to do and how.
There is a great rule called the 80/20 rule and this is where you do 20 percent of the work for 80 percent of the outcome. It sounds honestly unbelievable, but when you think about it, it really is something that makes sense.
If you’re planning your day and you only see say 30 tasks you have to complete, when you break them down you’ll find you probably only have a few tasks to do and some that will take a lot less time than others.
Therefore, I recommend getting a weekly planner, calendar or even a list maker for your desk. At the end of the day you can cross the things off your list you completed and add things to tomorrow’s therefore this also gives you a higher sense of achievement as you can physically see things that have been crossed off and know you completed it.
I would suggest that you also get a planner for everyday life, like your personal appointments, meetings and activities you are planning on doing outside of work. This way when you go to write something in you are not seeing a flood of work you know you have to complete as this will only dishearten you from doing activities outside of work which are key to keeping your mind at ease for a work day.
This quote is such an inspirational one to have around and anyone who is working from home will know just how true it is. It is so easy to get lost in trying to complete a hundred tasks at once that not one gets done and by planning the day out, whether it’s in note form or lists, or even in full detail from breakfast to dinner it will help you to really engage with life and work and definitely keep you productive.
That is it for part one thank you so much for reading, stay tuned for next week when part 2 will be published! 🌼
I hope you all have a lovely day,
Feel free to leave a comment, like or reach me on social media!
🌼 Stay smiling
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