How many things could you get ticked off if you were more productive? Productivity, for me, isn’t just the art of getting things done, but the art of getting them done at the right time. I’m never going to finish my massive list of to-dos if I’m caught up finishing one thing that takes all day. Instead, it’s so much better to theme your time and break your time up into blocks. Read about how Google employees theme their day to be more productive here if you need a refresher on how best to do this.
Chances are if you’re reading this, you want to know how to be your most productive self. Maybe your life has suddenly got very crazy, or you’ve got more responsibilities at work. I always find if you let everything tally up it feels overwhelming, like the goal in mind will never happen.
Don’t let that happen, you can edit your life to make you more productive and smash every goal you set for yourself, all you need to do is make a few changes here and there. I’ve found that the biggest changes I’ve made to my life are just little tweaks here and there. With that in mind, why not edit your evening routine and become the most productive person in the office.
Work up a sweat every evening
Everybody’s evening starts at a different time. So before you have dinner and once you’ve arrived home, get your workout gear on and do a quick 30-minute workout. You might not feel like it, and you don’t have to push yourself really hard if you already work out, but it’s really important to de-stress from the day you’ve had and prepare your mind for tomorrow by pushing yourself.
Working out provides more energy to the brain, which will help you think clearly and feel more on top of the world. If you’ve been particularly clumsy lately or aren’t feeling your best, you may need to do a short burst of exercise every night. The only way I changed my routine to include working out was by tracking my progress photos. It sounds silly, but including photos in my Fit Is The Sh*t planner has really kept me going and taught me that being fit isn’t about ‘weight loss’ but about being my best self and becoming more productive.
Time your showers
In the evening you can waste a lot of time in the shower, but the perfect amount of time for a shower is around 5 minutes. Cut down the time you’re wasting and the best way to do that is to hold yourself accountable with a timer. Use your phone timer to keep yourself on schedule, so your evenings seem longer. Try to spend just five to seven minutes on every task you need to do in the evenings, from hair to skincare. You’ll feel much fresher and more productive.
Prepare everything the night before
Before you go to bed, make the morning easier by preparing ahead. That means meal prepping, figuring out what you’re going to wear and packing your bag. You can write your meal prep in detail in the Fit Is The Sh*t Planner which will save you time and help you get ahead of yourself. Keep a reminder for yourself in your room so that when you go to bed, you’ll remember to lay out your outfit and sort everything out ahead of time.
Upgrade your lighting
One other evening routine edit I made that changed my life was changing the light. A better night’s sleep means a more productive day once you wake up. So what I did was change the bulbs in my bedroom so that they change color, towards the evening when I’m in bed, I will dim the lights and change them to a different hue. Dark red lights work best, at sending me to an undisturbed sleep and have changed the way I wake up in the morning. Red light is the least likely to change your circadian rhythm and suppress melatonin, which makes it perfect for the bedroom. You’ll wake up in the morning and feel a lot more energetic, which will make you more productive.
Keep a notebook by your bed
You can choose to do this just before bed or before unwinding after dinner. It’s something I learned from a writing course but it has been so much more helpful to me in terms of productivity levels.
The premise is that you clear space in your brain by writing every little thing down. In writing this means, every character, every piece of dialogue unorganized and in the wrong place, anything you want. To use this for everything else, you might want to segment it a little bit. Start by setting a timer for thirty minutes. Write down negative thoughts, positive thoughts, your to-do list, goals, and things to look forward to. The Make It Happen notebook is perfect for this, it’s got enough space to write everything in and will remind you to turn your goals into actions.
Write until you have nothing left in your head. If you have to write down every bad thing that’s ever happened to you, do it. It seems emotionally draining but guess what, you’ll stop carrying all those thoughts around with you. And counter-balancing it with positive thoughts will help you be more positive about the goals, tasks, and time you’ve got. Once you go to sleep in the evening you’ll wake up feeling clear-headed and able to tackle the day, which will make you way more productive.
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Photos by Mango