You May Not Be As Productive As You Think, But I Can Help
You think you’re productive? Think again!
Long hours at work increase your risk of heart disease by 40%, making it almost as dangerous as smoking, reports BBC Capital. Also, the extra hours at work aren’t likely to help you get more done. One British survey found workers were only productive for a little less than 3 hours in an 8-hour workday. It states that you’re better off taking time to do nothing, allowing your brain to enter a resting state called the default-mode network. That precious time gives us space to develop new ideas and make connections that would otherwise go unnoticed.
I started to look at my day, monitor the hours I was productive, how many days in the week I worked long hours and put it against the output; the results. I found that I filled my days with to do lists that never quite got done, my head hurt, and I had virtually no time to recover or take care of myself.
3 Steps to a More Productive & Balanced Day
Here are the three steps I took to a more productive and balanced day:
1. I uncovered my unproductive time
In Daniel Pink’s book When, I learned that each of us has a specific chronotype and that our chronotype changes with age. The chronotype, as Pink describes them, are as follows: larks, owls, and third birds.
Our chronotype dictates when we are most productive or unproductive. To simplify Pink’s findings, larks are most productive in the early morning, whereas owls are most productive at night, and third birds (which is the majority of us) are most productive mid-morning.
Take the survey here to find out when you are most productive. www.danpink.com/MCTQ
2. I became ok with taking breaks
Once you have figured out your chronotype and your most unproductive time of the day, you will know when you should schedule breaks.
3. I architect my morning routine & plan my day!
If you follow step one and two, you’ll have a great foundation to now architect your day. Planning is half the battle! Invest time every morning in your day. Architecting your day will provide you with a blueprint for success!
The worlds most successful people all say that their morning routine is a fundamental factor of their success. And now that I have architected my day I can speak from experience that it is the reason my day is both productive and balanced resulting in running a successful small business. I look back at how I used to run my days and think, “boy was I lost.”
Author Mel Robins and her 5 Second Journal have played a significant role in constructing my day. Mel has you gauge how your feeling (bringing you into the present), write down why you are feeling that way, and what activities you can do to feel more energized. She then has you write down what your primary project is, why it is important, and the one step you can take to move it forward.
My favorite (and most used) section of the 5 Second Journal is the Brain Dump! Mel suggests that you write down everything that is on your mind and then schedule the important stuff; putting everything of priority on the radar and creating your “not to do today” list for you!
With this tool and my knowledge of the importance of taking breaks, my morning routine has shaped up like this:
The Goal?
The way you start your day will dictate your future.
The Customer Service Revolution
