If you want to be as productive as possible every day (or at least as often as possible), keeping stress to a minimum is key. Stress can sometimes push us forward and help us to accomplish more, but it can also leave us with brain fog and a number of other issues that make it impossible to get things done. If you want to be as productive as possible without feeling frazzled, read on for 10 ways to have a stress-free, productive day every day.
1. Plan Your Day Out Beforehand
Make sure you’re planning your day out beforehand and not just attempting to wing it. Create a to-do list, lay out your clothes, and even make some lunch the day before so you’re well prepared. You’ll feel much more at ease when you know what you’re doing, and especially when you’ve taken some steps to ease the day’s burden on yourself a little bit.
2. Know How To Prioritize
Make sure you prioritize the most important tasks for the day. It’s way too easy to distract yourself with less important tasks that you could have done in the evening or later in the week and convince yourself you’ve been busy, when in reality, you’ve just been procrastinating.
You shouldn’t prioritize more than your top 3 tasks for the day. Anything you get done on top of those tasks is a bonus, so that doesn’t mean you won’t get more done – just that you should focus on those 3 things.
When you pack your to-do list you overwhelm yourself, and if you don’t get it all done you’ll likely feel like you failed even if you ticked off a decent amount.
3. Get Into A Consistent Sleep Routine
You need plenty of sleep so that you feel ready to tackle whatever the day throws at you. You’ll also be able to get up earlier when you’re in a better routine. If your sleep schedule is all over the place, you’ll struggle during the day and probably won’t sleep very well. You need lots of quality sleep if you’re going to be as productive as possible. Sometimes this can be resolved by simply *changing your mattress.
4. Nourish Your Body
Make sure you also eat nourishing meals – especially a nourishing breakfast in the morning. Breakfast isn’t necessary if you’re really not hungry, but make sure your first meal is going to satisfy you.
Many people who don’t eat breakfast in the morning end up counting the seconds until lunch and then eating something huge that makes them feel sluggish. This could have been avoided if they just ate breakfast!
You also nourish your body when you drink plenty of water and stay hydrated. Avoid consuming too much caffeine, as this can stress you out and give you palpitations and jitters.
Try supplements too, especially if you’re a vegetarian. Vegetarians need b12 supplements for energy. You can also buy cbd oil to see if that can give you some relief and help you through the day.
Just remember to read plenty of reviews first and don’t buy something that isn’t going to make a substantial difference. There is no magic pill or potion, unfortunately – the basics, like sleep, water, and good food are what is going to really help you push on.
5. Ban All Distractions In The Morning
The morning is often when people find it easier to get the most ‘deep’ work done. If you want to get more done, starting earlier in the morning could be key.
Many people like to get up before 6 am to start before the world starts, although it may be a while before you get to that stage! Whatever time you start, make sure you set a few hours aside for this ‘deep’ work without distractions.
Avoid your phone if you have a tendency to scroll, and look at emails at set times rather than throughout the day. Never read them first thing, as you can easily get sidetracked!
6. Remember To Breathe
Deep breathing exercises are a great way to energize the body and ensure you’re keeping stress at bay. Many people take shallow breaths, and this signals to the body that they are stressed.
Taking deeper breaths right down to your stomach is the ideal way to breathe, but sometimes modern life can get in the way and you may forget. Simply do it when you remember. If you can add in meditation practice, even just for 5 minutes a day, that’s even better.
7. Visualize The Day In The Morning
Take a couple of minutes before you start your day in the morning to take some deep breaths and visualize the day ahead. Don’t just imagine it, try to immerse yourself in a mind movie. Don’t see yourself, either – make sure you’re actually seeing the day. How do you feel? What do you get done? Visualization is a powerful technique if performed regularly.
Visualization can help you to prepare for what you want to happen and encourage your mind and body to get into coherence to complete the picture you made in your brain. Many athletes and entrepreneurs use it with success!
8. Start Your Day The Right Way
How you start your day can have a huge impact on the rest of your day. Drink a pint of water, always make your bed, and get dressed properly especially if you’re working from home.
If you don’t get dressed and lounge about in your pyjamas or loungewear, you’re going to be in a relaxed mindset whether you want to be or not.
9. Eat The Frog First
Pick the hardest task you have to do that day – the one that makes you feel ‘bleurgh’. Now, just start it. Aiming to get the hardest task done first will mean the rest of the day is easy in comparison. You’ll also feel extremely accomplished!
10. Spend Time Unwinding In The Evening
Make sure you give yourself time to unwind in the evening. If you rush around trying to get things done from morning until bedtime, you’ll probably struggle to fall asleep, or at least have a poor quality of sleep. Self-care is so important if you want to feel stress-free!
