How can you improve your productivity at work?
How can you improve your productivity at work?
What is your hardest time concentrating and being productive at work? In the morning, after lunch, or maybe the last hour in the afternoon?
Did you ever think why?
And what do you usually do to motivate yourself and get your energy back? Do you drink coffee or energy drinks, or maybe reach for your favorite desert?
Don't worry, if you answered yes to any of these then you are not alone! Most people have the same difficulties that you do. Remember “Monday Morning Syndrome”? This is a real problem for most of us — after a weekend rest we tend to find it hard to adapt to getting back to work on Monday.
So how we can overcome this and become more productive?
First, we need to identify the core reasons for feeling this way, and then we can put our energy towards solving the problem. I love Louise Hay's quote “if you want to clean your house, you need to see the dirt first“. This really applies to everything in our life.
Ask yourself these questions to help identify the problem:
1. Do you really love what you do?
If your answer is yes then congratulations, you are one of the really lucky ones! Because most people didn't find their calling.They try their best at work but the subconscious mind thinks differently, so it's hard to be productive and focused.
If your answer is no, then I suggest you keep looking for what you really love to do. I'm not suggesting you immediately quit your job, just keep digging. You can start to do the things you love to do as hobbies, and develop it from there.
2. Do you feel tired after lunch?
If yes then try to give more attention to your diet. Start searching for information on what you are eating for lunch. Is it really healthy? Sometimes you don't realize, for example a simple salad with a dressing, croutons, cheese etc. may have 50 to 60 grams of not good quality fat. Or you choose a smoothie, but most of them have around 50 grams of sugar intake. Consuming this much in one meal makes your blood sugar level rise then fall again like a rollercoaster, and your energy will follow your blood sugar level.
I suggest if you're eating salads you ask for the dressing on the side, then you can just add 1/2 a portion. And instead of a smoothie you can drink just fresh veggie juice and eat whole fruit with your drink. Maybe a couple times a week you can make your own lunch.
3. Are you a morning person, or do you have a hard time waking up in the morning?
If you are a morning person it's awesome! I am definitely a morning person! But if you don't have enough energy in the morning you should look at what you ate the night before, and whether you got enough sleep, or more importantly did you sleep deep enough?
Mostly if you eat too much dinner your digestion takes so much energy from you so you cannot sleep deeply enough, and when you wake up you will still be tired.
Sometimes it's actually the opposite, when you are hungry before bed you may feel your blood sugar is too low and you won't feel high energy in the morning.
What you can do? Try to eat dinner 2 hours before bed, and if you feel hungry maybe you'd like to try plain yoghurt or organic cottage cheese with blueberries. This is my favorite, it may help you too!
4. Do you drink coffee in the afternoon?
Coffee has some awesome antioxidants, and new research is showing many more benefits too. The problem is what type of coffee you drink and how much. I suggest using organic coffee, and with no added sugar. Too much caffeine increases your cortisol (stress) levels, and this will lead to you feeling tired, getting cravings for sweet food, or feeling hungry after drinking coffee.
When you have low energy in the afternoon try to eat an organic apple instead of drinking coffee. You will feel much more energized! Give it a try and let me know how it goes.
I hope these ideas help you! If you have other methods that work great for you then I'd love to hear and share them!
Have an awesome productive work day!
