Working in a highly dynamic environment can be challenging. Your work schedule can get too much to handle, or the communication gap between the team can leave you flustered. Commuting can become a constant pressure, or even a bossy boss can ruin it for you.
Staying productive when you have too many things on your mind is a problem that affects everyone. Whatever the case may be, we all face a breakdown during our careers. These phases are marked by decreased productivity and increased mental pressure. So, what’s the solution to keep going when you aren’t in a good place? Well, you can avoid getting to your limits by following some simple yet effective tips written below:
Best Tips To Stay Productive
During the days when nothing makes sense, you can go for revival techniques. Although it’s better to prevent than cure, external pressures sometimes are unavoidable. Here we have chalked out some points that can keep your productivity intact even on the bad days:
1. Turn Off All Computer Distractions
Computers are an integral part of the lives of working individuals. Gone are the days of heaps of papers to rummage through. Now, all we need to do is stare at the screen to organize, create, reorganize, and schedule.
Despite the functionality, computers can start daunting your life if you constantly use them. They can cause loss of vision, stress due to constant usage, headaches, and muscle stiffness.
All these factors can make you feel unproductive. Not only these factors, but you can also get a short attention span due to the computer’s constant distractions.
So, always turn your PC off when you have had enough of it.
2. Short Nap
Strict working schedules have the most deteriorating effects on sleep cycles. According to a study, lack of sleep causes a year’s loss of $411 billion in the United States. Such is the intensity of unproductivity due to lack of sleep.
If you’re becoming unproductive due to sleep deprivation, try incorporating short naps into your schedule. While this may not be possible in a formal working environment, freelancers can easily manage it.
A short nap can range from 30-60 minutes and make your life much easier and more focused.
3. Coffee!
Caffeine can prove to be your best friend during rough days. You can charge yourself with a hot cup of brewed goodness in the mornings, or you can choose an alternative of energy drinks or soft drinks that ease your stressed mind and body.
However, please do not go overboard with caffeine usage because it will cause sleep problems and hypertension or heartburn issues.
4. Exercise
Exercising during the morning hours improves the blood and oxygen supply to the body. In addition, during days of constant stress, you can take up a workout routine that helps you destress.
By exercising, we do not mean hardcore gym routines but some stretching and strengthening exercises that will energize you for the whole day.
That doesn’t mean that you can only work out in the morning. You can take breaks during the working hours to workout in place. Many walk-in-place programs do not require you to leave your place.
5. Keep Moving
Sitting in one place for eight long hours is not a piece of cake. Your body will start protesting through muscle cramps if you keep on sitting in one place throughout the day.
Adopt a routine where you can take small strolls in your office space. If that’s not possible, use the stairs to ascend and descend during the day to give your muscles some exposure to oxygen. You can even start running small laps.
6. Play Some Music
When nothing works, music does. Make a playlist on your phone to destress you during work spikes. You can make dance-buddy colleagues who can accompany you during extreme stress release.
Although this may seem unprofessional to many, such activities revitalize the energy levels and give you a productivity boost.
7. Set Milestones
If you are not organized with handling your work, it will affect your productivity. Therefore, to stay productive, there must be internal as well as external factors that motivate you to perform better.
If you do not focus on what disrupts your productivity, you may lose your career. Before any such extremity happens, organize your work by setting personal milestones.
Keeping track of how well you stick to the milestones will help you perform better. Your better performance will ultimately lead to less work-life stress.
Summary
Maintaining a work-life balance is the hardest part of the corporate routine. You either lose sleep during crazy working hours or feel stressed all the time from juggling all your responsibilities.
But remember that nobody is going to save you except yourself. So before it gets too late, start taking up small steps to boost productivity and always remember this quote by Nathan W. Morris:
“It’s not always that we need to do more but rather that we need to focus on less.”