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The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity – No. 6 Breaks

October 3, 2016 by Camilla

Do you feel defeated because no matter how hard you work, you can never keep up? And after a long day at work you come home exhausted with no energy to spare, leaving you to wonder why you’re so tired all the time. I hear you! I lived in that state too until I learned that the way society wants us to work is extremely inefficient and holds no basis in human physiology.

We live in a society where we have been conditioned to be “on” 24/7/365. You’re expected to answer emails, texts, phone calls and more immediately while also working for 8-10 hours straight and get everything done. That’s insanity and needs to stop. We are not robots!

Time has come to wrap up this 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity series with our habit no. 6 – Take Breaks. If you missed the first 5 habits, click HERE.

Your Brain Need Breaks To Function

If you start paying attention your level of focus and concentration goes down after about 60-90 minutes depending on the task you’re doing. That’s because your brain gets tired and needs to regenerate.

Your brain goes through something called an ultradian rhythm, think of it as a wave with peaks of highs followed by lows about every 90 minutes. When your brain is on a high peak you are able to focus well. When it’s coming down you start losing focus, and that is when your brain needs you to take a 10-20 minute break.

If you are not allowing the brain to take a break, you’re messing with your body’s natural oscillation of hormone exchanges. Not only does your focus and energy go down but if you are continually ‘pushing through’ operating as if you’re a robot, you’re flirting with the path to burnout.

In other words, if you want to work smarter not harder, keep a high level of energy both physically and mentally you must take breaks at least every 90 minutes.

A great tool to help you work in focused blocks of time followed by a break is the Pomodoro Technique. You can for example work in 45 minute focused blocks of time followed by a 15 minute break, or adjust the timer based on what works best for you.

But I Don’t Have Time to Take Breaks

If the thought of taking a longer break when you step away from work for 10-20 minutes every hour freaks you out because you think it’s not productive and you have so much to do, then start with taking 5 minute breaks every hour. That will make you realize how beneficial taking breaks are and you will make the time for longer breaks.

Those 5 minute breaks will provide you with a small boost of energy and help you throughout the day. You can do a quick meditation, close your eyes, maybe a walk around the building, do some jumping jacks, dance to music or just sit on a park bench watching the birds.

Then work your way up to 20 minute breaks. And no, those are not ‘let’s surf social media for 20 minute breaks’ – these are supposed to be real breaks when you step away from work! Move your body during those breaks too! We’re not built to sit all day.

And take a lunch break, will ya! Seriously! Taking breaks, including a lunch break, will help you stay energized, which will help you stay focused, which will help you get work done and will help you feel amazing at the end of the day so you can have a life too!

Breaks Are Energy and Productivity Boosters

You must manage your energy in order to stay productive! Like mentioned the way you do that is by taking breaks throughout the day, fueling your body, getting your sleep, getting your exercise and reducing input, but wait, there’s more!

You also need to schedule in longer breaks like weekend trips, vacation and days away from social media, computers and that non-stop beeping cell-phone. When was the last time you had a day off from something as simple as your smartphone or computer? Or even a half a day? Schedule in digital free days too.

If you don’t believe me on the importance of giving your brain a break, at least read the NY Times article mentioned in this post. Print that article out and remind everyone around you that it’s productive taking breaks.

Action Step: Get serious about these habits that you have now learned. Take sleep, exercise, nutrition, morning routine, reduced input and breaks serious. You may not realize that you are living in a mediocre state of energy. I want you to live an amazing life! To experience the kind of energy you have within you, if you get your 6 Foundational Habits in shape. You CAN feel amazing and have the energy to do the things you want to do. But it all starts with you and self-care.

If you felt this blog post was of value to you please share with others so they can learn how to stop spinning and start living too. I appreciate you!

The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity – No. 5 Reduce Input

September 19, 2016 by Camilla

If you missed the first 4 habits, click HERE.

Have you ever wondered why you feel kind of tired after surfing the newsfeed or watching TV despite that you’re not really doing anything? After all, shouldn’t that rejuvenate you?

Your brain receives over 11 million inputs per second. It can only process about 40 of them. Which means, your brain has to constantly use energy making a decision on what to actually process and pass on to your conscious brain. The rest gets filed away in your subconscious brain (which is why limiting input that’s negative is so crucial).

The amount of input we are exposed to is increasing. Social media, streaming videos, games, non-stop 24/7/365 access to pretty much anything you want to learn, watch or read.

Shortly speaking, people today are exhausted and overwhelmed much due to the insane amount of input we are exposing our brain to. Your brain is dealing with something called decision-fatigue.

Instead of kicking up our feet up and day-dreaming in silence we spend hours surfing the internet, watching TV and video’s, listening to music, podcasts, browsing the newsfeed of social media and the list goes on. We’re always doing something! Even when we’re taking a “break” to relax. Because not doing something is seen as lazy.

At the same time your brain has become addicted to dopamine hits putting you in a “addicted to more input” situation making you spin in a cycle of craving more input.

It’s time to change all that.

You can’t be creative, focused and gain balance in your life if you are always doing something.

Your brain needs quiet space so that it can provide you with answers, ideas, creative solutions and much more. That’s why walks in nature, going camping and just being quiet in silence day-dreaming under a tree in a park and practicing meditation are essential to life.

You all know how rejuvenating it is taking a break doing nothing and how beneficial it is. If you’re struggling with the feeling that doing nothing is equal to being lazy think of ‘do nothing’ breaks as a productivity boosters. Think of them as essential to your well-being. Re-train your brain’s addiction to dopamine hits.

Changing a habit is not done overnight. It takes time. It’s a process but I hope by understanding a bit more on how your brain reacts to input you become more aware of how it affects you and your life. When we become aware we can choose to change things.

The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity – No. 4 Morning Routine

September 5, 2016 by Camilla

We’ve all heard the say that the way you start your morning sets the tone for the day. Which is true if you really think of it. If you have a calm morning when you don’t feel rushed you feel differently than if you rush around. When you’re stressed the entire day seems to work against you, while if you’re calm things go smoother.

It’s time for habit no. 4 in the series of The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity. If you missed habit 1 through 3 go HERE.

Step Number One For a Calmer Morning

If you want a calmer morning I have a very simple solution for you. NO checking email, NO checking social media, NO checking anything on the phone (or the computer) at all for the first hour.

According to a 2013 study done by IDC Research 80% of people check their cell phone first thing in the morning. I wouldn’t be surprised if that number is even higher now.

When you check your phone first thing in the morning, you end up not only wasting precious time you could use for other things, but you also end up on other people’s agenda. You may think it’s not affecting you but now you’re down the rabbit hole of busy but not productive. Your mind is focused on whatever input you just exposed it to. That also includes other media such as the news. Starting your day with the news isn’t exactly uplifting!

Studies show people check their phone about every 6 minutes during waking hours. If that’s you, then your brain has become addicted to your phone, just like someone is addicted to drugs. Your brain is craving its dopamine hits and if it doesn’t get its dopamine (aka. checking the phone) you may feel stressed. Re-train your brain by becoming “addicted” to a calm and balancing morning instead.

Mediation and Gratitude

Meditation is a great habit to incorporate into your morning routine and throughout the day too. Meditation alone can boost your focus, productivity, memory and energy. It also helps with stress relief and can have a very calming effect. Meditation is a practice so if you’re new to meditation remember it’s about progress, not perfection. There are two great apps I recommend called Calm and Headspace that have guided meditations that can help you get started.

Gratitude is the foundation for happiness and starting your morning feeling grateful definitely sets a positive tone for the day. Gratitude helps you to focus on the positive instead of the negative. Positive people handle stressful situations and detours in life better so when that person cuts you off in traffic it’s not a big deal. Remember – whatever you focus on expands!

Successful People Protect Their Morning

When I started this journey I wanted to know how highly successful people spend their time. They seemed to get so much done and I wanted to know their secrets. What I learned is that they protect their mornings and focus on doing things that nurture them. Besides getting up early, often around 5 a.m., some practiced meditation, some would exercise and others had a routine of journaling and reading. Then they would dive into work.

I remembered a time when I used to get up early to read first thing in the morning and how peaceful that was, so I decided to create my own morning routine to see what would happen. I tested different things but finally set on a routine of meditation, gratitude and journaling, positive affirmations and then reading. I sometimes do visualization after meditating. I instantly noticed a difference in how calm and more prepared I was for the day. I was hooked.

Years later I read a book called the Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod that explained why I felt such a big difference. Implementing the habits from the book into your morning is life-changing. Hal set out to test to see what would happen if you did ALL of the habits that highly successful people do in the mornings instead of just a few of them. With that he created the S.A.V.E.R.S. system. I highly recommend the book. Try it out!

It can be challenging in the beginning to switch over to a good morning routine so start with one thing, then add another until you’ve created your ideal morning that sets the foundation for the kind of day you want to have. You can either live your life in a proactive mode or a reactive mode. Successful people create their day into what they want it to be instead of letting the day rule them. You can too!

*The link goes to Amazon and should you purchase the book through that link I may receive a small commission. I appreciate your support. As always I ONLY recommend books and products I’ve read and use.

The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity – No. 3 Nutrition

August 15, 2016 by Camilla

Today we’re going to talk about something that is extremely important when it comes to your level of productivity – namely nutrition. The popular statement that you become what you eat is true, but I would like to say: “Your cognitive ability, brain health and mood is a direct result of what you eat.”

If you missed the first two habits, click HERE.

Your brain use more energy (glucose) than any other part of your body so if you don’t feed your body properly it affects your productivity. However, not all food is created equal and it truly matters what you feed your body not just glucose wise.

The American diet loaded with sugar, saturated fats and artificial crap is not only affecting people’s general health, it’s affecting their brain too!

Your Gut is Your Second Brain

We often talk about having a gut feeling. That is because your gut is connected to your brain! Your gut has about 100 million neurons – you know those things in your brain that are responsible for transmitting information between cells and keeping you alive? We now know that you have neurons in your gut and that they communicate with the brain neurons!

Which is why your gut health impacts your cognitive ability and brain function. If you have a happy and healthy gut with good bacteria, because you feed your body good, wholesome nutrition including probiotics, your brain feels and operates better!

If you have a poor gut health because you feed your body crap it negatively affects your brain health because crap nutrition does not contain the nutrients that create good bacteria. Crap nutrition (aka much of the American diet) creates inflammation in your gut and your body, which allows for toxins and more to leak into your brain.

In other words, the state of your gut bacteria is important not only for your brain health but for the rest of your body. A quick read is this topic is an article from Harvard.

If that doesn’t wake you up studies now link bad gut health to an array of neurological diseases such as ADHD, Autism, MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s. I highly recommend you read the book Brain Maker by Dr. David Perlmutter.

Take Your Fluids Serious Too!

Hydration plays a big role in staying focused and productive. When you are even the slightest dehydrated it affects your energy level. And what happens when you’re low on energy? You tend to grab something with caffeine or sugar in it! Grab some water instead.

In addition, after sleep your body is dehydrated – think of it, you haven’t had any fluids for about 8 hours. Which means before you start the coffee machine you should hydrate. Start your morning with 16-24 oz. of clean water before you even touch coffee or tea and then make sure you get your fluids in throughout the day. Good fluids, that is!

What are good fluids? Clean water. Kombucha. Freshly squeezed vegetable juice with lots of greens. Herbal tea. Fluids that contain good nutrients and are low in sugar.

Skip the orange or apple juice. Fruit juices are extremely high in sugar. Fruit juices often have as much or close to as much sugar as soda! Just because it’s natural sugar doesn’t mean it’s good for you! Eat your fruit instead.

But I Need My Caffeine

Now, I’m not bashing coffee, I enjoy my cup of java here and there too, but if you rely on caffeine to get you through the day something isn’t right, is it? Your brain and body is fully capable of staying energetic and sharp all day long if you take your sleep, exercise, rest and nutrition serious.

Sadly most people overlook the importance of what they put into their body and instead depend on caffeine, “energy” drinks, sugar and crap to get them through the day! And they wonder why they are always feeling tired and sluggish!!! So they add more caffeine, energy drinks, sugar and crap to get through the day!

If you’re not able to get through the day on a regular basis without caffeine or sugar it’s time to take a look at how you can change that by incorporating better eating habits and “drinking” habits.

I know it takes time to cook and eat healthy. It takes commitment to finding healthy alternatives when you are on the go. But take a look at your day and pay attention to “losing time in the rabbit-hole” activities. Is watching TV or surfing FB more important to you than taking care of your brain and your overall health? The choice is yours!

Action Step: Changing a habit takes time. Start small with changing one thing at a time. It can be to reduce your soda intake one can a week and up your water. It can be to keep everything the same but for now to add a green smoothie juice to your day. It can be that you prepare in advance to have a healthy snack for that afternoon energy boost. It can be to always choose salad instead of a burger. Then change something else until you have transitioned over from a crap diet to a healthy diet. Slow, intentional change leads to success.

*Note, I’m not a physician or dietitian, although I have some extensive training in both areas including neuroscience. Remember, you are responsible for your life and the decisions you make. Which means you may want to seek professional advice before making any changes to your diet.

The 6 Foundational Habits for Productivity – No. 2 Exercise

August 1, 2016 by Camilla

Last time we talked about the importance of sleep and its impact on your productivity level. If you missed that one click here to read habit no. 1 – Sleep.

The second habit to implement is exercise. Physical activity helps you work smarter instead of harder. But how?

Successful People Take Exercise Serious

When billionaire Sir. Richard Branson, Founder of the Virgin Group, was asked what one thing he accredits his mega success to he said exercise. He said he easily gains 4 hours of productive time a day by exercising.

It’s not uncommon that successful people mention exercise as one of their top reasons behind staying on the top of their game, which is why they take it serious.

Science shows that exercise can boost your focus for hours afterwards! That’s why exercise in the morning or in the middle of the day is a great way to boost your focus and when you are focused you get more done in shorter time.

Even a short 10-15 minute exercise break can give you a quick energy and focus jolt anytime during the day. And, it doesn’t have to be traditional “exercise” as in going for a run. Crank up the music and take a dance break! It is both fun and energizing.

Exercise not only helps to boost your focus, but it also helps you to prioritize better, make better decisions and it boosts your memory. Exercise has so many great benefits for your brain and focus, besides your body and health in general.

Heads up though! Since exercise boosts your energy exercising at night can mess with your sleep. I know many that can’t sleep after they exercise. If that’s you, figure out a way to exercise earlier, maybe right after work instead of later in the evening.

But I Don’t Have the Time!

One of the most common excuses people use is that they don’t have time to exercise. That’s a load of crap.

If the President of the United States of America can find time to exercise daily what is your excuse? If Fortune 500 CEO’s and other highly successful people prioritize exercise and find a way to fit it into their schedules, often with non-stop traveling, what is your excuse?

Everything in life is a matter of priority. On average people spend 5 hours a day watching TV, surfing the internet and going down the rabbit hole of social media.

5 hours a day!!! And people say they don’t have time to exercise! Yikes.

If you think you don’t waste much time online I dare you to use a tool like RescueTime on your phone and computer. It will show you how much time you’re wasting on things like social media and other internet sites each week that can easily take you down the “busy but not productive” rabbit hole.

Action Step: Use a tool like RescueTime to track where your time goes every day. You can also track it manually. If you do, you will see that your excuse of not having any time is just that, an excuse.

Is watching TV for an hour or surfing the internet more important to you than your health? Is checking email and social media on your phone first thing in the morning more important that getting your exercise in? What about that lunch break? You can fill it with junk or you can fill it with purpose.

It’s all about what you decide to prioritize. People that prioritize exercise has the same amount of hours in a day as you do.

If you want to be more productive take breaks throughout the day and do a few minutes of yoga, jumping jacks, dance or other, in addition to your regular workout.