We waste so much of our mental, physical, and life energy on the things that simply don’t matter. Or maybe they do matter, but we have no control over them, so the energy is still wasted. Or maybe, just maybe our daily routine is actually draining our mental energy, and the time has come to analyze, optimize, and adapt!
The truth is that the hectic modern lifestyle is made to make us feel weak and drained almost all the time, but the good news is that there’s plenty you can do to regain your mental clarity and focus. If you want to boost your health and productivity and set yourself up for a productive day, then now’s the time to rethink your routine with an emphasis on mental energy and day-long zeal.
Use Your Mental Energy For A More Productive Work Day
Here are the five tips that will help you achieve that, and much more.
Schedule and Prioritize Your Tasks
Firstly, you can’t go through life thinking that you can do it all. You might be a superwoman in many regards, but trying to do achieve every goal and accomplish all the tasks without spacing them out properly during the week is a suicide mission. If you keep the insane schedule up, pretty soon you’re going to start feeling burnt out and fatigue is going to become an inextricable part of your day.
When feeling drained and tired becomes normal, your productivity and happiness at work are going to suffer. So, your first order of business should be to start prioritizing, and heavily. Every task in your day should have a designated timeslot and a timeframe when you have to finish it. Putting time constraints on every task will allow you to stay on schedule and accountable.
Nail Your Morning Routine
The way you start your day can have a profound impact on your productivity and happiness at work and in your leisure time. It’s important to boost your morning routine as much as possible to maximize your energy and actually stay energized throughout the entire day.
You can start by finding the perfect time to wake up. People respond differently to waking up at different times, and some people actually feel more energized when they get up at 6 AM than at 7 AM or later. This is because of your sleeping pattern and when you’re in and out of your REM cycle.
Since we dip in and out of REM several times during the night, it’s important to wake up when you’re actually not in your REM phase. Try it, you won’t regret it.
Eat Wisely To Stay Sharp and Focused
What you eat and when you eat can have a profound impact on your long-term health, but also your mental energy, clarity, and zeal throughout the day.
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Your diet should be rich in vitamins and minerals, but also those crucial macronutrients like lean protein, and healthy fats and carbs.
Try to prep home-cooked meals instead of ordering take-out, but when you’re short on time, make sure to find a healthy meal delivery service that focuses on prepping nutrient-dense home-cooked meals. The meals that come to your door should be organic and GMO-free, and they should have the right balance of nutrients to fuel your cognitive processes.
Also, make sure to schedule your meals. Don’t just eat when you find the time, instead, schedule your day around your meals to keep fueling your body and mind with healthy energy.
Focus On What You Can Control
Are you sweating over the things you can’t influence or have no control over? You’re just wasting your mental energy. Yes, it can be difficult to detach emotionally from some things in life, but with practice, you can learn to focus only on the things that you can control.
Needless to say, this is a great way to prevent life from jeopardizing your health over the long term.
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Focusing only on what you can control will free up so much of your mental capacity, help you stay in the zone, and allow you to slowly eliminate stress from your life.
Don’t Rely On Memory, Write It Down
Lastly, don’t trust yourself to remember anything. You might have an excellent memory, but if you keep trying to remember stuff, something is going to slip through the cracks at one point or another. Don’t risk it, instead, make it a habit to write everything down or set alarms and reminders on your phone.
Some of the best tools out there are completely free, like Google Calendar which has all the features most of us need to organize our day and the entire week. Use technology to your advantage, and start noting everything down so that you can free up your mind for more pressing matters.
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Over To You
Being productive is not about grinding through your day until you collapse on the bed in the evening. No, being productive and happy is about building a better routine with an emphasis on mental clarity and health. With these tips in mind, go ahead and start putting your mental energy to good use.