Zelo - Productivity Secrets-Converti

PRODUCTIVI
Covering topics including

Time Management,
Happiness
Procrastination, Evening Productivity
Food, Sleep, Morning Routine
Exercise and Motivation
L
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................2
Chapter 1: Organiser votre temps pour améliorer la productivité.............................................3
Chapter 2: Sources de motivation et comment les transformer en habitudes de productivité14
Chapter 3: Exercice - Le billet d’or pour la productivité et le bien-être..................................28
Chapter 4: Il y a toujours le temps de faire de l’exercice..........................................................38
Chapter 5: Sources communes de procrastination, et comment arrêter................................48
Chapter 6: Quel impact sur les aliments sur la productivité?..................................................59
Chapter 7: Tirer le meilleur parti de votre routine du matin...................................................72
Chapter 8: Utilisez vos soirées à bon escient...........................................................................88
Chapter 9: Pourquoi le sommeil est bon, et comment vous pouvez l’utiliser pour devenir plus productif 99
Chapter 10: Utiliser la psychologie positive pour améliorer votre productivité.....................110
Final Words .............................................................................................................................119

Introduction
Vous cherchez un raccourci vers une productivité et un épanouissement accrus?
J'ai bien peur que tu sois au mauvais endroit. Et je suis certain que vous ne le trouverez jamais.
Une productivité accrue découle de la création d'habitudes quotidiennes positives et de l'élaboration de ce qui fonctionne
pour vous et votre style de vie. C’est un voyage. C'est la chose que beaucoup de gens manquent. Nous sommes tous
différents et différentes choses fonctionnent pour différentes personnes. Certaines personnes pourraient commencer à
écrire un roman dès leur réveil. D'autres ont besoin de trois heures avant de pouvoir entrer dans un état de travail profond
- et il n'y a rien de mal à cela.
À moins que vous ne soyez surhumain, vous ne pourrez probablement pas appliquer les 144 conseils de productivité de ce
livre. En outre, vous utilisez probablement déjà au moins certaines des techniques et astuces répertoriées. La bonne chose
est qu'il y en a 144 au choix, alors choisissez-les et choisissez-les comme vous le souhaitez.
Comme vous l'aurez compris, l'idée de ce livre n'est pas de proposer une approche unique de la productivité et de
l'accomplissement. Il a été écrit pour fournir des conseils de productivité simples, ainsi qu'une petite description de la
science et de la réflexion derrière.
Le livre est rédigé de telle manière que vous pouvez choisir de le parcourir pour obtenir des conseils rapides, ou vous
pouvez choisir d'approfondir les sujets et les conseils individuels. Des sources ont été mises en lien, le cas échéant, pour
ceux qui recherchent des recherches supplémentaires.
Comment tirer le meilleur parti de ce livre?
Lisez l'intégralité du livre. Cela vous permettra de comprendre pourquoi certains conseils de productivité fonctionnent,
comment ils fonctionnent et à quel point ils sont (ou pourraient être) importants dans votre vie. Ensuite, notez chacun des
conseils de productivité que vous n'utilisez pas actuellement. À partir d'ici, classez chacun des conseils de productivité en
commençant par ceux qui auraient le plus grand effet positif sur votre vie. Appliquez les conseils de productivité à votre vie
et suivez les progrès.
Tout en parcourant les chapitres, je vous encourage à vous concentrer sur les possibilités d'amélioration. Ne vous
embourbez pas en vous inquiétant de les appliquer tous.
N'oubliez pas que toutes les techniques ne s'appliquent pas à votre style de vie. Certains conseils ne conviendront pas, mais
beaucoup le seront.
Bonne lecture.
Productivity Secrets 1
Chapter 1
Organisez votre temps pour une productivité améliorée
Avez-vous déjà examiné comment améliorer votre gestion du temps chaque jour?
Naturellement, la plupart des gens ne le font pas. Cependant, de petits changements dans la gestion du temps peuvent
faire une énorme différence lorsqu'ils sont mis en œuvre quotidiennement.
1/ Optimisez votre routine matinale.
Les 1 à 2 premières heures après votre réveil sont cruciales chaque jour de travail.
Votre routine matinale pourrait en fait drainer l'efficacité de votre journée.
Une routine matinale désordonnée peut causer deux problèmes principaux.

Premièrement, s'il n'est pas optimisé, nous peut inutilement perdre du temps le
matin. Deuxièmement, différentes choses que nous incluons dans notre routine
matinale peuvent soit nous démarrer du bon pied, soit avoir un impact négatif
sur le reste de la journée.
Il y a une raison pour laquelle des dirigeants tels que Barack Obama et Mark
Zuckerberg réduisent leurs décisions
au minimum le matin. Prenez le temps d'évaluer votre routine matinale et de

mettre en œuvre les points notés dans la section routine matinale plus loin dans
ce livre!!
2/ Optimiser le sommeil.
Nous vivons dans un monde privé de sommeil.
Il peut sembler contre-intuitif de recommander un sommeil supplémentaire dans un poste de gestion du temps.
Cependant, obtenir la bonne quantité de sommeil peut avoir un effet profond sur votre productivité, vous laissant plus de
temps libre.
Cela se produit en raison d'effets à court terme tels qu'une mémoire améliorée, une meilleure humeur et une réflexion plus
claire. En plus de cela, il existe de nombreux effets à long terme tels qu'une amélioration de la santé, un meilleur contrôle
du poids et une immunité renforcée.
Dormir trop peut aussi vous causer des problèmes, donc cela vaut la peine d'être étudié.
Découvrez comment utiliser le sommeil pour améliorer votre productivité plus loin dans ce livre.
3/ Mange la grenouille.
Il s'agit d'une technique utilisée par de nombreuses personnes très performantes. C'est simple.
Effectuez d'abord la tâche que vous attendez le moins. Cela est basé sur l'idée qu'une fois que vous avez terminé ce qui est
probablement la pire tâche de la journée, tout ce qui suit devrait être facile.
De plus, cela vous rend moins enclin à privilégier les tâches faciles aux tâches plus importantes. C'est un état d'esprit qui
est encouragé par beaucoup, essayez-le!
4/ Dis non.
Si nous évoluons vers des rôles avec un niveau de responsabilité plus élevé, plus de personnes dépendront de nous.
À ce stade, nous pouvons avoir du mal à trouver un équilibre entre nous précipiter et dire non. Bien que cela puisse
sembler anormal au début, nous devons parfois apprendre à dire non.
Déterminer à qui le dire est la partie difficile; cela peut prendre du temps.
5/ Déléguer.
Comme pour dire non, il arrive parfois que nous devions déléguer. Encore une fois, cela peut être très difficile au début.
Il est très probable que nous vivrons des moments où nous en avons trop dans notre assiette. Il est encore plus probable
qu'il y aura des gens qui seront mieux à même d'accomplir certaines tâches que nous.
Cela ne se limite pas aux rôles au sein des grandes entreprises. Cela peut également être appliqué si vous êtes travailleur
indépendant avec votre propre entreprise. Internet regorge de spécialistes hautement qualifiés. Vérifier
Fiverr ou Upwork pour confier des tâches à des spécialistes.
6/ Eliminer la procrastination.
Beaucoup d'entre nous le font, certains d'entre nous sont même des procrastinateurs principaux.
La procrastination est une habitude malsaine qui peut nous donner une sensation d'étirement, d'anxiété ou même de
dépression. Il y a de nombreuses raisons pour lesquelles nous le faisons, et différentes techniques pour arrêter de le faire.
Travaillez maintenant, tergiversez plus tard. Vous vous retrouverez bientôt avec plus de temps et plus de satisfaction
qu'auparavant.
7/ Éliminez le multitâche
Le multitâche peut réduire votre productivité de 40%.
Concentrez-vous sur une tâche à la fois et utilisez votre planification quotidienne pour y parvenir.
8/ Arrêtez d'être un perfectionniste.
L’effet Pareto indique que 80% de la valeur provient de 20% de notre travail, et c’est facile
pour voir comment.
Il est temps de jeter un œil aux tâches que vous effectuez et de supprimer tous les éléments inutiles.
C'est ironique, mais être perfectionniste peut en fait vous retenir considérablement.
9/ Définir des contraintes de temps
Ceci est particulièrement important si nous ne sommes pas activement «gérés» ou si nous n’avons pas
faire rapport à.
Si nous terminons une tâche avec une contrainte de temps, nous sommes très susceptibles de terminer la
tâche de manière efficace. Si nous travaillons sur une tâche «jusqu’à ce qu’elle soit accomplie», nous
ouvrons la porte aux distractions et à la possibilité d’être perfectionniste.
Fixez-vous des contraintes de temps et simplifiez votre travail.
10/ Suivez vos loisirs.
Nous classons le temps libre ici comme tout ce qui n'est pas lié au travail.
Cela peut sembler évident, mais il est facile de perdre de vue combien de temps vous
passer à regarder la télévision ou à parcourir les réseaux sociaux.
Il convient également d'évaluer si vous utilisez votre temps libre de la meilleure façon possible. Certaines activités, comme
regarder la télévision, sont agréables, mais elles n'induisent pas le flux. Ainsi, nous pouvons vouloir regarder les activités
de loisirs dans lesquelles nous sommes plus impliqués, comme faire du sport ou des passe-temps artistiques.
11/ Faites des pauses entre les tâches.
Se précipiter d'une tâche à l'autre peut nuire à notre humeur, à notre efficacité et à notre productivité.
Lorsque nous terminons une tâche, nous devons prendre le temps de nous détendre et de recharger notre esprit, avant de
passer à la tâche suivante. La pause n'a pas besoin d'être particulièrement longue, même cinq minutes peuvent faire une
différence significative.
Mieux encore, récompensez-vous sur ces pauses après avoir terminé les tâches afin de former votre subconscient.
12/ Profitez de vos soirées et week-ends.
Cela ne signifie en aucun cas sacrifier complètement votre temps libre.
Cependant, faire un peu de travail le soir et le week-end peut aller très loin. En fait, cela peut en fait améliorer votre
humeur.
Le type de travail que nous pourrions effectuer à ces moments dépend entièrement de notre
les rôles. Cependant, un élément de planification est quelque chose que tout le monde devrait viser à intégrer dans leurs
soirées.
13/ Menez une vie saine.
Nous ne manquons pas d'informations sur les avantages d'une alimentation saine et de l'exercice.
Cependant, la plupart des gens se réfèrent aux avantages pour la santé à long terme lorsqu'ils discutent de ces questions.
Un mode de vie sain augmentera probablement votre productivité. Avec cette productivité accrue, nous pouvons ressentir
les effets d'une meilleure gestion du temps.
Pour un meilleur effet, incluez l'exercice dans votre routine matinale. Ou si vous êtes particulièrement occupé, regardez
comment vous pouvez intégrer l'exercice à votre routine.
14/ Verrouillez votre téléphone.
Faut-il toujours avoir son téléphone à ses côtés?
Si vous êtes dans un rôle où il ne l'est pas, il est temps de ranger votre téléphone. Souvent, l'une des premières choses que
nous faisons lorsque nous heurtons un blocage mental, c'est de prendre notre téléphone. Cela peut rapidement dégénérer
en distraction.
L'une des meilleures choses que nous pouvons faire pour limiter les distractions est de les supprimer.
15/ Optimisez vos systèmes.
Il est temps de regarder chaque élément de votre journée. Soyez organisé et implémentez des systèmes pour rationaliser
votre journée.
Avez-vous un processus de lecture des e-mails? Mettre en œuvre un. Avez-vous un système de planification pour le
lendemain? Utilisez-vous les outils les plus efficaces pour organiser votre agenda?
Le fait est que différentes choses fonctionneront pour différentes personnes. Trouvez ce qui fonctionne. Prenez l'habitude.
16/ Transformez votre temps d'arrêt en temps de montée.
Il s'agit d'un grand pour tirer le meilleur parti de votre journée.
L'une des plus grandes façons d'y parvenir est d'optimiser nos déplacements domicile-travail. Nous
pourrions utiliser ce temps pour faire de l'exercice, faire du travail pour écouter un podcast. La liste
continue.
Cela ne se limite pas à nos déplacements domicile-travail, il y a toujours des opportunités de

temps d'arrêt en temps de montée.
Il s'agit d'être préparé.
17/ S'engager pleinement.
Engagez-vous pleinement dans la tâche à accomplir, quelle qu'elle soit.
Si une tâche n’a pas toute notre attention, elle prendra plus de temps. Soyez professionnel et engagez-vous pleinement.
Si nous nous engageons pleinement, nous pouvons également nous attendre à ce que la qualité de notre travail augmente
également. De plus, l'achèvement d'un travail de haute qualité peut augmenter notre niveau de satisfaction.
18/ Regroupez les tâches connexes.
Vous trouvez-vous entrer dans le «flux» lorsque vous accomplissez certaines tâches?
Différentes tâches nécessitent un niveau de pensée et un rythme différents et ce flux, nous le ressentons, dépend du
rythme auquel notre cerveau travaille. Votre cerveau peut mettre du temps à passer d'une manière de penser à une autre.
Ainsi, il peut être judicieux de regrouper certaines tâches pour gagner en efficacité maximale. Grâce à un peu de
planification, cela pourrait voir vos journées devenir plus efficaces.
19/ Arrêtez de vérifier vos e-mails.
Ok, donc nous ne disons pas d'arrêter de vérifier complètement vos e-mails. Nous voulons tous offrir une
bonne
un service.
Cependant, consulter régulièrement nos e-mails peut nous causer plus de tort que de bien. Le fait de vérifier
nos courriels distrait notre esprit de la tâche en cours, nous obligeant à sortir de cette zone de travail
particulière.
Si quelque chose est urgent, ils vous appelleront presque toujours.
Conseil: définissez un calendrier de vérification des e-mails, tel que 9h, 14h et 16h.
20/ Méditation.
Encore une fois, cela peut sembler contre-intuitif si vous avez un horaire chargé. Pourquoi consacrerions-nous
temps de méditation pour aider notre gestion du temps?
La méditation est une technique bien utilisée, qui gagne en popularité parmi les plus performants.
Beaucoup d'entre eux l'ajoutent à leur routine matinale. Cela nous aide à nous concentrer sur le présent et, plus important
encore, à nous concentrer sur une chose à la fois. C'est une partie intégrante de la réalisation d'un état d'esprit de
psychologie positive.
21/ Planification quotidienne.
La planification quotidienne fait partie intégrante d'une gestion optimale du temps. Le compléter nous permet de
construire un horaire pour la journée.
En plus de cela, la planification à l'avance permet à notre subconscient de se décomposer et d'évaluer les tâches avant de
les terminer. Lorsque nous planifions nos jours la veille, le fait de planifier peut réduire l'anxiété et nous aider à nous
sentir à l'aise.
Fixez un horaire pour la journée et respectez-le.
22/ Bloquez les distractions.
Cela dépendra fortement de la zone utilisée pour terminer les travaux.
Votre téléphone est sur le bureau? Mettez-le dans un tiroir. Vous vous rendez compte sur Facebook et Twitter? Bloquez-les
à l'aide d'une extension Chrome telle que StayFocusd. Un collègue vous distrait toujours? Faites-leur savoir.
23/ Utilisez des rappels.
La plupart des calendriers numériques comportent des rappels qui partent quinze minutes avant un rendez-vous. Sinon,
votre téléphone aura très probablement une fonction de rappels.
Utilise les.
24/ Utilisez un calendrier.
L'utilisation d'un calendrier est l'une des choses les plus importantes que vous puissiez faire si vous menez une vie bien
remplie. Il existe une abondance de calendriers, dont beaucoup sont liés à des logiciels de messagerie tels que Google.
Utilise les.
D'autres optent pour des calendriers physiques afin de faciliter la visualisation des jours à venir.
25/ Planification hebdomadaire.
Il s'agit d'une autre technique dans laquelle un investissement de temps de 5 minutes au début de la semaine peut faire
gagner des heures au cours de la semaine.
La planification hebdomadaire nous permet de définir nos objectifs de semaines. Les objectifs hebdomadaires peuvent
ensuite servir de base aux objectifs quotidiens que nous visons. Comme la planification quotidienne, la planification
hebdomadaire nous permet de visualiser la semaine à venir.
26/ Visez à être tôt.
Lorsque nous visons à être à l'heure, nous serons à l'heure ou en retard. De cette façon, nous serons souvent en retard.
Visez à être tôt et nous serons très probablement à l'heure. Les avantages que cela aura sur notre état d'esprit
l'emporteront de loin sur toute perte potentielle de temps d'arriver tôt.
Terminer le chapitre:
Nous menons tous des vies variées, certains d'entre nous étant plus occupés que d'autres. Certaines choses fonctionneront
pour nous,
pas quelque chose.
Cependant, il est clair qu’une gestion efficace du temps passe par la mise en œuvre quotidienne de petits changements.
Expérimentez avec les différentes idées pour optimiser votre journée.
Chapter 2
Sources de motivation et comment les transformer en habitudes de productivité
Les habitudes déterminent presque tout ce que nous faisons, comme l'a démontré Charles Duhigg dans son
livre, Le pouvoir de l'habitude. Il est important que vous compreniez The Habit Loop, qui peut être appliqué à n'importe
laquelle de vos habitudes, et comment il peut être utilisé pour créer de nouvelles habitudes.
Une habitude se compose de trois éléments principaux:
1. Le signal: C'est ce qui déclenche l'habitude. Il peut s'agir d'autres personnes, d'un
état émotionnel, du lieu, d'un moment de la journée ou d'une action immédiatement
précédente. Cela indique au cerveau de passer en mode de traitement automatique de
l'habitude.
2. La routine: C'est l'action réelle de l'habitude, comme se ronger les ongles ou
manquer la salle de gym.
3. La récompense: Cela renforce positivement l'action, comme un coup de nicotine
ou la possibilité de regarder plus de télévision plutôt que d'aller au gymnase.
Changer l'habitude (ou court-circuiter la boucle d'habitude)
1. Identifier la routine: Identifiez la routine que vous souhaitez modifier.

2. Expérimentez avec des récompenses: Essayez différentes récompenses
pour vos nouvelles habitudes. Y a-t-il des récompenses existantes que vous
pourriez utiliser?
3. Isolate the cue: Eliminate, or change how you deal with the cue.
4. Plan: Plan for how you will replace old habits and stick to them until they
become habit (This could take around 30 days)
While this is a very simplistic view of the habit loop, it will provide you with the
framework to turn these motivational tips into habits. If you would like to learn more
about The Habit Loop, we would recommend reading the book.
Let’s get stuck in.
1/ Your morning routine.
A game-changer. Almost all high performers in the world have a solid morning routine,
usually waking up well before working time. Creating head-space in the morning is crucial
for a motivated mind. Find yourself waking up, showering, eating and rushing out of the
door to work? Wake up an hour earlier, integrate slow activities such as exercise and reading
in your morning routine. Your first few hours are precious in setting yourself up for the day
ahead. Use them wisely.
Make it habit: Challenge yourself to a new morning routine and stick to it for every work
day.
2/ Begin with why.
It is not by chance that highly motivated leaders and athletes take time to remind themselves
why they are completing a specific task. At the core of motivation, people have a reason for
carrying out an action. In any aspect of your life that you should remember why you are
doing it.
Stopping smoking? Think of the countless health benefits. Looking for motivation at work?
Think of how you can achieve more and aim for that. Going to the gym at 5:30 AM? Think of
how you will feel after the session, full of endorphins, ready to take on the day ahead.
Make it habit: For each aspect of your life that you would like to improve, spend 30
seconds each day visualising the end result, and why you are doing it.
3/ Embrace variety.
‘Variety is the spice of life’ – probably about as cliché as you can get. However, great value
should be taken from this. A stale routine leads to a stale mind and stale motivation. Exercise
your creativity and add variety into your life. This can be applied to so many aspects of your
life. Even if you focused on variety only in your food, there are millions of opportunities for
variety.
Make it habit: Spend 30 seconds each morning determining how you can add variety to
your day. Do this every day and you’ll see your mind become more stimulated.
4/ Chart your progress.
Goals are an important element of the motivational progress. Greater value can be
extracted from them if you track your progress. This can be applied in terms of work, social
or health aspects of your life. By doing this, you create greater clarity moving forward and
reaching high performance.
Make it habit: Review your daily goals or weekly goals. For this you can use a journal, an
app or even simply use the notes section of your phone.
5/ Environmental inspiration.
What inspires you? It’s simple. Once you are inspired you naturally reach a higher state of
performance. How can you do this? Create an inspiring environment which you spend most
of your time. Do this through simple changes; photos in your office, on your bedroom wall or
a personalised inspired desktop background.
Make it habit: First, create your inspiring environment. Take the time every day to look at
these sources of inspiration – how does it make you feel? If new sources of inspiration arise,
make sure you add them to your environment.
6/ Join a Group, Forum or Club.
Sharing a common goal with a group of people is invaluable. A lack of motivation will occur
when an individual feels isolated while working towards a particular goal. Surround yourself
with people who share a common goal. Join that gym group, take the time to speak to your
colleagues that are working on a similar goal. Thousands of people use forums, even to help
them quit alcohol. The internet has made this so easy to do; there are countless forums. Use
them!
Make it habit: Reach out to people who share a common goal. Contribute to this at every
opportunity and watch your motivation grow.
7/ Express Gratitude and Optimism.
Have you ever met an optimistic person who seems unmotivated?
People love to moan, it seems to be imprinted in our DNA as humans. The problem is, this is
detrimental to our motivation and productivity. To reach a level of high performance, you
should seek out the opportunities for optimism and gratitude instead. Rather than focusing
on having to wake up early, focus on the extra time you now have to get the best out of life.
Rather than focusing on how long a task will take, focus on how well you can complete it, and
the end result. Sometimes you only need to look at it differently in order to build anticipation
and excitement.
Make it habit: For every negative thought that enters your mind, think of how you can turn
it into a positive one.
8/ Utilise your work passion.
Do successful people love their job? I guess that depends on how you define success. To align
your passion with your job fully may not be possible as it would require a change of
jobs. However, it is possible to discover a passion, or to become passionate about a particular
element of your job. This can be customer service, attention to detail, use of numbers; the
possibilities go far and wide.
Make it habit: Break down your tasks to identify what you are most passionate about.
Identify how you can utilise that. Embrace the passion and the motivation will follow.
9/ Utilise your out-of-work passion.
For most people, the greatest passions lie outside of work. These are often activities in which
we can reach a great state of flow and ones in which we achieve the highest form of
enjoyment. If your average day doesn’t involve at least one hour of activities you are
passionate about, you should demand change. Make time for it, allocate that time to that
activity. If you don’t know what you are passionate about, experiment and discover it, then
embrace it. Once you have done this, take a minute each day to visualize that activity, and
how it will make you feel – engage all the senses.
Make it habit: Dedicate at least one hour of each day to a task you are passionate about.
Spend a minute each day visualising that activity and engage all your senses.
10/ Visualisation.
Did you know that our subconscious mind can’t differentiate between an event that actually
happened and an imagined event? Utilising this tool can have a tremendous effect on
motivation.
How does this work? We can induce motivation through positive emotions or negative
emotions. This is through visualising an activity, or more importantly, the effects of an event.
You should take time each day to visualise the effects of a particular task. For gym
motivation, you can visualise a future you, enjoying a healthy body. You could even visualise
an out-of-shape version of yourself, who has missed the gym.
As you can see, the visualisation process can be applied to any task,
either positively or negatively.
Make it habit: Spend 5 minutes each morning visualising the outcomes of actions on tasks
11/ Small wins, win big.
It’s incredible how often a lack of motivation is down to individuals feeling over faced by
large, complex tasks. With large tasks comes a longer time period between completed tasks.
This brings a sparse sense of accomplishment and lowered motivation levels.
Breaking down larger tasks into smaller tasks allows us to feel a sense of accomplishment
more often. This also allows us to track progress with a greater sense of clarity. Using a
journal can help you in visualising this.
Make it habit: List your daily goals/tasks the night before they will be completed. Break
down any large tasks into smaller tasks. Tick the tasks off as you complete them.
12/ Recharge your mind.
Burn out is a monumental cause of decreased motivation. It may seem counter-intuitive to

take a break from a large task if you’re looking for an increase in productivity. However,
studies have shown that overall productivity increases when we include regular breaks.
Most importantly, you should identify the times of the day you are most productive and
utilise that time. This is usually around three hours after waking.
Some recommend a 10 minute break every 50 minutes, however it is important

you implement what works for you and don’t end up working for the clock. Where possible,
you should opt for a change of environment when recharging your mind, even if
that simply means a change of room. You should consider longer versions of this, such as a
long weekend away relaxing as this can improve motivation and productivity.
Make it habit: Take time in each day to dedicate to recharging your mind
13/ Diet.
‘A great body starts in the kitchen’ – you may have heard this saying. The same holds for
motivation. With such an abundance of awesome whole foods in the world, we can’t afford to
be eating fatty foods and sugar loaded snacks, which leave us sluggish.
If you have even a small amount of dietary knowledge you will easily be able to apply these to
create a healthy meal for each of your days meals. If you don’t have a great deal of knowledge
on diet and recipes, educate yourselves. The internet is full of awesome recipes and ideas and
cooking is well known for its therapeutic benefits. Check out The Body Coach on Youtube for
simple inspiration.
Make it habit: Plan every meal, every day and take time to look forward to it. Avoid foods
loaded with bad fats and high in sugar. Check that you are drinking enough water.
14/ Exercise.
We are not short of studies showing the link between exercise and positive mental health.
This is largely through flooding your brain with Endorphins. Most high performers integrate
physical exercise in the daily routine and the facts show that you should too.
A healthy body aids a healthy mind and as such, is one of the core components of
motivation. We recommend aiming for 10,000 steps at day, which you can track with a
simple free app such as Stepz and a minimum of 20-30 minutes of intense exercise each
day. A great way to achieve this is to take part in sport in order to maximise your enjoyment.
Make it a habit: Integrate a minimum of 20-30 minutes exercise into each day, every day.
15/ Easing in.
This is a simple technique which is linked to number 11. Starting the day with simple tasks,
such as tidying the kitchen, going for a run or making your bed will go a long way in getting
you into the rhythm of the day.
This can also be applied to the work element of your day. You can use the ‘ease-in’ technique
at the start of your work day by completing small tasks to kick-start your day. Remember to
tick them off as you go!
Make it a habit: Set one or two easy tasks at the start of your (work) day to get yourself on
a role.
16/ Eliminate excuses.
When lacking motivation, it can be easy to think up excuses to get out of the task
ahead. However, using an excuse to get out of a task will actually lead to a lowered self-
esteem, guilt and a further drop in motivation down the line.
You should choose not to make excuses, rather to visualise the benefits and opportunities
ahead of you.
Make it habit: Replace the temptation to make excuses with visualisation of opportunities.
17/ Favouring (positive) action.
Humans are bad decision makers. Do you find yourself over-thinking decisions? Only to then
get distracted by some meaningless form of procrastination? When working through your
daily goals, you should favour action rather than dwelling on a decision. In this way we
manage to maintain a rhythm in our day without unnecessary distractions.
By procrastinating, we are only putting off decisions until later. This often increases anxiety
and lowers productivity.
Make it a habit: Be decisive in your activities every day. Make the decision based on the
information you have available to you. Seek more information if necessary. Commit to
eliminating procrastination.
18/ Proactively plan your time
If you’re not proactive in managing your time (including recording it), then it’s time to put
your pen to paper. There are a variety of ways in which you can do this to get the most out of
work, social and health elements of your life.
This simply requires a commitment of less than 5 minutes each day to jot down your daily
goals. It is recommended that you jot these down roughly in the order that
you anticipate completing them. This is such a small commitment which will have profound
effects on your motivation and productivity.
Make it a habit: Commit 5 minutes at the end of each day to mapping out your goals for
the following day.
19/ Listen.
If you’re lacking motivation, take the time to listen to others. Ask your colleagues, friends
and family how they are and what’s on their mind. Offering advice and listening is
a surprisingly powerful source of motivation. The conversation may also provide you with an
opportunity to discuss issues on your mind. This provides greater clarity on the task in hand
and helps in regaining your reasoning for undertaking a particular task.
Make it a habit: Take the time each day to discuss any issues with colleague, friend or
family member.
20/ Optimise your daily routine: Raise your standards and demand excellence.
It may be that you already have a solid daily routine which includes many of the elements
included in this post. In this case, you should optimise your daily routine and challenge
yourself to become a improved version of yourself.
It may be that certain elements of your routine have become stale… it happens! All you need
to do is super-charge it.
Make it a habit: Every week, sketch out your average day and jot down ways in which you
can improve it using the points listed in this article. Aim to stretch yourself and for
continuous improvement.
21/ Commit Publicly
Worried that you’ll lose motivation for an ambitious goal that you have set? One of the best
actions you can take is to commit publicly to your goal.
By doing so, you make yourself accountable for your actions and show a greater
commitment to that goal. By linking this with number 19, you can achieve the greatest effect
on motivation.
Make it a habit: For any ambitious goal, make sure you publicly commit to that goal.
22/ Meditate
For many, meditating forms an important source of motivation through contemplation. Tim
Ferriss showed how 80% of high performers cite form of mindfulness practice for their
success in his book Tools of the Titans.
If you don’t dedicate time to creating head-space, you should certainly give it a go. Others
have found great success in a similar practice such as Tony Robbins, who swears by his
morning ‘Priming’.
Make it habit: Allocate 15 minutes of each day to a mindfulness practice.
Wrapping the chapter up:
As you can see, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to increasing motivation. However, you
can use these practices in your life, regardless of your current level of motivation.
Like many of the great leaders of the world, these are qualities which will greatly benefit you
if you apply them and turn them into habits.
Your habits determine whether you will be a high performer, a poor performer or anywhere
in-between; it’s your responsibility to shape them.
Chapter 3
Exercise: The Golden Ticket to Productivity & Wellbeing
39% of the British population are physically inactive.
With all of the knowledge we have available, surely we can’t be short of reasons to exercise?
Can we?
It seems possible that many of us have never built up a habit of exercising regularly. By doing
this, we starve ourselves of the benefits that regular exercise brings. Both physical and
mental. While productivity may not be the first thing you think of when summarising the
benefits of daily exercise, it should be.
Here’s why:
1/ Lowers Anxiety.
Anxiety levels are at an all-time high in the modern world. There are many different theories
on the cause of this, from social media use, to diet. However, one thing widely agreed in the
field is that regular exercise lowers anxiety levels. According to some studies, exercise works
as well as medication in reducing anxiety.
Effect on productivity: An anxious mind is detrimental to your productivity. It reduces

your ability to think clearly and focus on the task ahead. By reducing anxiety levels, ideally at
the start of the day, we make a focused mind more achievable. With this focus we can achieve
more throughout the day. If morning exercise is not possible, then looking forward to
exercise later in the day can significantly reduce anxiety in itself.
2/ Sleep
50-70 million adults in the USA have a sleep disorder.
A good night’s sleep is essential to having the most productive day you can. Some sleep
problems will be beyond the realm of exercise. However, exercise will improve the chances of
a good night’s sleep.
Exercise promotes daytime alertness, strengthens cardiac rhythms and aids the feeling of
sleepiness. It has been shown to improve sleep for people with Insomnia and obstructive
sleep Apnea.
Effect on productivity: Lack of sleep can lead to poor memory consolidation, a

shorter attention span, impaired decision-making and slower reaction times.
This will have one of two effects:
Firstly, this could lead to sub-par performances in anything you’re doing leading to a
lowering of standards.
Secondly, this could lead to tasks taking longer than they should, causing an imbalance in
your day.
Exercise regularly, improve your sleep quality and watch a productivity surge follow.
The effects of regular exercise on sleep can take up to 30 days, so be patient.
3/ Boost Memory
An abundance of studies show how regular physical exercise helps your cognitive
functioning.
In short, exercise stimulates the production of a protein which in turn triggers the
production of another protein (called a BDNF). This helps to preserve existing brain cells
and activates brain stem cells to convert into new neurons.
It also promotes brain growth, particularly in the Hippocampus area of the brain (the region
associated with memory).
In other words, exercise is awesome for your brain.
Effect on productivity: Sustained exercise will see an improvement in cognitive

functioning. This will lead to sharper decision making and an improved quality of work in
anything you do.
4/ Maintains immune functioning (Less time being ill)
What is known: Exercise improves your immunity in certain areas, such as a Cold, Flu, or
other illnesses.
What isn’t known: Exactly how exercise improves immune functioning. Theories include
flushing bacteria out of lungs and airways. They include changes in antibodies and White
Blood Cells as well as citing bacteria being killed by rising body temperatures. Finally, they
include the effects of slowing down the release of stress hormones.
Effect on productivity: This is simple. Less time being ill allows more time for working
on meaningful challenges of the day. The average adult gets 2-4 colds a year. Each cold lasts
7- 10 days. So you could spend up to 40 days of your year with a cold. That’s 10.9% of your
year at sub-par performance.
Exercise regularly to minimize the risk of this
5/ Improve breathing
Regular exercise can strengthen the Intercostal Muscles. These muscles are responsible for
helping your lungs open up to breathe in Oxygen and push out Carbon
Dioxide. Furthermore, exercise assists in the efficiency of the uptake of oxygen into our
blood cells.
Effect on productivity: Increases efficiency in breathing will allow us to feel less sluggish
while working on a task. Furthermore, this increases the ability to use increasingly
common breathing techniques.
6/ Boost energy levels
Feeling sluggish? The last thing you may want to do is exercise. However, anyone who
exercises regularly will tell you of the energy they feel after exercise.
Multiple studies back this up. Researchers at the University of Georgia found that sedentary,
otherwise healthy adults who engaged in as little as 20 minutes of low-to-moderate aerobic
exercise, three days a week for six consecutive weeks, reported feeling less fatigued and more
energised.
Effect on productivity: Increased energy levels will lead to an increase in the time and
quality of tasks you complete. Integrate a 30-minute run in your morning routine and watch
your productivity shine through.
7/ Improve Mood.
Exercise improves our mood, however rearchers don’t yet know exactly why. Exercise
increases the release of feel good chemicals such as Serotonin and Endorphins. It helps
distract you from anxious thoughts but can also help you deal with them effectively.
Furthermore, exercise improves sleep and boosts energy levels which improves mood.
It is likely that the improved mood derived from exercise is owed to a combination of the
above factors.
Effect on productivity: Think back to some of the best work you have completed. Did you
complete this while in a good mood, or a bad mood? When in a positive mood, we produce
higher quality work, we are more creative and more self-confident. This greatly improves
productivity.
8/ Creative ideas
Hit a wall in your work? Go for a run. Get outdoors. It’s fascinating how many entrepreneurs
we have spoken to have come up with their best ideas while out exercising.
While there are no studies available on this. It is likely down to a combination of the feel-
good chemicals released when exercising and the change of environment. The outdoors
is inspiring in a modern world. Use it.
Effect on productivity: Exercising helps in creating headspace. This is particularly
effective when you are stuck on a project or looking for new ideas. Tip: Set aside 30 minutes
every morning to practice this.
9/ Builds intelligence
Exercise can increase intelligence in two ways. Firstly, oxygen flows more freely to the
Prefrontal Cortex – the area of the brain used for planning and
reasoning. Secondly, participation in exercise that demands quick responses boosts your
intelligence.
This can be applied to all aspects of your daily activities.
Effect on productivity: Increasing the performance of our Prefrontal Cortex allows us to

apply improved planning and reasoning throughout the day. In turn, this allows us to
complete tasks more efficiently.
10/ Build resilience
Think your tough? There’s always room for improvement. A certain type of person will tell
you how exercise has built up their resilience to tasks ahead. These are the people that
exercise to targets or goals. This can be applied to all sports.
Exercise is a great tool in building up our resilience, which can be applied to other aspects of
our life. Shaving a minute off that 5km run or beating that opponent at tennis.
Sport is an incredible way of building resilience because it provides direct feedback. It trains
you to push through the tough to get the best out of yourself.
Effect on productivity: Improved resilience allows us to respond well in times of

discomfort and stress.
11/ Improve sex life
Improved muscle use increases demand placed on your glands to produce hormones.
Furthermore, increasing your muscle mass helps your body produce Androgens. In turn this
helps men and women maintain their sexual functioning. As listed above, exercise can also
increase your emotional resilience.
What is the link between sex life and productivity you may ask?
Effect on productivity: There are three main links that have been reported. Firstly, sex is
reported to create mental and emotional stability. Secondly, as with exercise, sex is
reported to increase cell growth in the Hippocampus part of the brain. Finally, Oxytocin, the
hormone we know as responsible for love also works as a natural sedative for a fulfilling
sleep.
12/ Decrease aerobic power loss.
In short, your aerobic power is the ability of your body to transfer Oxygen from the air you
breathe to the tissues in your body. A general rule is that this capacity reduces by roughly
1% per year you grow older. Regular exercise is reported to halve this decline.
Effect on productivity: Enjoy the effects of decreased aerobic power loss later in life and
get more out of your life and exercise.
13/ Lowers type 2 diabetes risk.
Whether you’re young or old, diabetes is a risk for all of us. Around 6.6% of the British
population are diagnosed with diabetes. There are several ways to reduce this. One of these is
regular exercise. By doing this, you improve the body’s ability to metabolize glucose, which is
central to offsetting type 2 diabetes.
Effect on productivity: The symptoms of diabetes include many issues which inhibit
productivity. Lowering the risk of diabetes increases your chances of remaining productive
into your older years .
14/ Alertness & Focus
In a study by Jim McKenna of The University of Bristol conducted a research project. In this
he showed that after exercising, work performance was consistently reported to be higher.
This is when rated by time management and mental sharpness.
Effect on productivity: Time management and mental sharpness are arguably two of the
main pillars of productivity. Effective time management can improve productivity by over
40%. Increased mental sharpness allows us to reach a higher level of performance which
can be applied in all aspects of our life.
15/ Increased motivation.
As exercise becomes habit, or particularly if you partake in competitive sport, you will see
your motivation soar.
You see, it may be that you are feeling unmotivated to exercise. However once you start,
exercise becomes self-fulfilling in making us more motivated. Naturally this can spill over to
other aspects of our life.
By exercising in a club, or towards goals the motivational effect is twofold. Firstly, we

become motivated to exercise more. This brings the other health benefits listed in this
article. Secondly, the motivation we feel towards that form of exercise can spill over and help
us feel more motivated in general.
You can read further into it in this article.
Effect on productivity: In short, the increased motivation derived from exercise can have
a profound effect on your life. Try it.
If you are able-bodied and you are not completing moderate exercise at least twice a week,
it’s time for a change.
The internet is full of science-backed research stating the mental and physical health benefits
of regular exercise. It’s time to look further than that. Look at the positive impact this will
have on your life, your family and your habits. The internet is also packed with exercise
inspiration and work outs – use them.
We are more connected than ever before. Join a sports club. Join the gym. Over 63% of
Americans use a computer for the majority of their work and an even greater percentage
work inside. It’s time to get outdoors whenever possible. You’re not short of information on
exercising - go get it.
Chapter 4
There’s Always Time to Exercise.
Les gens sont paresseux.
Aux États-Unis, 80,2 millions de personnes âgées de six ans et plus sont physiquement inactives. Moins de 5% des adultes
participent à 30 minutes d'activité physique chaque jour selon le HSS.
Statistiques choquantes.
Il ne devrait y avoir aucune excuse pour les adultes valides, étant donné les nombreux avantages pour la santé mentale et
physique.
Les effets positifs incluent une anxiété réduite, une confiance en soi renforcée et une créativité accrue. Ce ne sont là que
quelques-uns des innombrables effets positifs de l'exercice sur la productivité. Comme vous pouvez le voir, les bienfaits de
l'exercice dépassent de loin le domaine de l'amélioration physique.
Pour l'instant, regardons les façons dont vous pouvez trouver le temps de faire de l'exercice au sein de votre
programme.
1/ Exercise as soon as you wake up.
This is easier said than done, until it becomes habit.
That initial 5 minutes when you first wake up, feeling tired and unmotivated, you could call it
the ‘5-minute grog’. Fight the urge to snooze the alarm, and head out for exercise.
If you’re struggling for time, complete home-based exercise. The idea of this is to minimise
any travel time and keep time commitment down to a minimum. This could be exercise in
your living room, on a treadmill, or heading out on a run. Do this for at least 30 minutes each
day and watch your mind and body improve.
This has been listed as number one on the list for a reason. There is no reason you cannot
complete this form of exercise.
Don’t have enough time before work? Wake up earlier and adjust the time you go to sleep if
necessary.
Tip: Exercise outside when possible for extended mental health benefits.
2/ Take up a competitive sport.
This is a great option, as it usually involves set times that you could build into your routine.
Furthermore, competitive sports provide a fun, engaging and challenging form of exercise.
You can work towards goals that you have set, which forms a great source of daily
motivation.
One of the best aspects of this is that you can play sport with friends that you may not have
otherwise seen. Alternatively, you can build new friendships.
Arguably, the most attractive element of competitive sport is that it brings back the thrill to
exercise. This turns exercise from a chore to an enjoyable flow activity, meaning you are less
likely to make excuses not to exercise.
Not sure where to start? Look at any sports you have taken part in previously. Still not sure?
Experiment. Take enjoyment in trying out different sports and finding what works best for
you and your schedule.
Tip: Look at less time consuming, physically intense sports to begin with, such as Swimming
and Squash.
3/ Exercise on your lunch break.
Many people see their lunch break as an escape from work and the last thing they want to do
is exercise. However, there are many reasons why you should exercise during your lunch
break if it can fit within your lifestyle.
Make this a habit and you will see your productivity surge when you return to work in the
afternoon. Avoid the infamous Afternoon Slump.
Short on time? Opt for a 30 minute run. Still short on time? Consider extending your lunch
break and staying at work 30 minutes longer.
Tip: Opt for short, intense exercise such as running.
4/ Exercise with your kids.
A common reason for missing exercise is a lack of time due to having children.
Many parents see keeping the kids entertained as a no-exercise zone. However, you should
see this as an opportunity to exercise. Kids love the outdoors – you should too.
There are many ideas for exercising with your children.
Even with the youngest of children, it is still possible to exercise. You could even take
up running with your Pram/Stroller.
Not sure it will work? Experiment. See what works for you and your children. Once you begin
to do this often, you will see your mind, body and productivity flourish. Your kids will have a
great time too.
Tip: Schedule a time each day to exercise with your children.
5/ Park far away.
This may seem overly simplistic, however the effects of doing this daily can be astonishing.
We recommend completing 10,000 steps each day, along with 30 minutes of intense exercise
each day.
If you are not tracking your steps, there are many products you could use. Alternatively, you
could use a free app such at Stepz.
As modern humans with convenience in mind, we often park as close as possible to our
destination. Change up your day and park further away and up your steps in the day.
You can also turn your ‘down-time’ into ‘up-time’ by listening to podcasts on your walk; a
great potential productivity boost.
Alternatively, you could use this time to practice mindfulness or to create headspace.
Another great alternative for improved mental health, motivation, and productivity.
6/ Take the stairs
Boring? Heard it before? Let’s look at the figures.
Climbing just eight flights of stairs a day lowers early mortality risk by 33%.
It is estimated you burn 10 calories per floor of stairs climbed. Let’s say you’re office is on the
the 6th floor. Take the stairs twice a day and you will burn 120 calories.
Seems like nothing, right? Now, let’s assume you do that every work day (excluding
holidays):
52 x 5 = 260 work days.
260 (work days) x 120 calories
= 31,200 calories (Per Year)
31,200 calories = 8.9 pounds
= 4Kg (Per Year)
Even when using an example of taking the stairs just twice a day, we can see the dramatic
effect this can have over a year. Small changes go a long way when completed daily.
Making a habit of taking the stairs is a fantastic way to integrate exercise in your day without
setting aside time for exercising.
Over time you will see your fitness improve, your muscles with gain strength and you will
begin to feel a lot healthier.
While this is a great habit you should adopt, you should seek opportunity to complete more
intense exercise, daily.
Tip: Don’t allow yourself to take the lift or escalator.
7/ Double up your time.
Don’t want to change your routine? No problem.
Exercise while watching your favourite tv programme. All exercise doesn’t have to be
outside or playing a sport. Take up a daily living room exercise you can complete while
watching the TV.
Cooking? Use weight training to optimize your time. Food prep and cooking can take place
on your rest time between sets. *Please do this safely*.
Reading? Complete resistance training every two pages you read.
Tip: List all the parts of your routine that could be doubled up with exercise. You’ll be
surprised!
8/ Your kids sports class is your sports class.
Find yourself dropping your kids off at sports training often? Utilise this time and get a work
out in yourself at the sports facilities.
Tip: Aim to get a 30-minute session in before watching your child finish practice.
9/ HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
Out of all structured fitness plans, HIIT is probably the most time effective. It consists of
choosing an exercise an completing it at very high intensity for around 20 seconds, followed
by around 40 seconds of rest.
Complete around 15 rounds of this and you’ll have a 15-minute routine which packs a punch.
This article goes into further detail on HIIT.
Tip: Finish your session with a 5-10 minute cool down and stretching period.
10/ Circuit Training
This form of training consists of choosing 5-10 different exercises and completing back-to-
back. Most gyms have Circuit Training classes that you could work into your daily schedule.
Alternatively, you could set up your own circuit training at home using weights, bands and
bodyweight.
Don’t have the equipment? You can design your own circuits using body weight
only. Alternatively, look into buying some bands and dumbbells for regular intense home
work outs.
Tip: Check out the timing for circuit training at your local gym. Can you fit this in your
schedule?
11/ Weekend workout.
There is almost always the possibility of exercising daily in anyone’s schedule. However,
there may be reasons that you cannot exercise through the week.
In this case, you should schedule longer workouts for each day of the weekend. This is your
opportunity to make up for lost time.
It is important that you schedule time for yourself to exercise on the weekend, as it will have
a profound effect on your health and productivity.
Tip: Join a sports club as part of your weekend workout. In this way you will likely feel a
greater sense of enjoyment and also have a definite schedule of exercise at the weekend.
12/ Turn your commute into a workout.
This is one of the most effective forms of exercise you could undertake to increase
productivity. This is for three main reasons.
1/ There is little time lost: The time difference between riding a road bike to work and
getting the bus will likely be minimal. This way a busy schedule can be optimized.
2/ Feel the Endorphins flow: Watch your productivity surge as your mind and body feel the
positive effects of early morning exercise.
3/ Daily action: Because you are doing this every day, you will see your fitness improve at an
astonishing rate through the compound effect.
Tip: Cycle to work every day for a month and see the positive effects.
13/ Turn a coffee date into a fitness date
Don’t like having to let down friends?
Another way of finding time to exercise is to ask your friends to exercise with you. You could
even join a sports club together. Combine the two and see your health improve, without
sacrificing any of your social time.
Tip: Take up a racket sport, such as Tennis, Badminton or Squash.
High performance leaders around the world make time for regular exercise. These are some
of the busiest people in the world and they still prioritise exercise in their busy schedule.
Most of these leaders integrate exercise within a solid morning routine, which would be the
first recommendation.
Alternatively, there are plenty of opportunities for exercise listed above.
Have you have read all of this post and you’re still struggling to fit exercise in your schedule?
Then it’s time to take a step back and change your routine.
Exercise is one of the greatest catalysts of your productivity and more importantly, your
health.
Use your time wisely.
Chapter 5
Common Sources of Procrastination, and How to Stop.
“Never put off for tomorrow, what you can do today.”
Easier said than done, isn’t it?
The truth is, procrastination is all about discipline, environment, and planning.
Before we go any further, it is important to recognize that there are two forms of
procrastination, both of which act in a similar way to each other.
The first is short-term procrastination. We define that here as procrastination which lasts
anything from 10 minutes to 12 hours. This could be scrolling through Instagram for half an
hour before work.
The second is long term procrastination, which could last anything from one day to a
lifetime. This could be putting off starting an investment portfolio.
Regardless of which category(s) you fall into, it is likely that your standard form of
procrastination will look a little something like this:
Not the nicest feeling, is it? You’re not alone.
Take a look at some of the quick stats on Procrastination.
It seems that most of us are procrastinators. A lot more so than previous generations. It’s
easy to understand how this has happened. A change of working environment, increased
access to technology and an almost infinite accessibility to information at our finger tips.
So why is it we procrastinate, even if we know it will harm our overall wellbeing, or success?
Here are some reasons why:
1/ A lack of clearly defined goals.
This is a common source of procrastination, most likely because people don’t realise the
power of setting clearly defined goals.
Setting clearly defined goals and continuous planning keeps our eyes on the target and helps
our brain form a clear plan for the task ahead. Ambiguous goals leave an opportunity for
procrastination through a lack of time applied to them.
For example, a daily goal to ‘write a productivity’ report is ambiguous. Set a time to finish
this by and we decrease the attraction to procrastination before writing the report.
Action step: Set clearly defined goals, both daily and log-term. Review them continuously.
2/ Feeling overwhelmed.
This is one of the highest reported reasons for procrastination and it is very much
understandable. It is often difficult to find a ‘flow’ in our work which is required for optimal
productivity.
One of the most effective methods in this case, is to break down larger tasks into smaller
ones. The benefit of this is twofold. Firstly, the smaller, more clearly defined tasks are now
more appealing to begin on.
Secondly, there are now more opportunities for fulfilment through crossing the tasks off our
to-do list. In crossing off a task physically, we help our brain recognize that a task is
complete. This causes our brain to release Dopamine – the feel-good neurotransmitter.
Through this we can produce a positive cycle of productivity.
Action step: Break down any larger tasks into smaller ones. Tick the tasks off as we
complete them.
3/ A lack of foresight into the future.
When procrastinating, many people fail to think of how procrastinating now will affect them
in the future. This could be at the end of the day or on a long-term basis.
Procrastination has been linked to lowered levels of happiness and increased levels of
anxiety/depression.
Understandably, anxiety often occurs in the guilt stage of the Procrastination Loop, as we
realise we haven’t completed a task when we should have. Furthermore, being distracted
throughout the day can lead us to feel unfulfilled at the end of the day, affecting our mood.
This can be applied to both short term and long-term procrastination. The feelings are the
same, they just take place over different time frames.
Action step: Take time to consider the consequences before indulging in your
procrastination task.
4/ Accountability.
There is a reason that Students tend to procrastinate more than the rest of the adult
population. Accountability.
For the large part, students are required to study without the guidance of teachers or
lecturers. It is no coincidence that students show the highest levels of Procrastination.
On the other hand, it is difficult to procrastinate in a highly managed environment with

defined targets. We are accountable to a whole team, not just ourselves.
However, not everyone has this structure, which can lead to procrastination.
If we are procrastinating due to a lack of accountability, it is time to set up our own

accountability network. This could be as big or as small as we like. And we could have
different people, or groups for different situations that may be liable to procrastination.
Action step: Set up an accountability network for each area that you may be liable to
procrastinating. Daily tasks? Speak to a friend or partner daily about it. Thinking of investing
in the new investment fund? Tell your friend why you’re doing it, but most importantly when
you are doing it.
5/ Bad habit.
It could be argued that all forms of Procrastination are the result of bad habit.
Procrastination is particularly harmful when it is a daily habit. For example, if we were to

procrastinate 45 minutes each day at work, we would forego 24 days’ worth of work per year,
or two days per month.
This is based on working 7.5 hour days, 5 days a week and is also accounting for 4 weeks
holiday a year.
So it’s easy to see how daily procrastination can have a huge negative impact. What could you
do with almost a full extra months’ worth of productivity?
Take a look at how the habit loop can be applied to Procrastination:
According to Charles Duhigg, the easiest way to break habits is to build new ones. We could
do this on a micro level. For example, if we have a habit of checking social media before we
begin our work day, it’s time to break that.
Our Cue is being faced with important tasks. Our Routine is to check social media and our
Reward could be knowing what’s going on with our friends, or simply the convenience of not
having to think much.
Armed with the Habit loop knowledge, we can build positive habits to take down the
Procrastination habits. Our Cue will remain as the task in hand, our new Routine will be to
favour action in completing the task. From there we should build rewards for completing
this.
For example, we could reward ourselves with some food or a 5-minute break after beginning
with work rather than procrastinating. If we do this for long enough (up to a month) a new
habit should form.
It is not just the intentional rewards we enjoy. We will also feel the benefit of the natural
rewards associated with not procrastinating. Namely, this is a feeling of fulfilment at the end
of each day, or after completing a certain task.
Action step: Assess your habits and implement new ones.
6/ A lack of planning.
“Either you run the day, or the day runs you”
You may have heard this before and if you’re not planning your days with a Journal or some
other tool, it’s time to start doing so.
With a lack of planning there is no clear direction. With no clear direction there is indecision,
and with indecision there is often procrastination.
Daily and weekly planning is a highly effective way to combat this.
Just 5 minutes daily can save us from up to an hour of procrastination each day. Planning
can be used to eliminate long term procrastination by introducing time-scales or dates.
Need to fix that appliance in your house? Schedule it or do it now.
Action step: Begin daily planning and watch your productivity surge.
7/ Fear of an outcome (anxiety)
This is a big one.
It only applies in certain situations, however almost all of us will have experienced this at
some point in our lives.
It is when we procrastinate due to fearing the outcome of the task in hand. It could be that
we procrastinate over visiting the dentist as we are worried about needing work. Or we could
procrastinate about asking our boss for time off as we worry about whether it will be
allowed.
It is the most obvious form of detrimental procrastination. Carrying out the task at the
earliest possible point will almost always benefit us.
If we visit the dentist now, we will be able to take action on any work that needs carrying out,
before it gets worse.
If we ask the boss for time off now, the number of people with time booked off over that
period will be lowest. If we wait we simply increase our chances of a negative outcome.
Out of all habits to build, building the habit of always taking action would be one of the most
beneficial.
Action step: For any task that you are fearful of the outcome. Take on the task as early as
possible to give you the best outcome.
8/ Discomfort intolerance.
Procrastination is often derived from times which we feel physically or psychologically

uncomfortable. Thus, procrastination arises from the belief that discomfort should be
avoided. This is what is stated in BEBT theory.
However, it’s important to recognise that feelings of discomfort are often when we learn
most.
Action step: When faced with a task that you believe will give you discomfort, or a task that
does give us discomfort, then remind yourself that discomfort is not something to be
avoided. Without discomfort there is little growth. You could utilise the ‘Premack Principle’
to train yourself to do this (rewarding ourselves for doing things that are uncomfortable).
Procrastination happens to all of us at some point, some of us more than others.
It’s important to know that it can always be managed by simple tips, habits and tricks.
While there is no one-size-fits-all method, the points noted here should help you increase
productivity.
Always favour action!
Chapter 6
Quel est l'impact des aliments sur la productivité?
Nourriture pour la pensée.
À quoi pensez-vous lorsque vous parlez de nutrition? Nous pensons souvent automatiquement à la remise en forme ou aux
avantages esthétiques qu'une bonne nutrition peut apporter.
L'effet que cela a sur l'un de nos organes les plus importants nous échappe: le cerveau.
À mesure que notre compréhension de la relation entre le cerveau et la nutrition grandit, nous sommes capables de
manger des aliments qui ont un effet profond sur notre vie.
Ce ne sont pas seulement des aliments qui amélioreront votre concentration lorsque vous étudiez ou travaillez, mais des
aliments que nous devons viser à intégrer dans notre alimentation chaque jour. Augmentant ainsi la productivité.
1/ Saumon
Cette nourriture semble arriver en tête de chaque publication d'aliments bénéfiques, et pour une bonne raison.
En plus d'être une source de protéines faible en gras, le saumon est riche en acides gras oméga-3. Cela s'est avéré
améliorer la mémoire et les performances mentales. Cette étude a également révélé que les oméga-3 peuvent être très
bénéfiques dans la lutte contre la dépression.
2/ Aubergine
Souvent, la peau d'un fruit ou d'un légume peut être très nutritive.
L'aubergine n'est pas différente. La peau contient un nutriment appelé Nasunin. Il a été constaté que cela maintient une
netteté dans notre cerveau. Cela passe par l'amélioration de la communication entre nos cellules cérébrales et les
molécules messagères.
Ne sautez pas la peau!
3/ Baies
Emballé avec des antioxydants.

Cela semble un peu un mot à la mode. Mais que peuvent faire les antioxydants pour notre productivité et notre niveau de
concentration?
Les antioxydants présents dans les baies peuvent améliorer la coordination motrice et la mémoire. Il a été rapporté que les
myrtilles pourraient même être capables d'augmenter la production de nouvelles cellules cérébrales.
Ajoutez des baies à votre smoothie du matin pour profiter au maximum de votre journée!
4/ Verts feuillus
Vous avez probablement déjà entendu parler des avantages pour la santé des légumes-feuilles. Vous êtes-vous demandé
pourquoi ils sont bons pour vous?
Il semble peu probable qu'un tas d'épinards vous donne des muscles à moins que vous ne soyez Popeye.
Eh bien, la réponse est que les verts sombres et feuillus tels que les épinards et le chou frisé sont remplis de bonté pour
aider la fonction cérébrale, la mémoire et la clarté mentale.
De nombreux avantages des légumes-feuilles proviennent de la forte présence de folate dans les aliments. Ceci est connu
pour améliorer la circulation sanguine, réguler les neurotransmetteurs et réduire l'inflammation.
Si vous n'êtes pas fan de salade, essayez d'ajouter de savoureux épinards sautés à vos repas.
5/ Avocat
Arrêter la génération Y d'acheter des maisons? Ou augmenter la puissance du cerveau?
L'amélioration de la circulation sanguine dans le corps est très bénéfique pour tous les organes du corps. Particulièrement
pour le cœur et le cerveau.
L'amélioration du flux sanguin vers le cerveau vous prépare à:

 Amélioration de la productivité
 Augmentation de la concentration
 Plus grande capacité cognitive.
Comme de nombreux aliments stimulant la concentration, l'avocat contient des graisses saines. Ajoutez-en à votre
alimentation!
6/ Oeufs
Nous avons écrit sur l'importance d'un bon petit déjeuner plus tôt dans ce livre.
Les œufs regorgent de vitamines, de minéraux et de protéines riches. En tant que tel, il n'est pas surprenant que tant de
millions de personnes atteignent les œufs le matin.
Comment les œufs peuvent-ils améliorer la productivité? C'est dans un micro-nutriment appelé Choline et son lien avec un
neurotransmetteur qui aide à réguler l'humeur et la mémoire.
En plus de cela, les vitamines B présentes dans les œufs ont des influences importantes sur la santé du cerveau. Il a été
constaté qu'ils peuvent aider à ralentir le déclin mental des personnes âgées.
Ils ne sont donc pas seulement une source incroyable de protéines, ils cherchent à favoriser le fonctionnement du cerveau.
7/ Des noisettes
Les noix peuvent avoir un effet profond sur notre fonctionnement cognitif et affecter notre cerveau de différentes
manières. Voici quelques-uns des avantages de diverses noix:
• Noix - Les noix sont composées d'acides gras oméga 6, d'acides gras oméga 3 ainsi que d'une gamme de vitamines
bénéfiques. Les acides gras oméga 3 sont particulièrement bénéfiques. C'est grâce à la relation positive avec les
membranes cellulaires. Il a également été
ont rapporté que les noix ont de nombreux avantages pour la santé mentale.
• Noix de pécan et arachides - Les deux contiennent de la choline, qui aide à la mémoire et au développement du cerveau.
• Amandes - riches en riboflavine, connues pour stimuler la mémoire. En plus de cela, les amandes contiennent de la
phénylalanine, qui a la capacité de stimuler le cerveau pour produire des neurotransmetteurs positifs.
• Noix de cajou - riches en magnésium, les noix de cajou aident à ouvrir les vaisseaux sanguins dans tout votre corps. Ceci
est particulièrement bénéfique pour aider le flux sanguin vers le cerveau.
On peut voir que les noix peuvent fournir des nutriments stimulant la productivité, de sorte que la consommation de ces
aliments doit être encouragée.
Cependant, de grandes quantités de noix ne sont pas nécessaires pour voir les avantages et peuvent en fait être nocives si
vous en consommez trop. Visez un palmier plein de noix par jour.
8/ Chocolat noir
Les bienfaits du chocolat noir sur la santé apparaissent de plus en plus fréquemment dans les médias. Le chocolat ne peut
certainement pas être bon pour vous, n'est-ce pas? Voici comment cela affecte la concentration et
productivité.
Comme pour de nombreux aliments de cette liste, le chocolat noir est un puissant antioxydant. Il contient également des
stimulants naturels qui améliorent la concentration et la concentration. Ces stimulants sont également associés à la
production d'endorphines et à une meilleure humeur.
En plus de tout cela, il a une forte présence de Flavanols qui facilitent l'apport sanguin au cerveau, apportant avec lui les
avantages associés.
Pas mal pour le chocolat, hein?
9/ Banane
Le fruit notoirement sain frappe à nouveau. Mais comment améliore-t-il exactement la productivité? Il y a quatre façons
principales de manger des bananes.
Le premier est un lien entre la vitamine B6 et la fonction cognitive. Une étude publiée dans l'American Journal of Clinical
Nutrition a révélé que les hommes avec des concentrations plus élevées de vitamine B6 présentaient une performance de
mémoire plus élevée que ceux avec des niveaux inférieurs.
Deuxièmement, le magnésium est présent dans les bananes. Ceci est bénéfique car le magnésium active une enzyme qui
convertit l'ammoniac en urée, prête à être éliminée du corps. Cette
est d'une importance cruciale. Même la plus petite présence d'ammoniac peut affecter négativement votre capacité à vous
concentrer et à faire attention.
Troisièmement, les bananes nous fournissent des acides aminés que votre corps utilise pour fabriquer les
neurotransmetteurs - la dopamine et la sérotonine. Ces deux neurotransmetteurs sont responsables de la régulation de
votre humeur.
La consommation d'une quantité adéquate de ces acides aminés peut aider à atteindre des niveaux réduits d'anxiété et de
stress. En plus de cela, ils peuvent aider à créer un sentiment de calme et de concentration.
Et enfin, les bananes regorgent d'énergie. Plus précisément, ils regorgent d'énergie de fructose. Les sucres raffinés,
présents dans des choses comme le soda, vous donnent un regain d'énergie rapide, avant de vous laisser ressentir la faim
et la faim quelques heures plus tard.
La fibre de la banane ralentit la dégradation et la libération de ses propres sucres naturels. Pour cette raison, la banane est
une bonne source régulière de carburant cérébral.
Si vous n’aimez pas trop le goût des bananes, essayez-le dans un smoothie avec d’autres fruits.
10/ Riz brun
Le riz brun regorge de bienfaits pour la santé, dont vous avez peut-être déjà entendu parler de nombreux. De la lente
libération d'énergie à ses propriétés de grains entiers.
Mais comment améliore-t-il la productivité?
Le riz brun contient du manganèse qui participe à la synthèse des acides gras. Cette
Est extrêmement important de maintenir un système nerveux sain. De plus, le manganèse aide le corps à produire de
l'énergie à partir de protéines et de glucides.
En plus de cela, le riz brun contient des niveaux élevés de magnésium. Cela est bénéfique à travers
son aide dans la production d'enzymes et par l'effet positif sur le flux sanguin vers le cerveau.
Comme vous pouvez le voir, le riz brun n'est pas seulement une formidable source d'énergie soutenue. Il offre également
de puissants avantages à notre cerveau et donc à notre productivité.
11/ Ail
C'est un peu un aliment de base pour la plupart des gens, principalement parce que c'est délicieux. Mais saviez-vous des
effets positifs de l'ail sur le cerveau?
Des études ont montré une corrélation directe entre la consommation d'ail et les niveaux accrus de sérotonine dans le
cerveau. En plus de cela, une corrélation directe entre la consommation et la fonction de mémoire améliorée a été signalée.
Comme la plupart des aliments de cette liste, l'ail est riche en antioxydants. Les antioxydants agissent contre les radicaux
libres qui causent des dommages aux cellules et vieillissent le corps. L'extrait d'ail vieilli (AGE) est connu pour empêcher
l'oxydation des cellules - le processus qui les rend nocives.
Voilà, plus de raison de manger l'ail!
12/ Carrotes
Ce n'est peut-être pas le premier aliment que vous vous attendiez à voir sur cette liste.
Cependant, les carottes valent l'inclusion sur la liste. Non seulement à cause de
les nombreux avantages pour la santé associés à l'inclusion de carottes dans votre alimentation. Mais à cause du terme
logarithmique, les carottes peuvent avoir un effet préventif sur votre cerveau.
Le Journal of Biochemical and Molecular Toxicology a mené une étude qui a suggéré que les carottes ont la valeur
nutritionnelle capable de réduire le stress oxydatif dans le cerveau. C'est ce stress qui pourrait autrement affaiblir la
fonction neuronale et sa capacité.
Ainsi, alors que les carottes peuvent ne pas avoir d'effet direct sur votre cerveau comme la plupart de ces autres aliments,
cela vaut certainement la peine de les inclure dans votre alimentation si vous souhaitez maintenir une bonne fonction
cognitive jusqu'à un âge avancé.
13/ Chocolat chaud
Une autre surprise sur la liste.
Le cacao améliorerait la mémoire. Une étude de 2013 a révélé une corrélation entre la mémoire boostée et la
consommation de chocolat chaud. Le cacao contribue à augmenter le flux sanguin dans le corps, ce qui serait à l'origine de
l'amélioration potentielle de la mémoire.
Il a été publié plus tard que la consommation de cacao améliore la fonction cognitive grâce à des améliorations dans la
région dentée Gyrus du cerveau.
En plus de cela, il a été rapporté que le cacao peut améliorer le bonheur. Tout comme le chocolat noir, le cacao contient de
la caféine pour un regain d'énergie. En plus de cela, le lien avec le bonheur se forme à travers la relation que le cacao a avec
la sérotonine et le tryptophane dans le cerveau.
En plus de cela, le cacao est riche en antioxydants, comme la plupart des aliments de cet article.
Cependant, ce n'est pas un billet gratuit pour Hot Cocoa sucré.
Optez pour les versions non sucrées ou 85% de chocolat noir au cacao.
14/ Yaourt probiotique
Cette collation moderne offre un punch de productivité.
Voici pourquoi:
 Aids Stress Relief - Une étude menée par l'Université de Californie a révélé que les femmes qui consommaient des
yaourts probiotiques avaient leur réponse au stress
considérablement réduit. On pense que cela est dû à une saine gestion des
les bactéries intestinales et son effet sur le stress chronique. Les fonctions cérébrales altérées pouvaient être vues à la fois
dans un état de repos et dans un état actif.
 Capacité mentale renforcée - Une étude réalisée en 2015 a révélé des améliorations significatives des capacités mentales
et de la santé mentale chez les participants qui ont consommé des yaourts probiotiques sur une période de 6 semaines.
Aucune amélioration n'a été enregistrée pour le yaourt classique (non probiotique).
Ainsi, bien que tous les yaourts ne vous offriront pas un fonctionnement amélioré, des études montrent que
Les yaourts probiotiques pourraient vous donner le coup de pouce dont vous avez besoin.
15/ Racine de gingembre
Le gingembre a été lié à un large éventail d'avantages pour la santé, notamment le cerveau.
Une étude publiée dans Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine a montré comment le gingembre peut
augmenter la mémoire et la fonction cognitive.
Des tests de la mémoire et des fonctions cognitives ont été effectués sur un groupe de femmes avant que le groupe d'étude
ne termine un cours de deux mois sur le gingembre ou une alternative au placebo et d'autres tests ont été effectués par la
suite.
Après que les améliorations dans les évaluations aient été clairement montrées, les chercheurs ont émis l'hypothèse que les
améliorations pourraient être dues aux niveaux abondants d'antioxydants présents dans la racine de gingembre.
Dans une autre étude parrainée par le National Institute of Health, les chercheurs ont constaté une nette amélioration de
la mémoire chez la souris, avant et après la consommation de gingembre.
Les chercheurs ont expliqué cette amélioration par l'effet de la consommation de gingembre sur la transmission
d'informations entre les cellules.
Ce ne sont que deux des nombreux avantages pour la santé qui découlent de la consommation de gingembre. Il est temps
de l'inclure dans votre alimentation?
16/ Broccoli
Certains l'aiment, d'autres le détestent.
Quoi qu'il en soit, c'est l'un des légumes les plus nutritifs que nous pouvons consommer. Ainsi que la myriade de bienfaits
pour la santé. Le brocoli est excellent pour le cerveau.
Des études récentes suggèrent que le sulforaphane peut favoriser la croissance et la réparation du cerveau. Le sulforaphane
est un composé aux propriétés antioxydantes et anti-inflammatoires que l'on trouve dans les légumes crucifères
Le terme pour la croissance et la réparation est Neurogenesis. On pensait auparavant que cela ne se produisait que chez les
enfants. Cependant, des études récentes ont montré que le cerveau adulte subit également toujours une telle croissance et
réparation.
Aimez-le ou détestez-le. C’est une raison de plus pour manger du brocoli.
17/ Chia
La nourriture santé réapparaît. Et pour une bonne raison. Il y a quatre façons principales dont Chia peut améliorer votre
productivité
1. Acides gras - Chia contient les acides gras dont notre corps a besoin pour fabriquer des acides gras DHA dans le cerveau.
Ce DHA est vital pour le fonctionnement du cerveau.
2. Protéine - Chia contient les neuf acides aminés - c'est une protéine complète. Ces acides aminés sont essentiels pour le
cerveau et peuvent aider à réduire les baisses d'humeur et les performances cognitives.
Glucides - Le cerveau fonctionne avec du glucose, mais il n'y a aucun moyen de le stocker sous cette forme. Les graines de
chia libèrent lentement leur énergie lorsqu'elles sont digérées, fournissant ainsi une forme d'énergie stable au cerveau.
Antioxydants - Les graines de chia sont remplies d'antioxydants pour combattre ces radicaux libres avant de causer des
dommages.
Il s'avère donc que le Chia n'est pas tout à fait hype. Comment allez-vous l'inclure dans votre alimentation?
18/ Coeurs de chanvre
Cet aliment peut être un peu moins connu de vous que les autres aliments énumérés dans cet article. Cependant, les
graines de chanvre sont incroyablement nutritives.
Ils contiennent plus de 30% de matières grasses, ce qui peut vous inquiéter. Cependant, ils
sont exceptionnellement riches en deux acides gras essentiels, l'acide linoléique (oméga-6) et l'acide alpha-linolénique
(oméga-3).
Comme mentionné précédemment, les deux acides gras sont fortement liés à une amélioration des performances
cérébrales et donc à une concentration et une productivité améliorées.
Il existe de nombreuses façons de consommer du chanvre, notamment en saupoudrant sur des yaourts, des céréales ou des
smoothies.
19/ Betraves
La betterave est connue comme un aphrodisiaque depuis les anciens Romains, mais ce n'est pas ce que nous
allons détailler ici.
La consommation de betteraves peut augmenter la productivité de différentes manières, elle affecte le

cerveau et le corps.
Cela comprend la stimulation de l'énergie durable, le travail en tant qu'agent anti-inflammatoire et aussi
bien que l'une des meilleures sources de choline. La choline augmente la neurotransmetteur formant la
mémoire dans le cerveau.
Peut-être le légume le plus sous-estimé?
20/ Tomates
Affirmé comme «l’un des moyens les plus simples et les plus économiques d’augmenter votre consommation de
classe protectrice des nutriments des plantes appelés caroténoïdes ».
Ces gars-là protègent les graisses dans le corps, ce qui est important pour le cerveau car il est principalement principal des
graisses. Ces caroténoïdes agissent comme de puissants antioxydants.
Mangez-les avec de l'huile d'olive pour une absorption et un effet accrus.
Terminer le chapitre:
Maintenant que des recherches approfondies ont été menées sur l'effet de la nourriture sur notre corps et notre cerveau,
nous sommes en mesure de mettre en œuvre des changements positifs dans notre alimentation.
Cependant, il est important d'équilibrer une alimentation saine avec un régime d'exercice solide lorsque cela est possible.
En plus de cela, vous devez tester différents aliments du cerveau et voir ce qui fonctionne pour vous.
Soyez créatif avec votre cuisine.
Chapter 7
Getting the Most Out of Your Morning Routine
There are two patterns which arise 90% of the time when speaking to high performing
individuals about their morning routine.
1. The routine takes place at least five days a week, with little change.
2. The routine involves various elements which are included to optimise the rest of the
day.
This could be anything, from diet to exercise, to creating a particular frame of mind.
It is likely that you will already have a morning routine in place. We recommend trying out
the ideas listed here to find a combination that works well for you.
Let’s optimise your routine.
1/ Track your morning habits
Almost everything you do is the action of habit. Habits which you have built up of the course
of your life.
These are either positive or negative.
Tracking your morning routine before changing it allows a well-structured period of change.
It is important to isolate each element of your routine, and then determine the effect this has.
The effect could either take place in the morning itself, or during the rest of the day. It is
usually the latter.
For example, having only a slice of toast as you dash out of the door. Am I maximising my
energy levels by doing this? What is the effect of this? Do I rush out of the door every
morning frantically? Is that making me feel anxious for the rest of the day? Why is that
happening?
Once you identify the changes that need to take place to swap negative habits for positive
ones, you will be able to experiment.
2/ Kill the Snooze
Set your alarm for the time you will wake up. Stick to it.
Many people experience an overwhelming temptation to snooze in the first five minutes of
waking up. This has led to reports of over 50% of 25-34 year olds pressing snooze daily.
A snoozing routine at the start of your day is detrimental to your natural energy levels for the
rest of the day. Furthermore, the sleep we get through snoozing is not physically beneficial
compared to a natural sleep.
Once you have set out your optimal morning routine, work backwards and determine what
time you need to be asleep by to get your desired amount of sleep.
Think of killing the snooze button as 2 minutes of pain for 12 hours of productivity.
Try it and see how much more energised you feel each day you don’t snooze.
3/ Drink water first-thing.
It is no secret that dehydration has detrimental effect on productivity.

It is also a fact that many people don’t even know that they are dehydrated.
Naturally, after a sleep we have spent 6-8 hours without water. Your body will be
dehydrated when you wake up. This is why one of the first things many people do it drink a
lot of water. Recommendations vary from 500ml – 1.5 Litres in the first hour awake. It is
best to determine an amount that works well for you.
The benefits of drinking water early include: Early re hydration, flushing out toxins, staying
‘full’ for longer and a boosted metabolism. Finally, your brain is over 75% water so drinking
water early will help boost energy levels.
Water can take up to two hours to become fully absorbed in the body, so it makes sense to do
it early.
4/ Get ahead the night before and eliminate early decision making: Daily
Planning.
Evening habits may not be the first thing you thought of when you clicked on this blog post.
However, getting ahead has been included because it does eventually become a part of your
morning routine.
This includes writing your to do lists the day before they will be completed. This has two
main effects. Firstly, you are able to write down tasks while they are fresh in your
mind. Secondly, this sets you up for the day ahead, without having to spend time deciding
how to organise your day.
CEO of American Express Kenneth Chenault ends his evenings by writing down three things
he would like to achieve the next day.
Getting ahead also includes streamlining the mundane tasks of the morning, such as picking
your outfit, or packing your lunch. Do this in the evening, lay it out, pack it.
Your decision-making skills are not at their best as soon as you wake up. Thus, it is a good
idea to keep early morning decisions down to a minimum. This also reinforces the idea of
having a solid morning routine.
5/ Chuck a Smoothie in.
Smoothies boast multiple advantages to whole meals. Most importantly, nutrients are more
easily absorbed from Smoothies.
Thus, smoothies are perfect for an early morning energy boost, allowing you to get the most
out of your day.
Different smoothies will have different effects on the rest of your day. It is recommended that
you look into the nutritional value of the ingredients you are using in your smoothie. Test it,
try it, see what works for you
A Banana, Berry and Oat smoothie packs a punch in the morning. And it only takes two
minutes to prepare!
Try it, and get the most out of your morning hours.
6/ Stop rushing.
If you are rushing in the morning before work, this should be the first thing you address in
your morning routine.
The effects of a rushed morning will be felt throughout the rest of the day. Stress, anxiety
panic. They will be felt not only by you, but also by the people you encounter throughout the
day.
There are two things you can do about this.
 Wake up earlier. This does not mean set your alarm for 6 and snooze till 7. Wake up
early and complete a morning routine without rushing. Watch your productivity
shine through as your early mornings and routines become habit. If you are
worried that you won’t get enough sleep, go to sleep earlier.
 Streamline your routine: By streamlining your morning routine and becoming

more disciplined, you can be more time-efficient in the morning. This does not
mean that the quality of your morning routine decreases. In fact, it can be greatly
increased.
7/ Eat morning heavy.
Most people’s diets are lopsided.
They will go something like this: Cereal/Croissant for breakfast, Sandwich/Snack for lunch
and a large meal at dinner time.
This is the exact opposite of what is required for a productive day. The tendency is to eat
more food, just when the body needs less.
Eat a healthy, hearty breakfast in the morning and cut down the size of your evening meal.
Don’t have time for a large breakfast in the morning? Make time for it and see what a
difference it makes to the rest of your day.
8/ Eliminate Social Media & Emails
The addictive properties of social media are well documented.
This is a problem as a ‘quick check on social media’ can soon eat up valuable time of your
morning. Not only does, it eat-up valuable time, but it also distracts you from
what really matters. You and those involved directly in your world.
Cluttering up your mind with other people’s views does not set you up well for the day.
There are various app’s and plugins you can use for this. Alternatively, if you have an iPhone,
go to settings > battery > usage and investigate how long you have spent on each app over
the past 7 days.
It can be quite a shock.
Eliminate social media from your morning routine end enjoy a more productive, focussed
frame of mind for the rest of the day.
The same applies for emails as studies have shown how waiting till later can lower stress
levels and increase positivity.
9/ Review your Journal
When you shoot out of bed and open the curtains, it is likely that your brain will not be
operating near its best level.
At this stage, decision making should be kept to a minimum and optimized through routine.
However, a beneficial inclusion in your morning routine could be a review of your schedule
for the day.
Whichever technique you use to organise your day, a couple of minutes spent reviewing your
schedule can be highly beneficial to the rest of your day.
By doing this you increase your focus on the tasks ahead, increasing clarity in your
mind. Reviewing your days schedule can also help train your subconscious to work on logical
solutions to the tasks ahead.
Try it!
10/ Workout / Exercise
It’s no surprise to anyone that exercise is extremely beneficial, both to your mental and
physical health.
Why aren’t we doing it as regularly as we should be?
Habit. Or ‘lack of time’ as many people like to say.
Building exercise into your morning routine is beneficial for three main reasons. Firstly,
early morning exercise helps us to wake up, releasing a surge of feel good hormones setting
us up for the day.
Secondly, when exercise is built into your daily routine, it becomes habit. When something is
habit, rather than sporadic, it is more likely that the action will be repeated regularly. When
an exercise is repeated regularly, the benefits are greatest. This will leave you looking and
feeling great over time.
Finally, exercise is less likely to be sacrificed for other activities this way. Exercising during
the ‘less-social’ hours in the morning decreases the chance that other social activities will
come up instead of exercising.
11/ Utilise natural light.
Once you’ve shot out of bed in the morning, open your curtains.
Let the light pour in and watch the natural effect this has on your body. This includes an
increased level of perception in the morning and improved mood. This will also aid the body
in controlling the Circadian system.
Obviously not everyone has the luxury of daylight when waking up. All the more reason to
utilise it if you do.
12/ Watch the caffeine.
A Grande Americano is not the way forward.
While many people believe that they ‘need a caffeine fix’ in the morning, going for a super
high caffeine drink straight away will not be beneficial.
Space out your caffeine intakes into smaller cups, or switch to tea. This will provide a boost
without being overwhelming causing an increased heart rate and anxiety.
Or better yet, include exercise in your morning and you won’t need caffeine in the morning!
13/ Practice Gratitude.
Gratitude is not simply thanking someone for opening the door for you.
It goes a lot further than that. It could range from expressing gratitude to yourself in the
morning, to calling up a friend and expressing gratitude this way.
Expressing gratitude has been linked to improved physical and mental health. It has been
shown to reduce aggression and increase empathy. As well as this it has been linked to
improved self-esteem, improved sleep and increased mental strength.
Enough benefits?
Your morning routine may not be the best time to ring your Aunt and tell her thanks for her
support recently. However, there are numerus exercises you can integrate in your morning
routine to express gratitude.
You could write down something you’re grateful for each morning. You could say them out
loud in the shower. You could say them out while walking the dog. You could even invest in a
gratitude journal. It all depends how far you would like to go with it.
Integrate this and you will see positivity flourish.
14/ Utilise music.
It’s a bizarre feeling.
When a certain song feels like it takes you to another realm of inspiration and positivity. It is
no secret that humans and music are connected.
However, cranking on the music as soon as you wake up is not something that is done so
often. So consider switching on the music as soon as you wake up.
It may not be for you. However, it is likely that you’ll be dancing round the pad in no time.
This positive effects on the mood can be enjoyed through the rest of the day too.
Try it out! Tip: Don’t use the same music every day – you’ll wear it out!
15/ Respect your Body Clock.
Body clocks are naturally different depending on your genes and through different stages of
your life.
You may have heard that early risers are the most productive people. However, this is not the
case for everyone, and it’s important to respect that.
Wake up too early after getting to sleep late will lead you to burn out. Aligning with, and
changing your body clock will take time. If you are looking to get to sleep earlier and wake up
earlier, do it gradually.
Once you have found the correct balance, you will find that your body wakes up
more naturally at the time that you would like to wake up
16/ Integrate Meditation / Mindfulness
It is not surprising that meditation or some form of mindful practice is included in the
morning routines of many high performers.
Such practices boast multiple benefits, such as gaining a greater control of your thoughts.
This allows you to reach a proactive state of mind, rather than a reactive one.
Many studies have shown how such practices can reduce Stress and Anxiety. While they are
not currently sure how this works, it is thought that there is a link with the Parasympathetic
Nervous System. This is through slowing the heart rate, slowing the breathing rate and
assisting blood flow.
As well as this, such practices are great for gaining a broader perspective and
improving overall well-being.
It may be one of those things you can never image yourself doing. Try it, see if it works for
you.
It could be a powerful element to integrate in your morning routine.
17/ Listen to a Podcast.
The podcast is the perfect resource to turn your down-time into up-time.
Develop the habit of listening to intellectual podcasts in your morning routine. The awesome
thing about podcasts, is that they are so flexible around your routine. Listen to them while
walking the dog, while on the Treadmill, or while on the way to work.
You may find that a podcast is extremely thought-provoking, which can set you
up perfectly for the day.
Turn your down time into up time. Try it.
18/ Start the day with an easy task (ease-in)
This doesn’t need a great deal of introduction.
Start your day off with one easy task, such as making the bed. This is easy for your brain to
do habitually when you wake up. It can also in itself act as a cue for the habits which follow
in your morning routine.
19/ Get 0utside.
In an increasingly digital world, we are spending less time outside each day.
There are multiple benefits of spending more time outdoors. A few are listed here:
 Reduced risk of early death.
 Improved mental health
 Sharper thinking and creativity.
 Immune system boost.
 Better vision
 Improved concentration
 Stress Relief
 Reduced inflammation.
 Restored mental energy
 Improved short term memory
Nature is not there just to be enjoyed on weekends.
Include it in your morning routine and watch your productivity flourish.
20/ Stretch.
The benefits of stretching daily are huge. However, many of us don’t have the discipline to do
it.
Let’s look at some of the benefits of stretching, and how this improves productivity
 Promote blood circulation: This has long term effects on improved cell growth and
organ function. This also has short term effects on circulation with regards to oxygen
reaching your brain.
 Boost energy levels: Muscles tighten up when we are tired, causing us to feel
lethargic. Stretching in the morning can provide us with an early morning energy
boost.
 Decrease risk of injury: Stretching significantly decreases the risk of injury. This
is extremely important, particularly if you lead an active life.
 Enables increased flexibility: When you are more flexible, your body requires less
energy to do the same movements. This means that energy can be directed to more
productive areas instead.
 Increase stamina: Stretch more and you’ll see an improved blood circulation in your
body. Increased blood circulation leads to an efficient transfer of blood and increased
endurance.
 Improve posture: Stretching the back, the chest and shoulder areas lengthens the
muscles are around the spine area. This leads to a better spine alignment and
with reduced pain there is less temptation to slouch.
 Improve outlook: Stretching is linked with the release of endorphins and with it a
positive outlook and euphoria. A perfect way to start the day.
The benefits of stretching daily are abound. Add this to your morning routine and see how
you get on
21/ Learn when you’re at your best
Most people you speak to will know when they have changing energy levels and performance
levels throughout the day.
It is important to understand that these peaks and troughs can be managed to a degree,
which is precisely why a morning routine is so important. It is also important to understand
that some of these peaks and troughs occur naturally.
It’s time to experiment with your morning routine and combine the elements listed here to
find your optimal outcome.
Find what works for you. Optimise it. Embrace it.
22/ Shower in cold water.
A cold ‘Priming’ routine may be out of reach for most of us. A cold shower is not.
The benefits of showering in cold water have been reported to:
 Increase alertness.
 Improve immunity and circulation.
 Improve health of hair and skin.
 Speed up muscle soreness and recovery.
 Helps to relieve depression.
 Eases stress.
This is similar to working out early in the morning. It requires discipline and grit. However,
the benefits are immediately noticeable.
There is nothing stopping you from starting off with a warm shower and ending with a cold
one.
Try it and watch your energy levels surge.
23/ Ask yourself: What would make me feel fulfilled at the end of the day?
This is a simple one that takes no longer than one minute.
It is also great because you can combine it with other elements of your morning routine, such
as when you are exercising or commuting to work.
Simply ask yourself ‘What would make me feel fulfilled at the end of the day?’ . This has the
dual effect of creating focus in your mind and increasing clarity in what you will achieve in
the day.
Variations of this have been popular with individuals such as Steve Jobs.
It is clear, even by just looking at this list that there are far too many possible elements of a
morning routine to include them all every morning.
It is recommended to try out different elements listed here and determine what works well
for you.
The best thing is that you can combine morning routine habits to create a positive mindset
for the day.
Once you see your morning routine as a combination of simple habits, you will be able to
make greatest use of the points listed in this article.
After you have determined the elements that work well for you, optimise the routine and use
it daily. Depending on your starting point, you could see a dramatic increase in your
productivity.
Chapter 8
Use your evenings wisely.
Masses of attention is dedicated to morning routines. Mostly stating how important a good
morning routine is to achieve optimal productivity. But why don’t we talk of an evening
routine?
There are three main reasons for this.
1. In the morning, we are operating at the lowest possible capacity of decision making
ability. Meaning that having a morning routine is beneficial as less time is wasted making
decisions. This is not the case for an evening routine as we have woken up and our decision-
making ability has improved.
2. We almost always save any mid-week social activities for the evenings rather than
mornings. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, it just means that it is much more difficult to
form a routine in the evenings, as activities often change daily.
3. Evening are seen as relaxation time or ‘free time’. There’s nothing wrong with this, but
there’s nothing stopping us from being both productive and relaxing. In fact, many of the
ideas listed here can improve the ability to relax and increase happiness.
Let’s dive in.
1/ Daily and weekly planning.
You’ve just finished work for the day, you shoot for the door and head home.
You spend the evening relaxing, enjoying some television before heading to bed. The next
morning you wake up and go ahead with your normal morning routine.
You get to work, and you begin planning your day, while your brain is still waking up. In your
daze and due to the time that has passed, you’re struggling to remember all the tasks that
needed completing today. The task also takes longer due to your morning haze and inability
to recall information.
Sound familiar?
This is the routine that many people find themselves in, and it’s highly inefficient.
Planning for the next day in the evening can have multiple positive effects on
your overall productivity.
Firstly, the fact that all your days tasks are written down in the evening means that the list
will be ready for the morning. When you are beginning your work day, your brain often
needs assistance in gaining optimal focus for the day.
Having the tasks already written down means that focus can be gained by visiting the list
first thing in the morning. This also saves time overall. Tasks are written down whilst they
are fresh in the mind, rather than spending time in the morning trying to recall them.
The secondary effect of daily planning in the evening is that physically writing down tasks
on our mind helps us relax. It is a small investment of 5 minutes each evening which will give
you hours of increased relaxation each evening.
Steps such as this can make a profound impact on productivity, particularly over the course
of a lifetime.
The effects of weekly planning are very similar. However, they are carried out over the period
of a week and include weekly targets.
Give it a try and see if it works for you!
2/ Review.
Do you perform a daily review of your work?
Based on stats, it is likely that you do not. Consciously, at least.

It could be argued that you are performing a review of your work when you carry out your
planning for that day or week. However, for this point we refer to reviewing as a
conscious amount of time allocated to the review of daily or weekly performance.
We often speed through the day, ticking off tasks and trying our best to avoid distractions.
We then transfer any tasks that we didn’t manage to complete today onto tomorrows list.
But how to we improve if we don’t review our own performance? If you have performance
reviews at work, this may be an opportunity. However, these often lack frequency and
unfortunately, they often lack real substance.
Allocate five minutes of your evening to review the tasks that you have completed that day.
More importantly, review the tasks that you haven’t completed that day. What went well?
Why haven’t I completed a specific task? How could I improve? Remember this goes beyond
work. This also includes social and health aspects of life.
The review can be taken as seriously as you like. We could simply think about the review
points or write them down.
Furthermore, we may find that a weekly review is equally effective as a daily review.
We can only improve using information that we are aware of. Sometimes we need
to consciously make ourselves aware.
3/ Eating light.
As modern humans, we’ve formed this strange habit of eating our largest meal of the
day, just a few hours before we go to sleep. Before we go to lie down in the same position for
many hours?
We hear this all the time. ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’.
And for a good number of reasons. As well as the nutritional benefits of eating morning
heavy, this can also help us to achieve a greater sleep quality.
Often food can cause us indigestion, which will disrupt our sleep if we eat late. And quite
often we eat the largest meal of the day close to the time which we go to bed.
Eat a lighter meal later. Avoid eating within three hours of going to bed if possible. By
improving our sleep quality, we are directly improving our productivity. This happens
through enhanced performance and through increased memory consolidation.
4/ Sleep preparation.
Do you do through a process of sleep preparation? If not, it may be time to start doing so.
We should also avoid any stress inducing activities before we sleep. This
includes physically and psychologically stress inducing activities. This is to avoid the
secretion of Cortisol, which can increase alertness.
We should avoid artificial light and screens as this can impact on your Circadian
rhythm. Russel Foster is a Circadian Neuroscientist. He describes how most of us brush our
teeth in a brightly lit room just before bed, which is one of the worst things we can do before
attempting to sleep.
If your bedroom is not yet sleep friendly, it’s time to make some changes. Here are some
ideas.
Aim for a cool, quiet and dark environment. Needless to say, you should aim for a mattress
which is comfortable for you.
Remove any possible interruptions of your sleep. This includes pets (if possible).
We should aim to engage in only relaxing activities before bed. This could include taking a
bath, relaxation exercises or ideally reading a book.
These pre-sleeping habits can develop into cues for your brain, signalling that sleep will
follow.
We sleep for around 36% of our lives.
Shouldn’t we do our best to improve the quality of this?
5/ Avoid alcohol.
Easier said than done? This may be the case for many of us.
However, this is killing our productivity.
However, most people don’t understand the loop of alcohol and stimulant dependence they
are in. We wake up tired, and reach for the caffeine all through the day and sometimes into
the afternoon. We then get home and we don’t feel so tired before bed. So we reach for a
glass of wine or beer.
After one or two, we feel sleepy and we go to bed.
This is through the effect alcohol has on the part of the brain called the Medulla. This area of
the brain handles automatic functions, such as, breathing, consciousness and body
temperature.
You may feel sleepy after a glass or two of Wine, and this is natural. Getting to sleep isn’t the
problem. The problem arises as it increases the number of awakenings in the night.
By losing sleep quality, we decrease the ability to consolidate memories from the day. There
have been numerous studies to back this up. Decreasing this ability has a profound effect on
our performance and thus our productivity levels?
Feeling stressed? If an alcoholic drink is the first thing you think off when you’re stressed, it’s
time to develop new relaxation techniques.
Alcohol consumption will only make things worse. Firstly, this prolongs a response to the
issue which is causing you to feel stressed. And secondly, your brain function will be
lowered after consuming the alcohol (even the next day). Alcohol consumption is also linked
with increasing anxiety levels.
Now this doesn’t mean we need to completely abstain. However, it’s important to know the
effect that alcohol has on our brain.
6/ Reading.
Reading and evening routines go together like two peas in a pod.
Think of reading as an activity which gets rid of all the bad stuff (Junk TV, Laptops, Smart
Phones, Blue Light, Work, Stress, Cortisol), and replaces it with only good stuff (learning,
concentration, improved cognitive function and sleepiness).
There are many scientific reasons why reading is beneficial before sleep.
Boost your productivity by including reading in your evening routine. Even better, include it
in your sleep preparation routine and read with a dim light.
7/ Listen to a Podcast.
Podcasts are awesome.
If you’re not listening to them frequently, it’s time to give it a try.
They are the perfect way of turning your downtime into uptime. Commuting? Podcast.
Exercising? Podcast? Taking the dog out? Podcast. Having a bath? Podcast.
The thing about podcasts, is that they are so flexible around your routine. And once we get
into the habit of listening to podcasts, it’s hard to stop.
We may find that a podcast is extremely thought-provoking, which can be the source of
fantastic ideas, or even solutions to your problems.
8/Avoid Blue light.
Reach for your phone while lying in bed? It’s time to cut that out.
Some have cited the use of artificial lights and electronics on evenings as the number one
contributor to our sleep problems.
Essentially some artificial lights and electronics contain blue wavelength, which tricks our
brain into thinking it’s daytime. In turn, this disrupts our sleep patterns.
There are a number of steps you can take to remove Blue Light from your evenings which
you can read about at Health Line.
Improving your sleep quality can dramatically increase your productivity.
9/ Turn your commute into a workout.
This is one of the most effective forms of exercise you could undertake to increase
productivity. This is for three main reasons.
1. There is little time lost: The time difference between riding a road bike to work and
getting the bus will likely be minimal. This way a busy schedule can be optimized.
2. Feel the Endorphins flow: Watch your productivity surge.
3. Daily action: Because you are doing this every day, you will see your fitness improve
at an astonishing rate through the compound effect.
If this doesn’t suit you, take the time to think about how you could improve your commute.
Is there a way you could utilise this time to your benefit?
10/Avoid late Exercise.
Exercise is great for sleep, so long as we don’t complete it just before bed.
Most of us feel highly energised after a workout, which is why many of us exercise first thing
in a morning.
There is good reason for this. Exercise releases the hormone called Cortisol, which
contributes to activating the alerting mechanism in the brain.
Needless to say, this can interfere with your sleep quality and ability to get to sleep. Try
avoiding exercise within three hours of going to sleep.
11/ Meal prep.
This is not the most straight forward form of productivity enhancement in your evening
routine.
In this instance we refer to meal prep as preparing your lunches. This could be preparing
your lunches for just one day, or preparing your lunches for a week. The effect of this is
threefold.
1. Preparing our lunch time meals means that we will have healthy meals prepped for
the next day or week. By eating healthy meals, we are nourishing our body. We
also have the possibility of including optimal brain and concentration foods.
2. Secondly, we are saving time for the next days lunch break. Rather than spending
time searching for and buying our lunch, we can use this time for alternative
activities. This could be exercising to avoid the afternoon slump, meditating, or even
catching up with work.
3. Thirdly, cooking on an evening can actually reduce stress. This can actually become
a highly beneficial part of the evening routine before sleep.
12/ Put your phone away.
Many of us sleep with our phone right next to us, often on the bed side table.
This is understandable, as this is often the source of our alarm in the morning. As well as
this, many of us have an unhealthy habit of checking our phone before we go to bed and even
have the habit of checking it first thing in the morning. Both of which are detrimental to our
productivity.
It is not just the effect of blue light which caused problems, but also the effect that checking
our phone has on our sleep quality. Furthermore, checking our phone first thing can have a
negative effect on our productivity. It upsets our morning routine and frame of mind for the
rest of the day.
It’s simple, if the phone is closer to us, we will have an increased temptation to check the
phone. Regardless of whether we do or not, the distracting thought is still there, affecting our
sleep quality.
By moving your phone to the other side of the room, you decrease this
temptation significantly. If you’re using your phone as an alarm, this has a secondary
beneficial effect. When your alarm goes off in the morning, we have to get out of bed to turn
it off, reducing the chance of pressing snooze and reducing our sleep quality.
If you don’t use your phone as an alarm, the best thing to do is leave your phone outside the
room.
Better yet, buy an alarm clock so you have to do this.
Small changes daily can have an astonishing effect on your overall productivity.
Our evening routine will never be as easy as our morning routine to optimise for
productivity. However, this should not mean we neglect it.
While evening routines change on a day to day basis, we should still strive to develop good
daily habits, which will positively impact on our happiness and productivity.
This would lead us to suggest that the core components of each evening routine should be
comprised of daily planning and a solid sleep preparation period each day.
With so many variables each evening, we won’t be able to implement all of the ideas, but we
should certainly strive to do so.
Try each one of them, see if it works for you.
Chapter 9
Sleep Mastery, and How You Can Use it to Become More

Productive.
Are you getting the right amount of sleep each night?

Chances are, you’re probably not.
But how much should we sleep for the optimal level of productivity? How exactly does sleep
impact on our productivity?
In the long term we can expect the following factors to impact on productivity:
1. Improved health: Reduced risk of Heart Attacks, Heart Disease, Diabetes and
Obesity.
2. Improved weight control: Behavioural effect: Feeling tired can leave us less likely
to complete physical exercises, such as going to the gym or jogging. Physiological
effect: Leptin is the hormone which plays a key role in making you feel full. When you
don’t get enough sleep, Leptin levels drop.
3. Stronger immunity: A study tracked participants over two weeks based on their
sleep duration. After this, the participants were exposed to the Cold Virus. The study
found that those participants that got seven hours or less sleep, were three
times more likely to get ill than those who got eight hours or more.
In the short term we can expect the following to impact on productivity:
1. Improved memory: Our brains use sleep as a time to consolidate memories from
the day. If we don’t get enough sleep, those memories may be lost.
2. Improved mood: Not getting enough sleep can affect your emotional regulation.
This may lead to emotional characteristics at either end of the spectrum (highs and
lows). Sleeping too much can leave your mood dull through the day, feeling lethargic
and tired.
3. Clearer thinking: Rather unsurprising if you’ve experienced making a lot of
mistakes in the morning – putting your clothes on the wrong way, or putting cold
water in your Coffee. As expected, sleep loss affects your cognitive ability and
decision-making abilities.
4. Less risk of injury: Similarly, to the above, sleep deprivation increases risk of
injury through mistakes made. The Institute of Medicine estimates that 1/5 of
motor accidents are caused by sleep deprivation.
5. Less pain: Many studies have shown a link between sleep loss and a lower pain
threshold.
6. Improved sex life: 26% of people say that their sex life suffers as a result of being
too tired, according to the National Sleep Foundation. The link between sex life and
productivity can be seen here.
Take a look at this Infographic highlighting sleep deprivation statistics and productivity:
What is clear from past studies is that the idea that 8 hours sleep is the most beneficial
amount of sleep for everyone should be thrown out of the window.
Why?
Sleep should be assessed in a similar way to diet and nutritional requirements or calories
required. The amount needed depends on the individual. Their genetics, their lifestyle,
medical history, lifestyle and so on.
Thus, what is included in this article should be interpreted as data derived from studies
based on the average of a test sample. There are variations in what is best for each individual.
To gain a clearer understanding of how age impacts on the number of hours slept by each age
group on average, look at this chart.
So it can be seen that sleep duration declines with age. Some reports state that this is because
less sleep is required as we get older.
On the other hand, multiple studies report that the amount of sleep required remains
constant through adulthood. Thus, they report that the lowered levels of sleep required are
down to changes in sleep patterns as we age, or sleep architecture.
So with such varied recommendations and variability between individuals, how can we use
sleep to improve productivity?
Looking at the broad spectrum of information, we can confidently state that the average
adult needs somewhere between 6 and 11 hours of sleep each night. This is to ensure that
sleep deprivation does not cause us long term health problems.
But there is still 5 hours of variation in that sleep duration range?
Precisely; everyone is different. From this it is worth trailing out each sleep duration within
this range. If you’re serious about this, record how you’re feeling at each part of the day.
Don’t just trial for a day or two, trial for at least a week to allow your Circadian Rhythm to
adjust.
The idea is to reach the duration of sleep which allows us to function at our best. This
includes sleeping the same amount of time at the weekend. This is a common cause of
dissatisfaction with sleep duration – oversleeping at the weekend, which in turn upsets our
Circadian Rhythm.
So we’ve looked at how optimal sleep patterns can increase productivity and why different
people need different amounts of sleep. One leading contributing factor to productivity is
sleep quality. But how can we improve it?
How to Improve Sleep Quality
1/ Avoid Caffeine, Nicotine and Alcohol
Caffeine and Nicotine are both stimulants, and thus it is understandable that these chemicals
may disturb sleep.
Alcohol on the other hand is slightly more complex. You may feel sleepy after a glass or two
of Wine, and this is natural. Getting to sleep isn’t the problem. The problem arises as it
increases the number of awakenings in the night.
Alcohol consumption is also linked with increasing anxiety levels.
2/ Exercise early.
Exercise is great for sleep, so long as we don’t complete it just before bed.
Most of us feel highly energised after a workout, which is why many of us exercise first thing
in a morning.
There is good reason for this. Exercise releases the hormone called Cortisol, which
contributes to activating the alerting mechanism in the brain.
Needless to say, this can interfere with your sleep quality and ability to get to sleep. Try
avoiding exercise within three hours of going to sleep.
3/ Monitor fluid intake.
Drink too much before bed and you’ll need the toilet,
Drink too little and you’ll wake up thirsty.
If these are problems for you, adjust your intake of fluids before bed.
4/ If you are to nap, nap early.
Many people swear by napping in their daily routine.
If napping is a part of our routine, staying asleep through the night can become problematic.
This will likely be the result of afternoon napping. Ultimately, napping late in the day often
decreases sleep drive.
If you are to nap, try nap early.
5/ Eat morning heavy.
We hear this all the time. ‘Breakfast is the most important meal of the day’.
And for a good number of reasons. As well as the nutritional benefits of eating morning
heavy, this can also help us to achieve a greater sleep quality.
Often food can cause us indigestion, which will disrupt our sleep if we eat late. And quite
often we eat the largest meal of the day close to the time which we go to bed.
Eat a lighter meal later. Avoid eating within three hours of going to bed if possible.
6/ Use natural light.
If you’re lucky enough to be able to use natural light to wake up, it’s only right to do so!
You can find out more about how this can benefit you here.
7/ Don’t force sleep.
This may seem like a strange one to include on the list,
However, going to bed before we are truly tired can cause us problems. This is because it can
get increasingly frustrating to lay in bed awake.
Instead, begin reading until you are feeling truly tired. Avoid your Laptop or Mobile Phone
as they emit Blue Light which can interfere with your sleep.
8/ Turn the clocks away.
Visible clocks can cause some people problems at night. This is for two main reasons.
Firstly, when trying to get to sleep, one of the first things people do is to check the time.
Often this causes panic and irritation. The process then becomes a self-fulfilling loop.
Secondly, the time serves as an unnecessary distraction if we wake up in the middle of the
night. Again, this can cause us to over think and lose out on sleep.
If you have clocks in your room, try make sure that they are out of sight.
9/ Make your bedroom sleep friendly.
If your bedroom is not yet fully sleep friendly, it’s time to make some changes. Here are some
ideas.
Aim for a cool, quiet and dark environment. Needless to say, you should aim for a mattress
which is comfortable for you.
Remove any possible interruptions of your sleep. This includes pets (if possible).
10/ Adopt a pre-sleeping routine and make it habit.
We should aim to engage in relaxing activities before bed.
This could include taking a bath, watching television, relaxation exercises or ideally reading a
book.
Avoid anything that may be physically or emotionally stressful, such as work or physical
exercise. This is because such stress can lead to the secretion of Cortisol, which increases
alertness.
These pre-sleeping habits can develop into cue’s for your brain, signalling that sleep will
follow.
11/ Write a daily journal.
Many people cite having things on their mind for sleep deprivation.
Taking our issues, problems, and anxieties to bed with us will only cause us more hassle. We
should try and avoid this where possible.
Writing a daily journal can be extremely valuable in combating this. It can also greatly
improve our productivity the next day. When we have something on our mind, it usually
means we need to act.
Each night, writing down everything that is on your mind and tasks that need completing the
next day can be a great help in clearing our mind. Think of it as transferring thoughts from
your mind to paper, clearing your conscious mind.
The bonus is that you’ll be set up for the next morning, when your decision-making abilities
are possibly at their lowest.
12/ Sleep the same duration each day: Avoid sleeping in.
While this may be difficult to achieve due to the difference in our days during the week and
our days at the weekend.
It may even be possible that you’ve never even gone a full week sleeping at the same times
each day.
In doing this, we optimise our body clock in line with our Circadian rhythm. If we feel like we
need to sleep in at the weekend to catch up on sleep, then it is a likely sign that we need more
sleep during the week.
Try it, it could be life changing. After all, we do it every day.
13/ Avoid blue light on evenings.
Reach for your phone while lying in bed? It’s time to cut that out.
Some have cited the use of artificial lights and electronics on evenings as the number one
contributor to our sleep problems.
Essentially some artificial lights and electronics contain blue wavelength, which tricks our
brain into thinking it’s daytime. In turn, this disrupts our sleep patterns.
There are a number of steps you can take to remove Blue Light from your evenings which
you can read about at HealthLine.
Ultimately, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to optimising your sleep routine.
In the long term, the overwhelming research suggests that we should be getting at least 6
hours sleep each night.
In the short term, it is worth implementing the ideas suggested here in order to use your
sleep to achieve the highest level of productivity.
As well as this, tracking and experimenting with your sleep duration could be the key to
achieving optimal productivity from sleep.
Furthermore, sleeping that same duration each day of the week may just be the key.
Chapter 10
Using Positive Psychology to Improve Your Productivity.
Many studies show the link between happy employees and increased productivity.
But how exactly do we achieve long term happiness?
Through countless channels, we’re taught that success brings happiness. And why would we
ever consider that this may not necessarily be true?
It may be as simple as the simple formula that many of us tend to follow through life:
Success = Money = Happiness.
Or we may have gained this view from the marketing that we’ve been pummelled with
throughout our lives. Flashy cars, big houses… The American Dream so to speak.
But how many of us consider what happens once we reach our goal that allows us to be
successful? We simply move the goal posts and the feeling of happiness is short lived.
Have you ever found yourself reading a news story regarding a famous/rich person and
saying to yourself ‘What do they have not to be happy about?’.
This is the key question, as told by Shawn Anchor, A Happiness Specialist from Harvard
University. He then goes on to state how this goes to show the misconception on happiness.
This would suggest that the external world is predictive of our happiness levels, which it is no
He then goes on to make the following statements:
 If we know 90% of the external factors of a given person, we can only predict 10% of
their long-term happiness.
 90% of a person’s happiness is predicted by how your brain processes the world (The
lens that our brain sees the world through).
So how do we go about achieving happiness if it is not derived from our success? Many
believe that the answer lies in the practice of Positive Psychology, which is defined as:
Positive Psychology
“The scientific study of the strengths that enable individuals and communities
to thrive. The field is founded on the belief that people want to lead meaningful
and fulfilling lives, to cultivate what is best within themselves, and to enhance
their experiences of love, work, and play” (ppc)
It can be used in parallel with alternative theories of happiness. This is one of the most
favourable aspects of Positive Psychology as a line of thinking that can be used to achieve
happiness.
In fact, it can be rather difficult to argue against Positive Psychology (Surely positive
thinking can only be a good thing?) However, the movement has not been without its critics.
Let’s have a look at The Positive Psychology Mind Map, kindly provided
by www.positivesychology.org.uk.
Historically, Psychology has been focussed on the negative aspects of life. Positive
psychology has been introduced to challenge this.
It is clear to see how Positive Psychology can be used to boost our productivity. This could
be directly, or indirectly.
Anchor explains how if we can raise a person’s level of positivity in the present, then they
experience ‘The Happiness Advantage’. This can be seen in the illustration below. Most of
which can be directly linked to productivity.
As seen, this includes:
 Better, secure jobs.

 Improved ability to keep jobs.
 Superior Productivity.
 More resilience.
 Less Burnout.
 Less staff turnover.
 Greater sales.
When we experience a heightened level of positivity in the present, we experience

an increase in Creativity, Intelligence, and Energy Levels. These are arguments that
are difficult to argue against. How often do we complete our best work when we are in a
terrible mood? How many creative ideas have we come up with when in a negative frame of
mind?

In fact, Anchor found that every single business outcome improves through The Happiness
Advantage.
As well as this, it was found that positive mood individuals are 31% more productive
than those with a negative, stressed, or neutral frame of mind.
The Harvard Professor explains this through the dual affect that Dopamine has in our
brain.
1. Dopamine makes us happier.

2. Dopamine turns on the learning centres in our brains, allowing us to adapt to
the world in a different way.
So this then leads us on to the next question. How can we train our brains to think through
the lens of positivity?
According to Anchor, we can do this through implementing five daily steps to create lasting
positive change. He recommends doing this for 21 days before the brain automatically begins
to scan the world for the positive and not the negative. It would then be recommended to
continue with these steps past this period.
As can be seen in the infographic, the 5 steps to implement for lasting positive change are:
1/ Three Gratitude’s – Write down or think about three things that you are grateful for
each day. Each day your three gratitude’s should be different from any previous ones. Many
people decide to include this in their morning routine. After 21 days our brain should
develop a pattern of scanning for the positive rather than the negative. The profound
impact that this attitude can have on your productivity is seen when looking at the Positive
Psychology mind map above.
2/ Journaling – Keeping a Journal can have a profound impact on our productivity,

efficiency, and our motivation for many reasons. As well as this, keeping a journal allows us
to re-live positive experiences for increased happiness. This helps train our brain that a
positive action should be repeated.
3/ Exercise – We’re not short of reasons why exercise can improve our levels of motivation
and productivity. As a result, many people include it in their morning routine, evening
routine or even at lunch time. From Anchor’s point of view, exercise teaches your brain that
behaviour matters, which can impact on our happiness levels.
4/ Meditation – Many well-known people meditate, and the benefits are widely reported.
Anchor cites that meditation helps your brain to eliminate ‘cultural ADHD’ or multitasking.
Another way to accomplish this is through journaling techniques, prioritising and focus.
5/ Random acts of Kindness – Finally, Anchor lists including daily random acts of
kindness into your routine in order to spread positivity and a feel-good mood.
Looking at the evidence provided by those behind the movement of Positive Psychology, it’s
clear to see how a positive outlook and mood can increase our productivity.
Implement these steps for at least 21 days and see how it works for you.
After all, the chance of being 31% more productive is surely worth it? Isn’t it?

Final Words
After reading through this, you may be feeling slightly dizzy or overwhelmed. That is not the
aim. There are three main aims. One is to show how each topic links to productivity. The
next is to show why it links to productivity. And the third is to show what you can do to
create a positive habit from that information. It’s to provide abound opportunities to get
more out of your day.
We’ve worked through topics ranging from Morning & Evening Routines, to Sleep &
Exercise. Each topic, in its own way, forms part of the puzzle that is productivity.
The idea is not to suddenly start employing all 144 productivity tips written here. The idea is
to employ the tips you believe will have the greatest effect on you. This could even be tips
which apply to a particular area of your life that you would like to work on.
If some tips don’t work for you, swap them out. If some tips do work, keep them. Keep
working on it.
Next time you’re feeling deflated or unmotivated, flick through this book and see what
positive changes you can make.
Remember, productivity and fulfilment is not a one-size-fits-all model. You’re applying these
tips to your life, not someone else’s. Just because a ‘high flying CEO of company xyz credits
his 4am wake up for his productivity’, it does not mean it will work for you!
Enjoy the journey of experimentation and Happy Productivity!
Do you have any questions, feedback or something to add?
Email us at info@thinkzelo.com and we’ll be happy to help.
Michael Johnston

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PRODUCTIVI

Covering topics including

Chapter 1: Organiser votre temps pour améliorer la productivité.............................................3

Chapter 2: Sources de motivation et comment les transformer en habitudes de productivité14

Chapter 3: Exercice - Le billet d’or pour la productivité et le bien-être..................................28

Chapter 4: Il y a toujours le temps de faire de l’exercice..........................................................38

Chapter 5: Sources communes de procrastination, et comment arrêter................................48

Chapter 6: Quel impact sur les aliments sur la productivité?..................................................59

Chapter 7: Tirer le meilleur parti de votre routine du matin...................................................72

Chapter 8: Utilisez vos soirées à bon escient...........................................................................88

Chapter 10: Utiliser la psychologie positive pour améliorer votre productivité.....................110

Final Words .............................................................................................................................119

Vous cherchez un raccourci vers une productivité et un épanouissement accrus?

Comment tirer le meilleur parti de ce livre?

Organisez votre temps pour une productivité améliorée

Une routine matinale désordonnée peut causer deux problèmes principaux.

au minimum le matin. Prenez le temps d'évaluer votre routine matinale et de

Nous vivons dans un monde privé de sommeil.

Le multitâche peut réduire votre productivité de 40%.

8/ Arrêtez d'être un perfectionniste.

9/ Définir des contraintes de temps

Fixez-vous des contraintes de temps et simplifiez votre travail.

10/ Suivez vos loisirs.

12/ Profitez de vos soirées et week-ends.

Cela ne signifie en aucun cas sacrifier complètement votre temps libre.

13/ Menez une vie saine.

14/ Verrouillez votre téléphone.

15/ Optimisez vos systèmes.

Il s'agit d'un grand pour tirer le meilleur parti de votre journée.

Cela ne se limite pas à nos déplacements domicile-travail, il y a toujours des opportunités de

Il s'agit d'être préparé.

17/ S'engager pleinement.

Engagez-vous pleinement dans la tâche à accomplir, quelle qu'elle soit.

18/ Regroupez les tâches connexes.

19/ Arrêtez de vérifier vos e-mails.

Si quelque chose est urgent, ils vous appelleront presque toujours.

Fixez un horaire pour la journée et respectez-le.

22/ Bloquez les distractions.

Cela dépendra fortement de la zone utilisée pour terminer les travaux.

23/ Utilisez des rappels.

25/ Planification hebdomadaire.

26/ Visez à être tôt.

Une habitude se compose de trois éléments principaux:

Changer l'habitude (ou court-circuiter la boucle d'habitude)

1. Identifier la routine: Identifiez la routine que vous souhaitez modifier.

Let’s get stuck in.

2/ Begin with why.

4/ Chart your progress.

6/ Join a Group, Forum or Club.

Have you ever met an optimistic person who seems unmotivated?

8/ Utilise your work passion.

12/ Recharge your mind.

Burn out is a monumental cause of decreased motivation. It may seem counter-intuitive to

Some recommend a 10 minute break every 50 minutes, however it is important

16/ Eliminate excuses.

18/ Proactively plan your time

Make it habit: Allocate 15 minutes of each day to a mindfulness practice.

Exercise: The Golden Ticket to Productivity & Wellbeing

39% of the British population are physically inactive.

Effect on productivity: An anxious mind is detrimental to your productivity. It reduces

50-70 million adults in the USA have a sleep disorder.

Effect on productivity: Lack of sleep can lead to poor memory consolidation, a

This will have one of two effects: