When most people think about being productive, they think of the number of hours worked. Flipping that mindset may actually have a bigger impact on you and your productivity levels.
What does this mean? Focus on your breaks, mental replenishing, and refueling.
Here are 10 ways, featured in Entrepreneur Magazine to improve you mental refueling during the work day:
1. Take Multiple Small Breaks: Schedule two 10-15 minute breaks in the morning and
two 10-15 breaks in the afternoon. Use this to break up a sometimes monotonous day. Research shows that more focused smaller chunks of work with multiple breaks yields more productive time.
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4. Get a life!: You schedule your appointments with other people, why not schedule them with yourself? Make sure you have a calendar designated for your social life and doing things you enjoy.
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5. Take up a new hobby: New hobbies can create new brain patterns, including getting you out of auto-pilot at work. Take up something you find fulfillment in and stick with it.
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7. Get away: A vacation can be tough for a lot of people to swing but time wise and financially speaking. When possible take mini-vacations of the weekends. Rent a cabin and just relax, or go somewhere more active, your choice.
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9. Take some of the load off: Learn to accept help from others! Trust in yourself and the other person can help facilitate this, but delegating work related tasks to take the load off is important to your mental state and how effective you are as a leader in the work place.
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10. Smell the roses: Get outside! Studies show that being outside has a positive impact on your mental state and results in higher engagement with your work following your short walk in the park.
2. Actually Enjoy Your Lunch: Don’t settle of a “working lunch”. Go outside or just change the scenery while you enjoy your food. The change in scenery redirects your thoughts to less work-related topics.
3. JUST THINK: Use 10-15 out of your day (mornings are nice) to just reflect on your life. How are you feeling? What makes you happy? What are you grateful for?
6. Get your booty moving: More blood flow to the brain equals better brain power! Get your booty moving at least 30 minutes a day of moderate activity to experience all of the benefits.
8. ZZZ: We all know how important sleeping is and it may be even more important than you think. Catch 7-9 hours of sleep to wake up fully energized.
Try all 10 or just one at a time, it is all up to you. One thing is for sure, we could all benefit from these pieces of advice.