4 Healthy Habits That Improve Your Work Productivity

Keep yourself at your personal best by incorporating positive well-being in your work life

You can improve your performance at work—and dramatically so—by employing a few simple health techniques. Your output at work, ultimately, depends on your physical, emotional, and mental inputs. By refocusing on your individual well-being, you’ll be astounded by your rejuvenated ability to accomplish tasks!

Get Up and Go: Improve Your Cognitive Functions

Let’s face it, a sedentary office lifestyle kills overall productivity. You’re not doing your body any favors by spending hours hunched in front of computer screens.  Unfortunately, sliding your office chair from the laptop to the printer isn’t quite the marathon mileage our ancestors once harnessed.

However, the relationship between physical activity and improved cognitive functions is as essential now as it was in prehistoric times. Short breaks from the monotonous office sitting position enlivens your mind and increases efficiency throughout the work day.

Go ahead and walk (preferably outside) for 5 minutes every 50 minutes to boost efficiency at your desk. This exercise enhances the ability to direct attention to specific tasks and process higher-order information. If office culture concerns keep you from leaving the cubicle, find a way to incorporate desk-chair exercises instead.

No matter what’s on your plate, whether completing the budget analysis, delivering a considerate response to an important client, or scheduling your next meeting, you’ll benefit from this heightened productivity.  

Feed Your Mind and Feel the Difference

You’ll have a more positive mental state by improving the quality of the food you eat. Everyone knows a cup of coffee creates a difference. Chemically speaking, so does everything else you ingest.

Highly processed and sugary foods create an imbalance that our bodies must then work harder to correct. This leaves us sluggish rather than energized. According to Katy Rioch MS, RND, LDN, the main element of a balanced diet is variety. She also recommends including at least one non-processed food in every meal. These guidelines apply to meat, vegetables, fruits, oils, grains, and sweets.

“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
– Aristotle

Eating colorful veggies and fruits (naturally packed with flavonoids) while maintaining an active lifestyle exponentially improves your brain plasticity and cognitive functioning.

In addition to eating well, you must also hydrate well. Because being dehydrated reduces your focus by 50 to 80 percent, it’s imperative that you drink at least eight glasses of water a day.

As office challenges mount your desk, stay on top of your game by including a proper diet and hydration habits on your daily to-do list.

Take the Extra Step for the Self

As far as food and exercise will (literally) take us, humans require additional inputs to reach exceptional heights. You need more than eating and exercising to thrive in your career.

As soon as you wake up, before you start your workday, do a ten-minute power morning routine that involves ten steps: breathing deeply, visualizing everything you’re grateful for, creating more love energy in your body, giving love, and visualizing all of your desires. Afterward, plan your desired accomplishments for the day into your planner to boost productivity.

At work, when you’re bombarded with intellectual and sensory instructions, data that your brain and body must organize and respond to, you must meditate to reduce mental chatter.

Take power breaks by meditating for 8 to 10 minutes, breathing deeply or listening to guided meditation. With a few intentional steps, you’ll discover how to peacefully process new information and stay ahead of your assignments. Calming down to get ahead may seem counterintuitive, but it is effective. Spending hours frazzled and overwhelmed is a waste of resources. Reallocate your focus—give your mind the needed rest to work its best for you.  

Additionally, relieve stress by decluttering your work environment. Organize your files, emails, and passwords, trashing those you no longer need. You can also give yourself a piece of mind my turning off phone notifications that aren’t pertinent to your job, notifications such as media updates, texts, and chats.

Finally, when tackling tasks, apply the 80/20 rule, learning to say no to tasks that are not part of the 20 percent and either delegating them to others or abandoning them altogether.

Planning for Peace

Simply wanting to improve productivity isn’t enough: real progress requires action. Taking concrete steps towards your goals reemphasizes your sense of self-efficacy and provides a tangible measurement to visualize the progress you’ve made.

Of course, it’s often difficult to commit to the daily routine of doing the good habits. Sometimes you might forget or sometimes you don’t have the time. To ensure you commit to the routine use a planner that will help you schedule and reflect. A purposeful timeline will help you navigate the inner challenges associated with meaningful growth. Old habits die hard, they say. True change takes time to manifest.

Your mind and body have been trained to operate in a certain way, and stepping out of that comfort zone may take an extra push. With the first simple step of planning in advance, your thoughts and actions begin to reflect the improved version of yourself.

If you want to improve your productivity at work, plan to improve your health. Ultimately, we each direct our own daily habits. Incorporate these techniques to unleash your inner potential and drive. You’ll thank yourself for it.