Productivity Tips

I have found over the years that there are a number of ways that we can help ourselves to be so much more productive, and they really do not take that much time or effort. It is about self care and learning to look after ourselves as much as possible.

Below I have a few daily routines that will help your body and mind to work more efficiently and easily together. You can do one or all depending on what you feel works well for you. I recommend starting with one for a week and then adding the next one the week after and so on. They may sound obvious BUT do you actually do them?!

Sleep and waking

Having the right amount of sleep of 8-9 hours is essential for us. Too much keeps you in the cycle of feeling tired as does too little. Also to really wake up ready to rock and roll be mindful of your thoughts. Notice what your mind is thinking about, Maybe about not getting up, or about feeling tired, even about not wanting to do whatever it is you are supposed to be doing that day for example. Don’t judge those thoughts, just allow them to be there and whilst you are being mindful of them you are releasing them. When you fight them that’s when you get stuck in the conflict by recognising them and accepting they are free to flow and change and ebb away.

Morning Stretching

First stretch your arms up in front of you. Then stretch your legs out below you. Then bend your knees and slowly allow your knees to open so the bottoms of your feet touch or face each other. Then bring them back together and bring them up to your chest and hug them, stretching your lower back. You can repeat this if you wish. The reason stretching is important is because it helps the systems within the body start the day easily and to their full potential. You will find that you start the day more energised and as we get older it is important to stretch so that we do not injure ourselves purely because we were not stretched and warmed up properly.

Morning and evening breathing – Great for stress, panic attacks, tiredness, to cleanse the bodies systems of toxins, to name but a few as they help reléase tensión and calm our minds.

Sit up on the side of the bed and practice for 2 minutes. This is a very widely accepted breathing technique. Put your hands on your ribs. Make sure they are at the top of your ribs. Move your hands right out to your sides, as in not the centre of the body but the sides of your body and as wide as you can. Now, you are going to breath in, but as you breath in you are going to focus on and feel your ribs not moving upwards but actually outwards, expanding away from you. Now as you breath in you are going to also count to 4. Just a nice steady rhythm, not fast, not slow. Hold that breath for the count of 7 and then breath out for the count of 8. Repeat this for 2 minutes. What I like to do is set my alarm for 2 minutes so that I can concentrate on the cycles without distraction.

Drinking water before getting out of bed – it cleanses the bodies systems and helps the body to awaken.

I usually keep half litre of water by the bed so that you don’t have to move to get it and I drink that relatively quickly. It may be difficult in the beginning if you are not used to doing this but you can build up to it gradually.

Keep a journal.

I cannot stress this enough. Clients often say to me “oh yes I should keep a journal” or “oh yes! I used to keep a journal and it really helped”. Then when I ask them, have they used it often, they say no! However, what I have noticed is that the clients who do keep a journal become self-aware much quicker and often have realisations just from writing things down and they tend to move through their therapy quicker when they keep a journal so I highly recommend starting one. The reason it helps is because, what stresses us and brings us down is repetition of thoughts, among other things. When we write things down, its like speaking, it gets these thoughts out of our head, or at least slows the process. It is a way of helping to cleanse the mind.

Then we have more space for new thoughts! That’s when we can then build on them more easily but first you need to make the space. Practice this for a week and you will see a difference, even if small.The longer you do these routines for the more you will notice the difference.

I hope that some of this has helped give you some ideas on how to improve on your daily self care routines. Feel free to comment and let me know what you believe is essential for your well being on a daily basis as I would love to know.

Have a wonderful day everyone.