The daily routines of highly productive people really just involve productive habits that people implement into their lives to guide their days in the best way possible.
The best daily routines involve taking care of yourself physically, emotionally and mentally before the day starts to set yourself up for maximum productivity as well as implementing procedures to prevent from getting too distracted throughout the day.
Aristotle said, "We are what we do repeatedly, therefore, excellence is not an act, but a habit."
You are your habits, and therefore, productive people exhibit productive habits. The next question becomes, what are those habits?
The habits that affect productivity the most are directly related to the reasons you ordinarily complain about as justifications for being lazy or unproductive. "I'm tired, I'm cold, I can't stop thinking about my ex, I didn't sleep enough last night, I didn't eat enough, my stomach hurts, I just don't feel right today," etc.
The habits themselves are the habits related to your welfare, your physical, mental and emotional well-being. If physically you're feeling good and have the requisite energy for productivity, emotionally you're stable and able to withstand the stress of having a lot to do, and mentally you aren't bogged down by identifying with every passing thought, then you have set yourself up for maximum productivity.
The habits that ensure your physical, mental and emotional welfare are:
(1) Get enough sleep: Being tired not only slows down your mental and physical capacity, but it is the easiest excuse you can make to justify your own laziness. The first step in eliminating that excuse is making sure you get enough sleep.
How to do it:
(a) Have a set, no negotiation lights-out time.
(b) Have a set time to put stop messing around with the t.v., your phone, computer, etc. Social media and t.v. can easily distract you and keep you up for an extra hour or two.
(c) Read before you sleep, not only do you grow through reading but it helps lull you just enough to get you ready for bed.
(2) Wake up early: You don't have to immediately start waking up at 4:00 a.m. like Tim Cook (apple of CEO), but you can gradually start pushing back the time you wake up (I recommend 15 minutes a week), and over time you can be a really early riser. The reason waking up early is so integral to success is that there are no distractions whatsoever in the morning time and you can 8-10 hours of work done in 4-5, OR you can set your day up for maximum productivity by helping ensure your mental, physical and emotional welfare through eating a good breakfast, meditating, writing, etc.
How to implement:
(a) Sleep Early
(b) Have the following items done before going to bed
All your bags packed and ready to go for the next day so that you don't have to do anything besides pick it/them up on the way out of the house.
The clothes you want to wear the next day should be decided and laid out where you can just grab them and put them on after you brush your teeth.
What you want to eat for breakfast (if you want to eat breakfast -- I definitely recommend it to get your energy up in the morning -- specifically some carbs for long-lasting energy).
An idea of the first few tasks you want to knock out in the morning -- or rather, what the first few hours of your morning is going to consist of.
(c) When you wake up - JUMP out of bed and do something active - 5 pushups, 10 jumping jacks, IMMEDIATELY. Gets your energy flowing and literally forces your body to wakeup instantly.
(d) Have a reason to wake up - you need to know exactly what your plan is, because otherwise you'll wake up, think about why you're awake, and just go back to sleep.
(3) Exercise: Looking good and feeling more confident about your physical attraction is just one incidental benefit to exercising. Your body rewards you with happiness, LITERALLY, in the form of endorphins. Think about how beautiful that is, you work out for your body and it sends you happiness. Fall in love with that. I'm not going to list a "How to" for exercise because there are so many different methods of getting your sweat in. Find something you genuinely have fun doing and make it a daily ritual.
(3) Eating healthy: Looking good and feeling more confident about your physical attraction is just one incidental benefit to eating healthier. To operate at maximum productive capacity, you need to have maximum energy levels. Pay attention to how your body responds to the different foods you eat and you'll quickly see the importance of healthy eating and drinking water. Your body PAYS YOU with the currency of energy for treating it the right way!
How to implement:
(a) Cut junk food - chips, soda, fast-food, etc. Needs to just go and not be an option.
(b) Have bread and other carbs earlier during the day for energy, and try to stay awake from carbs after 3 p.m. Limit the pasta, pizza, sandwiches at night.
(c) WATER, LOTS and LOTS of water - as much as you can have.
(d) Force yourself to eat vegetables and fruits - what's easiest is to do it in the form of juices so you can get it all at once
(4) Meditating: I can't stress the benefit of meditation enough. All day long your mind is going at 100 miles an hour and we're not even aware of it. We don't think about our thoughts as events that require energy, but every thought you have requires a certain amount of energy, and the thoughts that actually stick and force you to actively think, DRAIN YOU. Meditation helps patch up the leaking of energy caused the neuroticism of the mind.
How to implement:
(a) Full body stretch for 2-3 minutes
(b) Sit comfortably in a chair, or cross-legged on a pillow on the floor. If you're on the floor try and sit on the edge of pillow so you're leaning forward towards your knees as opposed to back, well, on your lower back.
(c) Close your eyes, try to follow your breath. Don't interfere with the breath, just try to be aware of the fact that its taking place. Your mind starts talking immediately, you become aware of what its saying. It's not about controlling what the mind is saying, you'll quickly see you can't do that. The point is to simply be aware of what is taking place, and come back to your breath when you get taken with the flow of the thoughts.
(5) Stay organized: When we know we have a million things to do with no plan of attack, we get overwhelmed and we become negative about the fact that we have so much to do, so little time, not knowing where to start. You need to have a plan of attack that breaks your big goals into smaller steps, and be strict on yourself about completing small steps. Progress adds up and you feel accomplished with every step you take.
How to implement:
(a) Have a journal/piece of paper, something to plan on, could be Evernote (that's how I do it).
(b) Break down the big goals/assignments/project
s that you're doing into 5-10 little steps that are necessary in the process.
(c) Plan those steps into feasible deadlines, should be flexible enough that you don't have to stress AT ALL about getting them done.
THE IMPORTANCE OF AN ACCOUNTABILITY BUDDY
Why is it so much easier to do something you don't want to do when you have a friend with you? Why is it so much easier to go to the gym when you have a trainer? Why does it motivate you when your friends study harder than you?
Having an accountability partner, someone to help make sure you stick to your goal is KEY to adding productive habits to your life/staying productive in general. When you and another person agree to keep each other in check for a habit, you have someone that's not only counting on you, but is there every step of the way helping you through the struggle.
If you don't have an accountability buddy, but you want someone to help you with your habit goals and serve as your personal trainer for habits, sign up for Partners-In-Grind.
Completely free e-mail chain that links you up with another person who is in the same shoes as you, who wants to add the same productivity habit as you, and you become accountable to each other, Partners-In-Grind, Goal-mates.
