Improving Your Productivity Indirectly
I’ve been interested in productivity for 4–5 years now. During that time, I have read a lot of books and articles, and experimented a lot with productivity practices.
Like most productivity nerds, I started out with the basics — time management, to-do lists, writing goals, Pomodoro, etc.
Simple, direct productivity techniques like these are very useful, and are a great place to start.
However, I’ve come to realize that the biggest impact on my productivity comes not from direct techniques, but from improvements in other areas of my life.
1. Sleep
This one is probably not surprising. The benefits of good sleep have been lauded in the productivity community and beyond, and for good reason.
Feeling rested helps with alertness and focus, and gives you the mental and emotional energy to work. I first came across this idea in Matthew Walker’s Why We Sleep and on the Huberman Lab Podcast.
This made a particularly big difference for my studies at university, where the vast majority of my work involved intense learning of complex topics.
There is another outcome of good sleep that is positive for productivity: in order to improve my sleep quality and quantity, I had to be intentional about my sleep schedule.
In order to do this, I had to refine my daily schedule in general.
This helped me learn what types of activities I am more inclined towards at different times of day.
For example, I started consistently noticing the afternoon slump. I now leave simpler tasks that do not require focus for after lunch, or go out for walks when I can feel myself dozing off.
Having a consistent sleep schedule also helped me build daily routines around sleep, such as working in the morning and reading before bed.
2. Diet
Having a good diet is not discussed as often as it should be in relation to productivity.
This might be because it’s difficult to notice the way in which productivity is influenced by your nutrition and meal timing.
In my personal experience, when and what I eat has a significant impact on my daily schedule.
In Grain Brain, Dr. David Perlmutter lays out some of the reasons why a carb-rich diet can be detrimental to your brain function, but in the long- and short-term.
I cannot speak for the long-term benefits (as I currently have no way of measuring my risk of Alzheimer’s or the effect of fats on my brain’s function) but I can speak to the short-term ones.
For example, eating sugar destroys my ability to focus. I have observed this correlation more than once, and have good reason to infer a causal relationship (although it is still possible that, for example, the anxiety I experience around eating sugar is more detrimental to my ability to focus).
Going back to the afternoon slump, I also realized that eating a large meal often causes you to slow down and relax, which is not ideal if you’re trying to focus. I have since started avoiding large or heavy meals at lunchtime.
3. Rest
About a year ago, I realized that I had spent so much time on trying to work more and work better that I’d forgotten how to not work.
Although I am still relearning how to do this, I cannot deny how nice it feels to rest and let go of the stress that comes with work thoughts.
I implemented a simple practice: at 6 pm every day I sit down and outline my work for the next day. Afterwards, I allow myself not to think about work.
After implementing this practice, I have been able to enjoy other activities a lot more.
Since my work for the day is already mapped out, I can spend my evening and morning freely and calmly.
This has given me energy to push forward when it’s time for more effortful activities.
Funnily enough, after doing this for a while, my mind started to sometimes drift towards work questions even in my moments of rest.
Except now it was not in the tense, anxious way that it used to be, but in a relaxed, calm, and curious manner.
I have been allowing this type of drifting because on occasion it helps me think through problems, and can in fact be very enjoyable.
What does this all mean
I’m not suggesting you ignore techniques for improving your productivity directly.
Working on focus is important, as is picking the right work to do, writing down your tasks, scheduling, etc.
However, keep in mind that just because you can’t observe a direct impact between two activities doesn’t mean they’re unrelated.
How do you know if they are? Well you can’t, not without trying it out for yourself — you have to experiment.
That’s not a cosy answer, I know — it’s feels much nicer to be told exactly what you need to do — but it’s the truth.
I would suggest looking for things that improve you general health and well-being, since I’ve found they can improve your productivity indirectly as well.
Sleep, diet, moderate exercise, and socializing are a good start, but there are also other activities, specific to your condition, that will serve you better.
And I don’t think I need to mention the obvious side effect to doing this — you start living a better life.
This might be the most generic productivity article I have — and will — ever write. Leave a comment or get in touch to let me know how helpful or useless it was.
Attention is a valuable resource. Thank you for investing yours with me.
This article is part 6 of my 50 Bad Articles initiative, where I write 50 crappy articles in 50 days, in an attempt to kickstart my writing journey.
