6 Habits You Can Implement Today To 10x Your Productivity

We’re all after a quick fix these days.

And with good reason. We’re all so damned busy.

Actually, we’re probably no busier than we’ve ever been but there’s more noise assaulting us from all sides.

So if you’re down on time, resources, the will to fight back, make one of these habits your friend today and see if you notice any difference to your life.

None of them requires any more than 10 minutes and the impact on you and others could be substantial.

What have you got to lose?

The Daily Habits

1. Met-Con When You Get Changed After Work

You spend the day rushing from meeting-to-meeting, call-to-call. You barely have time to follow up the actions from the meeting.

Then you get the missus on the phone asking when you’ll be back because she’s had a tough day with the little ‘un.

And you want to help. Of course you do.

You’d also love to get to the gym but you’re actually too beaten up from the lack of sleep. And that’s before thinking when you’re gonna schedule it between dinner, bathtime, bedtime and on it goes.

But you also know that you function better with a little exercise. You know that your physiology controls your psychology.

So what can you do? How can you carve out a window that serves you AND everybody else.

Well, when you’re changing out of your suit (assuming you still live in the 1980’s and wear a suit to work) and do one of these two routines:

A: 7 Minute EMOM – 10 push-ups, 10 squats

B: 5 Minute EMOM – 7 Burpees

You don’t have an hour at the gym? I get that completely. I’ve been there.

But you’re telling me you don’t have 5 minutes?!

I don’t care who you are, 35 burpees is a workout.

And so is 70 push-ups and 70 squats [if it’s too easy, add 2 push-ups and 5 squats per minute – these numbers ain’t set in stone].

Oh, and EMOM is ‘every minute on the minute’.

2. Meditate For 10 Minutes Every Day

I’m onto this right now.

It looms large in this information age. It’s necessary to protect against the digital armageddon that will come.

By the way, do you ever notice how the ‘information age’ is never called the ‘knowledge age’?

There’s more information than ever and yet people are getting less clever and thinking less for themselves.

Funny, huh?

Here are some guided mediations from Tara Brach who featured on the Tim Ferriss podcast.

3. Set Up A Direct Debit To A Charity That’s Important To You

There are so many people who need help – people living on less than $1 a day, animals being inhumanely treated and then slaughtered – 25,000 dogs a year are destroyed in New South Wales, Australia.

And doing this makes you feel good. It’s a win, win.

I buy some mosquito nets every month that help fight Malaria. It’s a straight-up deduction from my bank account.

Should I give more? Hell, yes, of course.

But some is better than none.

Try this, it really works on a number of levels.

Once you’ve started and seen that $100 a month makes diddly squat difference to your standard of living, keep upping the number until you’re at 10% of your take-home pay.

If you’re concerned about ensuring your donation reaches those who need it most (which is one of the main inhibitors that stop people donating to charities), check out this site http://www.givewell.org/

4. Swap Coffee For Green Tea

For 1 week swap your second (or third) daily coffee for a tea. See what happens.

5. Take 6 Fish Oil Capsules & 1 Tumeric Extract Pill

No-lose supplements and amongst the only ones worthy of your dollars.

Science seems to support tumeric being a king amongst spices. Check out what it can help you with:

6. Leave Your Phone In Your Desk Drawer When You Go To Lunch

I’ve hammered this to death so much I’m boring myself.

But do this for 1 week and see what happens. My guess is: nothing.

Which means you’re spending 5 hours per week not being such a tool and giving yourself the chance to take a different perspective and slowly start to cut the cord of dependency.

Bonus Ideas

7. Write Down 3 New Ideas

I’m going to stake a wild guess that independent thinking is probably declining across the world compared to years ago.

I know, I know, it’s a zany idea.

“What technological advances?” you’re thinking. “What about Facebook? That was a new idea.”

Well, yeah, I guess.

About five people had an idea that 1 billion people all use the same tool to communicate.

Is that free-thinking? I’m not sure.

Even if your job doesn’t require you to think too much, but rather follow processes and protocols that masquerade as some kind of intellectual thinking, then it’s not a bad idea to keep your hand in with coming up with creative and original ideas.

It can’t be, can it.

Earl Nightingale talks about writing down 5 new ideas every weekday which will give you 25 new ideas per week.

Even if they’re garbage, you’re keeping the cogs turning and using your brain in a different way, which can’t be a bad thing.

Task: Sit down right now with a pen and some paper and give yourself 10 minutes to write down 5 ideas on absolutely anything. See what you can come up with.

8. Hang From A Bar Or Get Upside Down

Hanging from a chin-up bar allows your back to fall into some kind of natural alignment which is especially helpful if you’ve been hunched over a desk all day.

Try 15 or 30 seconds of hanging with the same rest period for 3-4 or more sets.

If you can combine this with getting inverted (i.e. kicking up into a handstand against a wall) then even better. Holding a handstand increases shoulder stability and if you can get your body into the ‘hollow rock’ position you’ll be working your core into proper alignment, too.

Conclusion

Hopefully there’s something actionable for you in this lot.

If you’ve got all of these down, then there’s plenty of scope to up the ante: train harder, give more away, be more creative.

None of this is finite.

SFD