Does it ever seem like there’s a clock in your brain that wakes you at the same time each morning and sends you to sleep at night? No worries, we all have it ticking. Its scientific name is the circadian rhythm. And it regulates the cycles of alertness and tiredness you experience over a 24-hour period.
It’s no secret that hydration has an impact on your physical health. But just how crucial is it for your cognitive function? Like all influencing factors revealed in our journeys out of The Productivity Box, hydration has an unexpected effect as well. If you don’t hydrate enough on a daily basis, you may find your performance at work is affected in many ways.
Procrastination is the archenemy of productivity. Some people waste hours and hours just avoiding the task they will eventually have to do anyhow. This goes from students who delay the moment they start working on their homework, up to top professionals who are overwhelmed by the amount of work in front of them. The purpose of this article is to provide helpful advice to better understand procrastination and how to overcome it.
Many companies nowadays emphasize the importance of talent. They are driving on the idea that a few top employees are responsible for most of the overall success. However, most recent productivity studies have shown that even those shining superstars need the help of a strong team in order to succeed. Therefore, the importance of teamwork is emphasized more and more, with companies spending millions on team building strategies.
To stay productive despite being tired is an often-recurring challenge. We’ve all been there. For whatever reason, we feel tired yet we have to work. Having to deal with the consequences of not getting enough sleep is one thing. Add to this feeling exhausted, anxious or burned out. Sometimes it is work pressure that does it.
Without reservation, prolonged wakefulness is today’s second-hand smoking. Yes, this has much to do with sleep deprivation. Prolonged wakefulness means that we are not getting enough sleep. In fact, most people sleep far less than they should. And this can have significant impacts on cognitive performance. We also overindulge on coffee, and spend far too many hours sitting on a chair. We procrastinate, misuse breaks, don’t breathe right and have all sorts of productivity issue. Despite all of this, we often find ourselves in an odd situation. We need to stay productive while tired.
Every work day finds us focusing on our projects, striving to meet deadlines and finish tasks before we leave the office. But that’s not all we do, is it? We also spend a lot of time helping teammates who need our advice and input. Most often, we’re eager to help. But at the end of the day, when we realize we didn’t meet that deadline or we’re not even half way through that critical task, we have mixed feelings. Helping teammates felt good, but it took too much of our time and energy, and we neglected our work.
So, what motivates us to jump in and help, and how can we do it while staying productive?
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Have you ever wondered how to really improve your team’s productivity? If you’re past the point of trying to fix workflows and test new tools, then this article is for you. It will teach you how culture impacts productivity and what you can change in your organization to build a team of productive, results-driven professionals.
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Have you ever wondered how much value you would get if you simply improved your productivity by 1%? According to the British cycling team, 1% can mean a lot more than you’d ever expect.
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I’ve been using this simple, yet highly effective method for a long time.
Of all the anti-procrastination techniques out there, the Pomodoro technique has helped me the most to overcome difficult moments, from lack of motivation to the old writer’s block. So I decided to learn more about the science behind its success. Here’s what I found.
Image Source: pomodorotechnique.com