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How to Improve Your Productivity at Work - Business Guides
Take Control of Your Inbox
Know your computer. Understanding the capabilities of your computer will enhance your productivity.
- Set aside specific times every day to process email.
- Divide email into two groups: Those requiring quick responses and those needing thoughtful answers. Immediately deal with emails that require less than two minutes. Schedule a time to deal with the other emails.
- Identify the emails you're actively avoiding. Instead of procrastinating, respond in person or on the phone.
- Turn off notifications when you need 20 or 30 minutes to focus on something else.
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Key Ideas
Keep in sync with your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle
- Try to go to sleep and get up at the same time every day;
- Avoid sleeping in, even on weekends;
- Limit naps to 15 to 20 minutes in the early afternoon;
- Fight after-dinner drowsiness. If you get sleepy way before your bedtime, get off the couch and do something mildly stimulating.
Melatonin
Is a naturally occurring hormone controlled by light exposure that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycle.
Your brain secretes more melatonin when it’s dark, making you sleepy, and less when it’s light, making you more alert.
However, many aspects of modern life can alter your body’s production of melatonin and shift your circadian rhythm
Influence exposure to ligh
During the day:
- Expose yourself to bright sunlight in the morning.
- Spend more time outside during daylight.
- Let as much natural light into your home or workspace as possible.
At night:
- Avoid bright screens within 1-2 hours of your bedtime.
- Say no to late-night television.
- Don’t read with backlit devices.
- When it’s time to sleep, make sure the room is dark.
- Keep the lights down if you get up during the night.
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4-7-8 Breathing
- First, let your lips part. Exhaling completely through your mouth.
- Next, close your lips, inhaling silently through your nose as you count to 4.
- Then, for 7 seconds, hold your breath.
- Make another whooshing exhale from your mouth for 8 seconds.
This is one repetition. Try to do at least 4.
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Why You Should Take Breaks
- “Movement breaks” are essential for your physical and emotional health. A 5-minute walkabout break every hour can improve your health and well-being.
- Breaks can prevent “decision fatigue. Decision fatigue can lead to simplistic decision-making and procrastination.
- Breaks restore motivation, especially for long-term goals. "Deactivating and reactivating your goals allows you to stay focused."
- Breaks increase productivity and creativity. It refreshes the mind, replenishes your mental resources, and helps you become more creative.
- “Waking rest” helps consolidate memories and improve learning. During a rest period, it appears that the brain reviews and ingrains what it previously learned.
When Not to Take a Break
When you are in a state of “flow” it is not good to take a break.
“Flow” is characterized by complete absorption in the task, seemingly effortless concentration, and pleasure in the task itself.
Good Breaks
A “good break” will give that goal-oriented Prefrontal Cortex of yours a good rest by switching brain activity to another area.