Have you ever thought what your current habits are? Regardless of good or bad, everybody has habits. Do you make up your bed on a daily basis? When exactly do you do it? How much salt do you put in your food? How many hours do you work a day? What is your morning routine? What things do you always do without giving them much thought? These are your habits, that is, your routine practices.
We have habits basically to save mental energy. After repeating a task for several times (or 21 days, as some theories have stated), our mind learns to do the same automatically. This action becomes a behavior we perform by default such as taking a bath, driving home or washing your teeth. These are certain things that we learned to do a long time ago and we have repeated so many times that we can already do them effectively without even thinking.
But why is this relevant? Well, this is essential for our productivity, both at a personal and business level. In his book “Atomic Habits” James Clear explains that the most productive and successful persons are not the ones with the strongest force of will, but those who less put it to test. This means that if we always depend on our force of will to achieve our goals, this force of will may fail at any time as it goes hand in hand with our mood, which may change. By contrast, automatic tasks or habits are ways to hack or set up our brain to perform tasks without thinking.
Below are 7 ways to benefit from the power of habits in order to improve your productivity both in your personal life and at work.
1) Redesign your space: The design of the space we use to work or live is essential to determine what we are going to do in it. For example, if you have a cookie jar on your nightstand and another one containing almonds that remains in the kitchen cabinet behind all the spices, what do you think you will eat more often? In the book there is a very good example on how to take advantage of this. If you would like to read more before going to sleep, putting a book over your pillow when making up your bed in the morning might be a good idea. This way, when you come back home there will be a book waiting for you when it is time to go to bed.
2) Make it obvious: This will lead us to the second advice, which consists in making an obvious sign. If you have to take some vitamins every day after breakfast, it is more likely that you will remember this if you leave the vitamins can over the eating counter instead of keeping them inside your gym bag.
3) Make it simple: On the other hand, if you would like to exercise more over the week, it is more likely that you will go to a gym located along the route between home and your office, compared to another that is located across town. And you will score double if you carry your gym apparel with you in the car, as this will prevent you from going back home and changing your clothes at risk of getting distracted with something else.
4) Make it rewarding: If you do not like tidying up your home/office but you still have to do it, maybe it is a good idea to start doing it while listening to your favorite music or any interesting audio-book that can help you find some motivation. This will help you turn this time into something pleasant and make you start associating the task of organizing your space with something you actually like.
5) Make it appealing: Let’s say that you would like to start using a hardcopy planner to take note of your most important meetings and appointments. It is more likely that you would use your new planner if you buy one that you think looks nice instead of using the ugly agenda you received as a gift from the supermarket and is full of logos and product ads.
6) Be specific: In order to create a new habit, it is important to establish when and how it will happen, as if we leave it open, we might never do it. For example, if you would like to meet with your work team every week for results follow-up, the best way to do so is to agree upon a specific day of the week and specific time for that meeting, even always using the same channel for the video meeting, rather than leaving it open for a time when everybody is available, or doing it sometimes as a face-to-face meeting, other times by Zoom, others by Google Meet, etc.
7) Have a space for each thing: This is key for teleworkers. It is important to have a space exclusively intended for working and a different one for rest. For example, if you are able to use a separate room as office space, this would be ideal so that your bedroom remains used for rest only. If your home is very small, you can still use a desk to work and your bed to rest, since our brain associates places with the activities we do there, which helps us prepare for work or rest.
These are some of the most effective practices we have used as entrepreneurs in the translation and interpretation business in order to reach both our personal and professional goals while also achieving a balanced life. We encourage you to try them and find out that they can also adjust to your lifestyle and work routine.
7 Ways to Benefit From your Habits for Enhanced Productivity
Have you ever thought what your current habits are? Regardless of good or bad, everybody has habits. Do you make up your bed on a daily basis? When exactly do you do it? How much salt do you put in your food? How many hours do you work a day? What is your morning routine? What things do you always do without giving them much thought? These are your habits, that is, your routine practices.
We have habits basically to save mental energy. After repeating a task for several times (or 21 days, as some theories have stated), our mind learns to do the same automatically. This action becomes a behavior we perform by default such as taking a bath, driving home or washing your teeth. These are certain things that we learned to do a long time ago and we have repeated so many times that we can already do them effectively without even thinking.
But why is this relevant? Well, this is essential for our productivity, both at a personal and business level. In his book “Atomic Habits” James Clear explains that the most productive and successful persons are not the ones with the strongest force of will, but those who less put it to test. This means that if we always depend on our force of will to achieve our goals, this force of will may fail at any time as it goes hand in hand with our mood, which may change. By contrast, automatic tasks or habits are ways to hack or set up our brain to perform tasks without thinking.
Below are 7 ways to benefit from the power of habits in order to improve your productivity both in your personal life and at work.
1) Redesign your space: The design of the space we use to work or live is essential to determine what we are going to do in it. For example, if you have a cookie jar on your nightstand and another one containing almonds that remains in the kitchen cabinet behind all the spices, what do you think you will eat more often? In the book there is a very good example on how to take advantage of this. If you would like to read more before going to sleep, putting a book over your pillow when making up your bed in the morning might be a good idea. This way, when you come back home there will be a book waiting for you when it is time to go to bed.
2) Make it obvious: This will lead us to the second advice, which consists in making an obvious sign. If you have to take some vitamins every day after breakfast, it is more likely that you will remember this if you leave the vitamins can over the eating counter instead of keeping them inside your gym bag.
3) Make it simple: On the other hand, if you would like to exercise more over the week, it is more likely that you will go to a gym located along the route between home and your office, compared to another that is located across town. And you will score double if you carry your gym apparel with you in the car, as this will prevent you from going back home and changing your clothes at risk of getting distracted with something else.
4) Make it rewarding: If you do not like tidying up your home/office but you still have to do it, maybe it is a good idea to start doing it while listening to your favorite music or any interesting audio-book that can help you find some motivation. This will help you turn this time into something pleasant and make you start associating the task of organizing your space with something you actually like.
5) Make it appealing: Let’s say that you would like to start using a hardcopy planner to take note of your most important meetings and appointments. It is more likely that you would use your new planner if you buy one that you think looks nice instead of using the ugly agenda you received as a gift from the supermarket and is full of logos and product ads.
6) Be specific: In order to create a new habit, it is important to establish when and how it will happen, as if we leave it open, we might never do it. For example, if you would like to meet with your work team every week for results follow-up, the best way to do so is to agree upon a specific day of the week and specific time for that meeting, even always using the same channel for the video meeting, rather than leaving it open for a time when everybody is available, or doing it sometimes as a face-to-face meeting, other times by Zoom, others by Google Meet, etc.
7) Have a space for each thing: This is key for teleworkers. It is important to have a space exclusively intended for working and a different one for rest. For example, if you are able to use a separate room as office space, this would be ideal so that your bedroom remains used for rest only. If your home is very small, you can still use a desk to work and your bed to rest, since our brain associates places with the activities we do there, which helps us prepare for work or rest.
These are some of the most effective practices we have used as entrepreneurs in the translation and interpretation business in order to reach both our personal and professional goals while also achieving a balanced life. We encourage you to try them and find out that they can also adjust to your lifestyle and work routine.
Remember to tell us about your results.
3One reply to “7 Ways to Benefit From your Habits for Enhanced Productivity”
Laura Daniela
Great content!!