I tend to keep lists in my head - I have to force myself to get them on paper, which is why I’ve fallen in love with all things Moleskine. When these lists start to build up, they cause a cloud in my head that not only is unproductive, but kills all hope of the good things and ideas on the list of ever being realized.

Quite a while ago I found a few things that can affect you so much, but are so basic, you may be missing them without even knowing it. I’ll mention a few here and will expand on them in later posts.


1.) HYDRATION

This might seem ridiculous, but did you know that 75% of the population is severely dehydrated at any given time? Chances are, this includes you. I know for a fact that it included me everyday - and still does include me sometimes.

First lets address why this is important. L. Lee Coyne, Ph.D., a well known nutritional consultant said, “nearly all the bio-chemical reactions that occur in body cells depend on water…[water is] vital to maintaining life but also affects physical and mental performance.” So, we can safely say that how your brain would process information could be affected by dehydration.

Have you ever been really hydrated? If you have, you’ve probably experienced the odd sensation of every thought being extremely clear and deliberate. Oddly enough, not many people experience this even though it’s the way we’re supposed to be!

There is a wide range of suggestions out there about how much water you should drink, and what types of drinks count towards hydrating your body. I’m going to give you what works for me and you can adjust as needed.

First of all - I’m not going to tell you to stop drinking coffee. Coffee powers my mornings, it tastes good, it makes me comfortable, etc. Sure, caffeine could be better for you, but I’d be more concerned if it was the only chemical entering my body on a daily basis.

Ok, back to my drinking habits. Based on information I received many years ago from a very successful entrepreneur, as soon as I can after waking up, I suck down 8 ounces of water. I tend to start the day after that with a large coffee - this definitely does not count towards hydration. I keep a 32 ounce cup at my desk that I fill once before lunch, and once after. My goal is 2 glasses (64oz) before dinner, then another 16 ounces at night. This brings my daily water goal to 88 ounces per day.

I’m a 6′, 180lb guy - average build, 30 years old (next week). If anyone wants to bicker about how much I should actually be drinking, go ahead. Of course, I tend to drink a little more on days I workout - more posts about my kettlebell in the future.

Alright, enough about water. It’s possibly the most important part of mental clarity and productivity that almost all of us are missing.


2.) SLEEP SCHEDULE

I’ll tell you right off the top - this is VERY hard for me. I tend to do my writing at odd hours - whenever something hits me. My day-job is flexible enough that I can go in anywhere between 8-10:30 and leave… pretty much whenever. This doesn’t reinforce a good atmosphere for a sleep schedule.

However… it’s something we should all strive for. So how do we do it? I’ve read dozens of suggestions and tried most of them, but the one that seemed to really work (until thrown off by a random event) is the following:

The goal is to pick a time to get up in the morning, every morning… yes, even the weekend. This time (to start with) should be reasonable based on what time you already get up. If you’re getting up at 10am every day, don’t try getting up at 6am on a regular basis - but I bet 9:30 would be doable for you.

Ok, so you’ve picked your time. Now, contrary to most peoples beliefs, the way to do this is NOT to also set a time for bed. The truth is, your body does not need the same amount of sleep every night. However, once it learns that it’s going to be getting up at 6:30 (or whatever) every day, you’ll find yourself getting tired at exactly the right time.

Now the key here is to listen to your body at night. This will take some practice, because most of us aren’t really used to going to bed when our bodies tell us to. But in order for this to work, you have to do it. After the first week or so, it gets must easier.
In my case, I set my wake time for 6:30 and I’m automatically tired around 10:30 every night. Sometimes as early as 9, and sometimes as late as 11 - but when I stick with this program - I have a hard time believing how good I feel.


3.) SOME TYPE OF WORK OUT

Alright, we all know we need to work out - but here’s the deal. I’m not talking about working out to stay in shape - for that you should check out a diet site - I’m talking about a work out to get your blood pumping, which wakes up your brain.

This is directly tied into #1 (hydration), but it’s a fact that if you can just get out for a brisk walk, you’re going to kick-in your mind and be much more productive throughout the day.

Weeks where I don’t workout, I can tell by journaling that I was MUCH less productive that week than I typically am on weeks where I’ve worked out.

So Hydration, a Sleep Schedule, and doing some type of Work Out are the 3 basic things I believe that we all need in order to even BEGIN to become productive in any meaningful way. If you think you’re reasonably productive now but are missing one of these 3 things, give yourself a kick in the butt and see what you might really be capable of!

Keep an eye out for later posts when I’ll expand on these topics and we’ll dive into how to become productive even further.

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