When we think about productivity most of us think about our work responsibilities. However, we play many other roles in our lives – self (beyond work), spouse, parent etc. I believe if we start thinking about productivity across all the key roles we play in our daily lives it could help us lead happier and more fulfilling lives. For simplicity let’s call this holistic productivity. I do think holistic productivity is what we should try to optimize. I have mentioned a few ideas below which we can use to start thinking in terms of holistic productivity in our daily lives and hopefully optimize for it. 

1. Put all priorities (personal/work) on the calendar: This is one tip my mentor gave me and has helped improve my prioritization and productivity. Try taking out an hour on Sunday evening or first thing Monday morning to plan the priorities for the week. The key thing is these are not just work related but should include everything, professional and personal priorities. Once you have everything noted down, dedicate time for all the priorities on your calendar. Literally block timeslots on your calendar. For example, 6 to 6:30 pm each week day is blocked on my calendar to bring kids from the school/creche. Also add enough breaks in your routine in between tasks. Make it realistic. Icing on the cake is if you can review on Friday evening how you did in the week and carry forward learnings to next week. The feedback loop is something I haven’t been able to achieve yet.
2. Discipline in following the plan: This is not easy to achieve. Even if we have a plan, usually we tend to keep doing something we picked up until we are satisfied or exhausted. It requires lots of discipline but be ruthless in stopping a task when your calendar tells you. If you needed more time means you didn’t plan well enough. Don’t make other priorities and the day slip by going down a rabbit hole.  
3. (Try) to get up early: When I say early it is atleast 1-1.5 hours before others in your house wake up. If you have a family then this is possibly the best time you can spend with yourself. Whether you meditate, read, exercise or journal getting up early literally gives you a head start to your day. Key thing is to sleep on time. But as I said in my previous post I don’t think it is wise to do this at the cost of sleep or family time.
4. Start the day with priority but easy tasks: Some people might disagree with the approach but I start my day with priority but easier tasks just to gain momentum. I have realized picking up the biggest priority of the day as the first thing sometimes can demotivate you if you haven’t made progress. Therefore, I switched to first gaining a bit of momentum before taking on the bigger beasts. And it has worked well. But I am open to hearing other ideas on this one.
5. Walking meetings: For people working from home, there is atleast 1-2 meetings in the day where you don’t need to actively write or be on video. Consider taking such meetings while walking. This allows you to include movement in an otherwise sedentary day. Helps you get closer to the daily step count target. Holistic productivity!

In my opinion the next four points are the most critical in improving long term productivity but sometimes we don’t prioritize these in our daily lives since the change is slower and correlation with results are not immediately visible. I will write more about each of these areas in my upcoming posts. 

1. Meditation: Just 10-15 minutes of mediation can improve your calmness and focus during the day. Again, some days the benefits will be clearly visible while on other days not. But persisting with daily meditation has immense long term benefits.
2. Sleep: Our body needs 6-8 hours of sleep. You will always hear people saying I can survive with 4-5 hours of daily sleep. There is enough scientific evidence which demonstrates the short term and long term health risks of not getting adequate sleep. Don’t compromise sleep regularly to get more done in the day. If you observe closely not sleeping well will mostly lead to a less focused therefore less productive mind.
3. Exercise: Include some kind of physical workout (walk, yoga, running, cycling etc.) 4-6 times a week. Besides the overwhelming scientific evidence, you will yourself see the difference in mood and energy levels after an exercise session.
4. Nutrition: In my opinion nutrition is a hugely neglected area in our daily lives. But the timing, amount and kind of nutrition we have during the day has impact on our mood, focus and energy levels. Therefore, our nutrition directly impacts productivity and we don’t even realize it. Be mindful of what you eat and try reducing processed food and including more fruits and vegetables in your diet.