Are you hungry to kick some goals? Me too…

So, let’s cook up some productivity!

This recipe is for those who struggle to focus, have 1 million thoughts buzzing around in their mind, have goals but struggle to get started, and have a habit of putting tasks in the ‘maybe later’ pile.

If so, then chances are you’re a perfectionist or, in other words, a procrastinator.

What is procrastination? It can be described as overwhelming yourself with all possible things that need to be done to start or complete something: a task, a project, writing a blog post, cleaning the car. Etc

If you don’t want to start a project until the stars have aligned, you have the perfect tool to start the job, the perfect day to feel inspired, and you had a perfect sleep the night before; you’re a perfectionist.

If you’re a perfectionist, you’re also a procrastinator (unless your life is always perfect).

If you experience any resistance, you’re no longer living in a perfect moment; you get distracted with easier and less important things, and then there’s a strike added to the ‘do it later’ scoreboard.

Even as I sit here at 6:30 am writing this story, my mind is already trying to find a way to do other things and maybe “come back to writing this later in the day when you’re not feeling as tired and have had some coffee”.

Writing this comes at the perfect time, as these past couple of weeks (due to sickness) have been the least productive in a while, so I hope this brings you as much value as it will to me.

Before we begin with the recipe details, it's essential to understand that your journey towards being productive might not always be smooth sailing.

There will be days when you may face challenges, and things may not go as planned. However, as long as you keep taking small steps, you're making progress and moving forward.

Remember, every tiny step counts towards achieving your goal.

Ingredients

• Alarm Clock

• Journal, notepad or laptop

• Timer — I recommend pomofocus.io

• Glass of water

• Optional: cup of coffee

Method

1. Set your alarm clock

The time doesn’t matter; make sure you get enough sleep and give yourself enough time in the morning (30 minutes) to work on something. This means choosing a bedtime and a wake-up time. How many hours of sleep you need is up to you; I aim for 8hrs; some days it’s 7hrs, others it’s 7.5hrs.

Consistency matters; you can be lazy on weekends if you want to.

I head to bed between 21:30 and 22:00, and my Alarm is set for 05:50

This gives me enough time to work and write content, feed the cats, prepare breakfast for my Wife and me, shower, and prepare for the office.

2. Wake up and drink water

Once that alarm goes off, as dark as it is outside and as comfortable and warm as your bed may feel, you have a decision to make.

If you opt for the former, then stop reading.

But if you chose the latter, congratulations; you just decided that your day will be a winning day.

Walk to the kitchen and immediately fill a large glass with water and drink as much as possible. Dehydration affects physical performance, so if you’re hydrated, you’ll be energised.

3. Get to work immediately

Yes, you heard that correctly; get straight into it.

Optional: have your coffee prepped and ready to go.

Note regarding coffee: I recommend trying to avoid caffeine at least 60 minutes after waking up; I wrote a story that mentions the benefits of delaying your morning coffee here.

Grab your notepad, journal, laptop, or preferred work apparatus, start a 25-minute pomofocus.io timer, and begin working on your project or goal.

You may not know what you want to start working on yet; that’s why I suggest grabbing a journal and writing out what is on your mind, listing all the things you would like to accomplish or skills to improve. Just write whatever thoughts pop into your head. Building a daily habit can help you identify tasks to work on.

4. Get your chores done

After you’ve spent time working, decide if you should continue or stop, whatever you have time for.

You’ll likely have enough flow state energy to last a couple of hours; if you can, go for it; otherwise, get your morning chores done, whatever they are, to keep your house in order.

Flow state draws a lot of brain power, so it’s important to recharge after your morning stint; otherwise, this can lead to burnout. More on that below.

My chores include:

• Unpacking the dishwasher

• Feeding the cats

• Prepping and eating breakfast

• Tidying up the lounge room or kitchen

• Making my morning coffee

• Hot/Cold shower combo and get ready for the office

5. Meditate

I’m a big believer in mindfulness meditation practice. This helps to get your mind back into a focused state, to be present at the moment and allows your brain to recharge and enter a flow state later in the day.

It is effortless to become sidetracked by your mobile phone, send friends messages, and browse social media. Practising mindfulness will enable you to deal with these distractions more deliberately. You can think and decide whether it is truly necessary to indulge in a social media death scroll.

That's not to say you shouldn’t check your phone and catch up on chats. With a mindful mind, you’ll be more aware of the important chats that are worth your time in that moment.

Many types of mindfulness meditations are available for free on YouTube, but if you have a preferred platform, open the app and search for a 10–15 min mindfulness session.

I set a timer for 10 minutes, sit on the couch in a comfy position and focus purely on my breath, paying attention to the breathing in and out sensations, the feeling of air in and out of the nose and the rising sensations in the belly.

Whenever my mind starts to wander (which it will), I pause and slowly focus on the breath again.

6. Back to work

The rest of the day is up to you, depending on your current work situation. Simply go back to working on your projects, head to the office, read a book and repeat the same process of taking recharge breaks in between.

If you are like me and work a 9 to 5, this is the point I travel to the office. I normally listen to a podcast or some nice music — whatever I’m in the mood for.

Once I arrive at the office, I’m back into focussed mode. I try to cut out distractions by wearing headphones, and I’ll set another pomofocus.io timer and bang out some more tasks. Take a short 5–10 min break and get back to it.

Conclusion

There’s a pattern to the productivity cycle here.

Work — recharge — work — recharge — work — recharge

This recipe helps to keep your brain at its peak performance state. You don’t need to do a series of actions and exercises to get your brain prepped for work; after you wake up, your brain enters theta waves, which is perfect for flow state focus.

I hope it works well for you and you can kick some goals.

Don’t forget the recharge breaks!

Thank you