5 Mindful Wellness Tips to Increase Your Work Productivity

As technology increases and we have instant access to virtually anything we want to know about, it’s becoming more important to establish ways to tame your mind and help yourself stay focused. In a busy world, where we all are trying to work and survive, we need healthy routines to help us manage stress and keep ourselves operating efficiently.

Developing mindfulness has been a proven way to become more successful, creative, and engaged in life. Some of the best known entrepreneurs, like Steve Jobs and Oprah, contribute a lot of their success to their meditation practice and yoga routine. As we implement more mindfulness and begin to become aware of our state and our actions, we can also take measures to improve how we feel and help ourselves create a life we enjoy.

Everything begins with our own ability to learn to shift out of stress and fear, and cultivate more balance, peace, and wellbeing within us and around us. Learning to control our mentality and the unconscious thoughts that drive us helps shift our attitudes and behaviors. As we become more flexible in the mind, it helps open us to more opportunities, perspectives, and helps us worry less so we can focus more on things that matter.

Life becomes more enjoyable, and work becomes more satisfying the more we are able to enjoy ourselves and create value in what we are doing.

It’s a myth that the longer you work, the harder you work.

Yet, many people still believe that to be a better worker it means sitting and being at work longer. Actually, by being able to become more resourceful and sharpen our minds we can become more productive and get more done in less time.

Here are five mindful tips to help increase productivity in the workplace:

Consider How You Spend Your Energy

There are many hours in a day. We all can start to use our time in better ways by making the most of every hour. Schedule your day, write down your priorities, and be diligent in how you use utilize your hours. Becoming aware of how you personally operate best, can help you develop positive patterns that increase your work efficiency. For example, if you’re naturally more focused in the morning, plan to do work on challenging projects before lunch, and then schedule meetings in the afternoon. Begin to notice where in your day you waste time, perhaps suck energy reading and responding to emails, and consider how you can spend and organize your energy better.

Take Regular Breaks and Move Around

Movement, breathing, exercises, and taking a break from the screen can help your mind, body, and wellbeing. Sitting too long takes a toll on the body. You may notice yourself eating more, drinking more coffee, and having afternoon sweet cravings because your body is lacking energy and craving more movement. Be sure to take regular breaks at work. One helpful tip is to keep a large water bottle at your desk and drink it and fill it about every hour. This will keep your body stay hydrated and will force you to get up and disconnect from the screen. If possible, it’s great to get outside, take a walk around the block on a lunch break, and disengage from computers and cellphones for at least 15 minutes daily.

Minimize Distractions and Socializing

The biggest time suckers are those little things we often are not even aware we do. This can include spending time texting, chatting on Slack, or talking to a coworker about weekend plans and other stories. We can waste a lot of time when we are not fully in the moment and embracing the work in front of us. Often our mind can wander a million ways too, and we can reach for food and people to distract us from the task on hand. It’s good practice to have a way to silence the distractions to help yourself focus more. Putting on headphones, stashing your phone in a drawer, and even working someplace other than your desk can help your mind focus in the task at hand.

Create Healthy Habits and Fuel Your Body Well

We are sensitive human beings, and we are all affected by our environment and what we put into our body. Being glued to screens all day does not help our mind nervous system, or body naturally rebalance. Evaluate your daily habits and patterns and how you treat yourself. Loading up on too much caffeine can cause headaches and affect your adrenals, gut, and more. Be mindful of how you feel and what happens when you eat too much or perhaps have too much to drink at night. To keep our systems operating well, we all can learn to take better care of ourselves and make positive changes to improve how we show up at work, how we feel, and how we function.

Try Yoga and Meditation

There is a reason why mindfulness has become increasingly popular and many workplaces are helping their employees cultivate less stress and more mental and emotional health through meditation and yoga disciplines. Slowing down and taking time to tune into our body and silence our thoughts can help us cultivate peace and help us bring awareness to inner agitation and the limiting beliefs we have. Yoga helps us drop into our body and meditation helps us calm the mind so we can live more energized and act less out of habit and more with intent. Conscious breathing helps your whole system too, while improving digestion, and creating mental clarity that can help your mind stay sharp, focused, and centered.