Is anyone else sick of seeing social media personalities boasting their 5 a.m. morning routines? After a recent bout of wellness mania left me more stressed than ever, I realised that early mornings, two-hour daily workouts and grain-free diets aren't for everyone. If you're sick of sudden bursts of motivation followed by weeks of procrastination and burn-out, try these simple techniques to sleep better, get more done and lower your stress levels:
Brain dump before bed
Picture this: you're lying in bed, exhausted and ready to sleep when suddenly you remember that you forgot to send that email, or that you haven't replied to your friend's messages in a week, or that you didn't meal prep your lunch.
As a certified overthinker, this was a daily struggle for me, until I started a daily brain dump.
All you have to do is grab your diary (or journal if you still have some internalised misogyny about calling it a diary) and literally just dump everything you're thinking onto the page. Let a stream of consciousness flow with all of your worries and concerns. Don't try to make your words sound poetic, just vomit out all of your thoughts.
Doing this will make your concerns seem smaller and more manageable, but if you're still worried then you can make a to-do list for the following day so that you won't be afraid of forgetting anything while you sleep.
Organise your to-do list
Having one long list of daunting tasks can be...well...daunting. It's definitely led to procrastination and a lack of productivity in my case.
An easy fix for this which has significantly increased my productivity is simply splitting up my to-do list according to the time each task takes. On your journal or notes app create 3 sections, one for tasks which take less than 15 minutes, one for tasks which take between 15 to 30 minutes, and one for tasks which take over 30 minutes to complete.
File your tasks under each category accordingly and you'd be surprised at how much more you'll get done.
Skip out on the high intensity workouts
I spent years thinking that you can only lose weight or gain muscle with high intensity workouts that make you feel like you're in an army BootCamp. It turns out I could have saved myself a lot sweat and tears if I knew more about how the body reacts to high intensity exercise.
While high intensity exercise does improve your physical endurance, it also raises your cortisol levels and worsens symptoms of stress. This can lead to weight gain, digestive issues and trouble sleeping.
Switching to lower intensity (but still incredibly effective) workouts like pilates, yoga, barre and resistance training keeps your cortisol levels low and give you all the benefits of working out.
Do you have any realistic, easy productivity tips? Leave them in the comments below!
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