Daily Habits for Better Focus and BOOST your Productivity

Cultivating, motivating, and above all protecting our mental health is one of (if not THE) the most important things to do in our lives. This requires us to regularly check in on ourselves, and be open to anything we might need to feel less stressed, more focused, and thus more productive and fulfilled.

For a long time, I struggled to eliminate some bad daily habits that not only wasted my time but also made me feel worse about myself. Habits like picking up the phone as soon as I woke up, filling my mind with thoughts, always checking social media, and many others, were distancing me from my goals and preventing me from growing as a person.

To cultivate a healthy mindset, you need habits that align with your vision and values. In this article, I'm going to share the habits that have helped me improve my mind by reducing stress and burnout and have improved my focus and mindfulness, increasing my productivity.

1. Meditation

As I said in the previous post on How to Overcome Burnout, meditation has long-term positive effects on our psychological well-being. This includes reducing stress and improving focus, as the main exercise in meditation is focusing only on your breathing.

This process has been helpful for me to start my day relaxed and prepared to focus on the important tasks of my day.

I use Tide to practice meditation.

2. Journal + Brain Dump

Journaling has been one of the most powerful and useful habits in my daily life. It helps me to clear my mind by putting down on paper all my conscious thoughts like how I feel and what my goals are.

For this, I've been using The Journal, MindJournal's journal that provides the structure and support you need to create the daily journaling habit that will transform your life.

This journal is perfect for beginners who don't know how to start writing, it has check-in tools for you to write down your feelings, set your intentions, track your achievements, practice gratitude, 30 life-changing exercises and are divided into 3 stages of self-discovery.

You can buy this journal using this link.

If you're short on time, you can do a brain dump. For this, I use Check-In Notepad, the best companion for The Journal in addition to being able to write down your feelings, intentions, and achievements, practice gratitude, you can also write down the tasks you need to do for the day.

Buy Check-In Notepad here.

3. Practice gratitude

Some studies have shown that practicing gratitude has resulted in modest improvements in people with depression and anxiety.

While just practicing gratitude probably won't change your life, it does help to look around us and savor the things that bring us comfort, no matter how small, and I believe you will attract good things into your life if you are grateful to the world.

Practicing gratitude is simple, just think about things that really bring you happiness like being able to buy the book you really wanted or even being in a specific place.

With The Journal, you can practice gratitude in the same place you journal!

4. Set daily intentions

As I said at the beginning of this post, if you don't take the time to check in regularly, you can feel a sense of disconnection from yourself and your goals. The more you avoid your own needs, the more overwhelmed you can become, resulting in burnout.

By setting your daily intentions, you are able to be more aware throughout the day and focus on yourself. Doing this takes no more than 5 minutes and keeps you more connected to your goals, wants, and needs.

On the day I am writing this article, my intentions are:

• Be disciplined during the day
• Don't stress about anything or anyone
• Start writing my article on habits of mind

Daily intentions can also be noted in The Journal.

5. Put your cell phone out of sight

Smartphones are currently a productivity black hole. They provide an endless stream of “delicious” information ready to consume our focus and thus our productivity.

Placing your phone out of sight (preferably in another room) will help you focus solely and exclusively on your current task, increasing your productivity.

It may take your brain some time to adjust to not having your phone strapped to your waist or desk, but trust me, this initial resistance is well worth overcoming.

6. Write down your distractions

Distractions will always be present, even if we put the phone far away, there can still be internal distractions like your brain reminding you that you need to go to the supermarket, in the middle of a reading.

For that, it's always good to have a pen and a notepad with you where you will write down all the distractions that can come to your mind - things you need to follow up on, tasks you can't forget, new ideas, and so on.

Pointing out your distractions will allow you to refocus permanently on the task at hand.

Adopting these habits will allow you to open and clear your mind, allowing you to focus on tasks that are truly important to you.