The Most Important Tool in Your Wellbeing-Driven Productivity Toolkit
Wellbeing–driven productivity means adopting a wellbeing-first mindset.
It means looking after yourself and your needs before you do anything else. To do well, you need to be well (the fact that you end up being more productive is a bonus).
The most important tool in my wellbeing-driven productivity toolkit is (spoiler alert: it is not a fancy app) my calendar. Using a calendar effectively makes it much easier to prioritise your wellbeing. It sounds counterintuitive, but the key is to schedule everything.
If it is not on the calendar, it doesn't happen.
Here are some things you probably don't put on your calendar but maybe should consider:
Sleep hours – try adding your sleep hours to your calendar – it makes the time you have available to get everything else done very obvious.
Administration time – if colleagues can access your calendar and tend to book meetings without prior discussion, block out your admin time. Make it a priority.
Lunch break – add these to your calendar and honour them.
Other breaks – see above.
Time before and after meetings – you can use this for preparation and action (or, if you're me, mental preparation and recovery!)
Relaxation time – remember, if it is not on the calendar, it will not happen.
An interesting experiment is to conduct a one–week time study to examine how you spend your time. Read Laura Vanderkam's book, 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, or visit her website to learn more.
