A Health-First Approach to Productivity

Note: This article first appeared in the Association of MBAs.

Photo Credit: Luke Michael

Productivity is a dangerous word.

As someone who has taught business leaders how to squeeze more value out of every day, I have seen firsthand how this approach can lead to both dramatically increased results and a penchant for neglecting the very source of those results — your own health.

A few years ago, I fell in love with running long distances. I prioritized daily workouts, green smoothies, and making time to get out of the office and into the woods.

As my health improved, so did my desire to scale my business. My energy and enthusiasm slowly began to pivot as I focused my best hours of the day into finding new clients, producing more content, and attempting to keep up with other more successful entrepreneurs.

The pace of work increased. Working eight hours a day no longer sufficed, so I worked 10, 12, or even 14. I voluntarily opted in to more work and continued to reduce my time for exercise until it ultimately fell off my priority list completely.

This isn’t a new phenomenon.

Work often wins, especially when competing against activities that fail to clearly produce a higher quarterly profit.

The irony is that as we continue to choose work over working out, we increasingly reduce our ability to sustain the results we are striving so hard to produce.

Last year I found myself in a busy work season, one that was generating great outcomes, which only bolstered my inclination to work longer and harder.

I slowly began to experience increased anxiety, mild panic attacks, and a growing sense of fear as my workload had no clear end in sight. While working late one night, the stress peaked, and I clenched my tightening chest. I was nauseous, light-headed, finding it hard to breathe, and was convinced I was having a heart attack.

I was rushed to the Emergency Room where I was told that as a young healthy man I had suffered from a stress-induced muscle spasm, fortunately, not the dangerous heart attack I feared.

This wakeup call was more than I needed to re-adopt healthy habits, refocus my efforts, and reprioritize every bit of work I had committed to over the years.

Striking a balance between taking care of yourself first, and your most important work second, is the key to sustainable success.

Though it may appear counterintuitive, adopting a health-first approach is the most effective strategy for increased productivity in your business.

Consider the following strategies as you adopt your own health-first approach.

1. Workout First

Early mornings are an ideal time to prioritize that which you would likely procrastinate later in the day. For most busy executives and entrepreneurs, this is the only time of day you may have available for the vigorous exercise your body needs.

If you find it challenging to guarantee time for a daily workout, consider rising an hour earlier. There are fewer distractions at sunrise, and you will likely see a boost in your energy all day long from a powerful early morning exercise session.

2. Clarify the Vital Few

Ensuring adequate time for health-related activities is not as challenging as it may appear. In your business, as well as your health, there are only a handful of activities that produce the vast majority of the results.

The key is knowing those vital few activities and prioritizing them over everything else. Once you know what matters, the only remaining challenge is execution. Schedule your vital few tasks and let the calendar dictate your success.

3. Cut Extraneous Work

We all do things we never need to do. I refer to this superfluous work as nonsense. Anytime we complete a task that is unnecessary, we are wasting the few precious hours we have available each day.

Being busy is not a badge of honor, and it is all too common to confuse activity with true productivity. In your quest to achieve greater health and business prosperity focus on doing less, eliminating any and all extraneous tasks.

4. Break for Mental Rejuvenation

Stress is a mental game. When we overbook our calendar and commit to too many activities, we carry the burden of our busyness in our head.

Spend a few minutes each day clearing your mind through meditation, yoga, or quiet time. Achieving breakthroughs, or intuitive leaps in your work, is significantly easier with a stress-free mind that is open to brainstorming, dreaming, and casting a greater vision of success.

5. Remove Not-So-Obvious Barriers

Stop going to meetings. Alternatively, set a strict time limit on the meetings you attend. In many office environments, meetings are cited as the greatest distraction to individual productivity.

Getting more done, especially in regard to complex projects, is dependent on having access to large blocks of focused time. Distractions like meetings or other work-related events that sound good on paper, but fail to provide tangible results, can be replaced with batches of focused time for your most critical tasks.

6. Schedule Rhythmic Work Flows

The word ‘hustle’ is often used as a moniker for slaving away 24/7 and is often touted as the solution to goal achievement. Hustle leads to burnout. Rhythm leads to sustainability and fresh new ideas.

The balance between health and productivity can be described as an ideal rhythm of crunch and release. You bury your head in the sand and achieve as much as possible, followed up with an intentional break from your work as you prioritize self-care.

7. When in Doubt, Start Over

The conclusion of a busy work season, before the next one begins, is an ideal time to reflect and restructure your systems.

Starting from scratch provides the best opportunity to begin again more intelligently, especially if your goal is to schedule your time in a way you have never done before.

If I was forced to choose between my health and the success of my business, I would choose my health because I know that this simple decision will directly lead to increased business success over time.

Productivity can be a dangerous word, but you have the power to reshape how you approach each and every day to achieve your greatest ambitions. Adopt a health-first approach and you will, by default, find yourself adopting a highly productive business at the same time.