How To Beat Winter Laziness and Increase Your Productivity
If you can’t get out of bed, you’re not alone. Try these tips to survive the tiredness.
During winter, the days are shorter and the sunlight is barely visible. It is proven that sunlight directly affects our levels of productivity and happiness. It influences the production of melatonin, the night hormone responsible for sleep. If we don’t get enough sunlight exposure when we wake up, our bodies can continue producing this hormone which makes us feel sleepy and tired all day long.
I barely can wake up in the morning during winter no matter how many hours I slept the previous night, and for a long time, I thought something was wrong with me.
If you’re experiencing that as well or even don’t feel like doing anything and just want to spend the whole day crawling in your bed, there is nothing wrong with you. It’s just winter laziness.
From what we learned so far, it is crucial to get enough sunlight whenever you can be it sitting near the window or going out for a walk. It is also important to get some good sleep at night to help improve your biological clock’s functioning, keep your body warm, and eat foods that give you energy.
In the next part of this article, I’ll share with you some other tips that can help you be more productive:
1. Focus on what matters the most:
On days when you don’t have that much energy to accomplish a hundred tasks from your to-do list and “change the world”, just focus on accomplishing the most important one. Narrow down your expectations, set your priorities, and use your energy and focus wisely. Here’s a concise action plan:
1. Set one small thing to do each day.
2. Get yourself on your desk and start actually doing it.
3. Repeat the same process for tomorrow and the day after until it becomes a habit.
I know it might sound simple, but it’s not easy. My mind still tries to escape that small action. I can find myself doing the dishes or thinking about turning on my favorite series. But, once I start, I‘m actually doing it; I’m working. You may find the 2 minutes rule helpful. It states that starting a new habit takes only 2 minutes no more. It is surely not enough to get to your end result immediately, but start with small steps, and the big ones will follow; just start!
2. Cut your inner demon self-criticism:
If your mind keeps telling you that your worth is measured by how much you’re doing or what you’re doing, nothing you do will ever be enough, and doing less or even taking a rest can open a room for your inner criticism to beat you up.
Don’t take me wrong, I’m not encouraging you to procrastinate or wait for things to get done magically. But, constantly thinking about and dwelling on the things that you’re supposed to do and that you didn’t accomplish drains your energy especially when it’s a never-ending and an ever-going theme in your life. People that have the limiting belief “I’m not good enough” tend to overwork and move from one thing to another constantly and still blame themselves simply because what they’re doing is not enough. What I invite you to do is:
1. Be aware of when you’re criticizing yourself.
2. Try to understand the reason behind it and its relationship to your limiting beliefs.
3. Choose to be more gentle with yourself.
3. Do something that makes you feel good daily:
Exercise daily, have a walk in nature, read a book, dance, meditate, do some yoga, etc. Find that little practice that enhances your mood and make it a habit. I did yoga for 20 days in a row and I can’t emphasize enough how it did affect my mood and motivation. 30 minutes each day meeting myself and moving as I love me. It was the practice by which I either start my day to get motivated and work on my goals or end it to calm down my mind and reaffirm to myself that I’m there for me no matter how the day went or how the next day would go.
Showing up for yourself daily can increase your happiness levels and thus your productivity.
4. Set your own definition for productivity:
What is productivity either way? I just want you to consciously examine your definition.
- Is it about getting more things done or maybe doing them effectively?
- Is it linked to doing some physical activity?
- Does it involve getting out of the house?
- Is this definition useful for you now, or is it something that helped you in the past?
Reading multiple articles or books on productivity hacks and techniques each day won’t get you anywhere. I’m sorry, but I don’t see any value in adopting other people’s ideas that might or might not be true but are incompatible with you either way. Imagine being told that you should wake up at 6 am, don’t check your phone, and exercise for a whole hour to have a productive day, and then you wake up the next morning feeling like trash because you didn’t do any of this bullshit. Let’s face it: what worked for others will not necessarily work for you! I believe that each one of us has a personal definition of productivity.
The good news is you’re never too late to change the definition or maybe even get out of it, get over it in whatever way that means to you.
5. Honour your energy flow:
Your energy level is supposed to be neither uniform and constant each hour and each day nor aligned with anybody’s energy. The most obvious example of that is night owls and morning people, two different types that experience extremely different productivity and energy levels during the day.
Try to take advantage of the times you have a high energy level to accomplish your work and allow yourself to take a rest when needed.
6. Accept it:
It is said that what you resist persists. So, instead of resisting or trying to fight it, just accept it. It’s happening, it’s there, and it’s true. Remember that You become a better surfer when you accept that a wave can crush you. When you neutralize your feelings towards your urge to do nothing, you become one step closer to changing it and choosing to do something that matters to you.
To end this article, I’ll give you my secret tip: take a nap. Even though winter days are shorter, I manage to get my nap almost every day. That helps me manage my energy and be more productive for the rest of the day. Think of it as a way of resetting. Lately, I discovered that several celebrities and successful leaders are nappers. Leonardo De Vinci, for example, took several naps a day, the French emperor Napoleon, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, etc. You can learn more about these celebrities' napping habits in this article: 5 Reasons Why You Should Take a Nap Every Day. But, again! These people have their own definition of productivity!
