Productivity is about doing more with less, maintaining an upbeat performance, and achieving consistently quality results. For many of us, this is more of a fairytale as we are caught in the trap of a busy or tight work schedule. Again, we often have something around family or friends that needs our attention and we also have our dear selves to take care of. 

Amidst all of these, the big question is how do we find the time to do something meaningful in other aspects of our lives outside work? 

The truth is that there’s a whole lot of time for that. You may be getting home really late, but there’s still something you can do before heading off to bed. If you don’t see this to be true, it’s probably because you overlook the countless minutes that go by when you’re tired or feeling lazy. Furthermore, you likely underestimate the amount of progress you can make in thirty minutes or less and how fast this could add up over time. 

That being said, the clock does not tick any faster, life does not fly by and no, time is not against you. All you need to do is to constantly remind yourself of this. Gradually, you will become more appreciative of time and find it possible to do little productive things before the day runs out. 

Why is Productivity Important to an Entrepreneur?

There are good reasons why entrepreneurs generally hammer on being productive and developing a lifestyle around it. The importance includes:

Personal Growth and Development:

Most often, productivity begins on a personal level before expanding into one’s social or professional life. This personal productivity involves picking up skills, values, and habits that spur your confidence and competence. It drives one to be responsible and aids them to achieve their goals. 

Professional or Business Growth and Development:

Personal productivity always finds its way into one’s business pursuits. Take, for example, an entrepreneur who values self-development and is accustomed to reading books and trying out new, helpful strategies they find. This individual will no doubt employ their values towards running their business. You can expect them to quickly attain their business growth and development goals. 

 Positive Influence on the Entrepreneur’s Business Partners, Employees, and Mentees:

Entrepreneurs are esteemed - at least, in societies or circles that understand the effort it takes to run a successful business, not to talk of effectively managing everyone associated with it. 

People within such societies admire and allow themselves to be influenced by business experts. This builds their eagerness to learn and grow, resulting in a better and more productive society.  

When the value for an entrepreneur does not come naturally, their productivity trait works well to get a strong hold on onlookers. The entrepreneur is vibrant, smart, and relentless so everyone from their associates, to their business partners and employees are charmed and positively attracted by simply being in close contact with them. 

8 Productivity Hacks Before Bed Explained 

Productivity hacks are not outrageous and near-impossible like certain sources make it seem. We bet you can do all of the following hacks in thirty minutes each and without even breaking a sweat.  

Journal - Document Your Thoughts

Bright ideas come unexpectedly - we agree - but creating some journaling time might give room for one to surface without delay. Entrepreneurs who are interested in developing business creativity stand to gain more from this. You can think of it as returning to the drawing board every evening before bed.

Another good reason to journal is to review your day or simply pen down things you learned and those you want to know more about. This will serve as a reminder for important dates and unfinished or proposed tasks. Moreover, the practice could help improve your writing and communication skills, and strengthen your consciousness around an idea or belief.

Some amazing journaling ideas include foods you’ve eaten, places you’d love to go to, dreams you have at night, or even the things you are grateful for. However, before jumping at it, remember that being in a calm and serene environment is the only way to journal effectively. 

Impact of this productivity hack:

Idea Generation -  Taking some time out for productive thinking led some of the most renowned inventors in history to their eureka moments. For you, journaling might not bring freshly baked ideas to mind. Instead, the practice might bring the realization of significant improvements to your current work processes or procedures.  

Improved Memory - Going over your day and simply trying to remember tasks and activities could significantly boost your ability to recollect things. This improves memory. 

Reference - Whether for history books or a future project, journaling serves to create something you can reference. This makes achieving a goal look realistic and accomplishing a milestone feel very rewarding. 

Spend Time with Family: Friends Come and Go, and So Does Work

‍

Spending time with your family is a wholesome alternative to scrolling through social media or any of that kind of thing. A day at work should leave you wanting to do this. It should be something you prioritize and look forward to. The idea of spending quality family time is a productivity hack thanks to its value in lessening work-related stress, reassuring family members, and creating a sense of bonding and belonging.

Family time together can be planned around three different settings; regular, tech detox, and tech only. In the regular setting, everyone has access to their phones and other devices such as TV while the conversations and activities are ongoing. The tech detox setting is free of electronic gadgets, meaning no TV watching, no Bluetooth speakers or devices, and most importantly, all phones are either switched off or kept away for the entire time. 

Situations where the family members you want to spend time with are someplace far away call for the tech-only setting. Here, you probably text or video call them using your electronic devices but cannot share regular physical contact.  

Impact of this productivity hack:

Increased Sense of Well-Being -  From feeling appreciation for their amazing family to feeling safe and highly supported, family members get to develop an increased sense of well-being. 

Exercise - At Least, A Little:

Coming home late and tired means you don’t have the energy for rigorous exercises. Be that as it may, there is still the option of less rigorous workouts or even simpler, stretches. This form of exercise is particularly necessary if your work does not allow you to move around so much. 

Impact of this productivity hack:

Health - Exercising is healthy. Medical means of strengthening your consciousness around an idea or belief suggest that it plays a significant role in reducing stress, high blood pressure, and many other common conditions. It also does wonders in ensuring bodily growth and development.   

Well-Being - Exercising has a tingling effect on the brain. It makes you happier, more optimistic, and much more confident about yourself.  

Read Something, not Necessarily a Book:

When people hear about reading for productivity, they think of a 900-page book or some thought-provoking, highly technical material. The truth is that you are not compelled to read the long, boring stuff. Also, there’s no need to make a crash course out of it. 

Your before-bedtime reading should be easy and pleasurable - because that’s how it becomes meaningful. Two ways to make this happen are ensuring that you are processing the read and spicing things up by trying new book genres such as comedy or literature types such as encyclopedias. 

Another great idea for reading before bed is looking up a thing or two about your tasks for the following day. Let’s say you have a presentation or a completely alien activity scheduled at work. It would be a good idea to browse the context and content of these to gain some understanding of how to approach the work.  

Impact of this productivity hack:

Knowledge Acquisition - Reading at least one chapter of a book before bed could help improve your reading skills, build your knowledge, and reveal an interesting idea for your business or career. 

Relaxation- Fictional and non-fictional books are both soothing and relaxing to different types of people.  

Keep Work Away from the Bedroom or Space:

It is probably nothing new to take your work (in the form of documents or devices) back home and into your bedroom where you churn and churn like you never closed at the office. But that shouldn’t be happening. Work and home environments should be respected and used appropriately. 

Performing work outside official hours thwarts the idea of a work-life balance - not to mention a healthy one. It steals your time with family and loved ones and makes you unreachable for social events and activities. In a worst-case scenario, this could escalate into a work addiction, leaving you feeling “high” from working but stressed or fatigued in the long run. 

The negative impact of overworking means that keeping all work at the office or leaving it out of your bedroom is in itself a productivity hack since it gives you the time to focus on something else or simply have a good rejuvenating rest.

Impact of this productivity hack:

Health Benefit - Leaving work out of your bedroom means that you’re not falling asleep while typing on your computer or reading a document. Your mind and body will thank you for this.  

Meditate - Just Do It:

Meditation is sitting or staying still and training your mind to think and your body to relax. This practice generally works for easing pain and stress, processing your thoughts on a subject matter, building positivity, and growing consciousness toward an idea. 

Meditating just before bed will help to relax your mind and muscles and do away with stress. Also, it is an opportunity to regulate your breathing rate, which comes in handy for people prone to acidosis, low oxygen levels, and other forms of respiratory disorders. 

Aside from the physiological benefits associated with most forms of meditation, affirmative meditation positions the mind for growth and resilience through verbal repetitions that register in the subconscious and prompt a confirmation in one’s body or physical reality.

Benefits of this Productivity Hack:

Mindfulness - Meditation is an avenue to beautify your life and increase your gratitude by being mindful of the beautiful things around you and living in the present moment. 

Manage Your Sleep Environment: As You Lay Your Bed So You Lie on It

Factors such as lighting, sound, clutter, and sleep positions go a long way to influence the quality of your sleep and this strongly affects your productivity afterward. This makes managing your sleep environment a relevant productivity hack. 

The tone, color, and type of light in your bedroom matter a lot. It is the first point of concern when managing your sleep environment. Lighting creates an ambiance that could offer valuable hints on your personality, and either improve or alter the circadian rhythm of a person leading to disturbed sleep and a range of sleeping disorders.

For a healthy sleep, you want your bedtime lighting to be as calm and soothing as possible. Experts suggest that the best possible choice for this is a low-toned white or blue-colored light. 

The next consideration is managing the type and level of sound in your bedroom. Ideally, things should be dead quiet for you to have a sound sleep but low-playing music also works. If you are in an environment where there are kids or a noisy neighbor, the good old practice of shutting your doors and windows will work perfectly. This little act could save you from a panic attack if there is a sudden loud noise during your sleep. 

Once you’ve sorted out the lighting and sound in your bedroom, the next thing you want do is to declutter or properly tidy up. A well-arranged room has the effect of reducing stress levels and improving focus and cognitive performance because our brain appreciates orderliness. It simply functions better in such environments.

With this, decluttering your space will facilitate your journaling, reading, and meditation hacks and even make it easy for you to fall asleep. Now, down to how you lay your bed and how you lie on it. Figuratively speaking, your sleep position can make or break you. 

The way you lie (straight or with your back arched), whether you use a pillow, and how you fold your hands or legs all help to determine if you’re waking up on the wrong side of the bed or not. In addition, there’s also a big effect on how well your bed is dressed and the quality of your bedding. 

Impact of this Productivity Hack:

Health Benefits - The health benefits of managing your sleep environment may appear divine. It influences how your naps go and whether you feel sour or happy and free by the time you wake. Moreover, this productivity hack might save you from panic attacks, high blood pressure, and general sleeping disorders.  

Have a Morning Routine:

By the time your alarm chimes 6 a.m., you should be all pumped up and ready to start your morning routine. This could be something you memorized or documented in written or audio form the night before. Creating a morning routine is an important hack and you should run over it before going to bed.

It is almost the same as journaling except that this time around, you’re creating a sort of to-do list for the first few minutes or hours after you wake. 

Sorting out your morning routine sets you up for success from the get-go. It ensures that you are clear on what needs to be done and what comes after that. Interestingly, having this list of activities all penned down could help you better manage contingencies, and put you on track to achieving your goals. 

Impact of  this productivity hack:

Speed and Accuracy - Not only have you had your morning routine all planned out, but you have also probably practiced some of your activities beforehand. This increases your speed on the routine since you know what to do next without having to pause for a second to think. 

Similarly, sorting out a morning routine boosts your accuracy with your daily tasks as you’re not working in the right order and there’s a little chance for error.  

Fulfillment - Consistently acing your morning routines day in and day out creates a rewarding feeling of accomplishment.  

Conclusion 

The feeling that your evenings are too short is a hoax. The same goes for the idea that you cannot be productive a few hours before bed. Giving in to these illusions will keep you from even trying and, in the long run, this will mean short-changing yourself on how fast you reach your goals.

A U-turn is possible today and our eight productivity hacks are a good starting point. We would like to hear how these activities helped you become a more productive person in the comment section. Also, you can always visit our blog to get your hands on more inspiring articles like this one. 

‍

‍Also Read: The Billion Dollar Business That Started Small - Spanx