12 ways to boost your productivity

Everyone wants to be productive in some way or another. It’s what releases those “feel good” dopamines from your brain and define your confidence and self-esteem. Because activities such as eating and sleeping are only quick rewards that doesn’t make you feel good for long, you need other sources to feed you those brain chemicals.

Boosting your productivity isn’t just meant to make your life easier, but it releases another chemical known as serotonin, which is known as the “mood booster.” As a result, you learn to focus and pay more attention throughout the day.

But when you’re swapped with free time, there seem to be a variety of productive tasks to choose from. Rather than determining what to choose from out of a thousand ideas, I listed a few effective activities that will boost your productivity.

1. Increase your social life by talking to everyone

It doesn’t take a group of scientists to explain that spending time with people is beneficial for your health. Your emotions alone remind you of how relaxing and joyful it was to spend quality time with someone. Psychologist John Cacioppo once mentioned in his book, Loneliness, that, “loneliness isn’t some personality defect or sign of weakness. It’s a survival impulse like hunger or thirst, a trigger pushing us toward the nourishment of human companionship.”

We’re not immune to the feelings of isolation and despite what we think, it’s necessary to speak to a variety of people throughout the day. (Even if it has to be the weird store clerk who gives us a blank stare.)

If you have a hard time expressing your thoughts to others or experience shy behavior, become interested in what they’re saying rather than focusing on being an interesting figure.

Don’t concentrate about impressing someone with your intelligence and listen to what they have to say. People will always prefer talking about themselves when given the opportunity and you can learn a lot about them by asking genuine questions.

2. Exercise in any way possible

I know many people who have a difficult time motivating themselves to exercise. But exercising isn’t meant to only keep you fit. Exercising regularly gives you the ability to easily retain knowledge you recently learned about because more oxygen is fed into your brain, making it more active. Studies at the University of Georgia suggest that physically active people have a lower chance of anxiety attacks than those who choose to sit down all day.

After exercising, your mood is improved after a stressful day because your brain chemicals are stimulated to make you happier. Even if it’s as simple as walking, any form of continuous movement increases blood circulation.

Don’t automatically assume you have to run several miles or bench press 1000 pounds to relieve your stress. All it takes is 7 – 15 minutes of genuine physical activities such as walking, playing a fun sport, or cleaning the house that will give you the same effect.

3. Learn basic arts and craft

Arts and Crafts aren’t just meant for children or teenagers. If you have the time, work on a small project such as a collage, a necklace, molding clay pots, or building birdhouses. They work as relaxation releases because you’re sending your focus and attention to an external source besides yourself. Rather than focusing on why you’re a failure, your attention is derived to a project you’re building.

The more you work the right side of your brain (which is in charge of your creative ideas) the easier it becomes to solve future problems. Back when I was working on building a toolbox at Home Depot, I came across a novel idea I wanted to write about. Instead of spending all day at my desk struggling with ideas, I spent my time doing something productive, which eventually gave me the idea I was searching for.

What Einstein heavily mentioned was that if someone lacks the skills of imagination and creativity, then he cannot exceed his expectations. Having logic and sense is great, but without a creative idea to expand your ideas together, you’ll always see things in black and white.

4. Learn a second (or third) language

If you forgot your Spanish or French lessons from either High School or College, try reuniting with them. As difficult as it seems to learn a second language, it develops your mind with rewarding experiences. Because a bilingual person has to balance their brains with two languages, it changes their brain to develop greater cognitive abilities.

In other words, bilingual people can perform better at grasping information because they’re focused on determining which language they’re listening to and breaking it down in their heads.

A psychologist named Ellen Bialystok, who works at York University, did a study about people who learned a second language usually scored better on standardized tests than those who knew only one language.

But besides outsmarting those next to you, what really makes learning a second language so effective is that it opens new opportunities to communicate with people. Whether you’re seeking a new job, a relationship, or expanding your social network, a second language will always take you further.

5. Improve your building skills

Whether you’re learning how to build a PC, video game, or giant house, it’s important to develop a skill in building something manually. You don’t have to know how to build a spaceship to boost your productivity, but learn to build small things that interest you.

This expands your field of knowledge and can possibly help you in the future in one way or another. Examples to start with are learning to build a website, a blog, a resume, a network, or a tool shed. Rather than spending useless time on mediocre things such as watching movies or playing video games, exchange that time for something you’ve always wanted to try.

For example, I always enjoyed playing game apps on my phone, but I never considered building one for myself until recently. It’s a difficult challenge to tackle, but the longer I stick to it by learning the minor details, the funner it’s gets.

Perhaps in the future when I complete my first app, it’ll become as popular as other apps such as angry bird or the game I’m currently playing called Crossy Road (Beware. That game is extremely addicting.)

Either way, I don’t see learning how to build apps as a waste of time as opposed to only building my High Score Rankings in Crossy Road. (Again. BEWARE. That game is too addicting.)

6. Learn Basic Graphic Designs

You have an interest in art such as art posters or animations? Besides being extremely fun to design a high quality image of your own, learning basic graphic designs teaches you a variety of fundamental skills. Besides demonstrating your artistic mind, you’ll have a chance of meeting others with similar interests. Areas graphic designers tend to spend time together would be in a course at college or at an artistic event on Meetup.

If you’re aware of any Graphic Design Shows happening in your city, invest the time to show up at one and view the type of people interested in it. Speak to someone about the reason they like it and if they created anything of their own.

This opens up the opportunity to tell them about your own art, or advice you learned. if you’d like a list of Graphic Design events happening, there’s a link below to give you an idea of what to expect there.

18 Unmissable Graphic Design Events in 2015

It’s never too late to begin learning Graphic Design and doesn’t require a heavy dose of studying to become good at it. All you really need is the right software, a few online tutorials and your imaginations to take care of the rest.

7. Raise a pet

Not only do pets give you an unconditioned love, but they lower your stress and anxieties. For those who have pets, I’m sure you’re familiar with the positive effects they bring into your lives. That’s because they lower your blood pressure after petting or gazing at them.

How?

Whenever you share any physical connection with a living being, it releases a relaxation hormone that cuts down your stress level. The power of touch doesn’t just work with humans. Animals can provide you with nearly the same affect that releases serotonin from your brain and makes you feel connected with something besides yourself.

This is otherwise known as coping mechanism, where your hypertension is lowered after petting a dog or cat. (I would include petting a fish, but it wouldn’t really have the same effect.)

8. Learn something new (that’s educational)

You don’t have to be in school to learn something new. There’s a variety of online resources, and the library, that could effectively teach you. Examples would be YouTube, Khan Academy, or again, the Library. (I said Library twice because I like to remind people it still exist.) Enrich your life by improving your skills that can benefit your career or personal life. Open different paths you could walk on by expanding your field of knowledge.

You don’t need the motivation to get a good grade keep your interest for learning alive. Knowledge is power and learning new subjects such as science, history, or math enhances your qualities. Learning lowers your anxieties because it breaks you out of your normal mind pattern and gives your brain something to think about. (Such as figuring out why imaginary numbers were invented in math when it was already hard enough.)

Learning about new topics makes it easier to speak to people because you’ll be more confident in your pool of vast knowledge. You’ll have more opportunities to show off your intelligence when someone speaks to you.

9. Watch Documentaries

There’s no reason to only use Netflix to catch up on House of Cards or Breaking Bad when there’s a mountain of documentaries waiting to be seen. While it’s perfectly normal to enjoy watching suspenseful movies, documentaries focuses your attention to specific real world problems you normally don’t dwell about.

The first time I enjoyed watching documentaries was when I watched one about the fast food nation and how even “healthy” foods are starting to turn towards unnatural chemicals. This raised my awareness in Fast Foods restaurants (even though I already knew it was bad for me) and helped my persuasion to avoid going there too often.

There’s a variety of topics that ranges from famous people in history, struggles in foreign countries, and the lifestyle of certain communities in your country. You see a general topic of discussion from other people perspective and gain a sense of empathy for other parts of the world.

10. Tweak into Basic Programming

When most people think about programming, they’re quick to imagine a nerd behind a keyboard. But learning programming is an essential skill to have that not too many people could brag about.

You don’t have to use programming for hacking into a giant company’s computer or create the next best selling software. You can use that skill to tweak new functions on a website you’re designing, or determine why your computer is acting strange, or how to mess with one of your favorite computer games.

There’s dozens of hacks to choose from after learning a few basic programming codes. For today’s hackers and enthuse programmers, learning the jack is fairly easily. All it takes is taking the time to learn it and a great place to start at is Codeacademy. (It’s free in case you were wondering.)

11. Practice learning how to cook

You’ll never encounter a situation where you’ll regret knowing how to cook. (Unless your family decided to choose you to cook the entire Thanksgiving Dinner.) By learning how to cook, you raise your value to society because other people will naturally see you as a more worthy candidate than someone who only knows how to cook frozen pizzas. (It’s kind of messed up when you think about it.)

What I also learned about cooking is that you feel more independent because you’re not at the mercy of your parents cooking for you. Rather than relying on someone else to eat, you’ll have the ability to make your own choice depending on your imagination. (Or how tired you are that day).

With the rise of fast foods, unnatural hormones, and fats being processed in most restaurants meals, cooking gives you total control in what you’re putting in your body. And for those penny savers, cooking saves nearly half the cash that would have spent at expensive restaurants. (Unless they always ordered off the dollar menu. But that wouldn’t be too good on their health.)

12. Learn how to play an instrument

We all love listening to music, but have you ever considered playing something yourself? Before you skip the idea, know that playing an instrument gives you more benefits than just listening to it. It improves your reasoning skills twice the amount if you were just learning how to dance or play sports.

Recent studies show music improves your academic success because your focus is improved and you’ll be mentally sharp. To paint a prettier picture of what this means, whenever you listen to music, only a few sectors in your brain is being used to collect the instrument, words being said, and then your memories in relation to it.

However, whenever you’re the one playing the guitar or piano, suddenly your brain has to process where to move your fingers, what notes to play, the way it sounds, memories that ignite your emotions, and much more. (There’s pretty much a rave party going on in your head by simply playing a flute.) So the next time you walk near an instrument and want your brain shooting for joy, learn a few notes that’ll trigger it.