How to cultivate your ‘Golden Zone’ of work productivity

Everyone knows that feeling of reaching a point in your day when you hit turbo-mode. You’re ticking off your to-do list, kicking goals and no request is too outrageous to complete. But what if you could get into this zone of efficiency whenever you wanted?

How can we better cultivate that magical ‘golden zone’ and increase productivity? It is actually possible to step into your peak-concentration period when you need it and extend it to meet your deadlines if you know the right tricks. 

Finding your golden zone of productivity is a lot like how athletes prepare their minds and their bodies. They are taught to dedicate themselves to their sport or athleticism and apply themselves fully. This is something that requires complete concentration and, in turn, will yield the strongest performance results. 

While creating spreadsheets at work may not make you feel as if you can relate to a professional athlete, the mindset you create around your productivity is identical.

So, let’s explore tips and tricks as well as mindset hacks to help you reach your golden zone and have a more productive day. 

Productivity hacks to have a more efficient working day

Clear your space

It may seem simple, but your first step in finding your optimal efficiency is decluttering your work environment to declutter your brain. Your office space and your desk are a representation of your mind, according to workspace provider, Expansive. And in creating systems to keep your space tidy and make use of natural light, you will increase your productivity and cultivate peace of mind so you can focus on the task at hand. 

Eat smaller meals

A common hindrance to entering your optimal work headspace is feeling tired or bloated from a big meal. After all, a professional athlete is unlikely to eat a huge lunch moments before a game, so why should you? 

Dietary requirements aside, it may be worth considering eating smaller meals that fuel you throughout your working day and prevent that post-lunch nap feeling that may creep in. Think carrot sticks and hummus, fresh fruit, and other foods that burn energy more efficiently. 

The Pomodoro Technique

Sometimes the hardest part of being productive is just getting started, and this is where productivity methods like the Pomodoro Technique come in.

The Pomodoro Technique is a time management system that encourages you to use your time more effectively and kill procrastination for good. You break up your working day into 25-minute parts, separated by 5-minute regular breaks. After four 5-minute breaks, you may take a longer break of between 15-20 minutes. 

The theory is that by setting a timer for a specific time you create a sense of urgency and are more likely to hit peak concentration. Think about the motivation you feel hours before a deadline that you had weeks to work on but procrastinated throughout - the Pomodoro technique looks to harness that feeling. Instead of feeling you have endless hours in a day to get things done, you have 25 minutes to do as much as possible before the timer runs out. 

Keep what you need at your desk

One of the biggest killers of a golden zone of productivity can be the physical act of leaving your space to get something from another room, such as snacks or water. Before you begin your workday or a big project, ensure that everything you’ll reasonably need is at an arm's distance to minimise the risk of distraction, or mindset shift by leaving your space. 

Create a morning routine

While this technique may not apply to everyone reading, it’s a sure-fire way for those working from home to shift their mindset into that of productivity. 

Creating a better morning routine, including doing your hair, showering, putting on nice clothes, or anything else you used to do before going to the office to feel professional, can transform your output for the day. 

In fact, it has been scientifically proven that a morning routine can help increase your productivity. A morning routine means that from the moment you wake up, you’re shifting into a headspace of using every moment of your time on something valuable. And by starting from the moment you wake up, you’re more likely to maintain this feeling of productivity. 

Utilise your body’s natural rhythms 

Your circadian rhythm is your body’s natural energy schedule. By understanding your energy schedule, you can hack your own body to boost your productivity in your working day.

According to Rise Science, the two natural windows of “high alertness and wakefulness” fall for most people in the late morning and late afternoon, with your natural ‘slump’ window occurring in the early afternoon. And you can also connect this to your hormonal rhythms. These are considerably different for men, who stick to a 24-hour cycle, and women, who typically have 28-day hormonal cycles. 

As an example, male testosterone typically peaks around 8am. Meaning, if a male were to start their working day around 8am, they could harness the extra intensity provided by their testosterone spike and push their golden zone well into the late morning. 

In fact, the male hormonal cycle is very in sync with the standard working day, so women need to utilise these tips even more to extend their golden zone of productivity!

Play music

Playing music while you’re working has been scientifically proven to not only increase your productivity and cognitive performance, but may also help you to manage anxiety, become motivated, be better at multitasking and stay hyper-productive. 

To help cultivate your golden zone, you could utilise the iso principle. This music theory sees music as a method of mood management, in which a therapist provides music that matches a client’s mood and then gradually changes it to help the client shift mindsets. 

Put simply, by creating a great, upbeat playlist, you may be able to help shift your mindset into a more efficient one and again help cultivate this golden zone of productivity. 

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Hyper-productivity is different for everyone. Some see it as a curse if they are unable to switch it off and are in this zone constantly. Others struggle to ever achieve it and perhaps have no desire or need to work in such an intense way. Find what is best for you and your situation. 

If you’re finding your productivity or your team’s productivity has been down, these tips might just be what you need to help make your day more efficient. 

If you’re not wanting to be hyper-productive with your marketing strategy and prefer to outsource your requirements then we would love to hear from you! Email info@exceleratemarketing.com.au for an initial consultation.