Turn your commute into the most productive part of your day
We’ve all been there – the morning commute. Then followed with a back-breaking 9-5. THEN followed with the evening commute. Repeat this 5 days a week for the rest of your godforsaken life and you can see why the majority of people turn into cement-faced zombies by the time they’re 30.
I’m about to unleash a whole flurry of productivity on you in order to prevent zombification. You’ve got no excuse here either – there’s something for everyone; Trains, planes, automobiles (even cyclists) – I’ve got you covered.
Here’s how you turn your commute into the most productive part of your day.
THE MORNING COMMUTE KING: PODCASTS / AUDIOBOOKS
Podcasts and audiobooks are two of the most popular pastimes nowadays. We are cash rich and time poor, so why sit down to read a book when you could have someone (with a lovely soothing voice) read to you whilst you crack on with another task?
Listening to podcasts and audiobooks on your way to work can relax you before the hectic day ahead and give you insight into the minds of experts in various fields. Tim Ferris runs an excellent podcast where he interviews lots of experts and celebrities – it’s funny and engaging, which is probably why it’s so popular.
You could also listen to audiobooks such as Rich Dad, Poor Dad or The Art of War to expand your mind during those soul-wrenching journeys to and from work.
STAND UP
You’re off to sit down all day, ruining your posture and your health in the process. Why would you want to sit down some more on your way to sitting down? Standing up on your way to work can give you roughly an hour’s extra physical exercise (assuming your commute is a half hour) per day. Now obviously I know you can’t do this in your car, but if you take public transport, give standing a chance.
Standing has so many benefits that people are completely unaware of, due to the fact it’s such a medial activity. Standing for just one fourth of your day can reduce your risk of obesity by 32%, improve your posture, increase your lung capacity and reduce your risk of diabetes.
There are so may more benefits to standing that you simply can’t be missing out on. Aim to stand for at least 3 hours of each day and then try to work your way up to 6 or 7 hours. This can have a profound effect on your health and may be the key to reversing some of the ailments you suffer from that you may have thought were just part and parcel of life.
EMAILS / WRITING
Early in the day is when your creative juices are fully flowing. This is before your head is filled with a million tasks and your boss’s voice is ringing in your ears.
The morning calm can let your mind be free and if you are in any way required to write for your job, then this is the time to get your best work done. I tend to write my best articles early in the morning as I have no stressors or distractions at this time.
Obviously if you don’t need to write, you can get all of your emails in check before you even get to work, freeing up your morning to do whatever you please. This can skyrocket your productivity in work as you won’t have to keep checking in with your emails to see which daft idiot has dared to disturb your coffee break.
Now you have no excuse to sit and zone out on the way to and from the rat race. No more getting stressed about that fat smelly gentleman taking up half your seat on the train. You can put your mind to work and get your day off to a flyer.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.
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What Helps Clear Up Brain Fog: Causes, Symptoms & Remedy
What Helps Clear Up Brain Fog - A comprehensive guide on the causes, symptoms and remedies.
Brain fog is an extremely common issue in today’s society due to our overly fast-paced lifestyles and lack of healthy living in all areas. It is a state of mental fatigue whereby a person will generally lose focus and become irritable more often than usual. Luckily for you though, brain fog is widely considered to be easily reversible providing the right course of action is taken. This blog will answer what helps clear up brain fog.
The Causes of brain fog
High stress levels
Having high stress levels can play havoc with your hormones. Having chronically high stress over a long period of time can lead to extremely high cortisol, low dopamine and the testosterone levels of a 700 year old corpse. Your hormones are so susceptible to stress and therefore it is paramount that you get this under control.
Inflammation
Inflammation can be caused by a lot of things but the main culprits are stress and your diet. The main dietary cause of inflammation is the ingestion of processed foods – something that is common place in this day and age. Most foods in the modern age will cause some degree of inflammation but there are steps you can take to limit this.
Lack of sleep
Another big offender here, lack of sleep can be attributed to all manner of problems but brain fog is definitely one of its bigger targets. Lacking sleep can have a knock-on effect on your stress levels AND inflammation, making this the most important factor to dial in during your fight against the fog.
The SYMPTOMS of brain fog
Some of the most common symptoms to look out for when trying to diagnose brain fog include:
There are many other answers to what does brain fog feel like - ultimately, brain fog will be unique to you, so make sure to speak to your doctor if you feel you are being impacted by the symptoms of brain fog.
HOW TO REVERSE BRAIN FOG
You are probably going to be thinking "how to get rid of brain fog" and the ways you can reverse the effects of brain fog - below I have added three things you can do to get rid of the symptoms. These have not been medically reviewed, so be sure to speak to your doctor to discuss your brain health, mental health and medical condition if needed.
De-stress
As mentioned before, stressing will only fog your brain out faster. In order to clear your mind you will have to put a lot of your efforts into tackling stress. This could involve practising meditation each night before you go to sleep, working out a few times a week, keeping a diary or even supplementing with adaptogenic herbs such as ashwaghanda. Adding these steps into your daily routine can drastically reduce stress and help you feel clear headed in no time.
Don’t limit macronutrients
Low-quality fats from processed foods can cause brain fog, but low fat intake can cause brain fog. High levels of processed and refined carbs can cause brain fog but low carb intake can cause brain fog. See what I’m saying here? Don’t demonise a macronutrient because some schmuck told you it’s the devil.
Keep a healthy serving of healthy fats in your diet from things like olive oil, salmon, quality beef, organic butter and coconut oil. Add to that some healthy carbs from foods such as sweet potatoes, bananas, berries and green veg along with a moderate serving of protein from animal meats and lentils. Keep your macronutrient split around 40% Carb/ 40% Fat/ 20% Protein and you’ll be just fine.
Remember, that without macronutrients, your immune system will not function optimally and you could develop chronic fatigue syndrome.
Sleep long, sleep deep
The most important factor to get in check – improving your sleep should not be taken lightly as it can improve brain function and increase red blood cells. The most potent actions for attaining a deeper and longer sleep are to switch off all electronic devices an hour before bed (failing this, buy some blue-light blocking glasses), get a nighttime routine and to make sure your room is cold.
You would be surprised how many people are impacted by sleep deprivation - you need to make sure you're getting enough hours of sleep as otherwise, you can develop poor concentration and disrupt your mental clarity.
These three tips have been shown to skyrocket your sleep quality in just one night, meaning you get instant benefits.
There’s your definitive guide to brain fog and how you combat the symptoms. If you can address these basic areas then you will notice a huge difference in your mental ‘sharpness’ and feel much more energised in no time.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done.
Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.
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Productivity tips that will triple your output in minutes
Productivity is at the forefront of everyone’s mind. We all want to be more efficient with our time when it comes to work output. How good would it be if we could half the time it took to write that essay, draft that report or read that book?
Well look no further, because these productivity tricks will help you triple your productivity in no time…
PRODUCTIVITY STARTS WITH NO PHONE
Literally the most important thing you will ever do for your productivity.
Put your phone away for one hour and I guarantee your productivity will shoot through the roof. Doing this stops you from looking at distractions like facebook, emails, whatsapp, snapchat etc and lets you focus solely on the task at hand.
If you simply can’t cope without your phone for more than 5 minutes then at least turn it on silent and look at it every 20 minutes so you’re not constantly bombarded with buzzing and notifications. This way you can get more work done but still maintain that oh-so important social media presence.
SET A SCHEDULE
Don’t just make a huge to-do list consisting of 50 unrelated tasks you need to get done, because you simply won’t get them done. What I suggest is a method called ‘time-blocking‘.
Basically, time-blocking means getting all of your to-do list and ordering it into certain time periods where you will get it done. This way, instead of attacking your list un-methodically and burning out, you will have set time-frames to guide you and give you a deadline to work towards.
Not only does this give you rigid guides so you know exactly what to do and when, it motivates you to try and beat these times, giving you more longer to rest between blocks.
GET UP EARLY
No one ever accomplished anything great rolling out of bed at 12pm, making a piece of toast and watching Jeremy Kyle for 4 hours straight. Late rising breeds mediocrity, make sure you get up at 9am latest every single day and make every minute count.
This means waking up, going through your morning ritual and starting work on whatever goals you have set yourself that day/week/month. There’s a reason so many successful people say the key to their success was waking up early every day – do it.
PRIORITISE
To be productive you need to realise what is conducive to your goals and what isn’t. If you’ve got an important deadline coming up in the next week or so, which is more important – Working proactively towards your deadline, using all the hours God sends…Or playing your Xbox for 7 hours every day sat in your boxers eating chocolate.
Learn how to prioritise effectively and you’ll see your output grow exponentially. Sometimes you will have to make important sacrifices – I found it so hard to do any work when I had my Xbox I had to sell it (I actually did this three times because I kept buying it back but I’m video game-sober now…mostly).
This way I got work done and passed all my exams. Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture and decide where you want your life to go.
DON’T MULTITASK
Multitasking leads to burnout. Trying to juggle your emails, writing, reading and whatever else is just a recipe for disaster. Make sure you set one task and concentrate all your efforts into getting that completed instead of half-trying to complete all sorts of other things. It’s far better to do one task at 100% effort than 2 at 50%.
PROCRASTINATE
Set a little bit of time every couple of hours in order to have a 15 minute walk, watch a couple of Youtube videos or reply to any messages you have on your phone.
Setting this time aside throughout the day allows you to unwind and stops you burning out earlier than you otherwise would. I find that using procrastination can let me work for far longer than if I tried to simply work through with no breaks.
WATER
Often overlooked, but keeping yourself hydrated not only keeps your muscle strong and body healthy – it keeps your mind as sharp as possible. Your brain consumes a lot of calories and a lot of fluid in order to stay at peak performance. Think of water as your brain’s fuel – if it’s not getting that fuel you’re not getting that performance.
There you have it.
Get out there and enjoy all the time you’ll save with all this new productivity power.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.
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Why you should try to create a minimalist wardrobe right now
Contrary to popular belief, it is not just women who are the primary offenders when it comes to having mounds of clothing bursting out of their wardrobe. I know so many men who are guilty of this. This is why us fellas (and ladies, if you’re reading), need to strive towards a minimalist wardrobe.
Their wardrobes, drawers and rooms are full to the brim with clothing, shoes and accessories of all kinds. I am here today to explain how this way of living will never come to a head and will leave you out of pocket time after time.
THE PROBLEM
The first problem you encounter when you have mounds and mounds of clothes is that when it comes to picking an outfit, you have too much choice and so you don’t know what to pick.
This is a phenomenon called ‘paralysis by analysis’, whereby a person has so many choices, they fail to make even one. This then leads to my girlfriend’s favourite phrase – “I have nothing to wear”, which is where I got the bright idea of the minimalist wardrobe.
When I tell her she has enough clothes. Except I wouldn’t wear a pork pie hat – promise.
We all know that the reality is quite the opposite but in the head of the person, they equate too much choice with no choice at all, which then leads to spending on new items they can pair up together straight away, which may alleviate the problem for one particular event but the next time something comes up, in reality you just have the same problem again, but exacerbated by the fact you now have another outfit in the mix.
Multiply this by the amount of times you do this over a year and you can quickly see how people end up needing walk in wardrobes where they find things that they haven’t worn for 4 years nestled at the back.
We’re not on an episode of cribs – you really don’t need this amount of clothes in your life. Keep it simple and you’ll save yourself a lot of money and frustration. Now, it’s all well and good me preaching and preaching but if I didn’t offer you a solution then what sort of hypocrite would I be?
THOUGHTS ON A MINIMALIST WARDROBE
I’m going to give you a quick extreme example to highlight how important streamlining your clothes can be before giving you a few steps to get you on your way to becoming a minimalist wardrobe specialist. Just think of all the great Instagram opportunities this will open up too…
You don’t have to be *this* minimal
So, here’s your example. You remember Einstein? Y’know, the fella who had lots of theories and a bad haircut? Well it’s said that Einstein literally had the same 7 suits in his wardrobe for each day of the week so he didn’t even have to think about what he was going to wear each day. He did this so he could put all of his efforts into his studies which, from what I’ve heard, went quite well for him.
Now obviously I don’t want you to wear the same thing every day – you’re not Spongebob. However, I think that this anecdote highlights the need for you to streamline your choices so you don’t have to waste needless energy on selecting an outfit.
WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Get all your clothes out and sift through which ones you really want to keep, things you sort of like and things you don’t like. If you can sell the ones you don’t like then great – make yourself a bit of money. If not, then give them to charity or throw ‘em in the bin.
Then go to the ones you sort of like and see if there are any you haven’t worn for over 6 months. If there’s ones there you haven’t worn for 6 months or longer then do the same with them as you did with those you don’t like – you don’t need them and you’ll thank yourself in the long run. This is a great method to trim your wardrobe down a great deal.
Focus on the quality of what you’re buying. Don’t go to the low budget stores and buy a £5 t shirt that’ll lose shape and get ruined within a month. Go and buy the £30 t-shirt and save yourself buying the same low-quality clothes over and over again.
Not only will you look much better, but you’re going to save yourself money – let’s say your t shirts keep getting ruined and start going ugly like the always do. You buy a few each month so you have a selection to choose from.
I’ll be conservative and say you only do this for half a year. That adds up to £90. You could have bought 3 quality t-shirts that’ll last years for that price and you wouldn’t have all these extra garments cluttering up your space.
The same rule applies for every other item of clothing – especially shoes and coats. What I’m really trying to say is everyone’s favourite phrase – “quality over quantity”. Make sure most of your purchases are based around the classics to keep your style evergreen
Just trying to find someone with more classically classy classic clothing than me
One final piece of advice I’d give you is to make sure 70% of your wardrobe contents go together. That means you can wear the majority of your shoes with jeans, shorts, trousers, whatever. Make sure the same applies to your Shirts, tees and polos. This will make sure you never run out of combinations. My rule is that if it only has one use then it’s probably not worth it.
Think of it in terms of kitchenware; if you buy something that has one use – like a mandolin or burger maker then it’s usually a fad and belongs in the bin or at the back of your Nan’s kitchen cupboard. Basically – don’t fall prey to gimmicks, keep it simple and you can’t go wrong.
RECAP
So, let’s recap; trim down towards a minimalist wardrobe as much as you can, go for quality investments that will last, look for timeless classics that are evergreen and never go out of fashion and finally, make sure 70% of your clothing works together.
This way you’ll never run out of combinations and your wardrobe will feel fuller than ever.
Be sure to follow me on socials to keep up with the daily goings on of The Man Blueprint. You can also sign up for my inner circle using the newsletter form above. Just drop your email in there and it’s job done. Completely free and completely brilliant. Whilst you’re here, have a little browse of some other article you might like below too. You won’t regret it.