What If Productivity Is Like Healthy Eating?
Like many other Americans, I’m working on losing weight. It’s going so-so, but then I realized eating is just like productivity!
OK, I know that sounds ridiculous, but it’s true. And it gives me hope because I know I can be super productive, and if I apply the concepts to eating, then I can lose weight.
The converse is also true: if you’re good about mindful eating then you can apply that to work in your business. That way you can get more done without working longer and harder than you do now.
And if you’re a little wobbly on both, don’t worry, you’re in the right place for some new ways to think about them.
Satiety and eating
What’s interesting (if you’re a nerd like me) is that the brain and the stomach are in communication with each other. We have neurons in our guts as well as in our brains. We often think about the brain as sending commands down to the rest of the body, but that’s not the way it works. The body sends signals back to the brain all the time.
As you probably know, it takes about twenty minutes for the brain to recognize that you’re full and to signal you to stop eating. So if you want to lose or maintain weight as opposed to gaining it, you’re better off eating slowly. If you’re stuffing your face with burgers and fries and eating quickly, you can ingest way too many calories for one meal well before your brain has a chance to register that you’ve eaten so much.
The Japanese have another way to avoid eating too much, known as hara hachi bu. That means eating until you’re 80% full, instead of 100% (or over – trust me, I’ve been there.) That way you avoid stuffing yourself, but you’ll still feel sated.
Satiety, or feeling like you’ve eaten enough, is the goal. No one needs to be overfed, but for those of us who are trying to lose weight, being hungry can be detrimental to progress. (Same for maintainers.) But when you’re sated, you’ve had enough to eat and you don’t need anymore.
Mindful eating
Imagine watching people eat at a fast food or fast casual restaurant. They’re not really paying attention to their food, but might be on their phones or watching TV. The portions are large and disappearing fast. No one appears to be really tasting their food, even though it’s been engineered to hit the salt/sweet/fat trifecta that human brains love so much. Afterward, they’re moving slowly, because that food is pretty heavy.
Or, maybe you’re strapped for time and eating in the car as you drive home. When you get there, can you even remember what you ate or what it tasted like? Your mind was on other things. (And now your car smells like fast food.) And, depending on the time it took to get home, you might still be hungry.
Most people around the world don’t eat like this, by the way. Their food is meant to be enjoyed and savored, especially with other people. They don’t sit alone in their cars gobbling down meals – they take time with it and also allow some time for digestion afterwards.
Now imagine you’re in a fine dining restaurant. Chances are you’re there with someone else (although solo dining is enjoyable too!) The portions are smaller, and if there’s more than one course, the plates for each are brought out separately. Most likely, no one’s gobbling their food either – but savoring and tasting it.
On occasion, you might go home hungry, but for the most part if you ordered the things you wanted, you would leave sated. Less food, but you’re more satisfied.
Some of that is because you won’t finish the different courses in only twenty minutes, so your brain has time to recognize when you’re full. But also, you’re really tasting your food as you eat. You’re paying attention to the flavors and textures and aromas. Unlike in a fast setting, you’re being mindful about what you eat.
That’s why a lot of weight loss guides tell you to put away the distractions while eating. You can be mindful when you’re eating at home, as long as you’re at the table and not trying to scarf something down at your desk. Or if you’re in the office, going out for lunch.
Even though you’re slowing down, you get to the destination (weight loss or maintenance) faster. And more importantly, enjoying the journey more. Taking the time to eat mindfully helps you recharge, and if you do it with someone else (friend, colleague, loved one) you get some socializing as a bonus for your brain.
So how is improved productivity like eating healthy?
You might have already seen some of the links between them. When you improve productivity, you get more time back in your day to do fun things like… go out to eat with your friends! We as Americans are so used to trying to do things faster that slowing down seems wrong.
But, as I’ve said numerous times, the human brain is not a computer. They can compute fast without rest breaks, time for socializing with their buddies, etc. But we can’t. People who are not Americans know this – they go on vacation for weeks at a time, have lunches out regularly, don’t work 14 hours a day, etc. Less burnout, more quality time.
And more quality time makes you more productive, because when you’re working with your brain you need it recharged and ready to go for peak performance.
Working faster, like eating faster, doesn’t get you the results you want over the long run. It might seem convenient in the moment, especially when you’re not really paying attention to what you’re doing.
But when you’re choosy about what tasks you take on, making sure they’re the right task choices and not just tasks that happen to exist, you get the important work done. The tasks that move your business forward. And when you do the critical tasks mindfully, you can complete them faster.
No more adding easy tasks to your to-do list just to cross something off that list. You’ll be checking off the important ones, and ending the day knowing you did get key work done. You’ll feel accomplished, similar to the way you feel sated after a slow meal with good food.
So if you’re already a healthy and mindful eater, many of those habits transfer.
Don’t try to do two things at once: Single tasking may feel slower but you’ll get more done. When you’re working on a task, focus on one at a time. After all, how do you eat the food at a fine dining restaurant? Do you cram everything onto one plate and eat bites of everything at once? No, you concentrate on one at a time.
Be mindful about your tasks: bring all your attention to the one thing you’re working on. You’ll get more done because your focus isn’t split between different types of work. If you’re just doing whatever’s in front of you to do and not paying attention to whether someone (or something) else should be doing it, you won’t get to your destination – just as stuffing your face with fast food doesn’t get anyone to a healthy weight.
Put aside distractions: and by that, of course, I mean your phone. (As far as eating goes, this is my struggle - the phone is put away just fine but I often read at mealtimes, which means books are my distraction.)
Keep the goal in mind: more time freed up for fun things, while your business prospers. Just as keeping weight loss/maintenance in mind when you’re in the ice cream aisle at the grocery store helps you make healthier choices, more time for fun and loved ones will help you remember to take breaks and focus only on the important tasks.
Recap (tl;dr):
Healthy eating encompasses mindfulness and putting away distractions, just like improved productivity does. Transfer those skills for a business that thrives while you have time for the good things in life.
I can’t help you with weight loss, but I can definitely help with streamlining your business to reclaim time in your day. Click here to set up your free consultation.
Photo by Farhad Ibrahimzade on Unsplash.