Health may be the greatest productivity hack of all

“Your entire life happens inside your body. It's the one home you will always occupy and can never sell.” 
–James Clear

Everything you do, you do inside your body. 

You sleep, eat, move, and work inside your body. Even something as nebulous as thinking is done inside your brain, a physical organ. Research shows us that the more we think about a particular thing, the more our brains change to make those thoughts easier in the future. This concept is called “neuroplasticity,” and it shows us that our brains physically change based on our thoughts. Amazing. 

Think of a time in which you experienced a great deal of emotion. It captured your entire body, and made it move. You laughed, or cried, or got angry, or excited, and that emotion made your body move. 

Physical health, mental health, emotional health–all of these are done within our bodies, and they affect our bodies. I’ve had weeks of increased anxiety or depression. Many people have months or years like this. And my whole health was affected–physical, mental, emotional and more. 

It goes without saying that we need our bodies to do anything. We can’t produce anything without a body, and so health is essential to productivity at the most basic level. I’m writing this because we forget this. We think forget our physical and emotional health in favor of productivity. But this is a losing game. A short-term strategy. 

Everything we do is done inside a body. Even thinking and feeling. So keep your body healthy if you want to be more productive. Everything else will follow.