Haikal Kushahrin

Why I've been slacking off the past few weeks

Haikal -

I've been really sluggish, unproductive, and easily distracted for the past few days. I've been slacking off with my studies, writing, and doing exercises for the Roam Book Club.

As I go through my weekly review, I think I understood the reason why I've been in a slump lately - I haven't been exercising at all.

It's been raining a lot for the past few days, and as a result, I can't go out and play tennis or even jog. Thanks to the lockdown, I can't go out to the gyms either. And I'm not a fan of bodyweight workouts. So I've been spending the time I should be exercising on Netflix.

To keep your brain flowing, you need to take care of your body. Don't you notice how sluggish and uninspired you feel after a heavy lunch and how clearheaded and motivated you feel after going for a run?

To keep your brain juices flowing, you need to exercise and take care of your body.

Humans are wired to move around, so it only makes sense that moving and changing your physical state can change your mental state.

My productivity matters to me, so I’m going to commit to re-starting my daily exercising habit come rain or shine.

My solution to this issue?

  • Commit to exercising for at least 20 minutes every day. Research shows that you can gain the most essential cognitive, health, and mood benefits of exercising by exercising twenty minutes a day.
  • What exercise you do doesn’t matter. If you like to play football, then play football. If you like to play tennis, then do that. If you love bodyweight workouts, then go ahead. The only thing that matters is to keep your body moving.
  • If I don't have time for twenty minutes, I'll do HIIT exercises. Quality over quantity in this case.
  • Have a gym partner to keep you accountable for showing up to the gym every day.
  • On the same note, I can put skin in the game and ask someone to check on my Apple Watch workout rings. Should I miss a day, I'll have to pay them up with cash.
  • Starting the momentum by doing some pushups every morning

Exercising every day might be challenging, but it's worth it for your productivity.