How to know yourself-33: Impact of Mood on Productivity

Does Your Mood Affect Your Productivity?

When I’m happy, my motivation and drive increase. I focus more deeply on my work. Outside of work, I have more energy and can juggle multiple activities at once. But when the darkness settles in—those dark, rainy, depressive winter days of East Germany—I feel like hibernating like a bear. Then I take a hit of vitamin D, realize there’s actually nothing wrong, and carry on with my day.

Today’s questions are about just that:
Does your productivity increase when you’re happy? On days when your productivity is low, can you trace back the reason why?

As I always say, facing things head-on, questioning them, and trying to find solutions is important. One thing we shouldn’t forget: a lack of motivation and productivity is just as normal as any other feeling. Like every emotion, it has its reasons. Sometimes, those reasons might be completely out of your control.

So maybe—just maybe—you’re wasting your time beating yourself up. Maybe you’re creating problems by comparing yourself to others. That’s why it’s important to get to the root of any negative feeling, to explore it, and to accept life as it is. You can’t change the past. And today might not go exactly as you wish. But at the very least, you can prepare yourself for the future. Even if things don’t work out, you’ll still be able to say, “At least I tried. At least I tried to deal with my problems.”

Today, I’m not feeling particularly productive myself. All I want to do is lie down, roll around, eat ice cream and popcorn, drink beer, and watch a movie. And when I’ve pushed my stomach to the limit, I want to perform the proper ritual and just sleep. But since the realities of life won’t allow that, I’ll retreat into myself and reflect for a bit.
(A much better method than blaming the weather, star signs, or the irrelevant movements of the planets. Highly recommend.)

See you in the next post…

Note: Rest of the series: How to know yourself – bahadirhancicek

beginning of the series: How to know yourself, let’s start to journey – bahadirhancicek