Staying Healthy Is Part of Being Productive

Productivity definitely goes down when you're sick. That sounds obvious, but I don't think most of us treat it that way. We plan our weeks, set our targets and push hard, and we act as if our health will just take care of itself in the background. It doesn't.

Two days I didn't get back

I was sick for two days recently, and my performance was low the whole time. I was still showing up and still trying to get things done, but the output wasn't there. The quality of my thinking dropped and the work took longer. Those two days are gone, and there's no way to get them back.

What bothers me most isn't that I got sick. It's that I believe it was preventable.

What I think would have prevented it

When I look back, I can see where I could have done better. There are three things I believe would have made the difference:

• Zinc every two hours at the point of exposure or at the early onset of symptoms. The moment I know I've been around someone sick, or I feel the first sign of something coming on, that's when to act, not two days later.
• Getting a full night's rest. Sleep is usually the first thing I cut when I'm busy, and it's exactly what my body needs most when it's trying to fight something off.
• Reducing physical intensity. When I'm run down, pushing hard physically doesn't make me tougher. It just takes away energy my body needs to recover.

None of these are complicated. They just require paying attention early and being willing to slow down a little before I'm forced to slow down a lot.

Health is a productivity strategy

This is the real lesson for me. Actively keeping your health a priority is a way of being productive. It isn't separate from the work. It isn't something you get to once the important things are done. It's part of the important things.

If I had spent a bit of time and discipline protecting my health at the right moment, I would have saved myself two days of poor performance. That's a trade I'd take every time.

So I'm treating it differently now. When I notice exposure or early symptoms, I act right away. I protect my sleep instead of sacrificing it. I back off the intensity when my body is telling me to. Being productive over the long run means staying well enough to keep showing up at full strength.