This morning routine will save you 20 hours per week

This morning routine will save you 20 hours per week This morning routine will save you 20 hours per week The traditional 9â€"5 workday is poorly structured for high productivity. Perhaps when most work was physical labor, but not in the knowledge working world we now live in.Although this may be obvious based on people’s mediocre performance, addiction to stimulants, lack of engagement, and the fact that most people hate their jobs now there’s loads of scientific evidence you can’t ignore.The Myth of the 8 Hour  WorkdayThe most productive countries in the world do not work 8 hours per day. Actually,  the most productive countries have the  shortest  workdays.People in countries like Luxembourg are working approximately 30 hours per week (approximately 6 hours per day, 5 days per week) and making  more money  on average than people working longer workweeks.Follow Ladders on Flipboard!Follow Ladders’ magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and more!This is the  average  person in those countries. But what about the super:Goal: Be as healthy as possible. Obstacle: eating bad food. If-then: if I’m tempted to eat unhealthy foods in an impulsive and non-planned manner, then I will immediately drink a big glass of water and do 20 jumping-jacks.It doesn’t really matter what your pre-planned response is, so long as you consistently do it. By consistently following through, you’ll create small wins. Small wins build self-respect and confidence, thus lowering your need for willpower. Small wins and confidence solidify the decisions you’ve made, giving you increased inner-knowing that you absolutely will achieve your goal.Another key reason that confidence lowers the need for willpower is that the more confident you get, the more you genuinely DESIRE better results. At the heart of willpower is not actually knowing what you want. Indeed, you may actually  still desire  eating bad food, for example. Thus, you’re at continually battling within yourself.This is a horrible yet common way to live.Most people do not know what they truly want. They don’t know how to make decisions. They haven’t learned how to build genuine confidence. Most people’s lives are a constant back-and-forth of indecision and lack of clarity. Yet, decision and clarity go hand-in-hand are not actually hard to build. They are skills.You start with one simple one. And watch the ripples grow and success compound.As you become more confident and mature as a person,  your desires fundamentally change. You stop wanting stuff you used to want. You start wanting to succeed. You start loving yourself enough to win at life. You start seeing a much bigger picture for yourself. You realize increasingly more that you are the one painting the picture and actually have been the entire time.Rather than being disappointed by your previous choices, you’re increasingly grateful for what your life is. You see increased vision and potential in everything around you.Don’t Forget to Psychologically Detach and  PlayResearch in several fields  has found that  recovery from work  is a necessity for staying energetic, engaged, and healthy when facing job demands.“Recovery”  is the process of reducing or eliminating physical and psychological strain/stress caused by work.One particular recovery strategy that is getting lots of attention in recent research is called  â€œpsychological detachment from work.”  True psychological detachment occurs when you completely refrain from work-related activities  and thoughts  during non-work time.Proper detachment/recovery from work is essential  for physical and psychological health, in addition to engaged and productive work. Yet, few people do it. Most people are always “available” to their email and work. Millennials are the worst, often wearing the openness to work “whenever” as a badge of honor. It’s not a badge of honor.Research has found that people who psychologically detach from work experience: Less work-related fatigue and procrastination Far greater engagement  at work, which is defined as vigor, dedication, and absorption (i.e., “flow”) Greater work-life balance,  which directly  relates to the quality of life Greater marital satisfaction Greater mental health When you’re at work, be fully absorbed. When it’s time to call it a day, completely detach yourself from work and become absorbed in the other areas of your life.If you don’t detach, you’ll never fully be present or engaged at work or at home. You’ll be under constant strain, even if minimally. Your sleep will suffer. Your relationships will be shallow. Your life will not be happy.Not only that, but lots of science has found  play  to be extremely important for productivity and creativity. Just like your body needs a reset, which you can get through fasting, you also need to reset from work  in order to do your best work.  Thus, you need to step away from work and dive into other beautiful areas of your life. For me, that’s goofing off with my kids.Stuart Brown, the founder of the  National Institute for Play, has studied the “Play Histories” of over six thousand people and concludes playing can radically improve everything from personal well-being to relationships to learning to an organization’s potential to innovate. As  Greg McKeown explains,  â€œVery successful people see play as essential for creativity.”In his  TED talk, Brown said, “Play leads to brain plasticity, adaptability, and creativity… Nothing fires up the brain like play.” There is a burgeoning body of literature highlighting the extensive  cognitive  and  social  benefits of play, including:Cognitive Enhanced memory and focus Improved language learning skills Creative problem solving Improved mathematics skills Increased ability to self-regulate, an essential component of  motivation and goal achievement Social Cooperation Team work Conflict resolution Leadership skill development Control of impulses and aggressive behavior Listen to  Brain Music  or Songs on  RepeatIn her book,  On Repeat: How Music Plays the Mind,  psychologist Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis explains why listening to music on repeat improves focus. When you’re listening to a song on repeat, you tend to  dissolve  into the song, which blocks out mind wandering (let your mind wander while you’re away from work!).WordPress founder,  Matt Mullenweg, listens to one single song on repeat to get into flow. So do authors  Ryan Holiday  and  Tim Ferriss, and many others.Give it a try.You can use  this website  to listen to YouTube videos on repeat.I generally listen to classical music or electronic music (like video game type music). Here are a few that have worked for me:One Moment by Michael Nyman Make Love by Daft Punk Tearin’ it up by Gramatik Terra’s theme from Final Fantasy 3 Duel of Fates from Star Wars Stop crying your heart out by OasisReady to  Upgrade?I’ve created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.Get the cheat sheet here! This article first appeared on Medium.    You might also enjoy… New neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happy Strangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds 10 lessons from Benjamin Franklin’s daily schedule that will double your productivity The worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs 10 habits of mentally strong people