Staying active and exercising can help you focus and boost your creativity.
As I had more time on my hands from unplugging (check out my post about unplugging and creativity here), I found the time to stretch and start working out.
For months, the to-do “stretch/work out” has been an unfinished task on my list. The words were always sitting right after my “walk dog” task but were always ignored.
After I take my dog out each morning or afternoon, I always intend to exercise. The idea was to take advantage of the warmup from the walk. A quick stretch or a five to ten-minute exercise did not seem like a bad idea.
But instead of following through, I looked for breakfast or an afternoon snack. Instead of physical activity, I was sprawled on the couch, eating away while scrolling through my phone.
Having squeezed in daily stretching and exercising for the past three weeks (maximum of 6 days a week), a day in my life looked different.
I realized how breaking a sweat helped me throughout the day and learned how calm seconds in a deep stretch helped with my productivity and boosted my energy levels.
Not just that, staying active has also helped me look outside the box and build my creativity.
So here are three things exercise and stretching have helped me with in the past few weeks.
1. Chasing Time-Tick, Tick, Boom
As I write this, it is 12:54 AM. The house is still.
The air is filled with the Tick, Tick, Tick of my childhood Powerpuff Girls clock overhead and the keys of my laptop.
I know it is late, and I have been meaning to improve my time management over the past months. But trust me, this week is pretty much an exception.
Since I have been squeezing in exercise as a part of my daily routine, I have been more conscious of the time I spend on even the simplest things in my day.
With my beginner stretches and exercises of only 10-20 minutes total, I have learned to gauge my time and be conscious of the seconds I have been wasting away.
In the past few weeks, I successfully made time for self-care. This was on top of all the other tasks I was able to finish in time.
I feel like I am done wasting my time away.
Six years behind a desk and six years living a sedentary lifestyle. There is a reason why I am so out of shape and inflexible. My heart breaks at the fact that I lost my splits.
The sedentary lifestyle has seemed to have stolen a chunk of my youth.
I know for a fact how weak I have become. I could not keep up with my siblings on the bike route near our area. My lungs give out, and my vision blurs.
After short strenuous bike sessions or just 15-minute exercises, my heart feels like it is about to explode in my chest, and the pounding in my ears becomes nauseating.
I know we are not getting any younger. At this rate, we may be stealing more of our youth away refusing to get our butts off the couch.
Who would have known that being active was a race against the clock we did not know we needed?
My journey to begin exercising was to regain my flexibility and strengthened this skinny body. Along the way, I woke up with more energy and better time management.
This TIME article also discusses four ways exercise can help you against aging.
Time may never be in our control, but you and I can make the best of physical activity to help us chase, or—if not—manage the impossible.
2. A Perfect To-Do—Check, Check, Check.
This week was a bit too hectic for me to have written my blog earlier in the night. Even so, I squeezed in my daily stretches and workouts on top of all the requirements I had to complete for this certain job application.
Today was an exception from my daily stretches and exercise since I had to push myself to write.
I know better time management could have saved me from cramming the research and write-up all at once, but as I write I have realized how many of my To-Dos were completed at the end of the day.
It may be late, but I still had the energy to start working on my blog post after a long day of absorbing information, completing tasks, and analyzing spreadsheets.
Even with a messy schedule, the last few weeks have been surprisingly productive.
Yes, cutting my screen time helped. But the regular physical activity has helped me stay on my toes. I found myself ready to pounce on other activities on my plate instead of procrastinating over the smallest tasks.
Usually, I schedule a 1-hour study session each day to develop my writing or learn new professional skills. I turned a blind eye to these sessions for the longest time and only returned to them in the past few weeks.
Adding more physical activities to my routine has helped me focus and get things done.
Exercising at work was reported to boost performance based on this 2008 Study.
Your concentration could also improve explained in this The Conversation article.
As you step outside for your daily walk or lay out your mats for a short yoga session, be ready to face a day doused in productivity and better concentration.
3. Blood Pumping=Creative Juice Flowing
Time seems to slow down when you have to hold a plank or a squat.
Seconds feel like minutes, and sweat seems to move in slow motion as it drips from your chin.
Suspended between the floor and the pull of gravity against your tiny bones, your mind will find a way to get out of the painful situation.
Like clockwork, your mind and body know exactly how you are to step out of the frozen pose and return to comfort.
Biking uphill to my childhood home has the same effect on me. The hill is steep. My legs are burning, and my lungs are refusing to take in the oxygen I need. My mind automatically shifts to dropping to the floor once we get home.
My mind then wonders why I put myself through all this misery. I finally understand why people decided to invent cars, motorbikes, and even electric scooters.
I now see the correlation between exercise and creativity.
This study found that exercise not only boosts mood but also boosts creativity. Not just that, but physical activity also boosts creative performance based on this study.
I never really related blood-pumping activities to flowing creative juices.
Being physically active is not only good for your physical health. It could help you create and think of out-of-the-box solutions. Innovation may help you get out of the rut you are in.
A few minutes of exercise a day may just be the push you need.
Adding a workout to your daily routine may feel daunting. You may feel too overwhelmed by the demands of the day to add another task to your already packed To-Do list.
If you don’t know where to start, the key to the whole thing is to have fun.
Choose routines or activities you enjoy, mix it up, take breaks you need, and (unless you aim for gains) don’t over-exert yourself.
Busyzi 