7 Ways to Be Productive Even When You're Tired

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Did you know our bodies talk to us? Those weird pains are the body's way of saying, excuse me, I need some help here. Amazon One Medical has 24. 7 virtual care, so you can get help quickly and easily. Thanks to Amazon One Medical, Healthcare just got less painful. The start of a new year isn't about pressure. It's about purpose. It's a moment to reflect, to ask what truly matters. Shopify helps turn that clarity into action. Whether you're starting with a simple idea or a growing brand, Shopify gives you the tools to build at your own pace. Templates, AI tools, social integrations. Everything designed to support your vision so your goals don't stay in your head, they begin to take shape in the world. Shopify grows with you every step of the way. If you're ready to build with intention in 2026, go to shopify.com j and begin this Valentine's Day, Celebrate every kind of love with Pandora. Whether it's romantic, platonic, familial, or a moment of self love, Pandora's versatile designs let you express those connections in meaningful ways. Each piece tells a unique story, transforming a gift into a heartfelt message that honors the bonds that make life special. Pandora helps you celebrate the relationships that truly matter. Let your heart guide you to the perfect Valentine's Day surprise. Filled with sparkle and symbols that capture your most cherished moments together. Make the feeling last from first sight to forever. On Valentine's Day and every day. Be love. Shop Pandora Jewelry today in store or online@pandora.net sometimes you can be productive, but it doesn't mean that you are effective. Productive means you get a lot of things done. Effective means you get big, important things done. And I find that when I'm exhausted and I'm tired, I struggle to do those effective things, even if I'm able to do a lot of things and check them off. Hey everyone. Welcome back to On Purpose, the number number one health podcast in the world. Thanks to each and every one of you that come back every week to listen, learn and grow. Now, I'm going to be honest with you. It's 9:15pm and I have been working around 14 to 15 hours a day this past week. I am tired. I am really, really tired. And today's episode is inspired by that. The truth is, if you've been overworking, get some sleep. If you're on the verge of burnout, please, please, please speak to a doctor. Speak to a medical professional. Take a break. The reason I'm recording This episode and podcast is because I often think that we sometimes get into these situations where we've overworked a little bit. We need to push through that. But I would say that if you can get sleep right now, if you can get rest right now, please, please take it. This is for those of you who know that you just need to push a little bit further. And I'm going to give you some advice that will help you push through. But I still want you to get some sleep now. Why am I tired? I flew to Egypt for 24 hours. Just so you know, there is a connecting flight from LA to Egypt. It takes in total door to door, probably around 26 hours. I was in Egypt for exactly 24 and then I came back. I went for work, I came back, went to a work dinner. The moment I came back, showered, went to that dinner, came back, woke up the next morning and started a full work week. And then because it's the week before the Oscars, I had a lot of events to attend. In the evening, work dinners, I had client meetings, lots of different things going on. And in the daytime, I was recording podcasts, interviewing amazing guests. It's been a fulfilling week. It's been an amazing week. I feel so grateful that I've had this week. But the reality is also to accept that I'm tired now. I know you can relate to this. I know so many of you listening right now are feeling like, Jay, I am tired too. I am exhausted, too. Maybe you've had too much on at the weekends. Maybe your family was just in town. Maybe you've been going through some personal stuff. Whatever it is, I'm so glad you chose to be here. And I'm so happy that we get to try and talk about this together so that I can share some insights that help keep me going when this is going on in my life. So studies show that around 50% of people report feeling tired between three and seven days a week. The results also reveal a gender gap. Women were sleepy on an average of 3.4 days a week and men were tired 2.7 days on average. Now, only 16% of respondents reported not feeling sleepy at all during a typical week. Sleepiness, cited by 58% of all respondents. Most commonly affected respondents, mood, followed by the willingness to go out in the evening, ability to focus and and exercise and productivity. Now, the most common coping strategy, studies say, is to shake it off and keep going. 62% of respondents said that. Followed by getting fresh air, which was 35%. Drinking coffee was 33% you know who you are. And those are not the strategies I'm going to be sharing in today's episode. Why? Because I believe that there are a different set of habits that, that I practice, that I look upon, that I try and embody. When I am in this position now, I don't allow myself, I would like to say, to get into this position very often. I'll make sure that I rest the weekends and I'll recoup. I make sure that I get some extra early sleep the night before. So this is a rare occurrence for me. But nevertheless, I have a plan for when this happens. I've been working every weekend for the past month, and so I. I've been a little out of sync with my schedule and therefore I have to have a plan now. The reasons that people say they are struggling with their energy is long work hours. 53%. Another thing, obviously during the lockdown was staying indoors. Too much screen time is tiring for people and a lack of regular routine. These were the leading causes for prolonged feelings of exhaustion. So today I'm going to share with you the habits and practices I use to help me when I need to get work done, even when I'm tired or exhausted. The first thing that I do is that I'm genuinely clear about how much energy this is truly going to require. I ask myself, how much energy is this truly going to require? Because when I'm tired, often we're not able to properly associate time and space. How many of you, when you're tired, feel you make bad decisions? Right? When we feel fatigue, when we feel exhaustion, we make poor decisions. How do we make better decisions? But by actually trying to get accurate, by thinking about how much energy this task that we need to accomplish is genuinely going to require. And we have to base it on how much energy it's taken in the past. If we've done the task before and when we're honest about the energy, we can then check in with ourselves and ask ourselves, can I rise to that energy level? Can I bring it to that energy level? And the question even more succinctly is, what is the minimum energy required to do this? Often when we're tired, we're thinking this thing's going to take maximum energy, but it's not. What is the minimum energy that this thing is going to require from us to complete? Because can we rise to that minimum energy is really the question that you have to ask now. What do you do with that? Chances are you're too tired, so you're thinking oh, well, you know, I'm probably not going to give the right answer and I'm probably not going to make the right decision. One of my favorite things is this time is to go and grab a couple of dates. What I love about grabbing a couple of dates is that dates are high in natural sugars. So if you need a quick burst of energy, instead of going for a second cup of coffee, go for a handful of dates. And if you don't like them plain, you can actually make some energy balls or put them into oatmeal bars. The thing about dates is that they have an excellent nutrition profile, says Healthline. Since they're dried, their calorie content is higher than most fresh fruit. The calorie content of dates is similar to that of other dried fruits such as raisins and figs, and they're high in fiber, with almost 7 grams of fiber in a 3.5 ounce serving. Including dates in your diet is a great way to increase your fiber intake. So for me, grabbing those dates before I make a decision to assess the amount of energy I have is a fantastic way to know how I'm going to feel when I take on this next task that I have in front of me. The reason why this is fascinating is that they found this research in a study of judges in a courtroom. They found that judges gave more lenient sentences after lunch than they did just before lunch. When judges gave sentences just before lunch, those people received the harshest sentences because judges were likely hungry, thirsty and waiting to eat. They had lost their energy. They were feeling a sense of fatigue. So they made poorer decisions. Now, when they were able to go and get lunch and then when they came back, now that they were feeling fresh and alert, their sentences changed. Now, that's obviously worrying to hear in a courtroom, but the same thing applies to us. If we're doing decision based activities or we need to make sure we've eaten, we need to make sure we have some energy. If we're trying to do discipline based activities, we need to be careful about knowing how much energy we need so that we don't overexert. Now, another thing I'm going to say is, how do you get work done when you're tired or exhausted? Is that you perform easier or harder tasks. Now this is something I want you to think about, reflect on, and understand about yourself. Some of us get energy from doing harder tasks first and some of us get energy from doing easier tasks first. We all feel different ways of momentum. And you only know this by observing yourself. Are you someone who feels like, yes, I got the first task of the day done. It was easy, it was simple, I'm done, now I feel confident to move on. Or you say to yourself, you know what, if I accomplish this, I can do anything right? So you're going to start with the hardest. Neither is right or wrong. There used to be a time when I thought either or. But I've started to realize that everyone's mind works so differently, that it's so important for us to be aware. So I find that I like to start my day doing something difficult. It may be a cold shower, it may be a cold plunge, something that makes me feel like I can accomplish the rest of the day. I did say that you could start with easy or harder first because we are all different. But studies do show that doing the easy thing first can be less productive. The idea is reinforced by behavioral research that shows that starting with easier tasks first is not helpful. Overall, studies say that the data shows this is the case. Even though it can initially feel good to take the path of least resistance in an attempt to get the ball rolling, the human brain is wired to feel positive about short term rewards. So we're more inclined to take actions and that result in gaining those short term rewards. And hardest tasks require you to be more patient, to be more resilient. The stress of putting off a difficult task negatively affects productivity towards all other tasks performed. So because you keep putting off that hard task and you keep trying to get these quick wins, these quick dopamine hits, you can often set yourself up for just stress and pressure of putting something off again and again and again. The other thing we have to realize is that studies show that after a 50 hour work week, scientists have found that the work output of an employee workforce drops off a cliff once the number of hours passes. 55 hours work output is almost nil due to exhaustion. So we really have to take a look at our whole week and ask ourselves, are we really pushing too far too often? The studies go on to say that the impact of this decline in being effective is that people who work 70 hours a week are achieving next to nothing in the extra 15 hours they choose to work. Now, I can relate, and I would debate that. Also, I feel like I can be effective and productive. Actually, let me, let me explain that. Sometimes you can be productive, but it doesn't mean that you're effective. Productive means you get a lot of things done. Effective means you get big important things done. And I find that when I'm exhausted and I'm tired. I struggle to do those effective things, even if I'm able to do a lot of things and check them off We've been getting so many amazing reviews for the Daily J, my new daily guided meditation series on the Calm app. You might have heard a couple of snippets on the podcast for a few weeks, so in case you haven't had the chance to check it out, I just wanted to share this review from Caitlin, an elementary school teacher from New Jersey. Here's what she had to say. I have over nine years of experience in the American public school education system, including teaching throughout the pandemic. Over the past two years, I have seen extreme cases of anxiety in my students like never before. Many of these children have never experienced these feelings before, and most are not even sure of what they are feeling. My school district has spent a great deal of time focusing on on social emotional learning sel. Through this school year, we try to teach coping skills and focus on teaching kids how to deal with their feelings and become the best version of themselves. As someone who has also been experiencing the many anxieties of the world today, I have recently downloaded the Calm app thanks to my mom. My mom and I are big fans of yours and once she heard that you will have seven minutes of Daily J each day, she encouraged me in doing this. Your meaningful ideas and meditation have quickly become part of my daily routine. So much that I've begun incorporating some of them into my SEL morning meetings with my third graders. If you've ever wanted to meditate with me, join me on the Calm App for the Daily J, a daily guided meditation where I'll help you find calm in the chaos, plant beautiful intentions for a happy, abundant life, and simple steps for positive actions to get you closer to the life of your dreams. Meditate with me by going to calm.comjay to get 40% off a Calm Premium membership that's only $42 for the whole year for a daily guided meditation experience the Daily J Only on Calm this episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Every January, we hear the same message. New Year, New you. But the older I get, the more I realize maybe the New Year doesn't need a new you. Maybe it just needs a less burdened you. For me, one of the things I've been learning to let go of is pressure. The pressure to show up perfectly for everyone all the time. And the moment I started releasing that pressure, even little by little, it opened up space to actually understand what was going on beneath the surface. We all have blind spots and sometimes it takes a fresh pair of eyes and to help you see what's been draining you or where you could give yourself a little more compassion and clarity. BetterHelp is quality therapists who follow a strict code of conduct and are fully licensed in the US and honestly, getting started is pretty straightforward. You answer a few quick questions about what you need and they handle the matching for you. They've been doing this for over 12 years, so they usually get the match right the first time. And if the first match doesn't feel like the best fit, you can switch anytime. Through their tailored suggestions, they've supported over 5 million people and work with more than 30,000 therapists. Live sessions average a 4.9 out of 5 rating from more than 1.7 million reviews, which says a lot. So if you're heading into the new year wanting to feel a little lighter and understand yourself a bit more, therapy can be a great place to start. Not to become a completely new version of you, but to feel more grounded in who you already are. BetterHelp makes it easy to get matched online with a qualified therapist. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com jstop3 that's better. H-E-L-P.com jstop3 the start of a new year isn't about pressure. It's about purpose. It's a time to pause, reflect and ask what truly matters to you. Not what looks good on paper, but what feels aligned with who you are becoming. When your work is rooted in intention, action flows naturally. Especially when it comes to starting or growing a business. Shopify is here to help turn that clarity into a first meaningful step. Whether you're nurturing a new idea or scaling a growing brand, Shopify provides the tools to build at your own pace. From thousands of customizable templates to AI powered support through Shopify Sidekick. It's like having a co founder, marketing team and finance advisor all in one. You can sell anywhere your customers are Instagram, TikTok, Facebook without the stress of mastering every platform. And now with tools like ChatGPT integration, your store can be discovered by the right people exactly when they're looking for what you offer. When we built Joony, Shopify was there from day one helping us not get lost in complexity. They scale as you grow, supporting first time founders and global brands alike. Purpose without action is just a thought. Shopify helps you deliver that action and bring your purpose to life. If you're ready to build with intention in 2026, go to shopify.com j and begin.

Eczema isn't always obvious, but it's real and so is the relief from EBGLIS. After an initial dosing phase, about 4 in 10 people taking EBGLIS achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks, and most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. EBGLIS Librekizumab LBKZ a 250 milligram per 2 milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema, also called atopic dermatitis, that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals, or who cannot use topical therapies. Ebglis can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to Epglis. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglis. Before starting Epglis, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection searching for real relief? Ask your doctor about epgliss and visit epgliss.lily.com or call 1-800-lilyrx or 1-800-545-5979 now.

One of my other habits that I love to do when I'm trying to get work done when I'm feeling tired is get a shower. I remember turning up to an event and I'd been asked to go on stage at 9:30pm that is my bedtime. Can you imagine? I get to an event, there's thousands of people in the audience. I'm asked to go on stage at 9:30pm and in my head I'm thinking it's going to be my bedtime. How do I wake up? And sometimes I'm jet lagged too the other way where I'm really tired at that time. One of my favorite tips at this time is to take a shower. I know it sounds obvious, but a cold shower as well. Taking a shower can refresh you in the best way. So the studies say that aside from boosting your mood, research suggests that bathing can reduce inflammation, help you sleep better, soothe muscle problems and help with depression. There's a reason that a cold shower wakes you up in the morning. Studies say as the lower temperature increases oxygen intake and heart rate to release blood through the body. So taking a shower can be a huge win towards working even when you're feeling tired. Now, there's also a habit element here. You're used to taking a shower at the start of the day, and now you're able to perform when you take a shower. It's almost like a mental note or a mental rewiring to say, let's start again, let's start the day again. This has been a huge tip and trick for me that has helped me. When I'm really, really, truly feeling exhausted now, the next tip that I want to share with you is the music that you listen to. I remember learning about something called the Mozart effect, which is listening to classical music. And it's incredible. You'd think this would put you to sleep, but actually it can help you be more productive because it can help you become more focused. And one of the biggest reasons is because classical music doesn't have lyrics, which means you can't sing along, you can't get distracted. You can actually just move at the pace of the music. Nature sounds again, have been shown to remove distraction. When you listen to nature sounds, you still feel like you're attentive, but you still feel like you can focus. Often we don't realize that you can build your own distraction, right? Music is like building your own distraction. Your mind has enough to be entertained by, but you actually are able to focus. Now, some research suggests that it's not the type of music that it's important, but it's actually music between 50 and 80 beats per minute. Dr. Emma Gray, a cognitive behavioral therapist, worked with Spotify to research the benefits benefits of certain types of music. She found that listening to music set in the 50 to 80 beat range puts the brain into an alpha state. Now there's an interesting one that's next and it's exercise. I missed the first day of the week this week for exercise because I was too tired. Rarely do I allow myself to do that. And I was so happy when I got back to it. Now, how did you make that decision? Everyone's thinking, Jay, how did you decide to either go to the gym or not go to the gym? And here's how I'm going to tell you. I made the decision. If I'm feeling unwell, when I'm exhausted or tired, I will choose to do low intensity workouts. I'll choose to do workouts that are not stressful on my nervous system. If I'm just feeling lazy, then I'll force myself to go and continue on. Now, how do you know, if you're feeling tired, exhausted, or lazy, how do you truly know that? I've been trying to ask myself this question. I know that I'm lazy when I'm thinking about how I feel right now, not how I'm going to feel after I go to the gym. And I'd say more often than not, I know I'm going to feel great after the gym. Now, the difference between tiredness and exhaustion is that you're feeling it in your body, not just your mind. So how is your body feeling? Not how is your mind and head feeling? Are your muscles aching? Is your body feeling heavy or tense? Now, that doesn't mean you shouldn't go to the gym. I'm just saying that when you're on that verge of being truly exhausted, it is important to give yourself good sleep. But the key to that is sleeping earlier, right? The human growth hormone, also known as hgh, is more active in the early hours of sleep and ideally before midnight. So the earlier you can get to sleep tonight, the better you're going to feel. The next tip is something that's become trendy recently, which is using standing desks, but the idea to stand and John Paulson talks about a 2011 study by the CDC that noted a 54% decrease in muscle skeletal pain among workers who alternated from sitting to standing throughout the day. And and John Paulson also talked about another study in 2014 by the University of Cincinnati that reported significant decreases in shoulder and back pain when participants varied their postures. He went on to say that when we sit for too long, everything in our bodies slows down. John Paulson said it's harder to clear fats from blood, to process insulin to keep muscles active and spines flexible, leading to soreness and possible organ damage. He went on to say that even our mental functions slow because we're not moving enough to pump much blood to the brain. So even while I'm doing this podcast, right now I'm stretching upwards, I'm raising my hands above my head, I'm pushing my hands behind me, I'm rolling my shoulders. The idea of moving when we're tired is counterintuitive, but it can be so powerful to grasp the energy, to increase more energy in the body when you are feeling tired. The next tip is something I'm going to share that I'm experimenting with right now. It's something I've never done in my life, but I'm starting to realize that it may be something to play around with. It's the idea of Napping. So studies show that naps lasting 10 to 20 minutes are considered the ideal length. They're sometimes referred to as power naps because they provide recovery benefits without leaving the napper feeling sleepy afterward. Now, some of the benefits of napping studies show include reducing sleepiness, improving learning, aiding memory formation, and regulating emotions. Again, that decision making ability is improved through napping. So the Sleep foundation shared some really great tips on how to get an ideal nap. The first is to set an alarm. Studies show that the best nap length for most people is about 10 to 20 minutes. This provides restorative sleep without drowsiness after waking up. The other thing is to nap early. Sleep foundation says napping late in the day can affect your ability to fall asleep at bedtime. Try napping around halfway point between the time you wake up and the time you plan to go to bed. Usually you might think, well, that's a waste of time. Like, oh my gosh, if I fall asleep and then what if I don't wake up again? That's gonna be hard, right? But here's the thing. You've got to remind yourself that it's not just about being awake. It's not just about getting it done. It's again, going back to the first thing I said. What energy do you need to make this decision or complete this task? If it is something that requires your best energy, that requires your focused approach, you're going to be required to take that rest. Do not ignore this advice because it's so easy to think, well, I just need to get this done, Jay. I'm so busy. I just need to make this happen. Sometimes taking a break and a pause can be the best thing you can do. One of my favorite things is to create a five minute gap between each of my meetings. In that five minutes, if my meeting finishes at 10:30, the next one starts at 10:35. If my meeting finishes at 11, the next one starts at 11:05. Or make all your meetings 55 minutes. I don't know who invented this idea that your meetings had to be an hour. They could be 30 minutes, they could be 17, they could be 25, they could be 45. But we've become these people who set 30 minute or 60 minute meetings. Make them 55 minutes, make them 25 minutes. And in that five minutes, do these five things. Stand up, walk, hydrate, look out into the distance and stretch. Right? Those are the five things you do in five minutes. Notice how pulling out your phone was not worth one of them. Stand up, walk about, hydrate, look at the distance and stretch. These are five habits that you need to do in the five minutes between meetings so you don't carry the baggage of the last meeting into the next meeting. That's one of the most unhealthy things that removes our productivity, that makes us even more tired because it just keeps challenging our ability to think straight. And I'm going to share one final thing that I recommend we all do when we're feeling exhausted and tired, but we need to get some work done is do it and then reward yourself. Get it done, do it and then reward yourself with an early night's sleep. Reward yourself with a relaxing weekend. Plan out the reward. Not only does that give you excitement that you have something planned for after getting this work done, it will actually give you the relaxation you need. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode. Make sure you pass it on to someone who needs it and come back next week for another episode of On Purpose. Thank you, everyone.

Hey, it's Joel and Matt from how to Money. If your New Year's resolution is to finally get your finances in shape, we've got your back prices, they're still high, and the economy is all over the place. But 2026 is the year for you to get intentional and make real progress. That's right, yeah. Each week we break down what's happening with your money, the most important issues to focus on, and the small moves that make a big difference. Kick off the year with confidence. Listen to How To Money on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Dr. Jesse Mills, host of the Mailroom podcast. Each January, men promise to get stronger, work harder, and fix what's bro. But what if the real work isn't physical at all? I sat down with psychologist Dr. Steve Poulter to unpack shame, anxiety, and the emotional pain men were never taught how to name. Part of the way through the valley.

Of despair is realizing this has happened and you have to make a choice whether you're gonna stay in it or move forward.

Our two part conversation is available now. Listen to the mailroom on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favorite shows. Hi, I'm Dr. Priyanka Wali. And I'm Hari Kundabolu. It's a new year, and on the podcast Health stuff, we're resetting the way we talk our health, which means being honest about what we know, what we don't know, and how messy it can all be. I like to sleep in late and sleep early. Is there a chronotype for that, or am I just depressed? Health stuff is about learning, laughing, and feeling a little less alone. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

This is an iHeart podcast.

Guaranteed Human.