What comes to your mind when you first think about productivity? As someone who ‘works from home’ it can sometimes become challenging to set boundaries especially when it comes to structuring the day, not to mention minding a young or sick child. Since Covid, more people have been accepting of working ‘off-site’ but the practical challenges remain, especially if you work for yourself – how do you measure productivity and how does eating healthily help?
When I was first approached by Lisa Yiasemides at UCL about joining the UCL Connect panel on nutrition and productivity at work, it was great to hear that she wanted to host an a) online forum b) with diverse views, to enable discussion on the topic and broaden participation for not just the existing UCL alumni group, but anyone with interest, could join too. After all, there is no one way of eating well, and because everyone eats, it’s great to see what everyone can bring to the table (excuse the pun) for this interesting topic.
On the 2nd of July, over two hundred members of the public joined us in this UCL connect session on nutrition, organised by the VC’s advancement office. We shared thoughts on the topic of ‘productivity’ – what does it really mean? What to eat, drink and more. I think the most important takeaway is to be mindful and set small breaks during the day (with achievable targets). A good way to keep track is to drink up (keeping hydrated) so having regular toilet breaks can really help break the day.
It was one of the most energising panels I have had, thanks to the brilliant chairing by Adrian Brown, with Nicholas Peat, Mariela Martinez and Aysenur Tekneci, and of course Lisa Yiasemides and Tim from the UCL Alumni Relations Team for putting this together.
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