I’ve Automated My Meals To Be More Productive

I have been very public about my health goals (and progress) over the past few years. I honestly believe that being healthy and fit pays significant dividends in the business world. It provides you with more energy, allows for better first impressions, and grants you more opportunities. To me, being able to look (and feel) my best is a part of the daily business grind. If I am not at my top potential, how can I expect my business to be?

However, one of the things that I have most recently noticed is just how much of my day is eaten up by focusing on things such as what to wear, what to eat and commuting (when needing to travel). I always want to be productive, always producing results that either help the short term be easier or put us in a better position for the long term. I realized that there was one small hack that I have been doing for the past month and a half that has not only helped me become more productive, but that I believe anyone can do.

This is automating the majority of your meals.

First and foremost, I should be upfront with everyone reading this in that I am very fortunate to work from my home office (turning my second bedroom into a dedicated office space). Not everyone has this luxury. However, this is something that still can apply to those in office settings or working at a headquarter/coworking facility. Plan your meals in advance. It’s that simple.

Have your meals ready to go, so that you can simply grab and go. Even if you take a lunch break, it is one less thing to worry about and if you are like me, tracking what you eat and the macronutrients in your meals, you aren’t thinking twice about this and spending more time than needed on food. After all, food is basically energy. There’s no reason to overcomplicate this process or get romantic about it.

So how exactly do you go about planning your meals? The answer is simple: meal prep. I will now spend one hour on my Sunday (the only day of the week that I never have any meetings) dedicated to preparing breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the week ahead. Thanks to the wonderful app MyFitnessPal(download this if you haven’t already, it’s one of the best apps on the App Store), I am able to track everything from my macros, to calories, to what I am eating each day. Here is the most beautiful part though, once I am all set, I am done for the week. Now when I need to eat, my meals are already prepared. That’s one less decision to make during the work day, one less thing to think about, a lot less time going into my meals — which means a lot more productive time that I can use to focus on my company, my meetings, my clients and my never-ending to-do list.

Of course, this solves everything except for the one big thing about meals — the social aspect, dinner meetings, family dinners, dates, etc.

I get it, and this isn’t a perfect formula.

For those types of social situations, I simply go with the flow and yes, you can’t meal prep for them. That is perfectly okay. It is still okay to be human and a person. These type of meal events do not prominently make up my week. Planning for 15 of my 18 meals in a week still gets the job done, and makes me more of a machine. As long as I can hack myself to success (and be healthier at the same time), I am winning.

I challenge those reading this article not only to apply such a technique above, but elsewhere too, in order to make themselves more productive. Perhaps planning all of your outfits/wardrobe for the week in advance? How about hiring a TaskRabbit or cleaning service to clean on your behalf? What about having your groceries automated through Amazon Prime Pantry?

I’m constantly trying to figure out better ways to automate or hack my life — so that my quality of life remains consistent, but I have more time to focus on the things that I truly love, such as my business. See which verticals you can use this method with above, or simply start with your meals first to see how you like it. I can promise you, if you can stick to this method, you will be one step ahead of your competitors, one more step to being machine-like.

You’ll be unstoppable.

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About Joshua Davidson: I build products and grow companies. Founder of ChopDawg.com. Featured on FOX, MSNBC, CBS, Technically, and Mashable. Email me at Joshua@ChopDawg.com!