4 Non-Chemical Ways to Stimulate Productivity…

Silicon Valley has become obsessed with milking every bit of hidden productivity it can find — so obsessed, in fact, that many companies have lost sight of what sustainable productivity actually looks like.

To live up to this unrealistic standard, some workers have recently turned to nootropics, pills designed to boost brainpower, increase drive and produce other pleasant (and unverifiable) effects. While these cognitive enhancers might be the next logical step in our coffee-crazed culture, companies can’t advocate for magic productivity pills without opening themselves up to potential liability.

Related: 5 Ways That Coffee Affects Productivity

While most aren’t cramming their workers full of stimulants, few businesses actually invest in the well-being of their employees. I like to think of our employees at Uniregistry as the organic, free-range kind — they might be more expensive or require a little extra effort, but in the end, they’re worth it for the health of the business.

Optimizing productivity the right way

Nootropics such as Modafinil fail to address the reality that creating a productive environment takes time and money. In fact, a recent study by Dr. Andreas G. Franke and others found that the drug had some unexpected side effects that could do as much harm as good. Chess players who used Modafinil before play did improve slightly, but their reaction times were also slower than average — meaning that any potential gains in processing power were matched with poorer time management.

No, happy pills aren’t the answer. Better systems and technology negate the need for what nootropics aspire to be. Instead of drugs and stress, our team takes a more wholesome approach that still manages to get the most from our workers. While they may take a little more out of the company budget, these approaches can be far more valuable — both to the employees and to the company as a whole.

1. Fuel your team properly.

At Uniregistry, we are big believers in providing high-quality food to our employees in-house, because the stress of finding a decent meal (let alone a healthful one) makes lunchtime more distracting and draining than it should be. How can people be productive if they spend 40 minutes of an hour-long break finding, cooking, preparing and cleaning?

Related: 3 Ways Providing Company Meals Increases Productivity

Likewise, we find that these shared lunches inspire people to collaborate. Hungry people make bad decisions, and some of the best ideas and most revolutionary updrafts in our organization have come over a daily lunch break, which happens impromptu and in collaboration with others.

Eating cleaner and healthier isn’t cheap, but we absorb that expense for our people, and they become brighter-eyed dynamos who need fewer nootropics.

2. Encourage efficient time management.

While productive times vary from person to person, most people don’t work their hardest during the first or last hour of the day. Often, those windows between 10 a.m. and noon and between 1 and 4 p.m. are the most productive. That’s just five hours a day.

Use morning hours for task-specific meetings to set direction for the day. As mentioned above, brainstorming freeform sessions are best over lunch, because food and casual conversation lead to more relaxed ideas and breakthroughs.