Here’s how to be productive without becoming a miserable robot:

• Start the day happy: How you wake is how you work. Having a little fun early means better results later.
• Scrub your way to creativity: Bring a challenge into the shower and come out with a solution.
• Close loops to kill worries: Make a plan and write it down to silence the voice in your head.
• Make awful tasks your own: Put your own spin on how you do something and you’ll be more motivated.
• Break down procrastination: Conquer Asia one tribe at a time, Genghis.
• Keep progress visible: Put a “did-it” list next to the “to-do” list for motivational rocket fuel.
• Forgiveness keeps you going: Beating yourself up kills productivity. Treat yourself like you would a good friend.

These days one of the biggest enemies you deal with is distraction. But there’s a fun solution to this: work near a super-productive friend.

Even if they’re not helping you, just being around them can improve your focus. How powerful is this? Powerful enough to help people with ADHD.

Via Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are:

Just having friends nearby can push you toward productivity. “There’s a concept in ADHD treatment called the ‘body double,’  ” says David Nowell, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist from Worcester, Massachusetts. “Distractable people get more done when there is someone else there, even if he isn’t coaching or assisting them.” If you’re facing a task that is dull or difficult, such as cleaning out your closets or pulling together your receipts for tax time, get a friend to be your body double.

You won’t be super-productive by trying to pretend you’re a machine.

If you really want to get things done you can’t just keep your head down. You also need to keep your smile up.