This post appeared first on the EA Coaching blog.

A fair number of clients who suffer from chronic health problems come though my metaphorical door. Personally, I’ve dealt with a chronic health condition called POTS since my early teens.

When you’re dealing with longer term, physical chronic health problems that cause fatigue, brain fog, or pain, standard productivity advice might not work. Common advice can even backfire, leaving you worse off. Similarly, shorter term problems such as a concussion or pregnancy will temporarily change what you can do.

Of course, I am not a doctor. This is a collection of productivity tips based on many conversations I’ve had, not proven medical advice. If you have a chronic health issue, you should be getting medical advice from appropriate professionals.

Invest in your capacity

Improving your habits and better managing your symptoms will almost certainly increase your productivity more than trying to power through. So work smarter, not harder. Here are some tips for improving your capacity to do work.

Spend time trying to find treatments as early as possible. The biggest productivity gains may come from finding better ways to manage your condition. You may need to talk to many specialists, try different medications, adopt new routines, or learn new ways of moving. The earlier you do these, the longer you will be enjoying the rewards. College is a great time to do this. Of course, grant yourself some compassion if navigating a complicated medical landscape seems like an overwhelming burden on top of dealing with your normal work.

Get enough sleep. Sleeping less than you need so that you have more time awake will reduce your productivity. If you have any kind of chronic fatigue issue, you just need more sleep than average. It’s common to need nine hours a night or more in such cases. If you’ve been running a sleep debt, you may need a lot of rest to catch up over many days.

Adapt your environment to support you. If people are getting annoyed that you’re taking longer than normal to reply to their emails, set up an autoreply that you’re slow to reply right now because of a health problem. If you’re struggling to remember to take your pills, get a weekly pill organizer or an electric bottle cap that tells you when you last took your meds. Build in redundant systems to make sure the vital habits happen.&nbs...

Jay Orne

Jay Orne

Jay Orne

Jay Orne

Jay Orne

Jay Orne