How to Recover From an Unproductive Day That Never Happened
Everyone has unproductive days. Maybe an unexpected event will cause a loop in your schedule. Maybe you’re not feeling well. Whatever the reason, it can be difficult to get back on track. Here’s how to get over your productivity drop and get back to work.
Of course, there are various reasons for unproductiveness, and if productivity in general is an issue for you, you will want to focus your efforts on a long-term solution . Here, we’re assuming you have a solid system of work, but short-term failure has thrown you off. Here are some easy ways to get back on track after a less productive recession.
Get an early start
So, your booze for lack of productivity is over, and now you are on the mend. Great! The first thing you can do is decide to wake up early the next day.
Let’s say you did on Monday. Once you realize that your day has been wasted, make it a rule to go to bed early that night so you can get started faster on Tuesday (getting up early is tricky, but luckily for you, we have a whole list of ways to make this happen ).
However, when you wake up in the morning, do not dive straight into work. Do what you love . This will start your morning on an optimistic note, setting you up to get to work. Instead of approaching him with the stress of catching up, stay calm and approach him optimistically and methodically.
Use the productive mood anchor
It’s important to start your day stress-free, but let’s face it: you don’t need to catch up. Raise your productive mood by finding your productive mood anchor. The people at Asian Efficiency coined the term, and this is how they explain it :
Most people have something that serves as a good anchor for their productive mood. We found it to be usually something like coffee or green tea. Personally, I only drink English Breakfast Tea when I’m really focused on the creative task, so for me it serves as an anchor for my productive flow.
Of course, your anchor doesn’t have to be a drink. It’s just a trigger that makes you feel right at home in your day to day work. For me, this is watching the morning news. I never do this on weekends. But it’s part of my work week ritual , and I always feel like it’s time to start a productive day.
You probably have a good idea of what your productive mood anchor is. Whenever you start your first morning again with a whetstone, use this mood anchor to boost your productivity.
Take time to refocus
It seems counterproductive, but if you are unproductive, it is worth taking a short break to refocus. This can put you in a more productive mode. The Wall Street Journal suggests taking just twenty minutes :
If possible, take something off your schedule for the rest of the day, setting aside just 20 minutes to continuously focus on this meaningful project. It’s better if you have more time, but 20 minutes still matters. If you need to, leave a non-essential meeting 20 minutes early, or stay at the office 20 minutes later. (You would use this tactic if you got an urgent call on business, right? Well, getting to your most important job is urgent.) Turn off your email and phone. Find an unoccupied conference room or booth where no one can find you.
We talked about the importance of concentration , so this advice should make sense. During your twenty minutes, you can think about what you need to work on, get rid of the guilt associated with your unproductiveness, and change your mindset. This will help you get back on track better.
Come up with a recovery plan
During unproductive times, you probably accumulated a number of unfinished business. After you’ve recovered from unproductive days, you may want to return to these tasks immediately. But scheduling recovery will have a bigger impact.
Once you’re focused and in the right mood, it’s time to come up with a plan to recover and eliminate everything you didn’t do.
Make a list of everything you need, and then spread out the tasks from that list over a week or so. On some days you may have to work a little longer, but don’t hesitate. It’s tempting to try and catch up as quickly as possible. But biting off more than you can chew can throw you off even more. If you don’t get everything done in a short amount of time, you risk disrupting your schedule again. Plus, you may feel like you have failed, which can put you back in an unproductive mood.
Instead of trying to rebuild everything in a day, schedule tasks in time. If you catch up earlier than expected, great. But so there is no pressure.
Start your plan strategically
Also, consider what tasks you want to start first.
The Gigaom technical site invites you to start small . Look at your to-do list and pick one that can be done in about 15-30 minutes. When you can cross something off your list, you will feel a sense of accomplishment. You can build on that momentum and move on to more important tasks.
On the other hand, there is something to be said if you solve the most unpleasant problem in the first place . Big or small, dropping it off your list in the first place can make you feel extremely productive, and you can also build on that momentum.
Whichever method you choose, start strategically. List tasks according to what will make you most productive.
Stick your nose to the grindstone
With a plan in place, it’s time to get to work and focus. This means you won’t be distracted and save time. Of course, we’ve covered many options for this, but if you’re trying to fix this, they can be very helpful.
- The Pomodoro Technique : By planning 25 minutes of continuous work and 5-minute breaks, you can set yourself the pace. You will do a lot, but you will not completely burn out.
- Turn off your notifications : If you’ve been unproductive, you probably have a lot of emails and messages to catch up on. You’ll have to get to them, of course, but notifications can be distracting. Try turning them off while you work.
- Block distracting sites . Likewise, you may be tempted to check certain sites and find out about your social media, entertainment, etc. You can come back to them later, but while you are working, you should focus. Used a tool like Cold Turkey to block these sites. Also consider working in full screen mode to keep track of the prize.
Depending on how much time was wasted, it may take you several days to get back on track. But by changing your mindset, coming up with a plan, and staying focused, you will quickly return to your normal productive schedule.