How To Refocus When Your Productivity Slips
Posted on March 22, 2010 by GuestPost
Categories: Productivity
This is a guest post by Elisabeta Ghidiu. She is an Internet marketer and advocate blogger, writing about productivity and technology on Cyclope-Series – Let’s talk about productivity – a manager-oriented blog. If you want to guest post on this blog, check out the guidelines here.
Mondays are productivity days at SimpleProductivity blog.
There is no such think as constantly improving or keeping your productivity on a high level.
It sometimes happens that you have a bad sleep and you wake up tired; or you have a headache or receive some bad news; and all these have a major impact on your day and on your focus. The tasks’ priority change and your attention distributes in more directions, decreasing your productivity significantly.
It’s vital to learn how to distribute attention and to deal with one task at a time. Even if you have many thoughts you have to manage them in a productive way in order to get them all accomplished.
Here are a few tips that will help you:
Organize tasks. Make a checklist plan with all tasks and divide each one in small tasks. Usually on the first part of the day people are more productive; that’s why I recommend placing the most difficult tasks in this period.
Take 5 minute break every hour. After every hour take 5 minutes break and go outside to get a fresh breath of air . This will help you clear your mind and start the next task with fresh energy.
Avoid distraction. Colleagues may be sending jokes or try to involve you in discussions. It’s vital to avoid them and keep focus on your task until you finish it. All these distractions can be managed on your lunch break or when you finish your work.
Control yourself. Always think that you can control your acts and your habits because you are the master of your mind. For example when I am stressed I make myself understand that if I stress myself I won’t get things completed earlier and I will realize nothing.
Give yourself rewards. It’s good for your own state of mind to know that you will get something nice or something you enjoy as a reward. For example I like to spoil myself at a shopping session or having a delicious dinner in town; anything that cheers me up.
Be positive. I put this at the end of my list but this doesn’t mean it is less important. It’s one of the basic ideas I use to guide my life. A positive attitude will always help you to succeed and to face problems from an optimistic point of view.
People don’t realize the importance of this feeling. And this is why, most of the time they fail into doing one thing because they discourage themselves with negative thinking. My opinion is that when you start doing something it will definitely go well. Or at least the chances are higher, if you start it with positive thinking.
Did your productivity ever slipped in the past? Or are you facing this problem right now? If so, we would be grateful to hear your story and how you deal with these situations. Your advice might help somebody else get back on track.
Photo by kevindooley
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Comments (1)
It’s so frustrating when productivity slips! It’s the feeling that you can do so much more, and yet for some reason you can’t, that really gets to me. These are really helpful tips since I’ve found myself in this rut more than once. It’s probably even a weekly thing with me.
I also like this article about what to do when things get out of control How to Re-energize When Things Are Out of Your Control. That, too, is probably a weekly thing for me, but at least now I know how to counter it.