Productivity slumps are bound to happen, whether you’re working remotely or in the office. We all know the feeling when we just cannot make our brains focus on the tasks at hand and get frustrated at ourselves for not being productive.
Here are some tips on how you can motivate yourself and increase your productivity.
- Take the rest you need
Taking rest may sound counterintuitive, but if you’re having consistent issues with fatigue, lack of motivation and being unproductive, your real issue might be a lack of rest. Your body and mind need to be fueled to power you through the day. Ensuring you’re getting enough sleep, rest, water, and exercise will help recharge you.
- Remove things from your plate
Being productive doesn’t mean being constantly busy or having 100 things checked off a list. Being productive is getting done what you need to get done. Taking things off your plate that you don’t need to get done will give you room to focus on your priorities. Take a look at your plate and focus on accomplishing what matters first.
- Take a break
Our brains and bodies aren’t meant to be sedentary and head down working for extended periods. When you start to feel your energy slump, take a break, refill your water, take a walk, meditate, or stretch. Taking a break will help you step back to your work focused and energized.
- Bite-sized goals
When you have a big project on the horizon, it can seem impossible. This feeling of impossibility can make you feel unmotivated and like there is no way you can accomplish anything. This defeatism is what can lead you down the path of procrastination. Take big projects and break them up into bite-sized goals. Being able to make progress one chunk at a time will help keep you on-task and keep your spirits up.
- Follow the 80/20 rule
Developed by Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto, the 80/20 rule says that in what you do each workday, 20% of your efforts are what produces 80% of the results. To maximize your efficiency, evaluate your work and identify what 20% of your work is producing most of your results, and prioritize that 20% of your work. This analysis allows you to prioritize and focus on the parts of your work making the most significant impact.
