Five Ways to Bounce Back After an Unproductive Morning
I like to get up at 6:15am, hours before I need to be at work. I know it’s a little crazy, but it gives me a chance to relax and ease into my morning. Unfortunately sometimes I get a bit bogged down and the morning gets away from me. I’m sure some of you have experienced this too – being on a busy schedule can be taxing. But should we let a productivity setback stop us from being efficient the rest of the day? No!
Here are five ways to bounce back after having an unproductive morning:
Talk it out with somebody: When you are too focused on a problem, you can get stuck in your way of thinking about it. Sometimes you need to just step away from the desk and find someone to talk it out with. You’ll get the benefits of face- to- face interaction with the added bonus of a fresh perspective.
Remove distractions: It’s easy to get caught up answering emails and calls all day. They seem like such pressing issues sometimes. If you find yourself dealing with everyone else’s problems, you might need to shut down. Sometimes I turn off my phone and close my email inbox so I can focus on a single task. Read more
10 Activities to Reward Yourself the Right Way
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I’m a huge procrastinator and sometimes the only way I can get anything done is with a reward. You know — a light at the end of the tunnel type thing.
If you have nothing to look forward to, your workload can quickly overwhelm you. So I’m a big fan of rewarding yourself after completing a time-consuming task.
However, it’s also important that the reward matches the progress that you’ve made. So if you spend 20 minutes replying to your emails, you probably should treat yourself to a marathon Netflix binge.
But put a limit on it. Will you watch 1 episode of House of Cards or 2? If you plan out your reward in advance – it will be much easier to stick to it and get back to work.
There’s the thing though — a reward doesn’t have to take hours to be effective. There are some quick ones that will do the trick just as well.
Here is my list of small rewards you can treat yourself to without feeling guilty:
- Make a cup of tea.
- Go for a walk for 15 minutes.
- Listen to your favorite song.
- Watch a cute animal video for 4 minutes.
- Send a silly text to your friend.
- Eat some dark chocolate.
- Go on an adventure via Periscope for 10 minutes.
- Look up something you want to buy online for 15 minutes. (But don’t actually buy it until you’ve finished all your to-do’s for the day!)
- If you like to exercise, you could go for a quick jog or do some 10-minute yoga.
- Read a chapter of a good book. (Sign up here for a free chapter of Listful Thinking!)
How do you like to reward yourself?
10 Ways to Break Up Your Routine
I’m a sucker for a good routine. I’ve been known to stand in the same spot every day while I wait for the subway, eat the same thing for breakfast and even pick out my clothes before going to bed at night.
Goodness knows that you oftentimes need your routines to keep you on schedule. I sure do! They can help you order your life, and bring a sense of normalcy to an otherwise hectic schedule.
However, given enough power and time, they can potentially dampen your productivity. If your “routine” is starting to feel more like a rut, try boosting your creativity by shaking things up!
Here’s how to do it:
Take a different way to work: We take the same way to work every day, and for good reasons: The shortest route, the least stressful way, the commute that takes you past your favorite coffee shop. Occasionally breaking from this rut can bring a fresh perspective. After all, your mind is used to seeing the same sights for roughly the same time every single day. Changing this up could be a stimulating experience to wake you up to a new way of thinking or see a new neighbor you didn’t even know existed!
Change up your lunch: Always grab a burger? End up chatting with the same people about the same things? Change it up! Eating a salad with lots of leafy greens can be a healthy way to get the nutrition you need to focus. Picking a new spot means you might run into new people to chat with too.
Switch up your exercise: Services such as ClassPass offer a variety of classes and workouts you can try. So go give a spin class a shot, or maybe try out yoga. Read more