Amidst the post-Christmas blues, it can be incredibly hard to get back in your rhythm immediately on your return to work. But when we are so distracted, how do we maintain that drive to achieve, especially at a time of year when motivation can be so hard to find?
Be Strategic
Ask yourself what is the main barrier getting in the way of you getting through your workload? Is it down to tiredness? Or maybe a constant habit of multi-tasking? Take time to identify the root cause of the lull in productivity and make amends to combat it.This might involve creating long term and short term plans to map out the roadmap for your business, or changing your routine to best accommodate your working day.
Learn New Habits to Improve Focus
As part of being strategic, examine the things that benefit and enhance your discipline and practise them. Consider your eating habits – what are you choosing to have for lunch, and are you ensuring you are making time for each meal? Is your sleeping pattern regular and are you sleeping for long enough? Exercising regularly will also feed and reenergise your mind, so make sure you allow time to get out and do this, even if before or after work.
Prioritise your To-Do List
Get the tight deadlines out of the way first.This will give you the headspace to tackle the remaining tasks on your list.The freedom this gives to get your lower-pressure tasks completed will often yield better, more creative results, and help you to get ahead with your workload. And if you don’t totally finish them, they can always wait until tomorrow.
Remember, being ambitious is great – but don’t bite off more than you can chew. Overwhelming yourself will only lead to burnout.
Set Boundaries
Limit your social media use using your phone’s built-in ‘app limits’ settings.Try setting a few specific times in your day to respond to emails, and the same with messages.This will allow you to focus on other tasks rather than constantly worrying about getting back to people.Take regular breaks to stretch your legs and mind, and plan in some downtime for yourself.
Hold Yourself Accountable
Be honest with yourself about how much you are getting done and whether you have reached your goals or not.This will aid in creating vital structure to your approach to work and help you to monitor progress, acting as a continual self-appraisal. If you struggle to do this to yourself, consider finding a colleague or friend to hold you accountable on a regular basis.
If you need further support in implementing a plan to boost your productivity, or in other areas of your business, don’t hesitate to contact me at richardesau@actioncoach.com .
