How to Overcome Common Productivity Slumps

By
Sara Davis avatar
on May 13#best-practices
How to be more productive

If you've ever hit 3:00 pm and instantly were ready for a nap, you aren't alone. Productivity ebbs and flows. In fact, some studies estimate the average amount of productivity per day by employee to be less than 3 hours!

By knowing how to overcome common productivity killers, you can more easily shut down these triggers. Here's a list of some common reasons we run into productivity slumps, and how you can overcome them.

Doing everything and nothing all at once

It's hard to stay motivated when you are seeing progress on lots of projects, but nothing is completed. When you spread yourself too thin, it can become unmotivating to feel like things aren't moving forward. Make a goal to complete at least one project a day. Pick your most important task, or one that you know you enjoy. By making sure you have at least one thing a day that get's done, you can continue to get the satisfaction that comes from completing tasks and motivates you to do more.

Find your zen

Have you ever noticed when you are at your most productive levels? It could be a song playing in the background, a productive meeting with a client, or adding a new plant to your office desk. What small things boost your productivity? When you find yourself feeling slumped, what can you do to boost it? Small things like a conversation with a colleague, or wiping down your laptop screen can really increase your productivity zone. Identifying what makes you more productive, will allow you to create more of it.

Did you know:

Keep it cool! Employees are at their most productive when the office is comfortable. Keep the office between 65-70 degrees Fahrenheit so foreheads aren’t sweating, and teeth aren’t chattering.

Sounds like a lot of effort? Check out proven productivity strategies like the Pomodoro method.

Avoid burnout

You can only stare at a blank page for so long before you know it's going to stay blank. When you are feeling burnt out by a task, project, or colleague, make time for breaks. Go for a walk. Take a quick break to stretch. Regather your thoughts by taking a break from your tasks at hand every so often. Once you've had some time to rest your mind from work activity, you'll be refreshed and ready to tackle it again.

Prepare in advance

It's easier said than done, but preparation is key. Eat healthy, drink water, and get a healthy amount of sleep. When you take care of your body, you will naturally have more energy to get things done. Practice installing an attitude of self-care physically and emotionally to avoid productivity downtowns.

Did you know:

Work attendance dips by about 19 percent during the summer, and flexible summer hours don’t help! According to Office Pulse, “53% of employees who leave early on Fridays report a drop in personal productivity and 23% of those make up for fewer Friday hours by working longer hours from Monday to Thursday report that their stress levels increase.

Bring out your playlist

Music has the ability to heighten your mood. If you're having a particularly bad day, pull out your favorite playlist. Listening to music that soothes you, motivates you, or excites you can quickly bring any productivity halt back to full-throttle. In fact, remote workers in 2020 named music as their #1 tool to keep them productive while working from home.

A bite of laughter a day...

Keeps the doctor away. Sometimes, working on a project can become monotonous or droll. When you work on the same thing for long periods of time, it can be easy to start losing focus or interest. Break up your day with some laughs. Take a break to talk to a colleague or a friend. Play a quick game on Facebook or Snapchat. Look up memes or check out the front page of Reddit. Laughter is medicine for the soul, make sure to incorporate laughter in your day to break up the day and become more productive.

What common productivity slumps do you run into and how have you been able to overcome them? We'd love to hear your tips, tricks, and hacks and give you a chance to get featured on our blog! Send us a tweet or drop us a line to give us your feedback.

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