On Monday I had a giant list of stuff I had to get done. I’m travelling a lot over the next month so I have to be on my game. For some reason I just couldn’t get my head in gear in the morning. I floated around the internet for a while, I half-heartedly poked around my inbox. I looked in the washing basked about ten times. After wasting almost 2 hours not really doing anything, I gave up. I just wasn’t having a productive day. I went for a run, I crocheted for a bit, I cooked a yummy dinner and called a few friends. It ended up being an excellent day. The key here was admitting I was dicking around realising the solution to this issue isn’t always forcing myself to do stuff and being okay with the fact that I’m having a shocker of a day. When I’m not on my game, here are a few things I do to stop myself from wasting time…
Set timers
I have two different techniques I use. One is the Pomodoro technique were I set a 20 minute timer for short tasks. This is great for things like replying to comments on the blog or spending time on Instagram. I also use a Japanese method called the 52:17 – I set an alarm for 52 minutes and I work my butt off and then I set an alarm for 17 minutes and I do whatever I like. It’s the perfect way to escape that horrible just-got-hit-by-a-truck feeling at the end of the day.
Give up and walk away
No one is perfect every day. Even geniuses have off days. The important thing is to recognise when you’re having an off day and to embrace it. For instance I had an off day on Monday and instead of forcing myself to sit in front of my laptop and pretend to get shit done, I walked away. This made my Monday a lot more pleasant and set me up for a killer productive Tuesday. Win.
Choose three things
Sometimes the reason why we dick around is because there is too much stuff to do and it’s difficult to focus. This happens regularly when you’re working on ongoing projects. It’s a hard slog keeping up the momentum on something that might take you a year to complete. The trick is to break each day into three mandatory tasks to complete that day. You might choose filing, emails and writing 1000 words on your report today and tomorrow might be sending thank you notes, organising your tax information for your appointment next week and clearing out your desk. If you only have three things to complete and they’re not-negotiable it’s a lot easier to get them done – otherwise you’ll keep putting these tasks in the ‘someday’ box and they will never get done.
Let music be your muse
This is my favourite trick for cleaning the house. I crank my favourite play list and I challenge myself to complete a task before the song finishes. Unloading the dishwasher = one song. Changing the sheets on the bed = one song. Dusting the shelves = one song. You can do almost anything in one song and it stops you from being all ‘La la la.. cleaning the toilet… oh look! Someone did something on instagram!’.
Set yourself a pleasant deadline
If I have a big content day planned and I know I’m in danger of slacking off and leaving it until the last minute, I make lovely plans that I can’t break. I’ll book dinner with a mate so I have to be finished my work by 6pm. It saves me from watching cat videos all day and then working until the wee small hours trying to catch up.
Do you struggle with staying focused? Do you need a bit of a kick up the bum sometimes to stay on track?
21 Comments
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This is post is so perfectly timed, it’s almost spooky! I have a day off from face-to-face teaching to write reports and I’m trying to stick to my usual daily routine in order to get as much work done as I would on a normal day. I love the idea of 52:17, especially for report writing which tends to turn my brain to mush if work at it for too long at one time. As always, thanks for the tips Smaggle 🙂
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Author
You are welcome! The 52:17 would be AMAZING for report writing. Report writing is such a hard slog! Have fun! I mean as much fun as you can have!
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You are the guru on this – I bow down x
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Why thank you. I think you’re pretty mad at this yourself!
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Great ideas Carly. I don’t procrastinate often, but if I do it usually takes the form of me doing small, inconsequential tasks, anything to avoid the great big nasty task I know I must do. I should know by now, but when I finally tackle it, it’s never is as bad as I think it’s going to be. I know my boss is avoiding his desk when he goes into the kitchen and does the dishes, or sweeps the front path. Xx
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I’m the same. If I’m going to procrastinate I’m going to do something like clean out a drawer or clean the bathroom.
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I love the title! I found your article in my inbox as I was wasting time and dicking around…I did set my alarm for an hour but fell short by about 25 mins ?
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An hour hurts – way too long! That’s why the 52 minutes works so well – there’s way less of a mind block about it!
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Oh I’m the queen of procrastination & wasting time!! I blame my phone- it’s so easy to get sucked into the rabbit hole that is social media, then there’s the online shopping, the news articles, playing around with new apps, etc etc. Besides, reading blogs is much more fun than hanging out the washing right 😉
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Urgh! The phone vortex! I do it all the time – if I’m really having a struggle with putting it down, I hand it to my partner and he hides it. Works like a charm.
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All great tips! I’m sure it sounds slackery to some, but I do find that walking away (for an hour or for a day) helps tremendously. Even if it’s only going outside to get lunch, it’s great to just do something else. Mostly because of the corollary: it sets me up for a super-productive day afterward.
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Oh definitely – I also find that if I allocate myself rest time then I have to finish on time. I’d rather power through and give myself proper time off!
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thanks for sharing your tips – working alone from home for a long time I do find when I start to get down on things I do a lot of dicking around! Going for a walk really helps me get back in mode
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I just find myself ‘checking’ the fridge all the time. It’s the worst. That’s why I need little bits and pieces like to keep me on track!
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Send the get things done vibe my way. I am achieving very little at the moment. Love your tips. I will have to put the Japanese time method into good use
V x-
Sending all the vibes your way! xxx
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Great ideas that really work….Thanks for the tips!
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Just giving up sometimes is, as you say, the very best thing and it can lead to great creative thinking to allow yourself that down time, to ‘follow your energy’. And I agree it usually means a super productive day the next day where you blast through blocks.
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I’m a massive procrastinator, but I pride myself on rarely missing a deadline (and as I work in publishing, there are many, many deadlines!). I use all of your fab techniques to keep me on track. x
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Fab tips!! Thanks so much!
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Just what I needed to read… as much as I love reading your blog – I’m outta here!
