Time Management: Recovering from an Unproductive Day
Everyone has had unproductive days in his life, even in spite of a thorough accounting of time via time tracking with screenshots and assimilation of all the rules of time management. Some unexpected business is getting out of the way and everything goes wrong. Or maybe your physical condition has simply worsened. However, worst of all, then it is difficult to enter the old rhythm. Here are a few recommendations that will help you get on track and work productively:
1. Get up early
It’s the easiest thing to do – set the alarm an hour earlier. Of course, for this it may be necessary to go to bed early the night before. In the morning, you do not need to immediately put in work. It is better to start the day with something pleasant for you. This will raise the mood and ensure a positive continuation of the day. You do not have to torment yourself with thoughts, how much you have to do, and compensate for the past unproductive. That certainly will have a positive impact on the results of time tracking with screenshots: your productivity will increase.
2. Create a personal “anchor” of the productive mood
Every person has something that introduces him into a productive state, this is a kind of “anchor”. It can be something completely banal, like tea or coffee. But it may not be a drink: an object, music, the order of things, morning news. It’s like a trigger that triggers a state of positive productivity and you are already keeping track of the time for performing an important work task. It creates a sense of stability and returns to a normal working rhythm. Usually a person feels his anchor well, and he enters it in working condition in the morning.
3. Find the time to focus on the task
This helps to bring yourself into working mode. The Wall Street Journal recommends giving it at least 20 minutes a day. To do this, you can even move some other business, but it’s better to spend twenty minutes thinking about it without distracting an important project. It is better to choose a time and place where no one will bother you: turn off the mail, phone and get out in an empty office. During this time, think about what you need to do, rebuild your working attitude and get rid of the sense of guilt for past unproductive. These minutes will also have a positive impact on the positive attitude and will improve the performance of work time records: in less time you can do more.
4. Consider a plan to restore the previous state of affairs
Most often, during unproductive time, there are some unfinished tasks. And usually for them, and I want to take first. But it will be much more productive to draw up a plan for restoring cases, to do this, make a list of all “delinquent” cases and distribute them until the end of the week. Yes, it may be that sometimes you will have to stay at work, which, of course, will affect the accounting of time, but do not overdo it. You will be driven by a desire to get it over with, but overwork will only throw you back. And if you suddenly fail, it will serve as another disappointment. Therefore, the problems should be distributed evenly.
5. Plan strategically
It is better to start with small tasks, such that they will not take more than 15-30 minutes. After their implementation, you will feel a surge of energy and will be ready for the next more serious step. It is also positively affected by the performance of some big and unpleasant cases; this creates a feeling of colossal performance. Time tracking with screenshots will help further build a timetable and strategy for completing the remaining tasks and not be overwrought.
