We’ve all had those days. The ones where you get into the office and you just can’t seem to start the productivity engine.
You find yourself on Twitter a little too often. You stumble across a couple of interesting articles. A new connection request comes on through LinkedIn. You see an old friend and decide to check out his profile. Pretty soon it’s 1:30 and your to-do list hits you in the face.
So what can you do to salvage an unproductive day? Here are a few tips.
1) Get Up & Move
Get away from your desk for a little while. Get up and go for a walk. If you can’t rationalize taking time during the day to walk, run out to your car for a minute. Just get up and go.
Studies show that interspersing short movements and exercise throughout the workday can boost employee energy, engagement, and efficiency. You’ll feel refreshed and focused when you get back to the office.
2) Eat. That. Frog.
There’s an old saying that goes, “If the first thing you do when you wake up each morning is to eat a live frog, nothing worse can happen for the rest of the day.”
Pinpoint the most annoying task on your to-do list. You know, the one you’ve been putting off all week.
Then sit down after your walk and do it.
Doing that one task will make you feel plenty productive. It may also give you a little more momentum to keep checking things off the list, and you won’t have to do it tomorrow.
3) Clean Your Desk
When all else fails—when that frog is just a bit too slimy to swallow—clean your desk.
Getting organized is always a good use of time, and it doesn’t typically take a lot of brainpower. At the very least, you’ll go home feeling like you did something, and you’ll come back in the morning to a clean workspace.
How do you typically turn an unproductive day around?