So the question is: how to stay productive?
1. Don’t dwell on HALT feelings for too long
HALT here stands for:
- Hungry
- Angry
- Lonely
- Tired
When we experience something from the HALT package, all we can think of is junk food or sleeping. When we are lonely or tired, we have a definite tendency to eat more. So if you find yourself at a low point, take some time to cool down by focusing on something else than work – at least for a while.
Build some rest time into your schedule. Call a friend or take a nap. You might also eat something small to refresh yourself, or watch a movie. Only after recharging should you get back to work. Just accept that feeling HALT is normal: you are only a human, so it happens.
2. Use a simple anti-procrastination trick
Schedule your tasks in their simplest possible form. For example, plan the following task on your calendar: open Outlook/gmail and type the e-mail address of the recipient. If you must send an email which is not easy to write (for example, asking for a raise or trying to win a customer), just put the first step in your calendar. You will then be less inclined to avoid not even starting the task. The first step is usually quite easy, so use it to trick yourself into starting working. This advice comes from an article on the addicted2success.com website.
3. Put everything in your calendar
The best about putting all you need to do in your calendar is that you are thus creating time constraints. Devote a reasonable time to every single task when planning – and once your whole day is scheduled, it is not so easy to reschedule it on a mere whim or delay what you have in the pipeline.
-jk-