We can all have those days when we just can’t get things done.
There may be too many distractions or we’re just too darn distractible. Either way you can use these three actions to work smarter and be most productive. Get to work.
Don’t let distractions interfere. If you’re a painter get to your easel and pick up your brush. Have an article to write? Sit down and start typing. Forget about editing!
At this point in your project it’s a distraction! Don’t listen to any internal/external voices that call you away from your focus.
Be like a hound on a scent, and ferret out your ideas, unraveling every thread of thought. Dig deep, pull up the roots, spill them across you page or canvas. Work hard and stay focused.
Take a break after 90 minutes.
Shift gears and do something else completely different for the next 90 minutes. There’s real science behind this timeframe. Our human brain needs to recalibrate itself after a while in order to function at its prime. Research shows that the brain cycles itself in 90 minute increments.
It focuses outside itself gathering input, and then it needs time to redirect that information into its vast internal processing. By working in 90 minute sections of time, and alternating your activities into opposite things, you will work at your best productivity levels.
Quit when the going is great.
End your days’ work on a high note and create tomorrow’s engraved invitation. Who doesn’t love to be invited to something special and fun? When you make your work exciting you won’t want to wait to start working again.
So find that something exciting to call you back and leave your work for tomorrow. Having said all that, you might be wondering how the creative brain works?
While creative types may appear to march to a different drummer, human brain function is pretty much the same for all of us. What might be unique for you is the way you formulate what you do.
Here’s how I pull it together:
I write, paint and coach. I can write for my first shift then switch to a painting for the next 90 minute cycle, then add in my coaching calls. By rotating my work I can be at my best and fresh for the next activity. Since I love all of my work projects, for me, the hardest of these three actions is to quit when I am in the groove and cruising along enjoying my work.
What I’ve learned the hard way, (and openly admit I’m still learning), is that when I push past that 90 minute threshold my work starts to lag. My typing gets poor, my paint palette gets muddy. Monitoring my coaching time is much easier, because the session times are all scheduled.
So are my related note taking and other business obligations. Each meeting with prep, call and paper work takes around 90 minutes.
So to work at your most productive level first get to it.
Second schedule 90 minute work cycles. Plan out your activities, and use a timer.
Make time with other people to help you stay on track. Plan walk or meeting to get you moving on to your next cycle.
And third, when those 90 minutes are almost up, find the most exciting thing to invite you back to work.
Read more posts by Sandy Nelson, artist, creativity and life purpose coach, speaker and inspirational writer. Sandy blogs for JenningsWire.
