Productivity ruts happen. You have to hit a dip to be able to bounce back and have good days. It’s how you react to the dips that matters.
But it’s better if you can prevent the drop in productivity from happening in the first place so you don’t have to implement damage control when you start to realise you’ve gone days without making any real progress.
I’ve noticed some things that are very consistent across every time I find myself struggling with creating. They’re clear to see for someone who steps back and looks into what might be going wrong, but whilst working you might not spot them. I’ve fallen victim to not zooming out.
That’s what this article’s for. Enjoy!
1. I neglect my physical health
I understand that this is very broad, but it’s all important. Your body is a marvel of biological engineering, with huge numbers of regulatory systems running to keep your brain functioning.
The better we treat these regulatory systems, the better our brain functions, so we can create our best work.
Many of us will know the feelings of brain fog and fatigue — they’re two of the biggest killers of being able to think straight and get your work done.
Things like drinking alcohol (as one sometimes does at university), poor sleep and spending too much time indoors have all been highly correlated with increased brain fog and fatigue for me, so I minimise their occurrences as much as possible.
That way I stay on top of the things I’ve got to do. This is important because falling behind leads you into a reactive state in which you likely make poor decisions, not zooming out to see the larger picture of your situation and its next steps.
2. I try to do too much at once
Shiny object syndrome is a constant in my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Without the curiosity that I have for new things, I wouldn’t have made it this far in my journey of internet writing, business and personal brand building.
However, it can sometimes block me from making any real progress on the goals and tasks that I set for myself. Most of the shiny objects that I notice are no more than distractions. Following them very rarely leads to something worthwhile.
If I find myself following these pointless paths of distraction too regularly, my overall productivity tanks. I don’t create anything meaningful to share and I don’t feel as though I’ve learned something I can share in the future.
Still…
Why would I write another article (something I’ve done a hundred times before) when I could play around with investing in crypto?
That’s the kind of train of thought that my brain takes on a daily basis, whether I want it to or not. It’s a battle to reign it in sometimes.
This leads nicely to the next reason why I hit productivity ruts…
3. I don’t journal or plan my tasks and activities
There’s something subconscious about writing what you’re doing in a journal. I don’t know what it is exactly, but it seems to be similar to your brain noticing objectively what you’ve been doing, and deciding to adjust based on this information.
You don’t necessarily have to write what you want to do or what you plan to do, because you might not know this, just write. At some point, the improvements or optimisations that you need to make to your life will come to you and you’ll be able to adjust to get yourself back on track.
I fall apart when I don’t journal or keep track of what I’ve got to do regularly. Because there’s not a set path of action in my mind I default to chasing what fascinates me the most, which is often the shiny objects that send me off on a path of distraction and aimlessness.
When I do journal, however, like I did the morning before writing this piece, I can draft an article and get it ready to publish in a very short space of time. It’s like you’re priming your brain to do productive work rather than distract itself.
Meditation has the same effect of clearing your mind of distractions, but it’s still pointless unless you’ve identified the tasks you should be doing, which is what journaling and task tracking are for.
That’s been the roundup of the three main reasons I hit productivity ruts.
Of course, there are so many different factors that play into whether you’re able to do work, but I find that if I minimise these three things that goes most of the distance to making sure that I’m locked in daily.
Thanks for reading!