how to boost productivity on the hard days!

Gosh some days can feel so hard to simply get up and crack on with things! Maybe you didn’t get much sleep, it’s your time of the month or you just can’t be bothered. We all have those days and on this episode of Rosie’s Rituals I wanted to dive into some ways to boost your productivity again.

Do you set New Year’s resolutions and feel super excited about your goals and put lots of energy into them for a few weeks (if you even make it that far), then suddenly crash and life gets in the way? Or you know what you want to do but you just don’t have the energy to wake up super early or sacrifice sleep at night!

Or do you ever go on holiday and think about how healthy you’ll eat when you get home and super excited to get that dream bod?! You might even day dream around the pool or on a beach about an amazing business idea or a new job and feel super motivated but when you get home, day by day, the motivation disappears…

This is totally normal and this used to be me! I always dreamed about what I want to do but never really done anything about it or I would make a start and then give up. This was usually because I’d lose motivation to put in the work on top of everything else, or have no productivity when actually working on my goals.

Let’s talk through some techniques and tools I use daily to help me keep motivated and to boost my productivity…

clear and simple goal setting

You need to start by setting 3 clear goals for the year ahead. Your goals need to be clear and understandable to you. Make them feel achievable but also a push. You can’t up level your life if you don’t leave your comfort zone!

Don’t get bogged down and set yourself up for failure with 25 goals! By setting 3 clear goals you can remain focused on what you actually want to achieve and schedule steps to take to accomplish your goals. Make your goals measurable, so you can see your progress towards them. For example: ‘I want to launch my business in 6 months time’.

Writing your goals down and keeping them in sight is a great way to keep yourself on track and focussed. You might want to pin them up near your desk or set them as your phone screensaver, this way you’ll see them lots of times every day. You can also get creative with this and put together a vision board, you can even create a digital one for your phone lock screen, that’s what I’ve done.

By being clear on your goals from the get go and keeping them in sight, this will keep you focussed on what you want to achieve and naturally boost productivity and motivation throughout your daily activities.

Remove temptation

Consider any habits you currently have that feel easier than working on your goals and are reducing your productivity and get rid of them from your life! We’re all very distracted by our phones and tempted to sit and scroll on social media or play games when we could be using this time to work on our goals. Consider putting a time restriction on your phone or putting it away in a drawer to sit down and focus on what you truly want to achieve.

If you’re someone who likes to sit and work on your goals with the tv on in the background, but then find yourself 3 episodes into a series and without much work done. You need turn the tv off and put the remote control out of reach and sight.

You could start introducing rewards for when you take actions towards your goals to boost motivation. For example, ‘once I’ve sent 10 emails, I’ll have a 20-minute break and scroll on TikTok’. This will then make sending those 10 emails a whole lot easier if you know you get time to switch off after for a set time.

Sack off perfection

Perfectionism is one of the biggest issues when it comes to getting anything done. This behaviour trait can really damage your progress and in turn affect your productivity and motivation. This happens because you’ll ponder on something small for too long, you’ll then lose excitement and motivation to continue to progress.

If you find yourself falling down a perfectionist’s rabbit hole, just stop what you’re doing and take a break for 5 minutes. By leaving the task and taking a break you’ll give yourself the headspace to change your attitude towards the task and come back to it with a fresh set of eyes and new attitude.

It’s better to take actions towards your goals and go back and improve overtime than never actually take action due to perfecting a small task. Consider creating a list of priorities and categorise the list by what needs your most attention to detail vs what tasks need less. This way you can check in on the amount of effort you’re putting into those less important tasks and start getting through your to do list.

As you start working through your actions and seeing the progress this will increase your productivity and motivation.

Actually get started

So many people have great ideas and goals but never take any action towards them. This could be due to a lack of confidence, feeling too busy or any other excuse really!

One unhelpful habit that really blocks you is waiting for the perfect time, such as ‘I’ll start on Monday’ or ‘I’ll start a fresh on 1st of the month’ for example. Start now and start today for the best results, even super small baby steps now is all you need to do.

Another self sabotaging behaviour is to give up because you didn’t stick to your exact plan. For example, you decided you wanted to lose weight and went on a diet but three days in you had a chocolate bar. This could then trigger you to totally give up and start binge eating. Whereas you need to view these hiccups as minor issues because that’s exactly what they are! Each time you feel like throwing in the towel tally up all the good actions you’ve taken and the bad and you’ll easily be able to see how great you’re doing!

As already mentioned throughout this post, taking actions will boost your motivation and productivity. If you’re struggling to find where to start, do something really small and start writing a to do list of everything you need to do. Categorise your list into; easy, medium and hard or short, medium and long. This will allow you to easily see what needs to be done at a glance and the amount of effort that’s required.

Here’s a couple of examples: If you want to start a nail business, set up an Instagram page or if you want to create a website start by buying your domain. Taking these first steps will then automatically paint the road ahead and what actions to take next to get you closer to achieving your goals!

Small bursts are better than nothing

It’s easy to dismiss short bursts of time as pointless and sit and do something totally worthless like scrolling on socials for 15 minutes instead. However, those short bursts of time compound to decent chunks of time in the long run.

You can optimise these short bursts by being prepared to maximise the use of time and productivity of the bursts. For example, and as mentioned in the previous paragraph, having a to do list written and visible so you can easily pick up and complete a task without the need to waste time thinking about what to do.

Set up your environment for success by having your laptop out and switched on in the morning, ready to be used when the opportunities pop up. Remove any clutter or mess from where you need to work to allow you a clear space to think and work.

These small simple habits will set you up for success and remove the need to think, plan and procrastinate.

Track your progress

I’ve already mentioned this so many times in this post but progress is motivating and seeing those tasks get ticked off is a productivity hack in itself! Each time you see things get ticked off your list, you’ll get a little dopamine hit which will keep you motivated to continue.

Tracking your progress through a list or a project plan is a great way to see how far you’ve come. Physically crossing tasks off a list or colour coding them green can be very satisfying and will encourage you to do more.

I like to email myself tasks and then file them away once they’re completed. This is a great way to keep on top of tasks and there’s nothing better than seeing that inbox go down!

Build (super small) habits

Make working towards your goals a habit, once you’ve got a new habit it’ll become second nature for you to work on your goals and no effort to get started will be required.

It takes on average 66 days to make a habit a true habit and it can feel like a lot of effort during that time. However, the effort will pay off because you’ll then automatically do what you need to without any effort, it’ll just happen naturally.

In the book Atomic Habits, James Clear outlines a four-step framework called the Four Laws of Behaviour Change to build good habits: make it obvious (cue), make it attractive (craving), make it easy (response), and make it satisfying (reward). This is a great framework to consider when building those new small habits.

Think about your current habits and tasks you do automatically everyday that you can start adding a new habit to. For example, if you make a tea every morning, write out your top three priorities for the day whilst you wait for the kettle to boil.

planning and time blocking

If you’re finding it hard to keep motivated and productive due to overwhelm then planning and blocking time to work on your goals will be very beneficial to you.

As a VERY busy mum, I know the feeling of not having enough time all too well! I have a post all about how to find your time leaks here that will be really useful to read.

Planning out my week ahead is a non-negotiable for a successful week and sets me up to achieve my goals. Get a free copy of my planner when you join my mailing list or you can purchase the editable PDF version here. Each week, sit down and map out your week ahead, consider your non-negotiable plans, leisure, future planning and goals. I like to schedule in at least 2x actions towards each of my goals every week, this is super motivating and ensures I actually achieve my overall goals. I also have a whole blog post on this here.

Block time out of your day to work on your goals and make sure this time is protected and becomes a non-negotiable activity for you. You can then commit to working on your goal each week and have dedicated time to take action. Ensure that everything is set up to avoid procrastination and be clear on what you want to achieve in that blocked time.

self-care

If you’re feeling in a funk then shave your legs! I know it sounds crazy but it switches up your energy and helps you to reset! This can be swapped out for any self-care activity like having a relaxing bath or going for a walk in nature.

Taking care of yourself should be a non-negotiable activity, you can’t pour from an empty cup. If you’re feeling good within yourself and looked after, you’ll have more energy to focus on your goals and taking your life to the next level.

techniques

I mostly use two techniques to help me get going and to focus on tasks when I’m really struggle to work through tasks which are:

The 5-second rule

I learned about this technique from Mel Robbins, she even has a whole book dedicated to it, that I would recommend reading! It’s such an easy technique… when there’s something that you don’t want to do, just count backwards from 5 and force yourself to do it when you get to 0. This technique will make you take that first step and then the rest will flow.

Pomodoro Technique

Work with full focus for 25 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. After four cycles, take a longer break. This will allow you to work through tasks with full focus and designed to not overwhelm you.

In summary – How to boost motivation and productivity

To wrap up all the above in a short paragraph, to boost your productivity and motivation on the harder days you need to first be clear on your goals and set as little as possible, 3 is the magic number!

Once you’re clear on your goals, remove any temptation to slack off and resist the urge to perfect every task. Then just get started right away, even small bursts of time compound to big chunks overtime.

Track your progress to activate those all-important dopamine hits! Slowly build habits to make working towards your goals second nature. Plan in actions weekly to work towards your goals and look after yourself and prioritise selfcare!

On days you’re really struggling try the 5 second rule or the Pomodoro technique to get you going.

As always, thank you so much for reading!

Rosie xx