Do you ever have those days when you’re feeling uninspired, where even though you love what you’re doing, you have no motivation to do it? I do, if you follow me on social media you know this is something that I’ve talked about recently, struggling with creativity and staying productive when you’re feeling uninspired. There are a lot of aspects that go into feeling that way and I’ve spent time working on my mindset to help me with it, but there are a few other things that I make sure to do when I’m trying to stay productive when I’m feeling uninspired or not and today I’m sharing them here.
If this sounds like you and you want to see my personal tips for staying productive when feeling unispired, keep reading.
How To Stay Productive When You’re Feeling Uninspired
Write Down Your To-Do List With Realistic Expectations
I’ve been writing down my to-do list and even when I wasn’t feeling like I was being as efficient as I could be, seeing the tasks get checked off one by one made me happy and felt like I accomplished something. However, I would also be so hard on myself for the stuff I didn’t manage to finish that day. Working on my mindset with help from coaching and reading more about how our mindset can affect us, I learned to split my to-do list into sections of “must do” items and “I want to do” items.
When I split the tasks into two groups, it became manageable and I wasn’t so hard on myself for the things that didn’t get done because they didn’t necessarily have to be done that day. We can be our own worst critics at times and instead of celebrating the fact that you got through the important items on your to-do list you were productive. I’ve also learned to keep a reasonable amount of items on each list, it doesn’t make sense to split the list then have 7-10 items on each aspect of it, sure you’ll get some of it done, but you’ll also stress yourself out thinking that you really need to get those 7-10 things done you don’t, that’s not realistic and you’ll perpetuate the uninspired feeling along with a few a others.
Want to know a great way to fix this? Keep going for Tip #2 Time Blocking
Time Block Your Day:
Have you ever heard of time-blocking? If not, time-blocking is just what it sounds like blocking out sections of your day to focus on specific tasks for example you could say “I’m going to answer emails from 9 to 9:30 AM, after that I’m going to work on task A for 2 hours, and so on and so forth until you finish out the workday. I would leave space open in your schedule to take breaks and stretch, to move around, or get a snack. Time-blocking can work in a number of occupations, however, I’ve found that for me as a blogger, it’s best to categorize my time blocking by day then break down the tasks. For example, I may dedicate Monday & Tuesday to content for my blog then a few of my tasks could be research news in blog category 1, next it could be to write out the latest blog drafts, after that write drafts, and that may be it for the day.
Try the time blocking technique and see what time-blocking strategies work for you. One thing I suggest is before you start time blocking, use a stopwatch, app, or tool to time how long it takes you to do specific tasks so that you know how much you can handle in a day and setting reasonable goals when it comes to your to-do lists and how long it takes you to finish a task, everyone works at their own pace and that’s okay.
Get Rid Of Distractions:
I’ve learned over the past year and a half that although we know our reasons for putting the work in, remember our “why” in the tough moments where we are battling the feelings of creativity blocks and no inspiration, it can still be difficult to keep yourself on track and accountable. One thing that might help, getting rid of the distractions. For example, I know that I can work when it’s quiet or with certain genres of music playing in the background, other noises will distract me and decrease how much work I’m able to get done in a certain timeframe. Figure out what distracts you from working efficiently then find ways to minimize that distraction
Set An End Time For Tasks and your day, Take Breaks, & Move Around
The first part of this trip, I’d be en hearing for a while before I started implementing it, it became more obvious to me what a necessary idea it was after I relaunched the blog in 2020. Set time for specific tasks and stick to them. I know it takes me about 2 hours to 2.5 hours to write the text portion of a blog post so if I was going to write 3 blog posts in one day, I’d probably time block that section for that then stop after 7.5 hours of blog post writing, this is when I start my day earlier than normal for me of course.
Ever since starting my blog, there would be days where I get so wrapped up in what I was doing, excited about how much I had gotten done, but I’ve been learning balance. It’s important that you work to get to the type of future you envision for yourself, but it is also important that you have fun and enjoy life. Set an end time for the day so that you know at this moment your brain is done and you get a break to have fun with family or friends or have a spa day at home for a little self-care
This step may seem like one in the wrong direction, but taking breaks gives your brain a few minutes to reflect on all that you did, leaves you time to get a snack or water, and keeps your blood flowing when you move around to keep your body active instead of staying in one place too long.
Analyze Reflect & Adjust Your Expectations, & Try Again The Next Day
When it’s time to end your day, analyze how long it took you to do certain activities, what your to-do list said and what you were able to do. After taking a minute, reflect and celebrate how getting those tasks down will get you closer to your overall goal. Didn’t get everything you wanted done? Okay, try again the next day, but adjust your expectations and goals of what is reasonable for you to finish in a single day, it’s harder than it seems and something I still struggle with from time to time.
Work At Your Own Pace & Take Time For Self-Care:
In this case, I think you can say I saved the best for last. As someone once reminded me “You have to do what’s best for you and plan more because of your disability and that’s okay. I’m a hard worker, but there will be days that I have to plan around how my disability affects me so I can maintain my level of productivity. Everyone works at their own pace disabled or not, so do what’s best for you including fun times and rest and relaxation.
Staying productive when you’re feeling uninspired or in a new location can be difficult for so many reasons, but if I’ve learned nothing else, if you take away nothing else from this blog post, let it be this: Be kind to yourself, stop beating yourself up and putting pressure on yourself to get where you want to go right this second. Do be pushing ahead to chapter 20 when you’re still on chapter 2. The process of reaching your goals takes time, have and enjoy the journey.
What are some of the tips and tricks you utilize to stay productive when you’re feeling uninspired? Let me know in the comments
~Kimberly
