A few weeks ago I wrote about the need to take some time away from the pressures of work to recharge your body and mind and come back stronger. Here is little tip (hack?) complementary to that one
Most of us have a ‘To Do’ list, things we have to get done. We might use a formal task manager or we might use a notebook but the list exists. Some of these tasks will be urgent, some will be interesting, some will be easy, some will be important; hopefully some will be challenging and rewarding.
Throughout the day we will prioritise these tasks – hopefully based on their importance rather then their urgency. Some we might leave – perhaps because they are not urgent or important enough …. and sometimes we just procrastinate because we are too tired to face another challenge.
Well if you do tend to do this .. in effect having a mini-break during work time – try to have some of the boring, relatively unimportant tasks available to use during these gaps. You still get a mental break .. but your To Do list does reduce. At the end of the day, another 1 or 2 tasks will have been completed and you feel some satisfaction rather than guilt or shame at putting things off.
So, rest while you are working and you become more productive.