3 Easy Ways You Can Bust Through The Blah’s

Let’s be honest. Some days you’re just not feeling it. We’ve all been there.

But there is work that needs to be done. There are calls to be made. There are deadlines to be met. And there is your own mental well-being which must be protected.

So what do you do when you’re just not motivated?

The first thing to understand is that motivation works like a flywheel. It takes quite a bit of energy to get it moving just a little bit. Once you get that wheel cranking you’ll find that the energy picks up and you can get into a groove.

Sustaining the momentum of a flywheel is far easier than starting it from scratch.

Here are three ways to approach your day when you need to get that wheel moving from a standstill:

1) Do the Fast Things First

Our inclination is to tackle the really tough assignments first.

I disagree.

I find far greater success when I tackle all my fast tasks first.

Time management guru David Allen suggests the “two minute rule” – if you can knock out that task in less than two minutes, do it.

Getting the fast tasks out of the way increases your satisfaction, it eases your mind, and it gets the flywheel moving.

So if you’re stuck, pick a fast task and DO IT!

2) Chunk Your Time

Stop what you’re doing and lay out a quick and crude schedule for the next 90 minutes.

You can do it for the entire day, but you might be better off staying narrowly focused.

Break that 90 minute time block into 15-minute chunks.

Start with the fast principle from above, then add to the list. For example:

Chunk #1: Handle 10 fast tasks
Chunk #2: 15 minutes of e-mail clean up
Chunk #3: Read notes for 2:00 meeting
Chunk #4: Send 5 connecting e-mails to past clients
Chunk #5: Write a prospecting schedule for tomorrow morning
Chunk #6: First look at performance review document

3) Organize Your Desk

Just a few minutes getting your work surroundings in order can provide tremendous amounts of mental energy.

Clutter on our desk also serves to clutter our minds.

You might think it terrifying to simply take every piece of paper and quickly stack it into one neat pile, but think about it – the paper is all still there.

Nothing changed except the order. But now the clean desk gives you a clear mind and a clearer purpose.

I would reiterate that if you’ve not read David Allen’s classic work, Getting Things Done, that is a great resource for organizing your life, both personally and professionally.

Face it – we all get stuck with the blah’s from time to time.

Work your way through them and then shut it down and enjoy your life, along with the satisfaction of having won that internal victory.