11 tips for being productive when you are feeling exhausted.
We all have times in our lives when you just are not getting the amount of sleep and rest you need. Often the cause it outside of your control such as sick children, personal and family issues. Whatever the cause you still need to turn up for work and be productive.
When you start work make a list of all the things you need to do and highlight the ones you must do on that day. The critical ones go at the top because the first few hours of your day, exhausted or not, are when you are most productive.
- Set a timer so you don’t work longer than 50 minutes before you have a 5-minute break. If you can’t manage 5 minutes, then taking time out for as little as 30 seconds can improve your productivity up to 13%
- Turn off your notifications and don’t open your social media, this includes Linked In!
- In your 5-minute break go through a little stretching routine.
- If you are a caffeine person then go ahead but sometimes a herbal tea can be better. Maybe peppermint which is known for its abilities to spark you up.
- Find somewhere else to work for an hour or so. Sometimes a new environment can boost your creativity and concentration
- Make sure in your 5-minute break you have a big glass of water. This is one day when you will need it.
- Stand up to work.
- Put on some music in the background. Ambient noise we like increases performance.
- Work where you have natural light. If you don’t normally have some then find a spot with some and do some work there.
- Let your peppermint tea steep where you can smell the peppermint… or put some peppermint oil in a diffuser. You can also put some on your hanky for a quick sniff just like smelling salts.
- Be purposeful you might want to try setting goals for each 50-minute time period. Psychologically it really does keep you on task.
You do need to figure out why you are feeling exhausted and put in place some strategies for dealing with the cause if it is in your control. You can only operate for a short period of time whilst exhausted until it turns into a physical complaint. This is Mother Nature’s way of getting you to rest.
If your exhaustion continues and you can’t figure out why then it’s probably time you had a check-up with your Doctor.