.png)
When we find ourselves on a low energy day it can be really difficult to get things done. We get overwhelmed easily, we cannot find the motivation or we run completely out of energy very quickly. It could be that we’re ill or coming down with something, had a really bad night’s sleep or maybe had an emotional upheaval in our lives that zapped all our energy. Another reason could be that you overworked yourself, you’ve not taken a break for too long such as working into the night and through weekends for too long.
As I already discussed in my previous blog post about “Managing Your Energy Throughout the Day for Maximum Productivity”, it is important to work with your natural energy, not against it. On a low energy day, simply take it a little bit easier. There is no point in powering through unless you literally don’t have a choice. If you give yourself a break, you’ll get over it much more quickly than if you try and tough it out. If you constantly ignore your energy state, you might be heading towards burnout very fast.
What about urgent tasks?
There may be some tasks that you do want to make at least a bit of progress on, especially the ones with a deadline looming. For these tasks, I recommend the “Tiny Steps Method”.
Break your task into the smallest possible steps and write those into a list.
Do the first step.
Tick it off the list.
Sometimes, completing something will give you a boost and you can use this to do another step and another one. Keep ticking off the steps as you complete them to feel a sense of accomplishment which might carry you further.
Take a break if and when you need to or stop altogether, knowing that you have made some progress.
This might not be the progress you had planned but it’s better than no progress at all. Maybe you can come back to your task a bit later in the day and complete another tiny step or two. And who knows, you might even be able to finish your urgent task this way.
Using the “Tiny Step Method” ensures that you don’t get into a state of overwhelm, and by being kind to yourself you ensure you stay in good mental health.
This method is also a great way to overcome procrastination, as I described in a previous blog post, where you will also find some examples for tiny steps.
If you found this blog post useful, please share it to Social Media using one of the buttons below. Thank you! 😊