Take a Break and Enjoy Life Again! 5 Strategies to Be More Productive

Have you ever had that stressed, overworked, too long of a to-do list meltdown and you can not seem to get anything done? That was me a few weeks ago.We think we are superwomen, able to leap from one task to another in a single bound, without missing a step; invincible, strong, perfect! Well….how’s that working out for you? I know, not so great for me either. 😉 It’s time to take a break, be more productive and enjoy life again!

Overwhelm and then paralyzation can kick in when we try to ‘do it all’. I found that out when I tried to add renovating and fixing our house to sell to my already crammed schedule. We really can’t (and shouldn’t) try to do it all, all at the same time. Sometimes we need to take a break from what we love, to do what we have to do, at least temporarily. So I took a break to renovate and, not surprising, rejuvenate myself as well. And I could enjoy life again, instead of being stressed and overwhelmed.

Take that break!

We are selling our house and getting ready to move to Florida, so we have lots of projects to complete in order to sell the house. And of course, I thought I could just somehow add all these projects to my already crammed days and be able to get them done. Not! So it became very apparent that something had to step aside temporarily. Even though I love writing and blogging and all that is entailed in this venture, it was time to take a blogging break to renovate our house, the most important and pressing task at the time.

Lessons learned.

And I learned something by taking this break. My mind is more at ease. I can think more clearly and not be quite so emotional in my decision making. I am sleeping better at night. (Yay!) And I’m getting a clearer picture of what’s the most important projects and tasks. Not to say that other tasks are not important (although let’s be real, pursuing Pinterest for ideas or catching up on the latest from Facebook does not make the ‘important’ list. 😉 ) But, I had to ask myself what is the most pressing, most necessary project right now. For me that was finishing all our house renovation projects in order to sell it. And we got it done by setting a short deadline. I took the break, was more productive, and began to enjoy life again.

So my blog, what I love to do, had to take a back seat for awhile. And you know what? It didn’t die. It’s still here, waiting for me. And so are all the other ‘so important’ projects, businesses and to-do’s. You might think that could be stress-inducing, having all those projects waiting in the wings. But actually, taking this break has taught me the importance of focus. And here’s the kicker…I think we can ‘do it all’; just not all at the same time.

Be effective, not just efficient

By focusing most of my energy, mind and time on finishing the house, instead of trying to add it to the already busy schedule, I was able to be so much more productive and get things accomplished. And that, my friends is a great feeling. I could move on to the next big task once this big project was done. I’m slowly learning that it’s more important to be ‘effective’ than just efficient. It’s not about time management; trying to fit it all in at the same time. But instead, working smarter, being focused on one very important task at a time. And not jumping from one thing to another, and getting distracted and interrupted by all the ‘stuff’ and other non-important tasks and minutiae. “Multitasking” isn’t the answer, my friends.

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How to Be More Productive & Enjoy Life Again

Following are five strategies I’ve learned, and still learning, about taking a break, being more productive, more effective and ultimately enjoying life again. Some I learned from experience, and some are ideas I picked up from Tim Ferris, from his book, The Four Hour Work Week. I hope these ideas and strategies will help take your crazy schedule and make it more manageable and help you be more productive and enjoy life again.

1. Take a break to renovate

You may not have to renovate your house, or maybe you are in that path like me, but when you take a break from trying to do it all, it will go a long way to keeping your sanity, getting the most pressing accomplished, keep your family happy, and keep that smile on your face. Try picking ONE project and stick to it to completion. If you have other tasks that you can’t really quit, like a job or other, at least slow it down to only maintenance for a time while you complete the renovation.

Taking a break and focusing on one project will help clear your mind and emotions, give you that needed sense of accomplishment, and even give you the freedom and permission to do less, which you will see, is the path to accomplishing more.

2. Do less and accomplish more:

This mind-blowing idea will be a catalyst to being more productive and enjoying life again. Trying to fit more and more into each day, each hour, is not the answer. I’ve tried to find the ‘perfect’ time management planner, the ‘perfect’ method to fitting it all in. And while some of the concepts of managing your time are beneficial, just adding more and more into a day and trying to schedule every minute can drive one crazy and really isn’t going to get you where you want to be.

So instead, focus on the most important task, accomplish that one task, then move on to the next one. As Tim Ferris says in his book, The Four Hour Work Week,

“Slow down and remember this: Most things make no difference. Being busy is a form of laziness–lazy thinking and indiscriminate action. Being overwhelmed is often as unproductive as doing nothing, and is far more unpleasant. Being selective–doing less–is the path of the productive. Focus on the important few and ignore the rest.”

Tim Ferris

And if you need more tips on dealing with ‘overwhelm’, check out this post.

3. Look for the big picture

What is it you really want to happen? Not all the little tasks to get there, but what is it you really want? For us, it was moving to Florida to start a new life. And actually, the even bigger picture is creating a life where we can slow down, be free and take time to enjoy life. So the first step to making that happen was selling the house. So that had to take precedence over other ‘important’ tasks. We must be willing to stop certain projects in order to accomplish the most pressing and important that will get us to that ultimate big picture.

And realize, those other projects will still be there. My blog and my writing will, and are, still happening, but it may just take a little longer. And that needs to be ok. We can be so impatient, wanting all the goals, achievements and accomplishments to be done right now, when in reality, we can slow down and do just one at a time, and be so much more productive. We will reach that big picture faster, be more productive and enjoy life again, if we stop trying to do everything all at once.

4. Identify the critical task and set a deadline.

This may be tougher than you think. At least for me, it can be. But identifying that absolutely critical project or task is a must. One way to help identify the most important task is to ask yourself this question…also from Tim Ferris.

“If this is the only thing I accomplish today, will I be satisfied with my day?

But it doesn’t end at identification. In order to keep focusing on that one critical task, you need to set a deadline, a start and end time, for it’s completion. And it needs to be a short, imminent deadline. If it’s a big project that will take days or weeks to accomplish, like renovating our house, then break that bigger project into bite size pieces, and give each piece a deadline.

Avoid long future deadlines.

Long, into the future, deadlines just cause stress and mental anguish. Think back to when you where in school and had that final paper to write that was 50% of your grade. You had 3 months to write the paper. But did you really work on it during those 3 months. Probably not. It got put off, and put off, because the deadline was not imminent. Then two days before it was due, you bunkered down and researched and wrote with crazy focus to get it down. Suddenly, all the other ‘important’ tasks, fell away, because of the absolute pressing nature of the paper and the imminent deadline. And you got it done! And you got a great grade too. All because you had a short deadline.

As Tim Ferris states,

“If you haven’t identified the mission-critical tasks and set aggressive start and end times for their completion, the unimportant becomes the important. Even if you know what’s critical, without deadlines that create focus, the minor tasks forced upon you, or invented, will swell to consume time until another bit of minutiae jumps in to replace it, leaving you at the end of the day with nothing accomplished.”

5. Trim the ‘fatty’ time consuming activities.

When it comes time to complete those critical, most important tasks, we need to be ruthless about cutting out non-important, and simply time sucking, activities. What activities do you do to avoid the critical, but maybe not so fun or exciting task? We all do it. They are time crutches. Little things we find to do, like email, facebook, looking at pictures, cleaning the dishes, getting that load of laundry done, etc. etc., to avoid doing the one thing we should be doing. That critically important task that will get us to our big picture. So how do we keep those ‘fatty’ activities from creeping in? According to Tim Ferris, ask yourself these two questions at least three times per day at scheduled times.

1. Am I being productive or just active?

Or another way to ask it…

2. Am I inventing things to do to avoid the important?

Asking one or both of these questions can help to stay focused on that critical task. We don’t have to be busy for busy sake. Try to get the one critical task done, (early in the day is best), set a deadline and avoid the time crutches. You will be amazed at how much more productive you can be in less time.

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Have you been stressed and overwhelmed by too much on the to-do list and trying to do it all right now? It is probably time to take that break, be more productive, actually get stuff done and enjoy life again. (If you need some ideas on what to do to enjoy life, check out this post.)Try some or all of these productivity strategies and see if it doesn’t help you get more of the critical tasks accomplished, giving you more time and freedom to live the life you want.

All the best, my friends. And if you found this post helpful, or if you have your own productivity ideas or tricks, please leave a comment and let’s talk about it.

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