5 (Legit) Ways to Hide Behind Your Computer

We’ve all done it. Had those afternoons when doing One More Thing for your business feels difficult… when you’re wondering if you can pretend that 3 hours trolling Facebook counts as work, or you need just one more cup of tea or a snack to keep going…

You CAN actually be productive during a time like this!

Here are 5 tips to make the most of an otherwise unproductive afternoon:

1. Acknowledge if you’re low-resourced.

Sometimes our unproductive times come from mindset issues. For example, you’re scared to move forward with a project because of fear of judgment. Or you’re concerned with visibility, so you’re conflicted about business growth.

And sometimes you’re just tired. If you’ve been running short on sleep or are tackling particularly challenging issues in your business or personal life, you may not have the internal resources to be uber-productive. That’s OK.

Just recognizing the difference between a mindset challenge that has to be dealt with, and a one-time ‘I’m tired’ afternoon is important. If it’s the latter – take a nap. You can be productive tomorrow.

2. Compile a list for reach outs.

Reach outs to potential clients, referral partners, affiliates, and others in your network are important. In order to be done right, they require you to be ‘on’ and energized, so they may not be the best activity for an unproductive afternoon.

However, making a list of reach outs – getting the names, the email addresses, and the phone numbers all together for a ‘reach out’ session tomorrow – is a great use of time.

Don’t create the list when you’re at your peak energy, do it when you’re lower-resourced. You’ll need the list anyway, so why not create it now?

3. Send out “Just checking in!” emails to old clients.

If you’ve already created “checking in” email copy to reconnect with past clients, you can put that to good use. Doing the cut-and-paste task of pulling up each name and email, and sending a personalized message is a great repetitive task for an uncreative afternoon.

4. Brainstorm new nurture content.

This suggestion may seem crazy. You’re not feeling inspired. You’re not feeling creative. How could you brainstorm new content? Usually, it’s that you don’t feel inspired to create something good RIGHT NOW.

Here’s what you CAN do: research your competitors.

See what interesting ideas you can come up with, playing with what they’re doing. Making a list of new nurture ideas that you can pull out the next time you have to come up with content is like putting money in the bank.

5. Make a list for a better day.

This is a great time to be motivated about what you’ll do… tomorrow. So get your to-do list, or look at the things that you need to clean up in your business. Scheduling out your calendar, and making a commitment to do those things, can move you forward in the future. It can also keep you from being in a state of reacting to crises, and instead have you planning for growth.

When you know that you’re not going to do something today, it often becomes easier to commit to doing it tomorrow. You’ll need to keep that commitment, but that’s a blog for another day.

Because entrepreneurs are inherently creative, usually they’re not experts in the areas of organization and time management. To help improve your productivity, I found the perfect two-part episode from my podcast, ‘A Profitable Impact,’ about the Strategy and Mindset of ‘Time and Task Management.’

Listen to Part 1 (or Episode 8) first to get 5 easy-to-implement strategies that will transform your workday, while still honoring your creativity and flow.