It’s funny. When we have all the plates spinning in the air, we never intend for any of them to fall. But when you’re spinning plates, it’s easy to hit the productivity wall.
I know I’m not alone in this. Countless people through email and conversation have told me they have experienced the same thing: going along at a steady clip and then you hit a wall and stop. Suddenly. Then you find yourself in a bit of wreckage, wondering what happened.
But What’s Important…
But what’s important here is not necessarily regret about what got dropped. What’s important is how you recover from the sudden impact.
Here is what I am going to do to get back on track:
- Assess what is outstanding. There are several things that slipped. I will determine which of these things were truly urgent and/or important, and which were merely self-imposed “shouldas”.
- Look at the big picture. Right now I feel my life is unbalanced. Not enough creativity or down time. I need to figure out why I am off-center and what needs to change.
- Figure out what isn’t working. One of the reasons things piled up is because my tasks weren’t in my face. I need to understand what it is about my current system that allowed this to happen.
- Make a reasonable plan. I will take the results of the past three bullet points and make a reasonable, balanced plan that will allow me to get back on track.
- Take a break. I need to step away from some of my activities and find my motivation again. And if I can’t find it, the activities need to go away.
Productivity walls are never fun. But they can be learned from.
