Productivity is the art of achieving more by working less and producing in abundance. If you are a person who practices productive activities in your business, you understand how great it feels to accomplish things on a daily basis, what it feels to be on top of your game and always be producing in abundance. However, you may experience that one day where everything goes array, items are not scratched off the to-do list, you are not producing in abundance and instead of shaking it off as an off day, you get too hard on yourself and throw in the towel because of a day’s occurrence. You abandon your productive ways because it becomes to hard to cope, to maintain. This is what I call a productivity relapse. You had a bad day. It happens- to the best of us. Suffering a relapse to a certain degree is great for internal observation. If things were always perfect, you may lack the need to reevaluate your attitude, passion for your work and your need for perfection. I’ve been there. I too have had my productivity relapse days. Those days where the road in front of me seems blurry and achieving anything seems impossible. Here is the thing; you must shake things off, get back on the horse, because it happens. Productivity is very much like eating healthy and exercising regularly. You may eat at McDonald’s tomorrow or skip the gym today but it doesn’t mean you are no longer healthy. Here are three quick tips to put into place when you suffer a productivity relapse:

• Evaluate the cause of the relapse. Could it be you overextended yourself and gave too much too soon? Could it be that you don’t enjoy what you were doing? Are you running on empty? These questions are key to finding the why. Find the cause of the relapse and keep a close eye so it doesn’t happen again.

• Accept your imperfection. Those who love you accept your mishaps you must too. If you experienced an off day, off week or month, give yourself the chance to react to it and get back in the game. Start by accomplishing small tasks and slowly move on to others bigger things, just keep moving forward.

• Learn from your mistake. Evaluate the cause of the relapse, accept it, move on, and learn from it. Analyze what took place so you can learn from it and avoid repeating the same mistake again. You will make another mistake down the road, guaranteed, but if you pause to understand this relapse, this won’t be the mistake you make again.

The roadmap to productivity is a bumpy and curvy one. Relapsing in your efforts is like getting a flat tire. If you can fix it yourself, do it and move on. If you need help, call for back up. The idea is to get back on that road and continue moving forward. Embrace your productivity relapse and enjoy your own journey to becoming a productive you! Trust me, it’s worth it. What is your relapse story? Take a moment and share your story below and inspire others to shake it off as you have!  

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