Productivity Tip – Do You Need a Grace Period?
Last week, we granted ourselves a grace period. Are you in need of one, too?
I’m fortunate enough to belong to a mastermind group. Our group consists of women business owners from different industries who meet monthly to discuss professional and personal achievements, challenges, solutions and goals.
We didn’t have a formal meeting in December, so at our January meeting, we shared our goings-on since our last meeting in mid-November. Our first member, after sharing how much she had on her plate over the previous eight weeks, stated, “But I’d given myself permission to give myself grace, so I was OK with what I accomplished.”
All of us in this group are driven. We expect a great deal from other people – and even more from ourselves. We can also be our own toughest critics if we don’t accomplish what we set out to do. Fortunately, someone amongst us reminds the others each time that we need to give ourselves some grace.
Here are three different ways you can give yourself a grace period:
Before:
If you know that you’re about to enter a period of heavy activity in your professional life, personal life or both, by giving yourself grace beforehand, you’ll be mentally and emotionally ready to handle the juggling as well as the smaller number of successes that you’d normally accomplish. When you free your mind in this way, it allows you to be more productive and nimbler for all of the pivoting you might need to do.
During:
If you didn’t give yourself grace beforehand, it’s not too late to start when you’re in the middle of a frustrating phase. You know you’ve hit this phase when you’re irritated at the end of each day when you look at your unfinished to-do list. When you’re in this negative state of mind, your productivity levels slow down, which leads to even more frustration the next day, and the next, and the day after that. You get the picture. By pausing and allowing yourself some grace, you can clear your mind and have the brain power to redirect your energy to the highest priorities.
After:
Whether you’ve given yourself a grace period before and/or during a task-heavy, project-heavy, and/or emotionally draining time, it’s also important that the grace period continues for a few days (or sometimes up to a few weeks, depending on the situation) to allow yourself to shift gears and get back into your old routine – or, perhaps, a new routine.
When you feel like you’ve hit a roadblock or things simply aren’t going your way – or if you anticipate that this might possibly happen in the near future – do yourself a favor and grant yourself a grace period. Your productivity levels and mental and physical health will benefit from it.
For more tips on how to shift your routines and get yourself back on track, check out The Inefficiency Assassin: Time Management Tactics for Working Smarter, Not Longer.