So what do you do when this happens? I’ve basically come up with a plan to get myself out of this productivity funk. It’s worked before in the past, so I’m hoping it works again. (I’ll let you know in another month if it worked this time!)

The Bad Habit Breaking Process

Have you found yourself in a low-productivity time? Try these tips:

• Go through the motions.
  I may not be writing my best material at this moment, but the time I am spending just going through the motions on a daily basis will help to get my mind working in that manner again. This is true for any task: whether you have been neglecting your calendar, not replying to e-mails promptly, or letting your voicemails pile up, going through the motions will get you back into good habits.
• Start a new, energizing habit.
  As we’re having some toddler schedule issues over here, I stopped walking in the afternoons. I think this lack of exercise was contributing to me feeling drained. So I have started walking her to the sitter in the mornings, letting the fresh air wake me up and get me ready for my day. I can also listen to business-related podcasts on my iPod after I drop her off, so that helps me to be in the right mindset by the time I get home. You don’t need an hour walk to help you start a new habit—perhaps just take a brisk 10-minute walk in the morning to get the fog out of your head and get yourself ready to start the day. Or, if you are a gym person, try going to the gym in the morning vs. the evening to increase your daytime productivity.
• Reduce or eliminate procrastination and distractions.
  For more on this, check out my ongoing special Less, the Series.
• Take a mental minute.
  If you feel your mind starting to get clouded, try a one minute, eight minute, or three minute meditation to bring yourself back into clarity.
• Eat power foods.
  Sometimes bad habits include dietary changes as well. I know that when I get particularly busy, I start relying more on convenience foods instead of making myself nutritious meals when I am alone here during the day. By getting back to healthy summer fare, like fruit from the farmer’s market, vegetables from my garden, and whole grain products, I can increase both my energy level and my productivity. You don’t have to start your own garden to enjoy this benefit—perhaps try reaching for a salad or a smoothie instead of a greasy burger next time you stop somewhere for lunch.
• Switch gears if you need to.
  If you’re really stuck on one project, there’s just no sense staring at your screen for hours. Go on to the next thing on your to-do list (or, just some easier thing on the list) and come back to the harder task later. Sometimes the action of doing work will get you in the right mode to work on harder tasks, and sometimes that boost of happiness from checking off something on your to-do list gets you motivated to tackle the hard stuff. Either way, you’re getting things done.

The Bottom Line

For your business to succeed, you need to make sure that temporary dips in productivity are just that—temporary! Good luck, and if you find any other tips that work for you, please leave a comment below to let everyone know!

What I am doing, in reality, is hurting my business.

Why Goals are Important

Business goals are important for many reasons, including:

• Focus.
  Without an end goal in mind, how do you know where to focus your efforts and actions? (On the flip side, having too many goals can spread you too thin this year, so focus on one at a time.)

• Productivity.
  Having goals in mind helps keep you on task by allowing you to operate at a great efficiency. It also helps you to break down your goals into action tasks for your to-do list.
• Accountability.
  With no goals for your business, you can feel free to slack off, work part time, not look for new clients, etc. If that’s what you want, that’s fine—but if your life plan includes running a successful business, then you should be accountable to that business.
• Progress.
  Setting milestones for your business helps you to see your progress and gives you the encouragement to keep going, much like the weekly weigh-ins at Weight Watchers.
• Success.
  How will you ever know you were a success if you don’t know what the end goal was? Think of it as running a race with no finish line—would you be able to keep running forever if you never knew you could win?

Why Goals Should be Flexible

I work in a business that involves the use of a lot of technology. From my point of view, if I don’t remain flexible and able to adapt to trends quickly, I can get passed by really fast. For this reason, your goals should not be set in stone, and you should be able to revisit your short-term goals frequently to see if they still make sense for you. I feel like this concept is true for any profession or industry, as we are all susceptible to changes in the economy, technology, or consumer behavior.

How to Set Goals

If you haven’t made a life plan (or at least have one in mind), I would start out with that.

If you haven’t reviewed your business plan lately, I’d revisit that as well.

Goals should be more about the process, not the end result, and for that reason I start out by making a master list of dreams. Once I have a list of everything down on paper, no matter how crazy it is, I can go back and prioritize and quantify everything. For example, you might mark up your list in the following way:

Assign years.
For each of your goals, decide how many years you will give yourself to attain that goal. For example, is it a goal for this year, the next 3 years, the next 5 years, or just sometime in your life?
• Give priority.
  Can you assign each of your goals some kind of priority level or number? For example, you might decide that creating a new product is more important than increasing sales on an existing one, so prioritize each of these items accordingly. This will help you when it comes time to set your tasks lists or decide which goals to table for another time.
• Break down goals into milestones.
  If your goal is to create a new product, how can you set mini goals for yourself to accomplish the larger goal? The mini goals might include researching the subject, taking some continuing education classes for yourself, or hiring a new employee to assist you in this aspect of your business.
• Create measurement units.
  How will you decide if your goal of “start podcasting” is a success? You should consider adding some form of measurement to each goal, such as "creating a new podcast every month for 12 months" or "writing an e-book and selling 1,000 copies of it". Having a way to quantify your objectives makes it easier to determine if the criteria for success has been met. Some goals aren’t easily measured, however, and for those you will have to get creative.

What areas should you cover when setting your business goals? Really that is up to you, because I can’t tell you what areas you need to make improvements in or what product lines are most important to you based on current consumer trends. The idea, however, is that the more areas you cover, the more well-rounded your goals (and your business) will be.)

My Goals for 2008

It’s only the first week in January, so I haven’t come up with much yet. Here’s the partial list I am working on:

• Move our of state in the summer.
• Launch one content-based site that is separate from the services my company provides.
• Make a regular habit of writing, even on "off days" when I don’t have any blog posts going live.
• Read more and use my Google Reader share feature regularly.

What goals have you made for yourself in 2008?

Additional Resources

• Goal Setting That Works I like this one for the way in which it internalizes goal setting and encourages you to listen to your inner voice.
• 101 Goal Setting Breakthroughs: A 31 Day Blog Series That Will Make 2008 Your Best Year Ever!
• The Ten Commandments of Goal Setting
• SMART Goal Setting

• Do something else on your to-do list.
  Sometimes the act of doing something else can get your mental juices flowing, or sometimes just the accomplishment that comes with completing a task can give you a boost of energy to get back to your original task.
• Do something completely different.
  You can do the dishes, take a shower (I do some of my best thinking in there!), go for a walk and get some fresh air, read a news article or an entry from your favorite blog, grab a bite to eat, or even take a nap. The idea is to give your mind a rest for a bit so it can process your difficult task in the background, or just ease your frustration for a few minutes so that you can gain enough energy to get back to work. One note: the best activities seem to be solitary and quiet, so if you head to the gym you might want to stick to a machine instead of a group class, or if you sit in a coffee shop you should read the paper in a corner instead of chatting with a friend.
• Delegate.
  If you are really stuck, maybe this task isn’t for you. Find an employee or subcontractor that can do it in less time than it’s taking you, and you’ll free yourself up for other work.
• Do anything.
  When I get stuck trying to think of a marketing piece or something to write for a blog entry, I will do a 10-minute free write. A free write is basically spending a timed period writing everything that comes to your head without respect to grammar, spelling or the grouping of ideas. Sometimes you will get ideas out of the free write and sometimes not—the real point is just to get your cogs turning so you can move on to other things.
• Change your scenery.
  I run my company out of my home, but there’s still a lot of places I can go. Sometimes just standing vs. sitting, moving into another room, or going outside with my laptop can help me reframe my work and get moving.

The key in all this is to not turn a reframing period in to a procrastination period. Put a limit on how much time to spend freeing your mind, such as 10-20 minutes, and stick with it. Otherwise, you may find that you are wasting your entire workday just procrastinating on your original task through reframing!

How do you unstick yourself?