How to Stay Productive During Winter | Beat Those Winter Blues

You wake up, grab your coffee and throw a blanket over your shoulders. You turn on your screen to tackle the day, but the cloudy weather makes it tough to focus. You feel drowsy, and ideas aren’t flowing. What spell has taken hold of your once productive self? 

The winter blues can take a severe toll. Because, well… science—days are short, and nights are long. This seasonal shift can cause even the most ambitious to slump, dreaming of hibernating in a cave for the next two-three months. But alas, as Freddie Mercury would belt, “the show must go on!” 

So, today we’ve got a few tips and tricks to make winter more productive for you and your team. Sit back, grab your hot chocolate, and relax. Let’s beat those winter blues! 

How to regain your motivation to work?

We’ve got a few tips and tricks to make winter more productive for you and your team. Sit back, grab your hot chocolate, and relax. Let’s beat those winter blues! Lights, camera, action! 

Lights

Your initial instinct after waking up should be to get some sunlight. Even 15 to 20 minutes of exposure to morning sunlight can dramatically improve your happiness and health. Getting sunlight—as much as possible—and working in a lit room helps boost your productivity, so open your curtain and brighten your workspace. 

 

Camera

Humans are social creatures and navigating our need for connection in a remote world is challenging. Being a part of a community energizes us and gives us the confidence to work harder toward achieving a common goal. Try setting up regular social events or check-ins with your team to bring your team together. A little facetime can help you destress for a few minutes and return with increased focus and productivity.

Try creative exercises and other forms of entertainment like Games for Work *link to blog* to improve morale and strengthen company culture. These activities also boost innovation and creative thinking. 

Action!

Spend even just a few minutes every morning moving your body and engaging in physical activities. Go for a quick walk, enjoy the fresh air, and rejuvenate your body. In winter, it can be unreasonable to leave the house, and we hear you; you don’t want to be out there when it’s -30 degrees but exercising for a few minutes within the house can help achieve the same result and prepare you for the rest of the day. 

Organize, prioritize, and conquer

After finishing your morning routine, create a list for yourself of everything you want to get done today, either at work or home. This helps you with organizing your time and setting objectives for yourself. 

When you’re unmotivated, it’s hard to focus which then leads to procrastination and spending the whole day just looking at your screen. All your tasks look impossible to manage, and the anxiety starts building up. If you feel a similar pressure, you should probably better organize your work, so you don’t feel overwhelmed, and prioritize tasks with higher urgency.  

The first step in organizing your tasks is the prioritization of your workload; however, before you start, take a deep breath and clear your mind. Your tasks may all seem equally important, and if you overthink prioritizing them, it only leads to nowhere. So, make sure to use clear judgment while prioritizing your tasks, so that your deadlines are realistic, and your priorities are justifiable. 

After prioritizing, try breaking your work down into smaller tasks. You’ll increase your motivation and productivity by making your work seem more achievable. 

The next and final step would be setting up your deadlines and grinding away. Deadlines can be tricky because if they’re not realistic, they make you less productive. If you set a goal for yourself and cannot achieve it, you lose motivation because you’ve failed to deliver on your promise. So be ambitious but realistic. 

 

Disconnect and focus

Winters can be brutal, and it’s normal for your body to feel less motivated. So, if you don’t feel like finishing a task, don’t. Take a 5-15 minute break, relax your mind, and just listen to your body. Sometimes doing a little physical exercise, listening to music, or even finishing a small chore, helps you naturally flow into your creative process.  

The trick to dealing with winter unproductivity is to stay present. Your body is disoriented; therefore, your mind also wants to disengage. So, sometimes all you can do is take a step back, let your mind clear, and then refocus its attention. Breathing exercises on Viva Insights can immensely help you bring focus to your mind and body. 

A quick recap

Winters are gloomy, and the chilly weather is unmotivating. But you can beat those winter blues by getting sunlight, being active, planning your task, and taking mental breaks to increase productivity. Still need help bringing productivity to your organization? Our team would love to help!