Break Free from Stagnation with These 8 Productivity Strategies

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 294. When you think about it, procrastination is a force, a behavior, a habit, a phenomenon that makes us feel less than our full selves. It causes us to feel like we're constrained. We are smushing our talents. We are hiding out sometimes. And we are definitely not showing up the way we might if we were feeling safe and competent and energized. So I thought I would put together some of my favorite, most well-dependent-upon strategies for you in this episode, because I don't want anyone stuck in procrastination.

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:52]:
I don't think it's— Yeah. Anyone's best game to play. So let's go listen to this episode together now. Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies For getting your mind, body, and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:41]:
Welcome to the Make Time for Success podcast. Hello there. Good to be here with you on the podcast. Today we're going to have a lot of fun because I'm going to review 8 productivity strategies that always seem to work. And, you know, we all have productivity needs, so we might as well have a really well-stocked toolkit of strategies that just seem to make things easier, more doable, more sane. And these are some of my favorite Tips of all time. So I think let's not waste any time and get right down to it. The first tip for making productivity easier is to ease up.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:29]:
That may sound—I don't know what it sounds like—too easy, or how do you ease up when you're feeling stressed and all concerned about all the things, and you're so overwhelmed, and everybody's watching and about to judge you—all those things. Well, that's the perfect time. In my estimation, to ease up. So often it is the pressure that we feel and the pressure that we generate within ourselves and between ourselves and the project that causes us to procrastinate, delay, and feel like we don't have any resources to use at all. And so, if you're feeling really stuck and really paralyzed and really afraid, Chances are you're going to benefit from just easing up on yourself. You might want to ask yourself a simple question. You know, where is all this pressure coming from? Just use that question to start. Where is all this pressure coming from? And I think you'll see that although there may be some sources of pressure that actually exist, that the work itself only requires you to pay attention to the work.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:41]:
The work actually doesn't need you to be pleasing everybody and being perfect and using all your time to pay attention to the task. The task just wants to get done. So think about this the next time you feel like you have no ease within you at all. The second strategy I would share with you is you always need to show up. Lately, I've been talking to a lot of different clients and potential clients, and the word motivation comes up often. It's a very commonly spoken word, and we all love to have motivation. It's really great when we have that on our side and we feel highly motivated. But I always say that it doesn't matter how much motivation you have if you never show up.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:31]:
So that's what I mean by showing up. You need to be in the arena. You need to be on the playing field. You need to be touching the clutter. You need to be holding the microphone. You need to be writing the paragraph. You need to be in it instead of just thinking about it, wondering about it, stressing about it. You need to actually be in the game.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:54]:
So the next time you're having a productivity issue, think to yourself, am I really in this or am I pretending to be in this? Because if you're just pretending, It's likely causing you extra stress. So just decide, I'm going to step in the arena. I'm going to get on the playing field. I'm no longer going to be a spectator. I'm going to play and let's go do this. And speaking of play, play is actually tip and strategy number 3. I want you to have fun. I want you to feel like you're playing instead of feeling like you're being judged by every critical person you've ever Known and then some.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:36]:
That's no fun. It's really no fun. And who would want to do that? Who would want to step on a stage when the audience is filled with critical judges like they had on The Muppets, the 2 elderly judges who were so cute? And I don't even remember them, but they're so cute. I don't remember if they were overly critical, but who would want an audience filled with nasty people? Barking and catcalling you and all these things and saying, oh, get off the stage. No, no, no. You don't want that to be your inner life, your interior voice. You want to say, oh my God, this work is so much fun. It feels like a comedy show.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:18]:
It feels like a joyride. It feels like going to an amusement park. Let's just see what comes next. Let's get in the arena. Let's start playing. And we realize that playing playing is really, really fun. So eliminate all the stuff that makes you feel like you're not having any fun. Step number 4, or point number 4, is that you want to get away from good and bad language.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:46]:
Now, if you know me for any length of time, you know I'm very much a positive language advocate. I really try to keep my language Super positive, super optimistic, and clear of negative words like can't, difficult, impossible, should— anything that smacks of pressure or judgment or negativity, I try to stay clear of. And it really works for me, and it seems to really work for my clients as well. And I'm sure it will work for you. But in this tip, I actually add that You should also steer clear of the word good. I have interviewed people and they have said, oh, I'm good when I put the laundry away, as an example. And then I stop that conversation for a minute because I want to point out that if you see yourself as good when you're doing it, does that mean you're bad when you're not? So think to yourself, how often do you label yourself as good or bad just over common everyday tasks like doing the laundry. My thought, my philosophy is that if we're doing that, we're putting ourselves at a little bit of risk because sometimes we don't feel like it.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:03]:
Does that mean we're bad? No, it doesn't. It just means we don't feel like it. So when we clear away the good and the bad as if they were dust bunnies in our closets or on on our living room floor, you get to just say, oh, I'm going to do this now. Oh, I'm not gonna do this now. It just becomes easier. You're not adding this layer of self-judgment to the task. And guess what? That makes the task that much more fun, that much more easy, that much more quick to get out of your life and get it done. And speed is your friend here.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:39]:
So. Get rid of the good and bad language and just decide I'm going to do this or I'm not going to do this and let it be. The 5th strategy is maybe a little bit of a mini rule, and you want to go for no stagnation. So again, you're going to go for no stagnation when you feel paralyzed. That just means there's a lot of information you have to review. You need to review What is causing you to be completely nonfunctional? What is causing you to feel like this is so scary? What is causing you to feel like there are no options? Because guess what? In this universe, there's always another option. There's always a million other options. So you really want to be curious the next time you feel completely stagnated.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:31]:
And the next time you feel completely stagnated, I want you to not be terrified anymore. I want you not to feel like everything is going to come crumbling down or crashing down because nothing is. Nothing is going to happen. You're just going to get out of this stagnation and you're going to use one of the other tips that I've mentioned just before, the ones that are coming after this one. Stagnation is just a symptom. So don't be afraid of the symptom. Just treat the symptom, get on your merry way and decide, I got my time back. From stagnation.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:02]:
This is wonderful. Let's party. Okay. The 6th strategy that I have for you is that you're gonna show up for yourself first. This means you're gonna be much less of a people pleaser. You're gonna have much better boundaries with other people and with your own time. This means you're not going to volunteer for this, that, and the other thing when you feel completely overscheduled and overwhelmed. You are not going to care about what other people think of you because really what matters the most is how you're doing, is how you're feeling, your well-being.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:46]:
And I wish every good thing for you. And I want you to practice wishing every good thing for yourself as well. It is okay. You are allowed to say no when you need to say no. You are allowed to let people down. You are allowed to let yourself down when you need to, too. Because like I just said, you need to take care of yourself first. So that means get the sleep, get the good food, get the rest, get the good seat at the show, get the things that make you light up, get yourself prepared.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:22]:
Yeah. In the right way, with the right time amount that you need. Become bossy if you need to, if that will help you cross the line where you start taking care of yourself first. Get bossier, get more demanding, get more uppity, get more opinionated, whatever it means for you, fill that spot. Decide, you know what? Now is my time to just be present, to be on the playing field, to start showing up because I'm no longer in a stagnation space. I am now fully occupying my power, my role, my life, and I'm really gonna enjoy this. So decide you first and then everybody else comes afterwards. And it's not like you were gonna neglect everyone on purpose.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:12]:
I don't want you to be a jerk, but if you can avoid it. Yeah. But, you know, there are ways of doing things where you have priorities and you are now your number one priority. Step number 7, tip number 7 is no time waste. This is important. I know sometimes it's unavoidable, but sometimes, and so often, time waste really is all the Netflixing, all the Instagramming, all the stuff that I enjoy too. We sometimes overdo. And sometimes we need to set better boundaries and limits, and we need to make decisions about how we're using our time.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:53]:
When we do, guess what happens? We automatically make our productivity realm much more spacious. We give ourselves time, we give ourselves brain power, we start to show up to our projects refreshed instead of fried out from all that scrolling and all that information overload. We just decide, okay, I'm gonna prepare for this task by a moment of quiet or a walk outside or a hot bath or a moment of peaceful breathing. Things that really don't involve time waste. We're gonna start using our time as prep time instead of freakout time. Maybe that's a better way to— connect this point to you is really to say, I'm just going to stop stressing all the time in between working. I'm going to decide there are other ways to spend my time. So no more wasting my time by making myself even more stressed out.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:54]:
The final tip that I have for you is to always remember to celebrate, no matter how big the project is. We oftentimes are familiar with the awards ceremony or the presentation or the certificate for the big things, right? Like you went through some certification program or some schooling or some driving lesson and you get the certificate. Well deserved. But I want to say that when you overcome your stagnation, celebration is well deserved there too. And when you fold the laundry, celebrate because you know what? Now we have folded laundry. Things are good. So don't shortchange yourself of all the joys that can come in every day, that can come in every hour. And if productivity is something that you'd like to improve, I really hope you'll try out some of these tips, 1 through 8.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:53]:
They are simple. They're not going to harm you. They're going to make you feel more present and more alive and more capable. And they're going to, I think, help you to just break the habit of saying, the only option I have is to run. We don't want you exercising in that way. We want you running for the joy of it, for the joy of being healthy, for the joy of exercising and extending your life and living a beautiful long life. That's the energy that we're looking for. Positive energy.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:27]:
Yeah. hopeful energy, empowered energy. That's, I think, where your productivity might be lying. So let's go. Tell me all the stories that you have when you make these leaps in your life. I would love to hear them. Just contact me by sending me a direct message on Instagram. I'm @procrastinationcoach.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:50]:
I'm happy to connect with you over there. If you'd like the free download that will go with this episode on 8 productivity strategies that really work, go to maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/8strategies, the number 8 and the word strategies, and I'll get that form and download right over to you. And then you can be just on your way towards playing a better game, playing a new game, playing full out. Let's go. All right, take care. I'll see you next week. Bye. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:16:30]:
If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com, for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name Procrastination Coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. Talk to you soon.