Tips & Tricks Tuesday: Combating the afternoon slump with a few shorter things

Powering through the afternoon slump can be its own daily task, so perhaps geojono’s tip will put some proverbial wind in your proverbial sails: get a few quick things done to help encourage you to finish out the afternoon.

Here’s something that’s helped me with my ever-growing task list and my ever-decreasing energy levels. When my energy level or attention is waning during the day, I try to tackle tasks that are quick and easy or tasks that require less brain power. This accomplishes a couple of things for me.

1. It allows me to maintain productivity by continuing to get things done instead of resorting to the brainless time-wasters I tend to go to when I get tired, especially in the afternoons.
2. It seems to re-energize me when I can check off several items in quick succession, so I can get back to the larger tasks afterward.

Here’s how I do that with RTM:

Whenever I add a task (single or recurring) that might be described as quick, easy, or brainless, I add the “quick” tag to it. Some of these items are recurring items, some of them I’ve emailed in, and some of them are added manually.

I then use a Smart List called “Quick” that includes all of my tasks that are tagged “quick” [tag:quick].

Bonus: If you already use a Smart List for tasks you want to focus on today, you can adjust your “Quick” Smart List to include all of the tasks tagged “quick” that are on your “Tasks for Today” Smart List.

That would look like this, for example:

list:"Tasks for Today" and tag:quick

I hope this is helpful to others who, like me, struggle with the early afternoon decline in energy and focus.

Thanks for sharing this tip, geojono! You’re our Tips & Tricks Tuesday winner this week.

Do you have a suggestion for our weekly Tips & Tricks post? Got an interesting set-up or idea? Head over to the Tips & Tricks forum, add a new topic, and let us know how you use Remember The Milk. Each week we’ll give away a 1 year Pro account to the user whose idea inspires the Tips & Tricks Tuesday blog post for that week.