Do you ever have any of those days where you just can't seem to get started working? I know I have them...a lot.

What do you do to get back in the work groove and increasing your productivity? I'm sure we all have our own techniques, but I try to concentrate on the five senses. Wake up all five senses and your brain begins to function better. So here's what I do:

Hearing: For me, my sense of hearing is an important one. I work at home, so many times the only sounds I hear are my own thoughts, and when I just can't get into the work groove, my thoughts tend to wander quite a bit. At times I need some noise in the background to help me feel as if I'm at an office with others where I'm supposed to be working. What kind of noise do I like? It really depends on my mood or how distracted I am. If I'm not too distracted, I put on a podcast to hear someone else talking to make me feel like I'm at an office. If I'm very distracted, I'll put on some classical or jazz, Josh Groban or Dean Martin. If I'm not distracted at all, I'll just put iTunes on random.

Taste and smell: This is the next big one for me. If you're hungry, you'll never get any work done, but if you're too full, you'll just enter a food coma. So, a little coffee, a high-protein meal and I'm on my way. Stay away from too many carbs because they'll suck up energy for digestion. The smell of that pot of coffee really wakes me up.

Sight and Touch: These two kind of work hand-in-hand for me, at least the way I use them for getting back in the groove. I've found that getting on AR and reading posts from some of my favorite bloggers gets my eyes moving, used to reading, and absorbing work related material. Okay, so I've tackled sight, but I tackle touch at the same time by commenting on those posts. Getting my fingers pounding the keys gets my creative juices flowing and gets me eager for more typing...why? I dunno, but it does. Maybe because my fingers are finding their own groove. After positing a few comments or even a new post on my blog, I feel like I've been productive and that starts a chain reaction.

 If I can't find anything or don't want to post comments, I'll hop on my Blog Idea post and do some freewriting.

Touch: Yes, I might need to wake this sense again. This one is important for those of us who work at home. Now, touch here is refering to the touch of clothes. Get dressed for work! There are days when I know I'm just working at home and have no appointments, so I might not put work clothes on. Well, if I can't get into the work groove, I know I have to get dressed for work to feel like I'm actually at work instead of taking the day off.

Hearing: This is a last ditch effort to get in the work groove. I already tried getting in the work groove using this sense, but if all else fails, I may need this one again. Call a colleague or a client and discuss business...don't socialize, get down to business, and get ready to work. This one really forces me to get into the groove.

If all these fail, I'll go work in the yard and take a half day break. I can't always get into the work groove and I certainly don't want to burn myself out. Sometimes doing this helps me get focused and back into the groove the following day.

How do you get your productivity up and running?

John Fariss - The Bakersfield Appraiser