How to combat procrastination in the summer for your small business

July 27, 2016 By Sabrina Quairoli This post may contain affiliate links. Under the Cookies and Policies in the menu above, read the Disclosure Policies and Cookies page for more details.

It’s OK to have a little procrastination in the summer. After all, we are busy enjoying ourselves. Spending time taking vacations and enjoying the outdoors. It should be a fun time. However, since the vast majority of people are slowing down, making your summer be more productive can be a good thing.

Here are 8 ways to help you combat procrastination in the summer for your small business.

Leave white space on your calendar. Schedule enough time between appointments. Adding time between appointments will give you time between activities for quick unscheduled tasks that need to be done.
Make your digital calendar’s recurring option your new best friend. Go through your calendar and add tasks that you do on a weekly or monthly basis to your calendar.
Start early in the morning. Finish early in the afternoon. The sun rises early over the summer so why not take advantage of it. Do exercise while deciding what needs to be done that day.
Keep distractions to a minimum. Distractions can really hinder your productivity throughout the day. Try turning OFF your phone and closing your email manager on your computer while working on the various tasks in the morning.
Delegate more. Look for virtual assistants to help you get things done. Creating a list of easy to do tasks they can help you with will make the process of handing off easier. Think of the tasks that you do on a daily or weekly basis. These tasks should be the easy no brainer tasks. You know, the ones you do automatically. Some examples of tasks are adding posts to your social media pages, reviewing website content for legibility, researching content for post topics, updating checkbook transactions, etc… Since they are easier for you to explain, you will be able to manage them and be able to explain what your expectations are.
Minimize your stress. Play music while working on the creative project. Making the creative process more enjoyable will help you reduce stress.
Prep your larger projects for the week, the Friday before. Split out the different steps assigning only one or two each day. By the end of the week, you will have finished the project with little frustration.
Schedule time to daydream. Doing things day in and day out is called busy work. By taking the time to daydream each week and writing down what you want your business to be in the future will help you see the direction it needs to go in and what the next steps are.

I hope this helps you stay motivated this summer and it helps your business get back on track. Let’s continue the conversation. I would love to hear from you. What tips do you have to help you procrastinate less this summer? Please leave a comment below.

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Comments

Janet Barclay says
August 29, 2016 at 2:27 pm

We all want and need downtime during the workday, especially during the summer! To make sure I didn’t fritter mine away, I signed up for an online course to help me with my photography hobby and spent time on it every day. Now the course is finished, but shooting, editing and uploading photos has become part of my daily routine, which I look forward to continuing as cooler days return.
Jennifer Quisenberry says
August 3, 2016 at 4:52 pm

These are great tips. I will have to implement some of them. I already turn my phone and email off when I am in need of a really productive period of time. I also close any other social tabs in my browser if I’m under a deadline. It’s too easy to see that notification from Facebook and pop over for a “minute” to find out I’ve been there for 20.
Lori English says
August 3, 2016 at 4:09 pm

Hello Sabrina,
I enjoyed your articles and shared it because it was very useful for me and I was able to get a lot of solutions that were pertinent about procrastination. I am a social worker, but have a busy schedule and have to break my tasks into smaller tasks.
Thank You,
Lori English
Liz Benoit Cozby says
August 2, 2016 at 10:51 pm

Sabrina,
I love these tips! I especially like your suggestion to make time to daydream. One of my writing teachers used to say that was daydreaming was actually our brains “percolating,” like a coffee maker, as our brains decide on what paths to take. 🙂
Jackie Harder says
August 1, 2016 at 8:00 am

These are all terrific tips. One of the things I’ve been doing in the last couple of weeks is shedding things that are not vital to my business, giving me more time and ability to focus on those things that really matter most.
Karen Grosz says
July 30, 2016 at 10:16 pm

I love to leaving white space on your calendar as well as start early. I am up early with the sun coming up early so it is a perfect way to get a start on my day with my quiet time and prayer time and still start early on work.
Joan M Harrington says
July 30, 2016 at 9:20 pm

Awesome tips Sabrina, thank you for sharing as it is so important to have fun in the summer, because, yes, things do slow down and we must learn how to organize our business and our family time so that we are more productive 🙂

Thanks for sharing 🙂
Joyce Hansen says
July 30, 2016 at 11:56 am

I love the summer months because I get so much more done by getting up early. I usually find myself quitting around 3 o’clock in the afternoon and then coming back around 8 pm to work for another hour or so. This way I feel like I still got a lot accomplished and still have time to enjoy time with friends and family. It seems to be a better lifestyle during the summer months than the winter months.
Kimberly says
July 28, 2016 at 11:05 pm

I love the idea of setting limits for myself – starting early in the morning and ending in the afternoon… Too often I am up to the wee hours…
Roslyn Tanner Evans says
July 28, 2016 at 7:14 pm

I added in some socializing- seeing friends & more of the grandkids during the summer & finding it hard to keep up my work. Summer is the time we get ready for the holiday season. Also caught up in the conventions, so will review your tips to see what will help. Procrastination is not my problem. Need to allocate time management.
Kristen Wilson says
July 27, 2016 at 10:36 pm

Great tips.. I usually don’t have the procrastination issue.. but I KNOW many people who do and this will be so helpful!
joan potter says
July 27, 2016 at 9:46 pm

Okay – good suggestions, all, but my very favorite is #8. “Schedule tie to daydream.” I once read a book by the original Walt Disney Imagineers and they would concur!
Rachel Lavern says
July 27, 2016 at 5:14 pm

Thanks for sharing your message of combating procrastination in the summer months. I have a very full summer so I drastically reduced my summer hours and calling it “rescheduling”.
Tamuria says
July 27, 2016 at 4:30 pm

I love the idea of scheduling in time to daydream. It’s so important to remind yourself of your vision and why you are doing all that hard work in the first place.
Christy Soukhamneut says
July 27, 2016 at 12:48 pm

Tips 2 & 4 are my favorite. I need to remind myself to do them more often.
Lisa Swanson says
July 27, 2016 at 12:20 pm

great tips, the one I struggle with the most is hiring a VA to do the daily “stuff” I think that’s going to be my next step… but not till after the summer.