What To Do When You Are Not "Crushing It" — A Freelancer's Guide To Surviving Unproductive Days

Since I started freelancing 3 years ago, I’ve learned a lot about what “being productive” means.

I’ve learned that people who are always “crushing it, bro” may not be my type of people.

And I’ve learned that, some days, no matter how hard you try, you will not be able to crush it. Instead “it” will crush you…

Or at least it will try.

This article is a distillation of a few things I’ve learned about being productive and surviving those days where you can’t seem to get into a rhythm, no matter how hard you try.

1. Get Clear On What “Productivity” Actually Is (And What It’s Not)

First, “being productive” does NOT mean working a certain amount of hours.

If you still suffer from the belief that “productivity” means being chained to your desk for 12 hours per day…

Let me free you from those shackles.

Unless you’re snorting Adderall between Zoom calls, there’s no way in hell you’re actually working 12 hours straight.

At best, you’re getting 6–8 hours of work done in-between checking LinkedIn, Slack, and taking the occasional bathroom break (where you scroll Instagram until your legs fall asleep).

So, don’t measure the success of a day by the amount of hours you worked. Instead, measure your success by what you were able to actually get done.

Did you make meaningful progress on important tasks? Yes? Then you did alright.

(Sidenote: You SHOULD still track your hours to make sure you’re using your time wisely. But the hours you spend at your desk should be a byproduct of making time for meaningful work, rather than the goal in and of themselves.)

If you’re having an unproductive day, don’t handcuff yourself to your chair. Instead, identify the 1–3 tasks that will make the most difference in your business and focus ONLY on those.

Everything else can wait until tomorrow.

2. Crack Open Your “Emergency Productivity Kit”

Earlier this year, I bought Ian Stanley’s Money Morning Challenge.

It’s a $7 course, but I’d still be happy even if I paid $97. Go buy it and get on his list if you haven’t already.

One of the things Ian talks about is the idea of triggers. (It’s been a while since I’ve gone through the course, so I can’t remember his exact wording. But the idea is the same.)

Basically, you should have things you do that tell your subconscious brain that it is time to work.

I talked about this concept in this article, but I’ll do it again here.

Here’s how I tell my brain it’s time to write when I really need to knock shit out:

1. I put in headphones.

2. I put on my computer glasses.

3. If I’m wearing a hoodie, I put the hood up.

4. I start playing UTAH on Spotify.

5. And then I write.

Another thing Ian talks about in the course is using a Pomodoro timer. This is a great way to see if you can quickly get out of a rut.

Make a deal with yourself that will fully commit to working for the next 25 minutes.

Then, if your “Emergency Productivity Kit” has helped you build some momentum (and this happens more often than you would think), see if you can keep it going.

But if at the end of the 25 minutes, you haven’t been able to break out of your rut, you can start planning to wrap up for the day.

3. Focus On “Pre-Work”

“Pre-Work” is work that you have to do before you can do deeper work.

As an example, if you’re working on a sales page or an article, pre-work is research. It’s something you have to do before you can start writing.

The work you do on your unproductive day should ideally be pre-work — maintenance to set yourself up for a more productive day tomorrow.

If the project you’re working on is a garden, you’re not harvesting today — you’re just dumping MiracleGro on everything so that, when you come back tomorrow, you’ll have some vegetables to pick.

But don’t go overboard with this…

4. Work As Little As Possible

Have you ever heard of The Law of Paradoxical Intent?

Basically, it’s this idea that, the harder you try to move away from something…

The closer you get to it.

So, the harder you try to not think about your parents having sex…

Well, you get it.

I think this philosophy applies directly to unproductive days. If you fight it too hard, you may just end up digging yourself deeper into a hole.

But if you accept it and (here’s the key) actively LEAN INTO IT, you can get through that unproductive mood faster. And instead of stretching it out over 3 days, you get through it in 1.

That’s been my experience, at least.

So if you’re having a shitty day, crack open your Emergency Productivity Kit and see if you can turn it around…

But if you can’t, then lean into the laziness.

Pick your 1–3 most important tasks (ideally, they are pre-work tasks), do those, and then check TF out for the day.

5. Tune Into What You Need

I’ve found that, if I’m not having a productive day, it probably means I just need some time to completely unplug from work and stop thinking for a few hours.

Sometimes this involves shitty food and TV.

I’ll order Dominos, eat an entire pizza, and watch a few hours of Netflix.

Or (and this is even better) I’ll spend some time with friends. I’ll get completely out of my head and completely into the moment.

If you’ve committed to checking out for the day, see if you can get a sense for what you need.

Have you been going too hard? Do you just need some time to veg out?

Or have you been trapped in the house for too long? Do you need to go hang out with some friends or go for a run?

6. Set Yourself Up For Success Tomorrow

If you have an unproductive day, actively take steps to make sure that tomorrow does not end up the same way.

For example, if you know that you are most productive between the hours of 7AM and 10AM…

Then you should go to bed early, so that you can be up and working during those hours.

Or if you know that you tend to get more work done at a coffee shop than at home — then you should make plans to go to a coffee shop.

The bottom line is this:

Don’t just HOPE tomorrow will be better. Actively take steps to make sure tomorrow will be better.

Lay out your clothes the night before…

Get in bed early…

Whatever you gotta do. Just make sure you intentionally do things to set yourself up for success tomorrow.

Nurse your wounds on your unproductive day, and then attack work with a fury the next day.

It’s okay to have unproductive days every now and then. But it is not okay to let those days run your business.

YOU run your business, and sometimes you just gotta sit down and grind shit out… even when you don’t feel like it.

This is often more therapeutic than you might expect.

7. Turn Your Unproductive Days Into Material

One great thing about being a writer is that practically everything in your life becomes material you can write about…

This is one of those situations.

No matter what your craft is — see if you can turn your unproductive day from a setback into something that propels you forward.

You may have to get creative, but this article is evidence that it’s possible.

The reality is that no one is “crushing it” all the time. And if you are, I’m inclined to believe that you’re a sociopath or a robot.

But for the rest of us human beings, try following these tips the next time you find yourself having an unproductive day.

Let me know if it helps.

And I would be a terrible marketer if I didn’t try to get you to sign up for my email list.

Robert Lucas