We all love summer! The sunshine, family time and the occasional office slow down. Plus, the summer means some vacation time and even skipping out early every now and again. So, how do we stay motivated? Fortunately, some industry leaders shared a few productivity tips that keep them (and their clients) engaged!
Are you struggling to maintain your motivation? If so, read through these fantastic productivity tips and hopefully you’ll find a few solutions that keep your summer sensational!
Embrace Summer (A Little Bit At a Time)
“To me, summer represents a time when life is thriving! The flowers have been blooming for weeks and the days are longer. All I want to do is lay around with my family and bask in its glory. Here’s my secret: I let myself. I let myself lay around and bask in the glory of it. When I give myself the permission to enjoy and soak in life’s pleasures, if even for a thirty minute piece of time, I find inspiration in those moments to keep the rest of my working life fun and interesting. I come up with my favorite creative ideas when I step away from the office. The work is in applying the inspiration I receive from playtime. If you manage someone who is going on vacation, I challenge you to ask them to come back with a fun idea. I bet they will surprise you!”
– Kristin Loretta
Owner, Kristin Joy Public Relations
IG: @hellokristinjoy
Learn Something New
“Staying motivated during the summer can seem harder than it seems, with the sun out and people ready to rush to the beach or the idea of being able to do “nothing” and just enjoy friends and family all day. As an entrepreneur, parent, professional we must maintain the same level of motivation to accomplish our goals. One way to stay motivated is learn something new. Summer might be slow business wise for some and this will help to maintain motivation by being able to learn something new that can benefit your business. You will keep your brain stretching by the new things you will learn which you can incorporate into growing your business.”
– Lakiesha Russell
Licensed Professional Counselor & Momprenuer of The Evolving Chair
IG: @lakieshalpc
Set Up a Summer Desk
“I’ve found setting up a special desk that fits outside on my balcony and allowing myself to work outside in the warmth, outdoor beauty and sun is a great way to keep me motivated during the summer months. Instead of feeling trapped inside and wishing I were having fun outside instead of working, I get the best of both worlds and am able to work while spending time outside.”
– Stacy Caprio
Founder, Growth Marketing
Twitter: @stacy4startups
Set Summer Goals
“I started my own company 4 years ago and we actually tend to get more done in the summer, not less. With annual goals, it’s easy to get complacent and only work hard when deadlines are approaching. We set optimistic 12 week goals for our company and projects for our clients. Our aggressive 12 week goals spell out for what we’ll accomplish from June-August. We check our progress daily, weekly, and monthly. By having tight deadlines and listing what we need to accomplish and help our clients achieve, this holds us accountable and helps us work toward a clear goal. We also help clients understand the significance of their lower priority projects and the exact results they can expect when those projects are complete.”
– Jacob Landis-Eigsti
Owner of Jacob LE Video Production
Twitter: @jacoblevideo
Use the Downtime to Understand Your True Motivation
“My two biggest tips are to a) really understand why you have the goals that you have, making sure that the “why” behind them lies in yourself instead of making someone else happy and b) take some time to understand why you’re feeling a lack of motivation. Oftentimes a lack of motivation is due to overwhelm somewhere else in life, so that motivation might come right back if you take some activities off of your plate or engage in some often-needed self-care.”
– Jessi Beyer
Jessi Beyer International
IG: @jessibeyerinternational
Switch Up Your Standard Routine
“Some people thrive off of a consistent routine, but for most, it can become monotonous to do the same thing every day in the same order. If the business is slow during the summer, and there aren’t many urgent tasks that need to be prioritized, then, by all means, consider temporarily switching the routine around. Only change it to a degree where it won’t actually impact the amount of work you can complete. When I change up my routine, I feel refreshed, which in turn leads to feeling more motivated. Humans are creatures of habit and don’t always realize that they are following the same routine day-after-day and then burn out due to the lack of variety in their day. Switching up a routine isn’t a dramatic change, so there really isn’t a sound reason not to at least make the small tweak and see if it helps with those feelings of demotivation.”
– Jason Yau
VP of E-Commerce & General Manager of CanvasPeople
Spend Summer Outside
“Summer has always been the most productive season for me and I hope it could be for everyone. I run an ecommerce startup with my partner and we both feel the need to spend more time outside during the summer. To stay motivated, we transformed a lot of our regular meetings and discussions into pleasant outdoor activities. For instance, we currently run most of our weekly planning meetings at the park or on a patio, so that way we don’t feel like we’re missing out on the sun. We also turned all of our brainstorming sessions into walks. It’s been proven that walking increases creativity, and it always feels good to come back to our home office with the AC on after a while.”
– Francois Mathieu
Co-Founder, Hojicha Co.
IG: @francoismathieu
Focus on Lead & Lag Goals
“It’s easy to lose sight of your goals during the summer, but I’ve been executing on a simple strategy to stay focused. I learned this strategy from the book the 12-Week Year. In short, you try to accomplish your annual goals in 12 weeks. Let’s just say it’s TOUGH. You have no other choice but to focus. The key is to have consequences for not accomplished your lead actions. There are two types of KPIs I focus on. The first are lag goals. Lag goals are goals that can’t be accomplished by tomorrow like revenue, profit, etc. Lead goals are the actions that you can control such as publishing epic content, responding to HARO requests. So, it’s important to establish your lag goals and then map out each leading action to achieve that goal. Since you can’t technically “control” lag measures, you need to focus on lead measures. So, bringing it back. Focus on a 12-week during the summer and create consequences for not completing your lead measures.”
– Nathan Gotch
Founder, Gotch SEO
Twitter: @nathangotch
Perfect Your Summer Playlist
“Music is so transformative and can change your mood instantly, so what better way to keep yourself motivated than by listening to upbeat and impactful music. But actually, you can go one step further – create your very own playlist. There are pre-made playlists online, but I think creating your own is great because every song will have special meaning for you. Start by choosing your favorite platform – like Pandora, Spotify, SoundCloud or even YouTube – to host your playlist. Give it a fun title (mine is called “Whatever It Takes”), select your favorite songs, remix the order – there’s just no wrong way to create your own motivational life soundtrack!”
– Kendra Newton
Marketing/Publicity Coach
IG: @kendranewt
Treat Yourself & Enjoy Summer
“During the summer, my clients can lack motivation. However, I have adopted some quick ways for businesses to keep themselves motivated and how to keep their client’s eye on the prize. For example, incentives. Treat yourself – and your clients! Depending on the business structure, summer can be pretty hectic or slow. By having amazing incentives set for yourself and for your clients, how can you not be motivated? I like to surprise my clients with gifts they’ve mentioned wanting, or better yet, securing a feature we’ve been trying to secure! It’s amazing what incentives can do. Additionally, supportive texts to clients. Supportive texts to clients about how hard they’ve worked with you as of late and how much they’ve grown their brand and where you see their brand growing can really put a pep in their step – and mood. Everyone loves that little push that they’re going in the right direction. My texts usually include memes, which is always a fun way to blow off steam from a lagging project. Finally, take the day off! Summer usually means hot days and lounging carelessly by the pool. Giving yourself and your clients the self-care of a day off from meetings and replying back to emails can simply be all it takes for everyone to feel refreshed and ready to tackle another day. At times, I think we forget the simplicity of life and how some of these can really be what we need to get ourselves to the next level.”
– Ariana Adams
The Adams Agency
IG: @TheRealMsAdams
Try New Things During the Summer
“Motivation and being productive are two different things that get drained during the summer, because of the intense heat the amount of focus that is required on your tasks. Workplace productivity drops 20% and projects take 13% longer to complete. Workers are 45% distracted. There are multiple reasons for your distraction and you don’t have a complete focus on your tasks. For example, try to do some activity other than your regular work life. Motivation happens when you try to introduce new things in your life. Try reading a new book which requires little-to-no action.”
– Adeel Shabir
Content Marketing Executive, GigWorker
Twitter: @adeelshabi
Maintain Summer Plans & Schedules
“It’s easy to procrastinate or delay work if your clients also feel the same way. You can get into a situation where ‘permission’ to slack off gets implied on both sides. Planning and scheduling are vital to avoid this inertia. We know that some industries are affected by seasonality in both directions. Also, some clients will be affected more than others based on personality. Lastly, we know that we can create more work with outbound marketing at any time. In the spring, we need to plan. Did last summer affect motivation and growth? Was it coming from the clients, ourselves, or both? We might need to fill the order books a little more than usual so that when some clients slow down, other new work has to get done. If work is scheduled and has to get completed, we won’t get tempted to delay. Adding a few extra clients, makes better sense than the cajoling of existing clients, away from their standard workflow.”
– Jason Lavis
Managing Director, Out of the Box Innovations Ltd.
Twitter: @jasonlavis08
Create a Gratitude Campaign
“Summer is usually a slowdown inevitable for any business, and it often leaves a negative impact on your workplace. Decreased productivity, the decline in attendance, and least interested clients, this is all which is observed during summer. However, depending on your business, the summer can be a valuable time in which you can take a lead while your competitors are taking days off. You can launch a gratitude campaign in token of appreciation. Send a note, invite your clients on lunch or just call them to simply say, “thank you.” Any kind of indoor or outdoor get together will be fun and a great way to thank and celebrate your customers as well as clients. Everyone is busy these days. Taking some time out to show how much you care and appreciate your customers and clients goes a long way. Along those lines, as a manager, you should take the time to celebrate employees’ achievements. This shows them you value their presence in the workplace and do not take their hard work for granted. Besides, it is an excellent way to encourage other employees’ and keep them motivated in the dog days of summer. This also creates an environment where teammates can easily recognize and celebrate each other’s success. Be specific in your applause. You can add a bonus or a token gift. Let everyone know how their contributions move the organization forward.”
– Martin Luenendonk
Co-Founder & CEO of Cleverism
Create Contests & Remember to Say Thanks
“Create daily contests. Reward specific behaviors that drive vital outcomes. Make it visible, make it fun, make it worth winning. Inspire the inner competitor! Additionally say “thank you” more. Eighty-five percent of professionals want to hear thank you more (Deloitte). There is a direct relationship between recognition and repetition.”
– Jonathan Sprinkles
Motivational Speaker and Consultant, JSprinkles
Twitter: @jsprinkles
Walk & Think About Priorities
“One of the opportunities of summer is walking in nature. This activity is found to increase the frequency of strategic thinking as the mind relaxes and lets insights to arise. This walk in nature isn’t an idle distraction but rather an investment. If you are avoiding a low-priority project, why is it low priority? Maybe this is an opportunity to kill it off and focus on those projects that support your strategy. Or if it is important but not urgent, maybe it is time to think strategically.”
– Greg Githens
Catalyst & Cadre
Twitter: @GregGithens
Focus on Daily Goals & Time Management
“It’s easy to get distracted during the summer. The weather is nice and there are plenty of parties to go to and people to hang out with. But as a work-from-home mom, it’s critical for me to not get distracted by the warm weather. I have to keep on track with work and everything I do as an entrepreneur, or I won’t bring in enough money to even go out and have fun! Because so many people tend to slack off on projects during the summer, it’s actually a great time to try to accomplish the most you can. By doing so, you’ll beat out your competitors! What I suggest to folks who want to get more things done during the summer is to wake up each day and immediately write down your goals for that day. What would be ideal to accomplish? List all of it and also note times in the day where it will be possible to get work done. For example, if I have a doctor’s appointment or a planned social outing on a certain day, I’ll make a point to think about how much time that obligation will take up. Then, I figure out the times where I will be free so that I can still get work done. As a mompreneur, I’ve found time management is absolutely key. By planning ahead, I think you help set yourself up for success. As for keeping others motivated, remind them that this is a great time to get ahead. Explain how being motivated now can help them in the future. You can either lack summer motivation like everyone else, or beat them to the punch!”
– Liz Jeneault
Faveable.com
Twitter: @lizjeneault
Prep for Busy Season
“To keep the motivation during the summer, I focus on getting everything ready for the busy season coming up and completing all of the tasks that I wish I had time for during the busy parts of the year. I like to plan out my marketing in advance, that way it will not fall behind when I am focused on other projects. Also, because other businesses typically slow down at the same time, this is a great time to reach out and build those relationships that you will need during the busy season.”
– Nick Disney
Owner, Sell My San Antonio House
Encourage Short Breaks to Stay Motivated
“I’m a business owner who understands that it can be tough for anyone — owner or employee — to stay motivated during the hot summer months. I stay motivated by taking short, productive breaks throughout the workday. I’ll go for walking meetings with team members, and take out my trusty notebook to brainstorm ideas during lunch. I also email my team members to encourage them to chime in on initiatives they would like to take on during the summer or ideas they have for the fall season we can begin implementing now.”
– Deborah Sweeney
CEO, MyCorporation.com
Twitter: @MyCorporation
Bring Fresh Perspectives to Summer Projects
“I worked with a client once who was getting really bored of her routine weekly accounting duties. We used a coaching strategy called “perspective coaching” in which we had her try on another perspective to the situation. One thing she loved to do was garden, and she really lit up when she talked about designing her garden, learning about soil and seeds, and watching the flowers grow as a result. When asked to look at her Accounting duties through this lens, she was able to find ways to manage the work while also bringing a more creative lens to it – she decided to sign up for an Accounting related-course that would increase her skills nurture her spirit for learning. This way, she could do the work she needed to do on autopilot while also having a new learning and growing experience to look forward to at the same time.”
– Henna Pryor
Recruiting Director & Career Strategist, Kforce
LNKD: @Henna Pryor
Work Remotely
“I love working while on vacation because I can be relaxed and at the same time gather inspiration from my surroundings. If we have a partner abroad, I will make an attempt to visit their offices and connect in real life. Seeing our vendors face to face allows me to make a human connection with people whom I communicate with digitally on a daily basis.”
– Alex Tran
Digital Marketing Strategist, Hollingsworth LLC
Twitter: @HLGSWRTH
Remain Flexible
“Avoid creating stringent and hard and fast rules for your teammates related to their time and conduct in office. Have a broader set of guidelines within which their behavior and ethics shall fall and in which everyone can find their ease of adjustment. Especially during summers, make arrangements for employees to meet clients after office hours, allow them to work-from-home or remotely, and offer sales professionals cab and conveyance facilities for meeting clients. There are different times of the day during the summer in which employees can be or can’t be productive. Primarily, help the employees know work in time is important, not the time of the day and way of completing it.”
– Gargi Rajan
Head HR Mercer, Mettl
Twitter: @Mettl
Host a Party
“If you want to network and keep growing your business, take advantage of the weather and host a gathering. Invite family, friends, colleagues, clients and tell them to bring a person or two along with them. Then all you have to do is mingle and you might just be surprised by how much networking you can get down in a social situation.”
– Lucy Harris
Mom & CEO, HelloBabyBump
IG: @HelloBabyBump
Maintain a Singular Focus Throughout the Summer
“Most of us must be highly intentional to stay focused and motivated when distractions are at an all-time high during the summer. (You know… vacations, no school for the kids, pool parties, tee times and the list goes on and on). While we can normally muster the motivation to keep the business running, accomplishing goals is an entirely different story. A consequence of low summer motivation is the lack of progress on our goals (business or personal) which seems to always comes back to bite us as summer wraps up and we must hustle like crazy to finish the year strong. To keep making progress during the summer with the goals I set for the year, I deploy a tactic I call “Singular Focus.” For each month of the summer (June, July and August), I pick only one goal to focus on for each 30-day period. I temporarily give myself permission to drop all of my other goals as I focus on making specific progress on one goal or accomplishing one goal completely. I set a realistic roadmap to complete the goal in 30 days and don’t worry about not making progress on the other goals. This singular focus allows me to focus my limited motivation in the right direction and the momentum builds throughout the summer.”
– Stacey Brown Randall
Author, Generating Business Referrals Without Asking
FB: @staceybrownrandall
Regroup & Refocus
“I take this time as an opportunity for me to regroup, reflect on how I’d like my rest of the year to look like, and, more importantly, for more self-love. What matters to me most is my health, both mental and physical. If I’m healthy, I can do a lot of things for myself and I can be of help to others. My self-love tips are making sleep a priority, spend more time with my family and friends, spend more time outdoors, read more, listen to my favorite music, and book a massage.”
– Anca Dumitru
Writer, Content Strategist
Twitter: @itsanca
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