Here in Boston, I’ve been surviving two snow days and one of the biggest blizzards I’ve seen. I’m sure this won’t be the last snow day of the winter for us in the northeast, but even if it is or you’re one of the lucky ones living in a sunny place, we always have unexpected days off. It’s tempting to use them to relax and have fun whether that’s binge watching Game of Thrones or sledding with your friends. But how can we make them really productive as well? Today I’m going to share some tips with you about how I stay productive during snow days (and keep myself from watching Hunger Games on loop all day).

Do the Most Important, Highest Value Task First

I’m sure you’ve heard the tip to work out in the morning so other things don’t get in the way as your day progresses. This is true of everything. You’re probably sharpest in the morning (after you’ve had time to wake up and eat breakfast) and you have fewer distractions. The best way to capitalize on this is to decide the night before the one most important, highest value task you want to tackle the next day. I love to use my CARROT To-Do Talking Task List app to keep track of my tasks. I put the most important task at the top of the list the night before so I don’t even have to think about it in the morning.

What’s your highest value to-do? Maybe you have an important paper you need to write or you want to be way way ahead of the competition and take a stab at a college essay. My suggestion for all those high school seniors is to work on outside scholarship applications. Whatever the task is, decide on it the night before so in the morning you don’t need to make any decisions. Just get to work.

Be Active

This is especially important on snow days when you might be cooped up all day. You can easily get stir crazy. Go outside and play in the snow for an hour or (my favorite) do some at home fitness videos. There’s a million available online, through Hulu or Netflix, or maybe through your cable provider. This not only will help you from getting antsy and distracted, it will help you focus with all that nice oxygenated blood moving to your brain. It’s really easy to waste snow days on binge watching or video games, but making yourself do something active really helps combat this.

Take Breaks

It’s really important to give yourself breaks. If you plan to power through the whole day without breaks, you’re going to burn out and end up taking a huge break or being unfocused. If you really want to go sledding, do it. If you really want to play Halo, do it. Just set a timer and make sure you’re only taking a short break. Shoot for 20 minutes, but don’t go over an hour. This way you’ll have fun and rest your brain, but you won’t let the whole day slip away. A really great way to take a break is by napping. Just keep it short. I love the Power Nap app for this.

Action Steps

1. This week’s action step is really easy, just share with me by email or comment your favorite way to stay productive during snow days.

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