When we have free time, we may often end up filling it with scrolling through social-media or other attention depleting activities. If you know you can't, or are having trouble maintaining focus during a particular time, then consider planning some leisure activity to perform at that time. This could be in the form of:<ul><li>Arts and crafts</li><li>Catching up with a friend or family member</li></ul>Or anything else that is mentally engaging in a realm other than the one you usually work in.

Planning your leisure

Flow is the psychological state of feeling and doing our best, being in this state increases productivity and creativity immensely.To achieve flow while working at home:<ul><li>Set Clear Goals a day or night before</li><li>Concentrate intensely for 90 to 120 Minutes at a time</li><li>Practice mindfulness</li><li>Create some tactile way of marking tasks as 'Done'</li></ul>From <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/13/how-to-find-flow-while-working-from-home-steven-kotler.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this article</a>

Achieving Flow while working from Home

If you keep running, without slowing down, you’ll eventually crash because your legs can only work so much. This crash is called burnout, a state of physical, mental and emotional exhaustion that can lead to frustration and reduced drive to do what you aim for.The best way to avoid burnout is by taking breaks helps you refresh your mind, gives you a breath of fresh perspective and replenishes your focus, boosting Productivity.

Burnout and Breaks

We all fall into productivie slumps from time to time, often when we don't have a proper structure to our day, or when an existing structure is taken away. Without proper plans and structure we often procrastinate and even though we're getting our tasks done, the gap between assignment and completion is huge. We may write it off as free time, but is time spent worrying over pending tasks actually free?

Productivie Slumps, Procrastination and Free Time

Follow these steps to regain your productivity if you're in a slump:<ol><li>Gather Data about where and when you're wasting your time</li><li>Analyse the data and identify possible triggers/causes of Procrastination that you can directly tackle</li><li>Find strategies to overcome these triggers and causes according to your life and personality</li></ol>

Taking back control during a slump

Everyone has different period of time during which they have low energy or just can't bring themselves to focus. In order to alleviate these times one needs to figure out how and when such levels strike, and think of strategies to combat them. One of the most common times is in the afternoon, to deal with the 'afternoon' slump, check <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CPia5ubDQSB/?utm_medium=copy_link" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">this post</a>

Dealing with low energy and focus levels 

By scheduling several similar tasks to be done together, you can save time without reducing quality. A common example of batching is washing all your dirty clothes together, instead of washing each t-shirt as soon as you take it off. Applying the same principle to tasks that use the same skill will help you warm up and save time.Use batching in:<ul><li>Checking and replying to your e-mails</li><li>Planning meetings and calls</li><li>Completing similar tasks</li></ul>

Planning your leisure

Similar ideas to Planning your leisure

5. Schedule tasks based on your energy levels