Do you ever have days where no matter how hard you focus, you're not as productive as you'd like?

I had one like that recently. 

I had a long document I needed to finish writing by the end of the day. So I removed myself from all distractions. I shut myself away in my home office. I set my phone to silent. I closed all unnecessary browser windows and apps. I started to work. And yet...

The words didn't flow. My progress was slow. Time seemed to drag. My energy felt sapped.

I didn't feel inspired. I kept beating myself up to write faster.

Compare that with how I felt after a recent, informal dinner with a like-minded marketing buddy. I came home elated. Full of new ideas. Bubbling with energy. I couldn't write my notes fast enough. I had at least ten new ideas for topics to write about. I started drafting the first three. How come I felt so very different? 

So I looked back at what else had happened that day. Here's how the day went:

• A team meeting with nice colleagues
• Time working alone
• A group workshop in the afternoon 
• An evening meal with a new friend, who also works in marketing 

The truth is, being with other people relaxes me. I'm energised by them. I'm no neuroscientist, but when we're relaxed, our brains have space to make connections more easily. Creativity can flow. When we concentrate too hard, forcing ideas or words to come, we're left feeling tense and drained.

I design and develop training materials for a living. The reality is that after the initial training analysis and requirements gathering, I have to do a fair amount of the written work and design alone. When I have a tight deadline for those types of task, I tend to: 

• Stop myself doing anything else until it's complete
• Work in solitude
• Not take breaks because I feel it's wasting valuable time

I change my usual way of working so I can tackle what I think will be a difficult task head-on.

Clearly I can't spend my whole day with people, otherwise I'd get nothing done. But I now realise that that way of working doesn't really serve me. It does quite the opposite. Instead, I need to see how I can bring people into my work mix, so I continue to work energetically, efficiently and enthusiastically.

Next week I shall simply try:

• Sharing the interim stages of my work with my peers, to get their feedback
• Including some group activities, so I have a little more variety in the day
• Meeting for a couple of one-to-ones to break up the week
• Rewarding myself with short coffee breaks with colleagues to revive

This probably doesn't sound that different to most people's normal working day. But it makes me realise that there is such a thing as working too hard. Good conversation and relevant meetings help us rather than hinder us. They can help us relax. And when we're relaxed, we tend to work better.

Where do you get your energy from? Do you do something relaxing, like listening to music, going for a walk or just being on your own? Or do you prefer to expend energy doing exercise, in order to feel more energetic?

I'd love to hear how you get powered up when you're feeling a little flat?