Even if you’ve got a thousand projects on-the-go it’s not always easy to stay productive, although there’s never a shortage of things to do. Actually, it can be worse than having one thing to focus on completely.

Whether you’re multitasking or honed in on one uber-project, staying productive is often a challenge. It is for me.

So one of my post-Thanksgiving goals is to focus on staying productive throughout the entire day. I’m going to do this in a few ways, starting with keeping a better to-do list.

I’ve also got to:

• Really focus on priorities
• Avoid distractions
• Review my accomplishments daily
• Punch myself in the face if I don’t meet my daily goals

Everyone needs a break now and again, and I don’t plan on skipping lunch, setting up a bedpan near my desk and sleeping only 5 minutes per day. What I do plan on doing is really honing in one what I have to get done on a daily basis and getting that stuff done.

An extension of that rather high level goal is to wake up earlier in the morning and find a way to feel more refreshed. When I wake up an hour earlier than usual I can get a ton of stuff done before my son (and wife) are up. It can be a super-productive time for me if I feel refreshed enough.

This morning I woke up early but tossed and turned in bed instead of jumping out and getting to it. I finally got up and started doing some work. Shortly thereafter I realized that I had sent a couple of emails but either couldn’t remember their contents or knew that I had misspoken in them. Oops. Working when you still can’t open your eyes isn’t a good move.

So, I need to find a way to be able to wake up early, on a consistent basis, and feel like I had a good night’s sleep.

Short of injecting caffeine into my bloodstream in the morning, anyone have any suggestions?

I know I can focus on staying more productive during the day. What I need much more help with is the second part of my goal – getting up, feeling refreshed. Maybe I need to get to sleep earlier. Maybe I need to exercise more (OK, maybe I need to START exercising), maybe I’m not eating well enough. I’m open to ideas!

This is part of my Post-Thanksgiving Goal Writing Project. You can participate too!

Write a post on your blog about your goals from now until Christmas. Link back here and tag your post “post-thanksgiving group writing project”. I’ll link to your site (at least twice) and encourage others to check out your goals!