Occasionally I get days when I have a lot of widgets to crank but my head isn’t in the game. My productivity is hampered because I’m guilty of pondering these weighty issues when I should be working. Bearing the mental burden of this kind is enough to induce a procrastinational (is that a word?) coma.

The thing is the widgets still need to be produced. A one-person army cannot afford too many days of unproductiveness.  I’m always on the look out for new ways to combat this particular malady that affects the solopreneur.

Usually most small nagging annoyances are quickly dispatched using tactics like working with a countdown timer and short work periods, taking breaks, or changing tasks frequently.

The other kind of  mental battles we wage are heavier. These kind of weighty issues are the deeply personal and emotional charged ones. Loved ones passing on, kids moving out on their own, and big life career changes all qualify.  Maybe we should just take the time off to sort through this stuff. That’s a great idea but not always practical, or possible. After all, we make our living cranking the widget lever, right?

Here’s a brief list of ideas to help beat down these monsters:

• Writing down your thoughts in your journal helps to sort out stuff. Just let the emotion flow out of the pen onto the paper. Who knows… A little cathartic release just might be the tonic you need.

• Reframe the thought. Is this something I can change or do something about. If not, then come to grips with accepting it and living on in spite of it.

• Talking the matter over with a trusted confidant. Having a sounding board to listen while you ramble on until your out of gas… or tears.

• Making peace with someone if you hurt or wronged them.

• Offer forgiveness. If someone hurt you or wronged you.

So what in the world does this have to do with personal productivity? Not much. Except that this stuff resides in your head and no matter how much you’d like to wish it away, it’ll be there until you decide to do something with it.

Once you figure that out, then you can get back to the business of cranking out those darned widgets.