The end-of-summer slump is real. You’re saying goodbye to all of the joy that summer had to offer, but you haven’t yet shifted into high gear for a productive fall. The result is this weird middle place where you know it’s time to jump into action, and your mind is ready to do so, but you can’t quite figure out how to get started.
Let’s talk through what needs to happen next so you can escape the slump and make plans for a productive autumn.
Why your brain struggles after summer
The data is in: you’re not the only one feeling unproductive. Productivity drops by 20% over the summer, and workers struggle with distractions and post-vacation blues when they’re in the office. Understanding the reasons behind this slump can help you approach your recovery with more self-compassion and strategic thinking.
We’re implementing more structure after 3 months of flexibility
Almost my entire life has been shaped by the school calendar—first as a student, then as a teacher, and now as a parent. I assumed that having a tie to this type of schedule is what made summer feel different for me, until a conversation I recently had with my sister, who works in the medical field and has no children. She commented that she and her husband were ready to do absolutely nothing outside of work for the next few weeks, because their summer had been so packed and busy.
Structure tends to disappear during summer, regardless of your life stage. It’s not just about kids or school; it’s about how our culture treats summer as a break, which means both our personal and professional priorities shift. Even if you no longer have a direct tie to the academic calendar, other people you work with might. Colleagues take vacations, clients take longer to answer, and business moves at a slower pace.
We’re emotionally resistant to change
The end of summer can bring feelings of loss. You know you won’t have the same freedom, flexibility, and fun that accompanied the summer months. Even if you’re craving routine again, there’s often a small part of you that’s still dreaming about the open feeling of summer. This emotional resistance can create some internal stress and might even cause some premature burnout. Sarah Whitman, the senior vice-president of e-commerce at Workhuman, describes it this way: “There’s a sense of anticipation and worry that all the fun is over, and there are only challenges ahead—it’s almost like those back-to-school blues that came up when we were kids.”
Your grief is legitimate. Summer can be a time when you feel most like yourself, more relaxed, more social, and more spontaneous. The transition back to structured productivity can be uncomfortable, especially if your company is rolling out any RTO mandates. Recognizing this emotional factor is crucial because it means your resistance is a normal psychological response to change.
The summer drop in productivity might make you feel lazy, especially when you come across headlines like Summer slackers are plaguing bosses everywhere. The truth is that summer provides a different work environment from the other three seasons, and when we are willing to recognize that, we’re better equipped to accept the lower productivity of summer while we anticipate how to jump back into our efforts during the fall.
Here’s how to get the ball rolling.
Track your time to understand your patterns
Before you rebuild your momentum, it helps to understand how you’ve been spending your time. With this information, you can make a plan to help you move forward. Go into this data collection as objectively as you can—no judging yourself!
How to analyze your last 30 days
Memory is a fickle thing and is easily manipulated based on what we want to think happened. If you want an accurate representation of how you spent your working hours over the past month, you need to lean into the data.
RescueTime reports are an easy way to evaluate the last 30 days, and there are a number of insights you can discover about how you’ve been spending your time. Below are just a few:
Which days of the week are most productive
To get started, head to Productivity → Reports → Productivity.
From here, look for the date picker on the upper-left side of the report, then select Last 30 days.
Filter your productivity reports By Day to see which days you’ve been able to stay focused and which days were more of a wash.
What time of day is most productive
Filter your results by Time of Day to see when most of your focus work is taking place.
This information is golden as you rebuild your schedule because it reveals your natural energy patterns. A routine built around your natural rhythms will feel less forced and more sustainable.
How long projects truly take
Open your Apps and Websites report and you’ll see a detailed breakdown of where your time actually goes.
When you scroll down, you can see the exact amount of time you spent in certain documents. For me, this helps me compare how long pieces take to write vs. how long I think I spent writing them. Talk about a reality check.
How much you’re working outside of your designated work hours
Head over to Productivity → Focus & Balance → Balance.
Here, you can access reports to see if/when you’re working outside of the boundaries you’ve set, including exactly how much time you’re working during your after-work time. For example, you might discover that the summer slump you’re feeling isn’t because you had poor productivity, but because you didn’t rest enough.
How much time you’re spending on communication
Go to Productivity → Focus & Balance → Communication.
You can see:
- How much time you spend in various communication apps.
- How frequently you check email and chat
- Which tools you use most often
Understanding your communication patterns helps identify whether constant connectivity is fragmenting your focus. Summer’s more relaxed pace might have allowed for more scattered communication habits that are now keeping you from deep work
Common time audit discoveries
Whether you use RescueTime, another time-tracking software, or a pencil-and-paper time audit, you’ll probably find at least one of these patterns.
- You’re spending way too much time on low-value tasks.
Busy ≠ productive. A time audit helps you see if you’re stuck in low-value tasks or having your calendar overrun with unnecessary meetings. Summer’s relaxed pace can make it easier to get caught up in busy work, and if that’s the case for you, it’s time to check your priorities.
- You’re underestimating task duration.
Having a clear idea of how much time a task takes is a game-changer. When something takes 2-3 times longer than you anticipated, you know it’s time to rearrange your schedule or consider how you can become more efficient.
- You have more free time than you think.
But it’s fragmented 😬
Maybe you don’t have any long stretches of uninterrupted time, but your schedule is full of scattered 10-20 minute blocks. You need to determine how you’re going to use those blocks or rework your schedule for longer stretches of free time.
- You’re not getting enough restorative time.
Small, scattered portions of free time usually won’t do enough to restore your soul. And if your relaxing time isn’t restful (i.e., you spend it all doomscrolling), you probably never feel fully rested.
Learn what your procrastination means
Just as important as how you spent your time is the data about how you didn’t spend your time. Are there certain apps or projects you should have spent more time using? That information reveals patterns about your avoidance behaviors.
Why are you putting off certain tasks? Are you not sure about the expectations? Feeling overwhelmed? Just don’t want to do it? Getting to the reason behind your procrastination helps you determine the right solution, because different types of procrastination require different approaches.
Design your day with intention
Once you know what’s been working and what hasn’t, you have the information you need to build something better.
Go from data → insights → action
Let’s start with all the juicy data you got from your time audit. We already listed specific insights you can glean from each data point, so let’s talk about how you can turn those insights into actionable steps.
- If you see a certain activity spiking when you’d like to limit it, set up an alert to give yourself a little nudge when you want to get things back under control.
- If you’re having trouble staying focused for long periods of time, schedule Focus Sessions that incrementally grow in length as you retrain your brain.
- If you notice your energy dips at the same time every day, reserve that time for low-value tasks that don’t require much focus.
- If communication apps are eating away at your time, set specific windows for checking messages and mute notifications.
Move beyond simple habit changes
I’m all for habit stacking—it’s a great way to sneak new routines into your workday without overhauling everything. But those habits won’t last unless you know exactly why you’re doing them. For example, adding a five-minute inbox clean-up right after your afternoon coffee break might work for a while, but it’ll fizzle if you don’t tackle the stress that makes you avoid your inbox in the first place.
Set specific goals + make a plan to reach them
Our attention tends to drift when our goals get vague– the brain needs clarity to focus effectively. When you set vague goals (like be more productive or get in shape), your brain struggles to identify what success looks like and what steps need to be taken. Without clear parameters, your attention drifts toward easier, more concrete tasks that give you a quick reward.
There’s also a heavy cognitive load that comes with being vague or open-ended about what you want to accomplish. I’ve lived in the same town my entire life, so getting from place to place is never really an issue, unless I know there are 3 or 4 possible routes I could take. When that happens, I end up sitting there and weighing out my options, comparing each route, trying to decide which way I want to go instead of just driving. When you don’t have a specific plan to get from A to B, you end up spending a lot of time and energy thinking about what needs to happen next, instead of just taking action.
I’m sorry to sound like your fifth-grade guidance counselor, but there’s a reason that SMART goals are recommended time and again. Creating specific, measurable, time-bound goals is half the battle when you need a plan of action. The other half? Breaking those goals into clear, bite-sized steps so you always know your next move. That way, you reduce decision fatigue, keep momentum going, and make it far more likely you’ll reach the finish line.
Build structure that flexes with you
A too-rigid schedule can sometimes slow you down. It often doesn’t account for energy fluctuations and ignores real-life interruptions, meaning that one small hiccup can send you spiraling for the rest of the day.
Instead of planning your day with military precision, create a general framework that guides you through the day.
- Block your time in themes like creative work, admin tasks, and meetings.
- Build in buffer zones for overflow or recovery, giving yourself some transition time between tasks.
- Set anchor points to guide your day, such as starting around 9 am and eating lunch around 12.
- Keep a running list of low-pressure tasks (like decluttering digital files or clearing out your inbox) that you can do when your energy dips or you have one of those fragments of free time.
Takeaway
The end-of-summer slump doesn’t have to define your entire fall. By understanding why it happens, auditing your current patterns, and building a structure that works with your natural rhythm, you can create sustainable momentum that carries you through the rest of the year.