As well as pre-booked summer holidays, unplanned absences tend to spike during a heatwave. These days off, which are most likely to be on Mondays, Fridays and the day before holidays, are noted to reduce productivity by a whopping 36.6%.

It can be tempting to slack off when you’d rather be nibbling a ninety-nine in the sun, but when there are emails to send and deadlines to meet, you might want to take a look at these top tips from productivity experts.

1. Plan your day
   Warm weather is not conducive to decision making, so plan out your day in the morning to battle laziness later on. Peggy Duncan, author of The Time Management Memory Jogger, suggests making lists.
   Write down everything you need to do, and prioritise it based on importance. To keep you motivated, throw in a few things you want to do too.
2. Work in sprints
   Productivity expert Peter Bregman suggests working hard for a few days and then taking a few days off. Rest days will “keep you from being distracted by the temptations of summer”. If you aren’t self-employed, you can still try this technique by making sure you take an outdoor lunch or punctuating tasks with regular breaks.
3. Tackle put-off projects
   The office tends to be quieter in summer, with staff and clients alike taking summer holidays. Lorie Marrero suggests you use this slow time to tackle non-urgent tasks that you’ve been meaning to do for ages, such as clearing out old paperwork or upgrading computers.