Yesterday was a work day where I got almost nothing done.
Oops.
I woke up later than intended with a headache and this sent me off on a bad path that I was largely unable to recover from. I attended 3 work meetings on my calendar (the first at 7:30 with my head throbbing away) and answered some emails but that was about it. I felt torn between just allowing myself to rest (in part because it has been common for me to end up working for significant chunks of prior ‘days off’) and feeling terribly guilty. At 3 pm I had an eye appointment and got my eyes dilated and that was the end of any hope for productivity.
Here is the list of things that DID NOT get done (for both posterity & planning purposes):
❏ Create mini movie for virtual interviews (I will do this . . . Friday? Early next week? Or perhaps over weekend. My deadline is 10/30, our first interview date! I need to turn this into a fun challenge OR figure out how to quickly and cheaply outsource it.)
❏ Finish 5 clinic notes from Monday (usually I get them done that same day, but it was extra busy esp toward the end of the day). (Will get these done today.)
❏ Prep for my weekly coaching training session (readings, audio). Will get these done . . tonight? Thursday AM?
❏ Polish interview day presentation. Tabling to next week.
❏ Pick up jeans at tailor (I got everything else but they hadn’t done the hem the way I wanted it). Probably tomorrow after EARLY VOTING!
❏ Email friend about resuming estate planning (LOL. But seriously need to get back on this bus as it was a Quintile goal! Maybe today I will just send a quick email to get ball rolling again . . . )
Oh well. It will be okay. I will exercise self-compassion and remember that I am still a valuable person (and employee) even with an occasional off day. To be honest (with myself), I probably wouldn’t have been able to accomplish ALL of that even if I had been on my game – maybe that was part of the problem. Today is a new day and I will get the essential $#!&@# done.
I am back today with a vengeance. Or close to it. I slept 8 hours and feel ready to be productive. I also feel ready to run but unfortunately it is pouring (and has been all night) so I will pivot to a BB workout instead. (I think I will go classic Autumn Total Body Cardio. It has been a while!)
I am proud to say that even on my ‘off’ day I did not turn towards screens! I truly seem to have lost my desire for scrolling. So much so that I feel like I actually need to schedule myself 30 minutes weekly (or something like that) on Insta/Youtube to keep up with the latest planner trends for the sake of BLP!
Maybe I will add this in November.
8 Comments
We all have days like that! When you don’t feel well, it can be hard to overcome that. I’ve had my share of days like that recently due to rheumatoid arthritis flares and I just hit the next day hard to make up for the previous day or days… People understand and nothing you missed was critical/due that day. That’s great that you didn’t turn to screen usage. I used my phone a lot yesterday – we got a ton of snow so I shared photos on IG and FB and ended up responding to comments. But it was fun and nice to connect with some people and commiserate with my fellow Minnesotans.
Wow! So jealous of your snow!!!!
FWIW I think sharing photos and responding to comments is a great use of social media… as opposed to the scrolling and scrolling that I tend to get sucked into. I’m in MN also and that snow yesterday was NUTS… taking photos of my kids and the trees really helped pull me out of a funk about it!
Well, your to do list makes me feel much better about mine. Also, I’m able to get major admin done when I have lots of meetings, but never deep work or writing. My frustrations with myself stem mostly from not getting the deep work done, but also when stupid admin related to the deep work pops up and takes forever, or when I have deep work time set aside and can’t do it because of a pop up meeting or stupid admin.
Dear Sarah, what would you say to a friend who told you she got nothing done because of a throbbing head ache? Love from NL!
Aww thank you!!
Great song for these days
https://youtu.be/ytQhL0-3FtM
I had a horrible headache also! Hope you’re feeling better. What planner is that? Def not a Hobonichi