How to Turn a Rough Day into a Productive One
The other day I was having a rough day.
Stuff had popped up, which I needed to attend to.
This cost me productive working time. And I was frustrated. I had planned to get a bunch of work done, but life had other plans for me that day. I needed to take care of other elements of life.
It happens.
Life sometimes throws us a curveball. And we need to adjust accordingly.
Mounting frustration
After completing the unexpected tasks, I was tired. But I knew my work needed to get done. And it was already near the end of my working hours. Time was running out for the day.
I started my work, but I procrastinated. It was a big challenge to get myself to start working. I wanted to blow off some steam. I was frustrated already, and the last thing I wanted was for my work to frustrate me even more.
But here I was. Frustrated, but needing to get work done. Not a fun situation.
I realized my frustration wasn't going to improve if I just tried to force myself to complete my work.
I needed another approach. An approach I’d enjoy, but would also push me.
So, I decided to make my work a race.
Turning the day around
I told myself, "Let's see if I can get a thread done in the next 30 minutes."
I checked the time. My computer’s clock read 3:55. At 4:25, I needed to have a thread done. I was a man on a mission. I couldn’t waste any more time.
And so I got to work. I wrote non-stop for those 30 minutes. Boom. Thread completed.
The thread wrote itself. I was frustrated because I had a rough day. So, I wrote about it. It was an easy topic to write about because it was on my mind.
But I also created a strategy to get myself to work in the process. And this strategy was effective.
I applied the strategy to the rest of the tasks I had.
"Let's see if I can write a blog in an hour." Then, "Let's see if I can spend the last 30 minutes writing great tweets for the week."
2 hours flew by.
And I got these tasks done.
Sometimes threads take me 2 hours or more to write. So, getting a thread, blog, and tweets completed in the same timeframe was incredible.
The blog I wrote on that day is the one you’re currently reading.
Wrapping up
It was a relief getting a thread, blog, and tweets done in 2 hours. This amount of work can sometimes take an entire day.
When pressed for time and energy, turn your work into a race.
Keep the race a friendly one. Don't beat yourself up if you don't win. Treat this race more like a game. It’s a fun way to do your work.
This strategy is merely to get you to work efficiently in the time you have remaining for the day.
Turn your work into a race. See how you can boost your productivity while making your work more fun!