It’s been one of those days. You get done with your work and you’re stressed out; you forgot to meditate and missed breakfast so your blood sugar has been wonky all day, and you didn’t sleep well last night, and now you need to go out and buy kitty litter, and and and…
Woah there, buddy. Stop with the “and”s. I have an idea that’ll help you turn your day around – maybe not entirely, but it’ll get you on the right track.
You know what a to do list is, of course. Whether you use one on a regular basis or not, you’re familiar with the concept. Well, I’ve got a new one for you: the “got done” list.
Instead of looking at your to do list at the end of the day, and freaking out about how much you didn’t get done (hint: are your expectations too high?), make a list of the things you did get done instead. Approximately, oh, 100% of the time I do this, I think “Wow, I actually got a lot done today. Why did I feel like I didn’t?”
An example is last Friday. I was upset about not getting something done because I just felt totally wrung out and exhausted. I was venting about it to Matt & said “I don’t know, I guess I got a lot done this week, so maybe I shouldn’t be upset.” “Well, what did you get done?” I stopped for a second and thought about it. What did I get done that week?
Well, I wrote eight articles for Six Degrees Content. I wrote and submitted three guest posts (plus brainstormed ideas for another one or two), and wrote four blog posts for my own blog. Also, I started and finishedthe outline for Take Back Your Creativity. Plus I had just gone to a funeral that weekend, and was in a car for most of Monday.
It might not compare to some peoples’ work weeks, but by my standards, I got quite a bit done. No wonder I just wanted to eat pizza and watch the Big Bang Theory!
The got done list:
- Makes you feel better.
- Ends the day on a positive note.
- Helps get rid of frustration.
- Helps you value yourself, your work, and your time.
Aside from being a quick pick-me-up, you can use the got done list on a regular basis for introspection too. Look at what you got done in comparison to what you didn’t get done – are you doing a lot of busywork? Are there one or two items that are repeatedly a time suck? Can you hand those off to someone else? Do you notice repeated tasks that tend to make you feel as though you’re spinning your wheels, even if you’re actually making progress with them? Why do you think that is?
Rather than using the got done list instead of the to do list, I think ideally these two lists would be used in conjunction. Like the Wonder Twins. Review the to do list in the morning, and write the got done list at night.
Of course, sometimes you actually didn’t get anything done. Lying to yourself about what you got done won’t do anyone any favors, and I’m not recommending it! On those days, it’s best to just acknowledge that you didn’t get anything done, acknowledge that you’ll do better tomorrow, and do something that’ll lift your spirits. After all, being unnecessarily hard on yourself won’t do you any favors, either.
What do you do when you feel like you’ve accomplished nothing in the day?
