Train Wreck Days
Posted On: 2014-10-30
Oh boy ... if I were to measure today on some sort of productivity scale it would be so far down the scale that it probably wouldn't even register.
It's only lunchtime and things have calmed down but so many things went wrong this morning that I'm frustrated and cranky and now I'm finding it hard to focus on getting something done.
Sadly I knew by late yesterday afternoon that my plans for getting a lot done today were delusional and instead of being a productive day it would be more like a slow-moving train wreck. and it was ... but then it just continued to get worse as today wore on.
Appointments that were made at the last minute yesterday either didn't turn up or turned up so late that they were running into the next appointment and appointments for the afternoon turned up in the morning and got shitty because I couldn't see them . And there was more ... much more.
So here I am ... with an hour or so free ... enough time to get a few things done ... and I'm so wound up I'm finding it hard to make a start on anything.
Now you might wonder what my experience has got to do with you. I work from an office these days and have clients who come in to see me while you think you've got it made because you can work from home.
But working in the adult online business and being able to work from home doesn't mean that you're never going to experience the levels of frustration ... and even anger ... that I've just experienced. Train wreck days happen to everyone.
In fact it's more likely that someone working from home would have more trouble recovering from a morning from hell than I would. Problems are far more likely to arise when you work in an office and deal with clients face to face than they do when you work from home with no clients to annoy you.
So if you're accustomed to having bad days then you're more likely to know how to deal with them than you would if you're accustomed to having bad days. Experience is a great teacher and when you've been doing this for as long as I have you can laugh about it ... tomorrow ... or the day after ... just now right now.
But in the meantime you're still wound up and finding it hard to make a start on anything but you still have to achieve something. It would be nice if you could just walk out of your office or apartment and leave everything till tomorrow ... and sometimes you can do that ... you can just walk away and come back when you're much calmer.
However, that's not an option when you have appointments lined up or deadlines waiting to make your day even worse. So you've got to work ... you've got to put all that drama behind you and get on with making some money ... but how do you make a start?
Well ... the first thing I did was to look at the tasks on my list of things I wanted to achieve today.
It can be a little depressing when you see that you've just wasted half the day and achieved nothing ... but you have to do it.
Instead of allowing yourself to be overwhelmed by all the things you haven't done, you need to look for a couple of things that you can do quickly. It doesn't really matter what they might be just so long as you can get them done in a very short time.
When you've spotted a couple of things that you can do quickly jump straight into them and get them done. It will build up some momentum ... it will help you forget how wound up you are and get you focused on the jobs you have to do.
Once you have finished those jobs move straight on to the next longer task on your list ... don't stop and think about anything ... just jump straight into the next thing on your list.
For me those short tasks were writing a couple of Facebook entries for clients ... for you it might be batching a couple of galleries of images. Those quick jobs don't have to be anything special ... they just have to be quick.
A couple of quick jobs under your belt and your train wreck of a day will begin to fade away to be replaced by something far more productive.