“What. Happened?!” I was SO frustrated yesterday.
I’m running around like a crazy person, responding, reacting — getting everything done.
And while driving to pick up my son at 5pm, an utterly annoying revelation comes to me.
I have no idea what I got done all day.
Like I really can’t think of one thing of significance even though I was SO busy. (Plus exhausted and scattered).
How is it possible?
It’s hard not to beat yourself up when YOU let the day get out of control.
So before crawling into bed, I reflect on my day to see where I made mistakes.
Here are the top five reasons my day got away from me.
ANNOYING REASON #1: DIDN’T PLAN THE NIGHT BEFORE
The night before I didn’t review my calendar for the next morning which meant:
- I forgot my son had to get in early
- I had no idea what I was wearing for my 9am meeting
- I didn’t know my priorities for the day. This one snowballed into a storm of time wasters. (Keep reading).
A simple 5-minute review of my calendar and to-do list and my day would have started on time, with calm, and on a high note.
Instead I started in a frenzy, scattered, and late before I even got out the door.
Lesson Learned: Successful days start the night before.
ANNOYING REASON #2: EMAIL. ENOUGH SAID.
I’ve been down that exasperating road before so I don’t know why I ended up there again, but I did.
After my meeting I headed back to my office, dove right into my email head first, and didn’t come up for air until lunch time.
You might be beginning to see how my lack of prioritizing the night before led to my demise.
“Just one more” became my mantra and the hits of email gratification kept coming.
Lesson Learned: Put boundaries on your email time.
ANNOYING REASON #3: I LET ONE BAD HABIT LEAD TO ANOTHER.
I failed to mention that while sucked into email abyss I got sidetracked by FB updates, LinkedIn alerts, and a good ole’ fashioned Google search.
Because who doesn’t need to know what type of tomatoes grow best, right there and then?!
It was one dirty addiction on top of another.
Had I blocked my time for “project time,” “email checking time,” and even “distraction time,” I would have found myself getting “real work” done, which would have kept me motivated through the day.
Instead I fell into distraction quicksand and every time I struggled to crawl out, I sank in deeper.
Lesson Learned: Block your time. Block your time. Block your time.
ANNOYING REASON #4: I LET MY LISTS FALL BY THE WAYSIDE
My lists are my lifeline, so when I’m drowning I need them most.
Except when I’m too busy putting off what I really should be doing, and then I like to pretend they don’t even exist.
Pretty sneaky, aren’t I?
It all sounded good until 5pm when I felt like a slug for not getting anything worthwhile done.
On the other, (more sensible), hand, instead of shrugging my responsibilities I could of used my lists as the prioritization tools they are meant to be.
Lesson Learned: Ignoring your lists makes everything worse.
ANNOYING REASON #5: I FOCUSED ON NONSENSE
Since it was 4pm by the time I was ready for the “real work,” I did what any respectable woman with a half hour to spare would do.
I organized my paper piles.
Into really nice, perfectly aligned stacks on different areas of my desk.
Threw out a few papers and reshuffled the rest.
Even added a sticky note to a folder.
I know. I’m ruthless.
Relishing in that pleasure wore off as soon as I walked out the door.
Lesson Learned: Focusing on nonsense doesn’t make you feel good at the end of the day either.
Minutes have a tendency to slip by. Soon the minutes become hours and hours become days and days become weeks.
Being intentional with your time doesn’t mean you need to be militant with it, you simply need to be aware of it.
So when you fall into distractions, avoidance, perfectionism or confusion, you have the ability to pull yourself out, reassess and realign.
And when you do, you never wonder, ”What did I get done today?!”
This is how annoying mistakes turn into awesome achievements.
Now I’d love to hear from you.
Which of the five annoying mistakes do you make most often? And more importantly, what change will you make to avoid them in the future?
Let me know in the comments!
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