How To Recover From A Lost Day

How To Recover From A Lost Day

How often have you felt frustrated by a lack of progress and feel like you have lost a day?

It’s the end of the day. A day when things just haven’t gone your way. You feel defeated and discouraged and flop onto the sofa or into bed and just want the world to go away. Your emotions are negative and you’re in danger of carrying that whole load of negativity into the next day.

But wait! Don’t do that. Avoid the temptation to tarnish a shiny, bright new tomorrow with today’s problems.

Instead, do a little work now to lift the mood so you can settle into relaxation and a restful sleep and recharge yourself ready for a better day tomorrow!

Acknowledge What Went Wrong and Take Action

Sometimes we mess up the day and sometimes circumstances step in and knock us off course. Both situations can be frustrating.

But, it’s worth taking a few moments to dispassionately assess what really went wrong to knock you off course. Try to understand why it was a bad day and why you were unproductive.

Maybe you were…

• procrastinating
• distracted by others or personal worries
• tired
• pulled away by your boss to do something else
• forgot a task that needed your urgent attention
• bored
• feeling out of your depth
• overwhelmed

The possible reasons could be endless, but try to work out what was really going on to stop you from doing the work you planned to do.

Once you’ve done this, you can then think of tactics and strategies to stop it happening again, or at least to minimise the effects. This is especially important for the next day to stop it happening again.

Look for the Positives

We tend to focus on the things we didn’t get done, and give little, if any credit to ourselves for the things we actually achieved. That was my attitude to Friday of this week. I’d started the day with a rough plan of what I wanted to achieve. I didn’t write the plan out in any detail, but mentally knew the outcomes I wanted.

Unfortunately, the outcomes didn’t materialise, so by the end of the day I felt frustrated at my lack of progress.

But, in the interests of looking for the positives, here’s a brief list of the things I actually achieved:

(1) Drafted up one short written report
(2) Reviewed and analysed a report I had received
(3) Made some amendments and offered feedback on the report
(4) Made a mental note to improve training in this area
(5) Set up the templates in readiness for Monday’s reports
(6) Did some general admin tasks
(7) Dealt with a task I’d been resisting as I expected it to be difficult (it wasn’t!)
(8) Updated my personal finance tracker
(9) Ate healthily for most of the day
(10) Did some planning for the next six months
(11) Spent time with my pets
(12) Spent time with my family

On balance that’s not a bad list. It’s not the kind of productivity I expect of myself on a good day, but it’s all good progress and was therefore worth the effort!

What Quick Tasks Can You Do Now to Give Yourself a Great Start Tomorrow?

I was having a bad day, and my friend said, ‘Go wash your hair.’ I thought it was really silly – but it made me feel so much better. It might be a small thing, but it works. Washing it off and starting over.
Kaley Cuoco

If you still have enough of your evening ahead, then it’s worth considering what quick tasks you could do before/as your evening meal is cooking.

Using this time productively will give you a small sense of accomplishment on what has otherwise been a challenging day.

Consider things like

• Preparing your clothes ready for the morning
• Writing your to do list and choosing 3 tasks that need to be progressed or finished tomorrow
• Load up the washing machine, dishwasher or tumbler to get a feeling of organisation

None of these tasks need be onerous; the idea is to feel that you’ve accomplished something useful for the day but also given yourself a good start to tomorrow.

Plan for Tomorrow

Don’t let a bad today mess up a great tomorrow!

It can be so easy to drag the why’s and wherefores into tomorrow, lamenting wasted time or less-than-helpful circumstances. But, what use does that serve? Instead, make a point of starting tomorrow with a fresh set of to dos and a fresh attitude.

So, as you end your bad day, turn your attention to how you would like tomorrow to turn out.

• What would you like to achieve? Write your to do list.
• Who would you like to see or speak to? Add a note to your list to contact them.
• What treats would you like? Schedule them in.

Once you’ve done that, you will already be feeling lighter and more optimistic, but take it a step further, and decide on your mantra for tomorrow too. You could try one of these…

• Progress not perfection
• Let it go
• This too shall pass
• I am calm and focused

Or, you could just smile and let go of whatever is disrupting your plans and stick to your to do list anyway.

Compartmentalise the Lost Day

Don’t allow your lost day to become a bad week.

It’s so easy to allow yourself to fall into the dramas and emergencies that happen and then to perpetuate the problem by sharing it with others. Not only does this prolong the effects of the wasted time, by wasting even more time, but it also keeps the feelings of frustration alive and well.

Make a point of being done with the day. As Ralph Waldo Emerson observed…

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.

So use your willpower and refuse to let yourself dwell on a bad yesterday. Muster up your resolve and get stuck into your plans.  Never let a bad day become a bad week or worse.  You know better than that, so be prepared to let go and move on!