Not all days start out great. In fact, most days can start on a rather undesirable note. Today was definitely one of those days. The rain is pouring. Work hasn’t been called off. There’s a target to reach and deadlines to meet.
At midday, I was seriously considering driving straight home to take a nice long nap. I just wasn’t feeling it.
So I took a moment to think, did my mental pros and cons, and after some period of internal turmoil, I decided to just suck it up and go. I took a short nap just to jumpstart the day and then I was off. Next thing I knew, I was having one of my most productive days yet. One sell-in after the other, it almost seemed too easy.
It’s now 11 PM. I’ve just arrived home from a long but fulfilling day. And I’m sitting here wondering how that happened. How could I have been that lucky? Was it something I said that I hadn’t mentioned before? What was I doing right? I mean, I expected nothing good to come from today, given how badly it had started.
But then I realize, that was it. That was the reason. I had zero expectations for today. No expectations meant no pressure. And no pressure meant better and happier work. Today wasn’t easier than usual, it simply felt lighter and much, much happier, and it had made all the difference.
It’s easy to be discouraged by a poor start. But the worst beginnings are the easiest to recover from – there’s nowhere to go but up.