Working wounded (/tired)

If you’ve been reading up on knowledge worker advice columns over the last decade or two, you’ll have run into what seems like a perfectly reasonable piece of advice: build up a store of brainless tasks that you can dig into when your motivation is lower. So, for example, plow through your email in that not-quite-siesta after lunch. Deal with your taxes when you’re fried. Store up your admin stuff for that rainy day when you’re just not up to the creative work.

The trouble is, this doesn’t address the whole problem. Yeah, when you’re tired and in the process of scrubbing your inbox, you can probably do one more. But what about those days when you scarcely slept, and even opening your Gmail account feels like a major lift? Or you’re still getting over the latest round of Covid, and your body feels like crap?

What about the walking wounded days?

Know when to fold ’em

Before the Tactics part of this little topic, let’s be real: there’s gonna be off days that need to be days off. If you literally cannot today, then don’t force it. If your work arrangement means you can be officially out, great; if you have to kinda idle in place, do it and recover. It’s worse for everyone involved (clients/customers included) if you burn yourself out further.

The metric was wrong

That said, how can you make some use of those hours and days where you’re not up to where you want to be, but aren’t flat on your back? I’ve found that the barrier to progress isn’t actually the “braininess” or complexity of tasks (though those are certainly harder). It’s getting started.

The focus on queueing up stuff that doesn’t require brainpower to finish doing was misguided. You need stuff that doesn’t require willpower to start doing.

Less “easy”, more “not awful”

What stuff do you find easy to fall into doing almost on autopilot, regardless of how zonked you may feel? It probably isn’t your bookkeeping (though you do you, friend!). Try these on for size:

• Read a page in a work-related book & take an action note for future reference
• Do two minutes of your favorite mindfulness exercise
• Clean your current workspace (which as a bonus will reduce distraction cues)
• Review your tasks for today and decide which ones not to do

What works for you will vary; you’re the expert on you. But consider what feels natural to start, not just what you’d entrust to a less-resourced version of yourself.