Don’t worry, I am not about to tell you to just decide to have a better day. (Yuck!)
The decisions I am talking about are much more practical than that.
We all have tricky days from time to time. Days when things seem stacked against us, when every little thing seems to go wrong, and the things that feel easy on an ordinary day feel ridiculously difficult.
If a day like that happens while you are trying to build a new habit, the tasks related to that habit can feel incredibly hard and you will probably be tempted to ditch them.
And it’s ok if you do.
You aren’t training for the stress Olympics.
You don’t have to prove anything by doing all of the things all of the time.
BUT here’s the thing…
Don’t just let the tasks slide, make a DECISION about them.
Give yourself some agency and peace of mind by consciously choosing what you are going to do about those tasks (or any task on your list, really!)
Letting them just sit on your to-do list, in case you might get to them, is going to be hard on the brain, at least for most people.
Some part of your mind will be wondering if and when you are going to get to them and will possibly give you grief about how long you are taking to get them done.
You don’t need that static.
Making a decision about those tasks – that you are going to do them today after all*, that you’ll do a modified version of them, or that you aren’t going to do them – that process will help give your brain a break.
Team, your lovely brains definitely deserve that break.
So, if and when you have a tricky day, please, please, please, be kind to yourself about it and make a decision about your tasks instead of letting your brain be mean and annoying to you about them.
And, as always, here is your gold star for your hard work today, whether you are making decisions on a tricky day or just cruising along through an easy one.
*And if you do decide to do them, pick a specific time when you’ll start so your brain won’t keep bringing them up over and over like a 8 year old on a driving trip – “Are we doing them now? No? How about now?”
