“Planning will make it suck less,” he said to me, inspiring little confidence. A chaotic second half of the day loomed ahead of us. An as-of-yet unscheduled call, a number of follow-up items, a potential delivery, an article to write, dinner, and the unpredictability of a toddler. The day kind of sucked.

Some days lend themselves to structure. There are places to be and things to do and the day has a reliable pace to it. Those days are fine and good and helpful in balancing out the days, which are sometimes weekend days, often remote days, and sometimes days you don’t even see coming – someone is sick, you need to be somewhere odd for one thing and it throws the rest of the day for a loop! On those days, planning will make it suck less.

• Non-Negotiables First: Take into account the portions of your day that are required entities. The meeting, the appointment, being on time to pick something up, a walk (it’s a non-negotiable for me in this house-bound time!). Determine what chunk of time you have to work with around these requirements. If something can be done tomorrow, by golly, plan it for then, you’ll appreciate it.
• Bite-Sized Tasks: Fill the remainder of your unscheduled time with small, bite-sized tasks that are on your to-do lists. Emails and follow-ups are great for this time. They do seem small and inconsequential but getting a number of replies and communications off your plate and done in a timely manner is really a massive accomplishment that makes the day productive.
• Be Easy: Stressing out and trying to “do it all” is futile on days that are hampered by inconveniences. When you get the NEEDS out of the way and fill in the blanks with things that can be done, you’re left with the rest of your day to do with what you will – if there’s time to take something more on, do it. If there’s time to sit in a lawn chair, do it.

The point of this is to make a sucky day suck less, so a combination of productivity and forgiveness is required. I had the meeting, discovered the delivery was not, in fact going to come today, sent some overdue communications, and in the end felt productive, even though the day, was at first perhaps a little sucky. Planning helped. Hope you can get out for a walk today, too!