3 Keys Thursday: 3 Ways to Survive a Six-Day Week

Photo: Dodgerton Skillhause

Last Saturday, I spent the day at the York Book Expo. Though I was only manning my table from 1-4, I spent the morning getting ready and, by the time I got home, I was wiped out. Though the day was a good one, it was a total write-off in terms of accomplishing anything I usually do on a Saturday.

Some weeks are like that. No matter how valuable or enjoyable the activity, "losing" one day out of the week can put us behind schedule, leaving us feeling stressed out in the week that follows as we try to "catch up."

When this happens, it's helpful to remember to do a few things as you tackle your "six-day week":

Breathe. Tension and stress do absolutely nothing to help us accomplish our tasks or reach our goals. In fact, they often do just the opposite. Breathe, try to relax, and tackle one thing at a time.

Triage. I'm not a medical professional, so my understanding of this term is limited to my extensive experience watching television medical dramas. Fortunately task triage is much less intense than triage in the emergency room, and boils down to three questions: Who matters most? What matters most? and What has a deadline?

I know, I know -- they all matter. It all matters. But you know what? It doesn't. Some tasks and some people take precedence. To quote Stephen Covey, "Put first things first."

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Stop worrying about what you can't control. This includes other people being miffed because you didn't do what they wanted you to do. It's hard enough to make decisions about what comes first without trying to second guess other people's interpretations of your choices. And often, they're trying to make the same hard choices you are...which means they aren't even thinking about what you're doing.

I know. Easier said than done. The ideal situation is to have just the right amount of stuff to do each day with none that carries over into the next day, and for there to be seven fully available days in each week.

But if that happened all the time, how would we appreciate it when it does?