Reflections on Work and Life Before My 36th Birthday

I turn 36 on Monday. Earlier on this month, I had visions of me spending the two weeks before my birthday reflecting on the past year, tying up loose ends, and continuing to work really hard toward my goals. Instead, I don’t think I’ve gotten anything done. That’s quite an omission to make for someone that literally has a productivity service. But I am secure enough in saying that we all hit those moments when we’re a bit lost or we feel like we’re falling behind.

March was such a strong month for me. I read nine books. I want to 34 yoga classes in 30 days while taking seven days off during that period. I got my work done, and I thought I was going to continue that momentum into April. I was wrong. What turned into taking a few days off of yoga meant going to only one yoga class this month so far. I literally walked out of the second class I went to because I felt sick and I haven’t been sent back since. I’ve been reading my books, but I haven’t gotten that far because I hacked the system and started reading books in the 30 minutes before my yoga classes.

Once the new quarter started, I listed out all of the goals I wanted to achieve in the next three months. Instead of working steadily every day, I noticed that I was waiting until the end of the week to try to get all the things done. Maybe I had more outside obligations happening in April that I didn’t have in March, but I started to feel down on myself because this was not the way I wanted to spend my last two weeks of being 35. Currently, I’m laying on the couch because I have a headache (which is exactly what someone wants to have less than four hours before they get a filling at the dentist).

Instead of beating myself up or making a boat load of excuses, I am going to throw in the towel and start over. And what a great way to start over but on your birthday. It’s my own personal New Year’s Day and why not treat it as a new beginning? I’m going to give myself some grace about these past two weeks. I’m going to take this time to look back on what went a little bit sideways and try to get myself back in the right direction.

So, on this Friday since it’s not Tough Love Tuesday, it’s Be A Little Bit Easy On Yourself Friday (it doesn't have the same ring to it, but whatever). Every week can’t be the most productive week you’ve ever had. Sometimes you realize it's 2:30 on a Thursday afternoon and you barely got anything accomplished. When you find yourself in a position as I am in right now, instead of making a to-do list, create a "what I’ve already accomplished" list. Write down all the things that you did get done this week. I may not have made it to the gym three times this week as I wanted, but I got my client work done. I may not have gone to any yoga classes, but I kept up with the personal development projects that I’ve started.

Celebrate every little thing that you did accomplish. Remember that it's ok that you didn't cross off everything on the list. It’s not the end of the world that I didn't write a blog post for the past two weeks or that someone didn’t get an email back as quickly as you would have liked. Part of the reason why I created BT‘s Bootcamp was that I know how hard it can be to stay on track. I know that we could all use a helping hand sometimes. I would love for someone to give me a personal assistant for my birthday. That would be the best gift ever. So until that happens, I need to be ok when things don’t go exactly to plan.

I will be back on Tuesday with the new Tough Love blog post (I promise!). I will also come back one year older and with a refreshed mindset. See you when I’m 36.