At the beginning of the June, we reached a huge milestone and sent the files for our next game (The Ultimate Baby Shower Game) off to the printer. That success led into a long weekend camping trip, which then bled into a week-long vacation with extended family, that leaked into a slow recovery week focused on projects around the house…
In my experience, the further I get from my normal routine, the harder it gets to pick it back up. Worse, it starts to feel like I’m drifting through my days, not particularly motivated, and unsure of what I should be doing or where I’m going.
The challenge is that once I’m out of my routine and have lost momentum the weight of getting restarted gets heavier and heavier, and easier and easier to delay.
A year or so ago during a similar period of drift, I hammered out a simple list of daily “to-dos” that helped get me back on track and keep me focused. They’re simple, and I haven’t changed them much over the last year and I think they continue to be pretty relevant (when I stay true to them).
- Exercise every morning.
- Come to my office every day.
- Limit distractions.
- Plan my work.
- Do my work.
I’m fortunate to be able to often prioritize family over work, but can lead to times where it feels like I spend Monday and Tuesday just trying to get the ball rolling again… then, by Friday, I’ve hit my rhythm only to slam on the brakes for a weekend with the family, and then it all starts over again on Monday. I haven’t found a perfect equation that helps balance my work and life, but if you can relate to any of this, I have found a few resources I wanted to share that might be helpful.
Gabe Barrett is a board game designer and publisher who recently launched his YouTube Channel with some helpful (and well-produced) videos on life, time management, and work-life balance in general. I’ve really enjoyed some of his content, you can check out the channel here.
Also, if you’re interested in board game design, his podcast “Board game Design Lab” has exactly one bajillion great episodes. You can check it out here.
Arnold’s Pump Club – I’ve been an unabashed fan of Arnie for as long as I can remember, and was pleasantly surprised to find out he has a daily email full of inspiration and (of course) fitness and health tips. I only recently signed up, but have enjoyed the first few emails.
Leave a note in the comments if you have some great resources for staying on course when you need that Monday motivation after a weekend (or longer).
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