You Can Clock Out for the Day Now

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.
— Unknown

This post was inspired by an evening conversation with Fran. Despite having achieved plenty that day, she felt the weight of the many items still on her to do list. We’d talk for a little while about this and that, but her mind kept returning to all the things she felt she had to do. It was overwhelming. I reminded her that it’s hard to feel you’ve achieved enough when the number of things to be done is uncertain or uncountably large.

“It’s okay,” I said. “You can clock out for the day now.”

The workplace analogy of clocking (or punching) in and out is a useful one. It helps us set boundaries for how much we can reasonably expect of ourselves. Our responsibility is to do what we can, not to do everything. Show up for the day and clock in, do the best we can, then clock out.

The amount we achieve in any twenty-four hours will vary. Some days we’ll have plenty of energy and focus. Some days our energy and focus is less, or other things crop up that need to be dealt with. Some tasks can be achieved in an hour or so. Others necessarily span days or weeks.

Whatever the circumstances, it’s okay to say enough is enough for today. I’ll pick it up again in the morning. To give ourselves permission to draw a line under the day, acknowledge what we achieved, and be gentle with ourselves for the things still to be addressed.

Tomorrow is another day.

 

Photo by Hennie Stander at Unsplash.