I Wasted 5 Days of My Life

Hey friends,

Something unusual happened to me this December.

One Sunday I woke up and just… didn’t feel like doing anything.

Not working on my business, not filming YouTube videos. Not even something actively recharging (like going for a walk).

I’m usually pumped for the day ahead. But this time my brain just said: Meh, why bother getting up?

If you’re a long-term Sunday Snippets reader, you know I like to apply the Reitoff Principle in these situations:If there’s a day where I get home from work a little late and I’m feeling pretty tired, I’ll just write-off the evening and lounge on the sofa reading a book or getting through my backlog of Peter McKinnon and Matt D’Avella videos, completely guilt-free.

– Sunday Snippets, May 2019

But this time I made a crucial mistake.

Instead of accepting the situation and devoting the next few days to Netflix, takeout, and light reading, I talked myself into ‘being productive’. I have a book to write. Videos to film. This business won’t run itself.

What that actually looked like was me slumped at my desk, wrapped in a blanket with a mug of tea, doing a bunch of pseudo work + watching random video essays. Which lasted for about 5 days, until I woke up on Thursday feeling back to normal and ready to take on the world.

But if I’d applied the Reitoff Principle from the beginning I’d probably have recovered in ~2 days, and had a much better time.

Moral of the story: give yourself a break on days when you know you won’t be productive.

Have a great week!

Ali xx

生词记录

film 电影，拍摄

actively 积极，活跃

recharge 充电，补给

pump 泵，水泵

bother 打扰，费心，懒得，麻烦

snippet 片段，代码片段

write-off 报销，抹杀

backlog 积压，待定，积累

guilt-free 无负罪感

crucial 重要，关键，决定性

Instead of 替代，而不是

takeout 输出，发泄，外卖

light 光，轻型，浅

slump 低迷，不景气，萧条，滑坡，经济衰退

pseudo 假

moral 道德，精神，寓意