So last week I got real tired of feeling stuck at work – you know that blah December vibe when everything slows down? My Virgo perfectionism was making it worse, so I grabbed my notebook and tried these 5 career tips everyone’s talking about. Here’s exactly what went down.
1. Rearranged My Damn Desk First
Monday morning I looked at my disaster zone workspace. Coffee stains on papers, three half-dead plants, cables everywhere. Took everything OFF the desk completely. Wiped it down with lemon cleaner (felt weirdly satisfying), then only put back what I NEEDED that week. My notebook, one pen, the healthiest plant, and that ergonomic mouse pad HR gave me. Felt less chaotic immediately.
Why it worked: Could actually SEE my to-do list without digging through crap. Small win.
2. Blocked One Hour Just for “The Big Thing”
Kept putting off redesigning our client proposal template. Tuesday at 10am, I slapped a “DO NOT DISTURB – RADIO SILENCE MODE” sticky on my monitor. Closed email. Put phone in drawer. Timer set for 60 minutes. Forced myself to ONLY work on that stupid template. Got 80% done before my manager pinged me – still way more progress than the past month.
Pro tip: Tell your team beforehand so they don’t think you died.
3. Actually Used My Lunch Break
Wednesday was wild – wolfed down a sad sandwich while answering Slack messages. Thursday I walked OUTSIDE. Sat on a bench alone for 15 minutes chewing slowly. No phone. Just watched pigeons fight over a pretzel. Felt ridiculous but my brain felt… quieter? Went back and wrote emails that actually made sense.
4. Asked “Dumb” Questions Early
Had this budget report due Friday. Didn’t understand the new tax codes. Instead of pretending for three hours, I pinged Rachel in Accounting directly: “Hey I’m lost on page 3 – got 2 mins to point me right?” Took her 90 seconds to explain. Saved me an afternoon of wrong calculations.
5. Wrote Down Wins Before Leaving
Every damn night last week I spent 3 minutes scribbling one thing I nailed. Even tiny stuff like “fixed Sarah’s printer jam” or “volunteered for coffee run”. Stuck the notes in my top drawer. Read them all Friday at 4pm. Didn’t feel like a failure for once.
Look, none of this was groundbreaking. But actually DOING them versus just reading some list? Made my work-week feel less like running in quicksand. Give one a shot tomorrow.
