From snow days to two-hour delays to random ice storms to tomorrow's impending snowpocolypse, we here on the East Coast are simply trying to dig out from under and catch up. March is coming in like a lion.
I should speak only for myself; I'm sure there are many weekday workaholics who manage to stay on top of everything, and them some. However, I suspect even they could point to a few instances of winter-induced inconsistency over the last few months in the form of delayed scheduling, unmet deadlines, stops and starts, no-show co-workers, cancelled meetings, largely unproductive exercise workouts, working from home while the kids climb the walls, and generally running behind on nearly everything.
How can we have it all when we can't get anything done?! It's the refrain of the upwardly-mobile, winter-enduring, modern East Coast professional.
I've blogged about working amid constant co-worker interruptions, but weather-related work interruptions represent a whole, new stratosphere of productivity issues. No matter how much we try, we can't control tomorrow's weather. What's going to happen is going to happen, no matter our job title. Today is fine, but there could be 10 inches of fresh snow by 6 a.m. tomorrow. In fact, it's in the forecast.
Wait a minute. You, my Mid-Atlantic work friend, have a very important, 11 a.m. meeting scheduled for tomorrow, don't you? Oh, no.
You can try to reschedule it, but the thing is: You've already rescheduled this particular meeting THREE TIMES over the last month due to weather-related delays. You want -- no you need -- this meeting to happen once and for all, so you don't seem like a flake (e.g., the human kind, not the snow kind).
Will you reschedule the meeting yet again? Hey, it's your call.
Such is life for the average working professional from Kentucky to New Jersey, right now, at this very moment. They're looking at tomorrow's busy calendar filled to the brim with meetings and short-term deadlines while simultaneously cross-tabbing it against tomorrow's forecast chock full of elements sure to impede forward progress on everything up to, and including, backing down the driveway to go to work.
In other words: A snow day.***
(Psst: If you're in, say, Texas and you're calling someone on the East Coast this week who seems a bit...unorganized...please cut him or her a bit of slack for the next few days. Please? Winter is almost over for us!)
The real question is: How can we find our work focus when the weather keeps getting in the way? It can be hard to get a rhythm going amid all the stops and starts and scheduling inconsistencies. We can find creative ways to avoid our interrupting co-worker, but we can't exactly avoid a Nor'easter. To regain work focus and concentration, start by cutting down on the number of crises at work:
Next, choose the One Thing that absolutely, positively must get done today, the earlier the better, and then make peace with what will not get done today. It's important to keep our expectations in check. Repeat after me: It's not going to happen today, and it's okay. As Elsa says, let it go. This clip offers some good advice:
If you've read a work email/report three times and it still isn't sinking in, then this is the video for you:
Most of all, find a way to relax. Find some joy and humor in your day. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths on the hour. Do what you can to push through the day. Have a hot cup of cocoa, because there isn't much winter left before it goes out like a lamb. In a few weeks, you can stop to smell the flowers.
*** Now that I write this, it won't snow, right?
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