#82 Give yourself time for lunch

There’s so much to do! So many deadlines! At a time like this, there’s only one thing for it. Shove a Pret wrap in your face with one hand while typing furiously with the other.

Aside from the imminent risk of sauce spillage on your shiny office computer, there are so many other disadvantages to this situation. You don’t taste your lunch, so you might as well be eating sand. You don’t focus fully on your work, so you might as well ask a chicken to do it. You don’t get any rest, so the work you do that follows is of poorer quality too. Put the keyboard down. Have ten minutes of alone time with that wrap. You both deserve it.

#81 Wear a big jumper

If it all just feels like too much, sack it off and pull on a huge jumper. Preferably one that reaches your knees. Mooch around your home like a woollen balustrade, occasionally stopping to sip a hot chocolate. If you’re really pushing the boat out, put on some crap TV too.

Some days, you’ll be productive. Today is not that day.

#80 Walk in the rain

Without an umbrella. Call me romantic, but there’s something very liberating about walking through the rain with no protection. After all, it’s only water.

Forget about your make up, resolve to not care about messy hair; enjoy the rain and the cosy process of drying off afterwards. It’s so much better than struggling with an umbrella in gale force winds.

#79 Cut yourself some slack

You cannot be productive every day. Fact (probably). There will be days when you MUST DO THE THING NOW but you just can’t bring yourself to do the thing.

It’s ok. The world won’t end if you push back your deadline. Sure, someone might get pissy, but at the end of the day you’ll do better work when you’re in a good frame of mind. Sometimes it seems impossible to say no, but practising with smaller jobs can help to make it easier in the long run.

#78 Do something that scares you

You don’t need to go cliff jumping to get an adrenaline rush. Something as simple as attending an event alone can be scary enough. But pushing through fear in small doses can prepare you for the bigger decisions in life.

Yes, you might worry all the way there, but once you’ve overcome a few small obstacles, all the other problems seem to get a little bit smaller too.

#77 Stand up for your values

Even if you don’t think you have particularly strong opinions, there are probably some moral lines that you don’t cross. Maybe you’re all about loyalty. Maybe honesty is your jam.

Standing up for your values sets your standards high and makes your expectations clear. Never assume that other people know what you think is important.

#76 Open a window

Whew! That’s better. If you’re stuck inside a lot of the day, opening a window can be a very easy way to keep yourself sane. Look out of it. Listen to the sounds that come through it. Wave at people on the street below and retreat back in so you don’t have to speak to them. Endless fun!

Stuffy air in an office or home can really bring your energy levels down. If it’s really cold outside, open it just a crack and pull on your warmest layers for that super cosy feeling.