If I don’t manage to do what I hoped to by the end of the day, the immediate conclusion is that I failed.

It’s easy to beat myself up about it.

Reality didn’t match expectation… there’s a mismatch… and of course the expectation was accurate… which means reality was wrong. And now I’m stressed, and resentful.

Looking closer, this whole chain of thinking is flawed.

Reality is as it is. It can’t be wrong.

Couldn’t I have done better?

Nope, not that day. That day has happened. It was as it was. That was my best at that moment.

How much I got done that day is exactly the amount I was able to get done that day.

(And where my business is at is exactly where it’s able to be at right now.)

Any alternative is picking a fight with the past, with reality… and no-one wins that fight.

The expectation proved to not be quite right. That’s OK.

I can absolutely learn from what happened, and use what I learn to change how I do things tomorrow, or next time, to get more of the right things done.

If I don’t, the stress and resentment will make it less likely I’m able to make progress moving forward. This is widely documented.

This isn’t resignation. I’m not resigning myself to not make progress in the future. I’m simply giving full acceptance to what’s already happened.

Have a chat with myself, figure out what got in the way, and a gameplan for the next day.

Accept, then act.

Stack the next brick.

That’s the whole game.