Thankful Four Wednesday: Things I Can Control
I've kept myself calm over the past few days by busying myself with the small tasks I can control amidst the chaos I couldn't. Between the "hurry up and wait" I did my best to "take a breath and do." Those little things became a natural inspiration for this week's Thankful Four Wednesday. Today my thankfulness is all about things on my to-do list that I can control. That list in its entirety includes everything from "how dirty the toilet is" to "what color that page background will be." To spare you all the gory ugly, I'll just give you 2 work related and 2 not-so-much...
Thankful Four: Things I Can Control
- SEO/ SEM Reports - It happens that the 1st of the month fell in the middle of my messy week. I am thankful for having those two days each month where I buckle down, review some dynamically generated graphs and tables - write some notes about campaign performance, and send them on their way. I write the recommendations and make the campaign changes. I control the report.
- Housework - This may sound silly, but for me, house chores are a quick escape when I feel everything else has gone terribly wrong. I can do the dishes. I can vacuum the floor. I can fold laundry. I can unpack boxes and make beds. Even in the insomnious wee hours, I control the cleanliness of my house.
- Site Builds/ Frameworks - Unlike the instability of antediluvian hardware and ornery, indecisive clients: I can control the structure and outcome of the code I write code. I can also handle the more-predictable side effects of upgrades and new installations. Even when things go a little wonky, I can handle their issues. I can minimize the damage. As I like to say - I don't break things. I generate new errors. I can control the code.
- Dinner - Even if I don't cook it myself, I don't typically find myself strapped to seat being force fed some unpalatable swill. Well, there was that one time in Santa Ynez ... I mean ... uhhh ... yeah... When all else fails, I can at least find comfort in the fact that I control what goes into my belly.
Face it, Life is a cacophony of maybes and it's-a-matter-of-whens. It's important to keep yourself stable by remembering what things you can control.
...what are some sanity-stabilizing little things you are thankful for being able to control amid the chaos?
