A Series of Unfortunate Events (Not the Lemony Snicket Version!)

This morning, as I was driving into work, my car stalled in the middle of the highway. Luckily, I was able to pull over, even though I was in the far lane, and got my car onto the shoulder. The car was still drivable, so I got into work even though I was a bit late. Instead of doing what I had planned for my lunch break, I took the car to a mechanic, and on his way driving me back to work a bee flew through the window and stung me in the face. How do you continue with your day after it starts this badly?

It can be hard to get your act back together after something like this happens to you. So how did my day change after my car broke down?

First off, I had to get into work. It took some time to get to work (longer than I had planned for), and even though my hours happen to be flexible, I didn't get to work at the hour I had intended to. Right off the bat I was running behind schedule. In this circumstance, it was essential to stay calm and focused. If you lose your cool, more things will start going wrong because you are too frazzled to handle it all. Also I had to be more efficient with my time. Instead of taking the time to make my cup of tea and my cup of apple cinnamon oatmeal before I sat down, I got straight to work and waited for a better break.

This all comes back to how to re-prioritize the importance of the tasks for the day. In this case, my work had become more important than my breakfast (although my stomach would beg to differ!), and my car needed to be repaired which was more important than the lunch I had scheduled. I was able to skip that meeting and go get my car checked during lunch. This was a much better solution than having to take time off of work.

Also, you might find that your coworkers are much more understanding of this sort of occurrence if you do not let them happen very often. If you are the type that has an "emergency" every day, they are less likely to be sympathetic when you have a real emergency. When my coworkers heard about my car and bee sting they were very understanding.

This is also a great example of what problems you should throw money at. Car problems happen to be one of the areas I know nothing about, so throwing money at the issue was important for me to do. If not spending the money means that I will be unable to get something very important done off of my list, it is not worth the cost savings.

Always try to think about what you are doing compared to its opportunity cost. What would I have lost out on if I hadn't taken my car to the shop? If I hadn't taken the car in, I would have either had to try to drive it home, therefore risking my life along with everyone else on the road with me, pay to leave it overnight or convince someone to pick me up, thereby wasting precious time just waiting around, or worst case paying for transportation home. In taking lunch off from work and paying for the mechanic I actually saved because the time I lost was small compared to the time and headache I would have had if I had put it off. The car has to get fixed regardless, so figuring out the time for it sooner rather than later was the wisest decision.

So remember when you end up with one of those bad days: Keep calm and be efficient with the time you have. Drop the less important things on your plate to accommodate the more important ones. Take care of things sooner if they will be a lot more difficult when you put them off.

I apologize if anyone was looking for the intended post of the day (using your Smartphone calendar) but I promise I will post that tomorrow! Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches. Stay tuned!