Yesterday was one of those days when I couldn’t seem to do anything right.  I dropped my daughter off at Sunday School 10 minutes late.  Then I had a music practice after church and made one mistake after another.  In the afternoon, I tried to sew a Christmas stocking and bungled it all up.  Of course, these were small, inconsequential matters.  But by the end of the day, I felt like I couldn’t do anything right.  So, I folded laundry.

Folding laundry is one thing that I can do well, no matter what the circumstances.  Sometimes, when nothing in life is going our way, we just need to fold laundry.  We need to do something simple that we always do well.  Your simple thing may be washing dishes.  Or it may be organizing the junk drawer.  By doing something simple and doing it well, we get back our confidence.

The problem is that when we are having a bad day, our inclination is to throw up our hands, sit on the couch, and flake out in front of the television.  There isn’t anything wrong with that, except it doesn’t get us mentally back on track.  When we are struggling, we don’t need to watch other people doing things well.  We need to do something well.

The practice of stopping, doing something small and doing it well, is similar to when we reboot our computer.  It’s a way to start over.  And that is what successful people do.  They reboot – often.  On the outside, they look like they have it all together, but in fact they have the same frustrations as the rest of us.  The difference is that successful people don’t hesitate to reboot.  They aren’t afraid to stop and do something small to get themselves back on track.

There are many times in life when we need to reboot.  If you’ve been crabby with people all day, stop.  Take a break in the action.  Don’t beat yourself up because you haven’t been as pleasant as you would like to have been.  No one is perfect.  Instead, reboot by doing something nice for someone else.  Send an email complimenting someone on a job well done.  Or buy a friend a cup of coffee.  Just doing something kind for another person can get you back to a good attitude.

Sometimes we need to reboot when we are feeling overwhelmed.  We all can feel like we have too much on our plate.  Try to remember that you can’t do everything.  No one can.  All you can do is your best.  The next time you feel overwhelmed, instead of trying to do everything, just do one thing.  Don’t multitask.  And don’t do that one thing while thinking about the 10 other things you have to accomplish.  Just focus on one item on your task list, and do it well.  It cuts the stress when we let our brains focus on one thing at a time.

There also are times we need to reboot because we are feeling depressed or discouraged.  If you have those feelings on occasion, realize that you are not alone.  We all combat feelings of sadness from time to time.  Even the most blessed people can feel depressed.  The problem is that those kinds of feelings can spiral out of control if we let them.  The key is to develop strategies to elevate yourself out of depressed feelings when they arise.  If you feel like you are heading toward a black mood, stop what you are doing.  If there is a Bible or inspirational book nearby, read a chapter.  If there is a song or other piece of music that uplifts you, listen to it.  Then take a moment to pray and ask God to help you calm your mind.

We all have bad days occasionally.  That is the nature of being alive.  Knowing how to turn things around is critical.  How to do that is different for everyone.  However, no matter what approach you take, the key is to stop, reboot, and do something positive.  Like folding laundry…