by Okay so last weekend I decided to test some career tips for us March 31st zodiac folks. The idea was simple – try three things for a week straight and see what actually sticks. Here’s exactly how it went down.
Getting Started
First I grabbed my messy notebook where I scribble work stuff. Started fresh on Monday morning by making three sections: Schedule Taming, People Boosting, and Skill Snacking. Didn’t overthink it – just tore out a page and drew some lines like this:
- 8AM: Blocked calendar for “big rock” task
- 1PM: Find someone to thank/appreciate
- 4:30PM: 15-min learning session
Honestly felt kinda dumb writing this but committed to trying.
Method 1: Chunking My Time
Day 1 was rough. My usual routine is checking emails while eating breakfast, which snowballs into reacting all morning. This time I shut off notifications for two hours straight after coffee. Felt physically itchy watching Slack blow up! But weirdly… finished drafting that proposal that’s been hanging over me for weeks. Key takeaway: Blocking even 90 minutes creates breathing room to actually think.
Method 2: Intentional Shout-Outs
Tuesday afternoon realized I hadn’t done my “people boost.” Scrolled Slack channels till I saw Jamie from design team fixed a client PDF issue nobody asked her to handle. Sent a quick voice note saying “Hey noticed you caught that error – saved us embarrassment!” Got back “Wait you saw that? 😭” Felt so awkward at first but did similar things all week. Surprise bonus: By Friday two coworkers randomly volunteered help on my projects.
Method 3: Micro-Learning
Here’s where I cheated. Planned to watch fancy tutorials after work but kept bailing. Instead, Wednesday during lunch break I searched “how to make Excel charts less ugly” and found this 8-minute video. Crammed it while eating leftover pizza. Thursday I actually used those tips in a report! Big realization: Tiny learning bites > overwhelming “skill upgrades” I never start.
The Aftermath
After seven days it wasn’t magical, but:
- Calendar blocking = kept 3 out of 5 days
- People boosts = happened every day
- Skill snacks = hit 15 mins 4 days
Surprisingly the easiest one (people boosts) made biggest ripple effect. Gonna tweak and run another week – probably swap one calendar block for walk time though. Back hurts from hunching over screen!
