5 Things I Can Do When I Don’t Want to Work

What do you do when you don’t want to work and you are at your day job?

You don’t have to be an artist in order to doodle an effective prayer. It also doesn’t have to make sense to anyone else in order to be “acceptable.”

I don’t feel productive every day especially on Mondays. But I am paid to accomplish “stuff” every day. Recently I read this article.  I am going to do the following on my low energy days.

#1 Rewrite or edit my to-do list. . . . .  #4 Backup my computer. . .  #12 Confirm appointments for later in the week.

 I took a cue from the article and decided to come up with my own list: a list of things to do when I don’t feel like working but need to.

This is a list of things I can do which is productive and will benefit me and others.

One. Pray. I am striving harder each year to make prayer my first action. Prayer requires me to have energy. And sometimes I just don’t have it in me to pray – at least not in the conventional way. Last year I came across this idea of doodle praying.

• The first book I read on this technique was Praying in Color Kids’ Edition: Kid’s Edition by Sybil MacBeth. I doodle when I listen to lectures and sermons and it helps me focus. And colouring helps me relax. So doodle praying is an effective technique for me.
•  Here is how one person prayer doodled for two situations (infertility and death). This woman prayer doodled for Angie.
• Pinterest even has boards showcasing this idea here and here.

Two. Use my heart instead of brain. Meaning . . .

• Make phone calls to catch up with folks I haven’t seen at church in a while.
• Call folks in my small group to see how they are doing with the material.
• Call newcomers to see if I can answer any questions they might have about church or our programs.

Three. Write “Thank you” or “Hello” cards. Sometimes I don’t have a lot of words in me to share. A card is the right size to share a few sentences in order to connect and/or show appreciation. A small amount of energy expenditure can have maximum effect.

Four. Plan ahead. I oversee three areas at my church: children, small groups, and women. When I am feeling low energy I can brainstorm, organize, and dream about what will happen in these three areas in the coming week, month, quarter, and/or year. Each time I come back to this document, I can flesh out the details.

• Children’s Ministry: Design a CM poster and have a training class.
• Small groups ministry: Recruit new leaders and make an informational video.
• Women’s Ministry: Get ideas as to what woman want/need from the church through a survey.

Five: Get Active. Sitting and doing work can lead me to the drowsies. So I can get up and move it while I . . .

• Clean up my office. I always have piles of recently finished projects that need to be sorted or put away.
• Reorganize one of two storage closets in the Children’s Ministry Wing. It is time to purge, consolidate, and let the teachers know what supplies are available to them.
• Plan and put up a bulletin board in the hallway of Children’s Ministry.

Bonus: Listening to this Madagascar video (I Like to Move It), always gets me m-oooo-ving.

Your Turn . . .

• What do you do at work (that’s productive) when you don’t want to work? Share your ideas so we can all benefit.
• Which of the above categories can you implement in your life?
• I think such a list would be helpful for “home” life too. What would you put on your list?

Related Posts . . . 

• 9 Environmental Tips to Help Lift Depression
• 9 Ways Chronically Ill/Injured People Benefit from a To-Do List
• 10 Things to do When Your Energy is Low
• Recounting Blessings from a Reluctant Heart Improves My Mood