Mulligans on days

Posted on August 20, 2009 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Lifehacks,Out Of The Box

Photo by R'eyes You oversleep, trip over the dog as you stumble to the bathroom, get soap in your eyes, put on clothing you realize was stained after you get to work, yell at the kids, miss the train, get soaked by a passing car…

We’ve all had days like that, where things get off on the wrong foot and quickly go from bad to worse.

I recently had on, that started with waking up late because my husband had turned off the alarm instead of hitting snooze. So I hit the ground a half hour late, tripping on the cat to get to the coffee machine, which I forgot to set the night before. I tripped over the dog on the way back upstairs, and took a shower, getting soap under my contacts. A cut on my finger reopened and I bled all over my work clothes. Finally dressed, ten minutes to get out the door, and I find my daughter had ignored her alarm and repeated calls to get up. As she hurried to get ready, I pulled the robot vacuum off the wall charging station and knocked the shelf above it off the wall and onto my head. The dog was barking to be let out, my daughter crying because she had to eat breakfast in the car, and I lost my temper. By the time I got to work I felt like crying myself.

My solution? Do a Mulligan.

According to Wikipedia, “A mulligan…happens when a player gets a second chance to perform a certain move or action. The practice is also sometimes referred to as a “do over.”“

There are two types of Mulligans when it comes to starting a day over: soft and hard. The soft Mulligan is when you take a deep breath, resolve to stop rushing, and put the immediate past behind you. This is often effective if you are having a rough time caused by one event like oversleeping.

Sometimes more drastic measures are necessary. That is where the hard Mulligan comes into play. In a hard Mulligan, you simply go back to your bed, lie down, and start the day all over again. If necessary, you can restart by taking a quick nap.

It seems drastic, but on the days when things really start to go wrong, I find that a hard Mulligan is actually a pretty good way to get back on track.

And to quote that sage of childhood, Alexander, “Some days are like that.”

Photo by R’eyes