I took a full month off work and went on holidays. No sneaky inbox checks, just a full on rest mode.
A proper, committed do not disturb me month. And I went to a different country, different routines, different pace.
I didn’t drive for a month. I barely cooked (shout‑out to my mum, my sister, my sister’s husband, my brother and his wife for carrying the household on their backs). I rested… properly.
Then the holiday was over and I returned home. On the day I arrived back at Perth, I had ordered cupcakes… and for some reason, I did not think about having them delivered. I had to drive, after a 24 hour flight (in total I guess).
So I got into the car, started the ignition and pulled out of my driveway.
Everything felt new… I wondered if my brakes were working as they should so I became extra careful. My knees were shaky… I paused for longer at junctions… I second guessed at roundabouts that I had travelled through a thousand times!
Then, it hit me:
“This is inertia… continuing in the state of rest that I had gotten accustomed to”
Inertia isn't laziness
“An object will continue in it’s state of rest or constant motion unless a force acts on it”
Newton’s Law of Motion
I learnt this in high school and apparently, it also applies to humans… lol!
I have seen this pattern before. It’s what you experience every sunday evening when you think about work the next day. But it’s harder when you take more than the average weekend off work… it always feels like you are learning the ropes again. You get in and just switch to autopilot… emails feels louder and more urgent… decisions feels heavier… momentum was… missing!
So I’ve always learnt to get ahead of it by planning my first day back before I left.
But this time was different. This was not just “back from leave”, it was “back from orbit”.
Then add jetlag to the mix, I knew one thing:
“This was not a week for heroics”
So here is what I did instead.
Start with Maintenance Activities
On my first day back, I focused on maintenance tasks. I had been off work for a month and I needed to organise my emails. No big reports, no strategic thinking… I just eased into my emails. And I sorted them this way;
Do it Immediately – David Allen’s 2 minute rule
If the email required a response that will take 2 minutes or less, I did it immediately.
“If it takes just 2 minutes, postponing it is just procrastination in a suit“
So many people stack tiny tasks and wonder why their to-do list is never-ending.
Tiny tasks done instantly = Mental clutter gone!
Schedule Email Response Time
Any email that requires more thought and depth, schedule it. But the key to scheduling is to ensure that if there is a deadline for response stipulated – ensure you give yourself the time and the mental bandwidth to read, process and craft a response. And yesss, email responses can be scheduled.
Review Your Day
For a long time, I didn’t review my days, not because I didn’t believe it in, but because I was always exhausted at the end of the day.
Work finished, school runs done, kids homework assistance offered, dinner sorted and my bed called afterwards. It felt like I was living life like a clockwork… but this isn’t effective. Here is the truth;
“If you don’t review your day, you will repeat it by default”
So I certainly knew I had to review… it was critical for this season. So at the end of the day, I’d ask myself in bed, “what did you achieve today?”. And I’ll just think through my day… analysing what worked and what didn’t. I would always come out with an action plan – “tomorrow, I will implement this because it worked’ or “tomorrow, I’ll implement this to prevent unnecessary scrolling’.
Now, what occurred this time when I reviewed my day was that I noticed I spent so much time on the maintenance tasks… the emails and responses were beginning to dominate my entire day… now whilst this is not totally wrong, I knew I had other important tasks that I could effectively achieve this period.
So I shifted gears. If I had not reviewed, i would have coasted through this season.
Set Your Intentions - Before the World Does it for you
Your MITs are your most important tasks for the day. It’s not revolutionary, it’s intentional.
When I ran the Productivity Challenge in 2025, a lot of clients who set their MITs for the day actually felt more productive at the end of the day – even if they just achieved one out of the three MITs.
“People who set their intentions for the day outperform those that let their day ambush them”
We’ve all had those mornings where we wake up and let life swing first.
Emails dictate and urgency shouts… but it should not be your everyday to-do.
Even if your MIT is helping someone else – you have intentionally chosen it. And there’s power in that.
“Productivity starts when you decide what matters before everything else competes for your attention”
Start Small... based on Your Context
Start small but don’t remain there. However, this is really based on your context…
After one month of being away from work, starting small was not weakness – it was wisdom. I did maintenance tasks for two days and then I scaled up. But I have had times that I went straight for the jugular… especially if it was just a one week break within the same timezone.
Think about it, when you have not been to the gym or worked out for ages, you don’t just jump back to 50kg weights. Sometimes, you start with as low as 1kg dumbbells and then slowly increase your weights.
I’ve been there… and I’d always whisper to myself – “Ife, honour your pace but don”t stay here forever”
And on days that I go for the jugular, it’s still the same Newton’s law that inspires me… because it states that rest continues unless an external force acts on it… the truth is, sometimes, we need that jolt!
Eat that Frog... FIRST
Once you have set your MITs, then eat that frog… first. Do the hard thing first. I have one rule anytime I kickstart my day;
“I must win before coffee”
Before the inbox, before the noise, before everyone else’s priorities… I must move a bit with what I have determined as my MIT. Because momentum loves an early victory… and winning kicks out inertia. So here is a question for you;
“What’s your frog and how early are you willing to face it?”
And that’s how you beat inertia, not by speed, but by applying the right force, at the right time.