Set aggressive yet realistic work goals. Nothing is more depressing than to work your ass off all day long without really wasting any time, only to peruse your checklist at the end of the session and discover that you’ve come up well short of meeting your stated “goals” for the day. Hard work deserves a better outcome; don’t allow this dynamic to happen—this clumsily engineered, utterly predictable disappointment—inasmuch as you are quartermaster over the usage of every minute of your time and should therefore know better. Treat yourself fairly and with some built-in slack, no differently than you would others!
