Make Your Own "Snow Day" with Diane Rolston

Have you been feeling like, “Oh my gosh. I just have too much going on right now” or “Life is just moving at a really fast pace”?

Then maybe you need to make your own Snow Day. 

What is a Snow Day

A snow day means there’s no school for the kids and no work for most of us. A lot of things are being cancelled because we would get a big dump or a really big storm through the night and the snowplows, the salt trucks, and everything, they just weren't able to keep up with how much was being dumped. 

My Two Snow Days

I'm in North Vancouver, but I grew up in Ontario where we had quite a few snow days. Ontario has a really good infrastructure for that, so we didn't have as many snow days because they were on the ball. 

But in Vancouver, we don't have the greatest infrastructure to take care of all the snow when it does come. Plus, not a lot of people have the right tires. I could go on and on and on about this, plus the geography of hills and mountains against us.  We're very hilly, up and down all over the place. 

When snow dumps in Vancouver, there is almost an automatic snow day because we can't handle it. ​

• Kids don't go to school. 
• People don't go to work. 
• Meetings get cancelled. 

That's what happened to me… I woke up to my women's church group being cancelled. My lunch meeting was cancelled. School was cancelled. 

All of a sudden, all of these responsibilities and commitments that I had, were just wiped clean. Emptied off my schedule. 

Here’s what I want you to think about on a Snow Day: it’s a day when you're not going to be meeting people or going anywhere. 

What it opened my eyes up to was:

1. A little bit of relief of “Oh, I don't have to rush today. I don't have to rush here and there. Some of my responsibilities have been just erased, and it kind of felt good. 
2. I have a lot of other things I need to catch up on that I can now do. 

How it opened my eyes

It showed me the physical, emotional, and mental relief of, “Oh, okay, I don't have to rush around. I can just cozy up in my house.” 

Had it been another day, it wouldn't have affected anything because I work online. I have so many bookings, one after another that are all virtual. But in this case, it was a day of rushing here, rushing there, and going all over the place - all wonderful things that are priorities in my life that I really did want to do. But all of a sudden my day opened up. 

I had a leisurely morning. Sipped my coffee, drank it while it was hot, and eased into my day. That's the one thing that I was thinking about - easing into my day. The other thing was, as I said, catching up. Catching up on things that I hadn't gotten to yet. 

This is what it opened my eyes up to. Maybe you've had a recent snow day or a day when things got cancelled. ​

• How did you feel at that moment? 
• Was it relief? 
• Was it a breather for you? 
• Was it realizing how you've been a bit frantic? 

You-Made Snow Day

I want to flip this from a nature-made snow day to a “you-made snow day”, meaning a day of no outside commitments and not even virtual commitments. 

I've talked a lot with clients about having “Me days” or days when there's no responsibility. It doesn't just mean you take a day off of work, but then you go to the dentist, and you run errands, and you pick up this thing, and you go fill in that form. No!

A day of absolutely no responsibility. A “me day”. You wake up, and you ask yourself, “What do I want to do today?” It could be:

• I want to go read that juicy new book that I got.
• I want to go sit in that beautiful cafe.
• I want to call a friend and go for a hike. 
• I'm inspired to actually do some business planning. 
• I want to take a nap in the afternoon. 

This is the idea of a “Me day” - having no responsibility for work or life, unless you feel like it. Instead, a snow day is a day that you're still going to do some work, but it's going to be slightly more slow-paced and restful. It'll be “You-led” where it's like, “What do I want to do right now?” It's a great catch-up day. 

What I did in my Snow Days

We ended up having two Snow Days. Here’s what I did:

• I reached out to people who I’ve been trying to have connection meetings, like chat Zoom dates. I reached out to them to book times and met with one or two of them. 
• I followed up on other emails that were outstanding. 
• I cleared off some tasks that my VAs were waiting on me for. 
• I also recorded a podcast episode. 
• I had a slower time. 
• I shoveled the driveway. 
• I did a little bit of journaling. 

I was able to get things moving. I've got some really fun things happening that I want to do this year, so I reached out to two people who have done similar things and have inspired me. I reached out to them to have a conversation. 

There are often so many things to do and having that ability to just go back through that to-do list that's been hanging out in my head or hanging out in my memos where I think, “I have to get to that. I have to do that thing. I have to finish that.” 

Man, did I feel super productive! It was amazing. 

How to create your own “Snow Day” that is consistent?

That's what we want it to be - consistent. With “me days”, I talk with my clients about having at least one every quarter. Ideally, a “Me day” once every month. 

It doesn't have to happen on a work day or a weekday. It could happen on the weekend. But being able to have a snow day at least once a quarter. 

But wouldn't it be fun if there was a “Snow Day”, that happened once a month? Maybe you've heard of buffer days, clean-up days, days of no meetings, days that you don't let people know you're in the office sort of days. No, it's not on the weekend. But what if every quarter you created one of these “Snow Days”? A day of no meetings and responsibilities. It was filled with whatever you knew you needed to do. 

What would the benefits be to you? Maybe…

• a chance to get that sigh of relief 
• to knock things off your to-do list 
• to have some inspiring brainstorming time 
• to reach out to mentors or connections 

How do you create consistency nowadays? You just book it in your calendar. 

You look at your calendar and think, “How often do I want to have these?” Once a quarter? Great. Go to every quarter and pop that day in. This is what I'm going to be doing. I'm going to mark “Snow day” and just book the whole day off, so no one can book my calendar. 

I'm actually going to do this once a month, if possible because I have stuff every day, but I'm going. 

How do you best use your snow day? 

Well, maybe as you go through the month, and you're freaking out about different things, “Oh, I’ve got to meet that person. I’ve got to do that task.” You just create a Snow Day list of things that you might want to do on a snow day.

Then when your Snow Day happens, I encourage you not to plan anything in yet. But as you wake up on your Snow Day, you go, “Ok, what do I want to achieve today?” You can go back to your list to start checking things off. Plus, you can start the day a little bit slower, easier. 

Maybe your day ends early. Maybe you start it late, and then you end it late. But you also have a nap in the middle of the day, just like you could on a “Me day”. 

It’s not a day during the month or during the quarter to start plugging meetings into it. Treat it as if you're on a plane and you cannot be reached. Those are some of my most productive times. I don't get the internet. I write or I brainstorm, sitting on a five-hour flight. That is the best use of my time because I'm not distracted by anything else. 

Wrapping Up

What do you think? Are you going to make a “snow day” for yourself? Or when a snow day happens, are you going to capitalize on it? 

Maybe the whole time you've been reading, you've said, “Oh Diane, the snow day was horrible because the kids were home” or “I had to shovel” or “I still had to go out because people still wanted to have the meetings”, then you need to create your own “snow day”. That happens when you say it happens. Where you get all the benefits of what a snow day can provide you without the surprise of when it's going to happen and without the needs of others, really pulling from all the benefits of your snow day. 

Let me know. Are you going to try it? Have you tried it? Share your wins with me. 

Share this blog with a friend. Because hey, maybe you want to have your snow day together. Let's hold each other accountable to have one snow day, every quarter, once a month, every other month, whatever it may be, so that you can really feel the benefits that I felt during my own two legitimate snow days. 

Until next time. 

Stay dynamic!

P.S. Do you have your copy of the Trailblazer Secrets Book? If you haven’t yet, order here. This NEW “Game-Changing Book” reveals how you can use simple tips to be a trailblazer, increase your motivation, and feel empowered to achieve your goals.  

Read my other blogs here:

1. 3 Ways to Prioritize During Overwhelm
2. The Core Problem I See in Women
3. Are you wanting to ditch the stuck feeling for good?