Crushing a Tuesday
We often pour our energy into the days that sparkle the most with excitement - family birthdays, promotions, holidays abroad, the upcoming days of Christmas. Those moments seem to justify the effort, planning, and extra attention. We’ll happily spend an hour or two getting ready to go out, wait for hours in queues at airports, or climb around in an attic space looking for a set of Christmas lights with all the bulbs still working. But what about that random Tuesday three months from now?
There’s no big celebration or parade. Maybe you didn’t sleep well, or your recovery score was lower than expected. Maybe you’re not feeling particularly motivated, or you’re still ruminating on a tough conversation with a spouse or work colleague. Does that mean this middle-of-the-road Tuesday can’t be as rewarding or as a great a day as those we may instinctively cherish more deeply?
The author and podcast host, Tim Ferris, offers a mental framing as a reminder that everyday, not just the special ones, holds the potential for success. The idea is relatively straightforward: instead of pinning your best effort on this rare, perfect circumstance, commit to making the most of each day, no matter how ordinary it seems.
“Crushing a Tuesday” doesn’t mean performing at your absolute best and maximal intensity every single hour of the day, 365 days a year. Instead, it’s about defining what success looks like for that particular day, and following through on it. Some days, that might mean tackling a big project and ending the day proud with your display of elevated productivity. Other times, it might be more subtle - filling all your Apple Watch rings on a day you’ve been stuck in meetings, sneaking in a quick workout first thing to tick that box off, choosing a healthier lunch option that hits your macro goals, or finally completing that lingering errand you’ve been putting off for weeks.
The key is acknowledging that what “crushing” looks like is a fluid concept, shifting with your priorities, energy levels, and obligations. If yesterday you earned a financial bonus at work, and today you’ve managed to carve out a 30-min run when you’re pushed for time, or you spent an evening catching up with loved ones over dinner, each of those days should be considered victories. The benchmark isn’t always how hard you can push, but how consistently you show up for the goals you’ve set for yourself.
At the end of each day - exciting or mundane - you get to reflect. Did you achieve what you intended? Did you make progress in a way that matters to you? If the answer is yes, you’ve crushed that day. It may not be a day that makes headlines, there’s no round of applause or fanfare, but it brought you one step closer to who you want to be and the life you want to live.
In the truest sense, it’s not just the big events and occasions of life that define us—who we are at our highest highs or lowest lows—but also the small victories woven throughout our weeks and months, including those nothing special Tuesdays. When we learn to crush even the most ordinary days, we realise that what truly shapes us are the quiet, unremarkable moments we choose to make our own.