Fourth Quarter

This past Thursday, I tuned in like I do each week to Thursday night football and saw that in the fourth quarter, Tampa was up by two touchdowns against the Falcons. The game looked over, but then Atlanta came back and won 29-28 on a last-second field goal.

It got me thinking: if the game would’ve ended at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Atlanta would have said they had a bad game. But then the 4th quarter came.

It made me think about my work life. I leave for work at 6:30 and get home at 6:00. Yesterday, work sucked—it stunk. I was the recipient of a very unprofessional email. I wanted to give an unprofessional response back. I went home angry. If you would have asked me how my day was, I would have said it sucked.

But here’s what happened next: I got home, walked the dog, took a nap, and then caught a Waymo to a restaurant to meet my family and friends. We had a wonderful time, and I went home laughing and excited.

Then it hit me. Why define my day by only the time that I am at work? Why not see my day as a full day—like a full football game—with all the events getting equal treatment? Like the Atlanta Falcons, we can have our fourth quarter. The time after work where we get to lay it down and enjoy our time. The comeback quarter.

So here’s my lesson: when I have a bad work day and someone asks me how my day was, I’ll say, “Well, it’s been a struggle, but it isn’t over. Now is my fourth quarter, and we’re turning this thing around.”

What about you—when work tries to steal your whole day, how do you stage your fourth-quarter comeback?