The mood matrix (ie the Microsoft logo). A four quadrant grid to plot energy and pleasantness. Some charts have 100 emotions, others have 4. You can find one online, here are some example (https://transkatgirl.github.io/TheMoodMeter/), https://duckduckgo.com/?q=mood+matrix+chart+meter±app&t=ffab&iar=images.

Description Blue: Low energy, low pleasantness. This is where depression sits.

Red: High energy, low pleasantness. This is where anger goes.

Yellow: High energy, high pleasant. Festive.

Green: Low energy, high pleasant. Serene, content, calm.

Maybe you know this already. Maybe you also know that you can try to pair your activities with your mood. So why am I sharing? It’s a prompt. I’ve heard of this before, never bothered to try it or never did it successfully. It’s worth trying if you’re struggling right now and have to work.

My week has been rough, mental health dropped of a cliff after being solid for several weeks. Monday, the usual, ‘I can’t do this right now’ feelings. I’d usually grind through the day, nap with my phone on alert, take a long lunch, stop early and tell myself I’d catch up later when I’m feeling better. Mental health days right? Meanwhile I’m falling behind, having less than positive interactions with coworkers, making mistakes, and just generally making my life worse.

I’ll try the mood chart thing, this time I have an LLM to help me think because I’m an idiot.

I only sort of want the day off, but I realize I might be on this roller coaster for a while. What can I actually do today?

1. Red Zone (Angry, Frustrated, Overwhelmed)

  • Urgent, high-energy tasks: clearing backlogs, problem-solving, making quick decisions
  • Use the frustration energy to push through stuck problems
  • Physical tasks: organizing, rearranging, building things.
  • Brainstorming: Pull out some paper, a web tool, or whiteboard and come up with ideas and plans. Explore solutions later if that’s better.
  • Avoid talking to people, mute notifications

2. Yellow Zone (Anxious, Excited)

  • Creative work: Channel that restless energy into being creative
  • Wrap up projects, put a bow on it and then start something else that sounds fun
  • Planning: Outline projects, create to-do lists, or schedule future work.
  • Bring donuts

3. Green Zone (Calm, Focused, Happy)

  • Deep-focus work: Tackle complex projects, research, writing, meticulous and challenging activities, analysis
  • Collaborative tasks: Team meetings, discussions, problem-solving with others.
  • Socializing with colleagues, go out for lunch, call someone, bring donuts for people
  • Planning. I think planning goes everywhere except blue.

4. Blue Zone (Tired, Sad, Low Energy)

  • Low-energy tasks: Organizing files, deleting things, sorting documents, or simple administrative work, simple things, dull tasks that you’ve been putting off
  • Research: Tasks that require reading, learning, or reviewing information at a comfortable pace. Get cozy.
  • Planning: review work you’ve done recently

It’s helping me get through this wave. Monday and Tuesday have been better than I expected, I’ve been productive and I don’t feel worse.