I Planned to Work. I Putzed Instead.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about “putzing around.” About do-nothing days. About how joy isn’t a reward for finishing your work, it’s part of how you do your work well.

And then I went and tested whether I actually believed it.

The Plan vs. What Happened

I took some real time away. I threw a party for my parents, a wedding anniversary and a milestone birthday in one celebration, and then headed out to the eastern end of Long Island for a stretch beside the Atlantic.

I had a plan. I was going to do creative work. I packed the AI tools, the ideas, and the ambition to come back with something built.

Instead, I putzed.

I read a novel, the whole thing, start to finish. I breathed in the ocean air. My partner and I cooked a lot of fish and sat with the waves for longer than my usual instinct to produce something would normally allow. I worked quietly and without fanfare on my own health.

I built nothing that week. And it was exactly what I needed.

What I Noticed When I Got Out of My Own Way

Here’s the thing I keep relearning: I am very good at turning rest into a project. Even my time off had a deliverable attached to it.

What surprised me wasn’t that I failed to do the creative work. It was how little I missed it once I stopped. The waves did something the to-do list couldn’t. I came back clearer, not because I produced clarity, but because I stopped crowding it out.

That is putzing. Not laziness. Not avoidance. Making room.

Back to the Work, Still Learning, Still Building

Since returning, I’ve come back to coaching with more energy than I left with.

I’m working with another entrepreneur on leadership training, exploring different kinds of coaching opportunities, and looking into more formal learning for myself, because I genuinely can’t stop being curious. I started that inquiry just this week. I’m doing, learning, and creating all at once, and I’ve stopped seeing those as competing for the same hours.

And it wasn’t only the coaching that came back sharper. I returned to my leadership work in innovation and institutional effectiveness with more clarity, too, a steadier read on what actually deserves my attention and what was just noise I’d been carrying.

What the trip clarified is that the rest isn’t separate from the work. It’s what makes the rest of it possible. The learning sharpens the doing. The doing gives the learning somewhere to land. And the time beside the ocean, doing none of it, is what lets me show up for all of it.

So that’s where I am. A little more rested. Building, learning, and creating, and finally treating the room to breathe as part of the process rather than a break from it.

When did you last make room for yourself? And what did it make possible?

Onward —

Dr. Michelle Fischthal, Fischthal Coaching & Consulting | fischthalconsulting.com

Curiosity · Clarity · Action

This newsletter was created with the support of AI for clarity and structure.