'I tried the "save the day" method for two weeks. It's made me more productive at work.'

If you know me, you would know that I spend my days procrastinating doing my work by searching for new ways to be productive — yes I see the irony. 

From eating the frog to salary talk, I've come across many methods and tools that have helped me in my overall career, but none that specifically help me in my day-to-day. 

A few days ago, a friend shared a TikTok by holistic and transformation coach, Trina Merz. 

@breatheintransformation Save the day. Everyday. #savetheday #careeradviceforwomen #corporategirlies #stressrelief ♬ original sound - trina 🕊️ grind → ease

In it, she talks about the idea of "saving the day", a concept that she and a friend came up with. 

Saving the day refers to the method of doing something for yourself usually on a working day that reclaims the day back as your own.

She said that if she and her friend had a busy workday, they would message each other and ask "How did you save the day?" 

Saving the day can look like many different things. If you get home from work, you could go for a little walk while talking on the phone to your nana, you could cook yourself a meal, you could do some stretching, you could even just start reading that book you've been meaning to get to. 

Saving the day is about carving out time to look after and show appreciation to yourself for getting through the day. 

Before learning about this concept, I would tell myself that I was "saving the day" by doom-scrolling on Instagram and TikTok for two hours in bed. Although I'm not working, I'm also not doing something that benefits me mentally and honestly, makes me feel even more tired and overworked.

Watch: Horoscopes when there's a problem at work. Post continues below. 

I decided to do a save the day-esque activity every day that didn't include adding more hours to my already hectic screen time.

For two weeks, I practised saving my days by reading, going for walks, doing a yoga class, cooking, sitting in parks, getting a facial and eating takeaway food on my living room floor with my best friends. 

When I first started saving the day, I'll admit, I was really bad at it. The minute I got home from work, all I wanted to do was put on my PJs, jump into bed and scroll on social media. 

I still struggle not immediately doing this when I get home. I'll try to tell myself that rotting in bed is great mental escapism, but I know that I'll always feel 100 times worse when I realise that it's 10pm and I haven't budged. 

I would force myself to do my save-the-day activities the minute I got home from work, to get them over and done with (because they honestly felt like chores in the beginning).

Soon, they became my priority. Saving the day gave me amazing mental clarity and something unexpected... I became more productive during my non-save-the-day activities (AKA work). 

Who knew that doing activities that are great for your mental health and nourish your wellbeing would have a positive effect on your everyday life? 

"What you're doing suddenly, is being mindful. Instead of mindlessly scrolling, in other words, not living your real life, you've actually mindfully brought yourself into the lens," Sydney-based psychologist Amanda Gordon tells Mamamia. 

"By having been in the lens the night before, you're ready to live your full life the next day. It's easier to be mindful the next day about the important things that are important to be mindful about." 

When I first tried incorporating save-the-day activities, besides garnering up the mental capacity to actually do them, I would spend way too much time trying to figure out what my activity should be. 

I'd get home and think "I should read a chapter of my book... or maybe I should go for a walk... or maybe I should start cooking dinner." 

This made me so overwhelmed and resulted in me just giving up and... yep, you guessed it, doomscrolling Instagram. 

I then decided to plan my save-the-day activities ahead of time. Every Sunday, I would pick one day of the week to read, one day to go for a walk, one day to call a family member etc. Now, it comes as second nature. When I get home I do whatever activity is calling me the most. There are no rules. If you just want to listen to music while walking around your living room every single day — do that. 

I still get the urge to lie on my couch watching TV show after TV show while I'm mindlessly on my phone because it feels like it's a form of mental escapism. 

But Gordon says otherwise. 

"Somehow along the line, the narrative has become [that those activities] are a good escape. But, it's a false narrative. There's a much better narrative — living life is better than escaping from life. And living life is making myself a nice meal. Living life is going for a walk. Living life is talking to my mum. And the other things are just squandering time, and we've all got limited time," she says. 

By saving the day, you're carving out time to actually live your life outside of work. Which makes you more energised when you get back into it. 

How do you save the day? Tell us in the comments!

If you want more culture opinions by Emily Vernem, you can follow her on Instagram @emilyvernem.

Feature image: Canva.