Saw a fellow freelancer's sick day spreadsheet and it blew my mind

I was at a coworking meetup in Portland last month and a graphic designer showed me her "sick day survival kit" spreadsheet with preset messages for clients, backup task lists, and a $50 urgent care budget tracker. Has anyone else built a similar system for when you're too sick to think straight?

2 comments

2 Comments

karenc207h ago

$50 for urgent care is low that wouldn't cover a co-pay here.

carr.luna7m ago

Wait, did she include specific pre-written email templates for different stages of sick? Like a "day 1: I'm down but still tracking" message versus a "day 3: this is turning into a thing" version? I've found that having two separate canned responses (one for "minor stuff you can work through" and another for "i am a useless lump") saves so much mental energy when your brain is foggy. The backup task lists are smart too, but I'd add a "must cancel today" priority column so you don't accidentally forget the one client who needed a final draft by noon. Those urgent care budget trackers are genius if you live in a city with sliding scale clinics, but here in cheaper areas $50 might actually get you seen at a walk-in if you skip the fancy ones.