Key #3:

Make a plan

3.1. Set goals

Now that you have accepted responsibility for your situation and aimed your mindset towards aggressive recovery, you are in a great position to set goals for the future and plan the steps that you will take to get there.

Imagine your life 5 years from now. Will you be suffering from RSI symptoms? Will you be at your job working at a computer for 8 hours per day? Will you still be regularly seeing Workers’ Comp doctors? Will these outcomes be out of your control?

Hopefully you answered No to each of those questions. Those above outcomes are certain if you continue living the lifestyle that caused your injury. Right now you have a chance to determine that outcome!

The most useful tools for setting and achieving goals that I can recommend are the SMART goal-setting framework (I assume most of my audience already knows what this is. If this sounds new to you, just google “smart goals”) and regular journal check-ins. That is, after you’ve set your goal using the SMART framework, write down how you’ve progressed towards that goal since your last journal entry as well as any roadblocks or setbacks. Do this exercise at least weekly, and monthly for longer-term goals.

Here are some examples of the goals that I set for myself following my injury:

Short term goals

• Stay employed for another 2 years
• Start a blog (a.k.a. invest in new skills and hobbies)
• Lift weights 3 times per week (pick up a sport/athletic activity)
• Attend yoga class once per week
• Budget keyboard/mouse use to 30 minutes a day (or as specified by your WC accommodations)
• Learn computer shortcuts: automation and computer input gadgets like Dragon and foot-mouse
• Budget my cell phone use: text people only for logistic reasons, leave the phone in the car when going out, use Google Assistant and voice-to-text input whenever possible.
• Sell my video games
• Reduce my fast food and take-out consumption from 5 to 10 meals per week to 3 meals per week

Long term goals

• Change or pivot your career to work consistently with less computer use
• Take at least 8 weeks of vacation each year (go big – you have more options to choose from in the long term)
• Fully automate or hire help for regular computer tasks

Some of these goals may seem drastic or ambitious to you, or you may want to go farther on some of your goals. I am not suggesting that the goals I wrote about above should be the same as yours. Decide for yourself what goals are going to help you craft the life you want.

3.2. Make a decision

Now that you have set goals and plans around your recovery and career success, it’s time to start living it. As Machiavelli said (in some capacity or other), and later Winston Churchill and several others, “never let a good crisis go to waste”. Let the explosive emotions evoked by your injury motivate you to start aggressively undoing the damage caused to your hands, mental condition, and perhaps even career.

Dedicate time each week for exercise. Dedicate time each week for hobbies or skills. For example, you could join an intramural volleyball team for some weekly social fun and exercise. I highly recommend volleyball – in my experience it is welcoming to families and dogs, nobody cares if you totally suck, and for RSI sufferers it’s a way to regain confidence using your hands and arms. Still I have to say you should talk with your doctor before taking on any serious new athletic hobby.

This post would be incomplete without mentioning diet and nutrition. It should go without saying that physical recovery from RSI will be accelerated when the body gets the right nutrients and calories. Any sort of fitness or physical rehabilitation goals should be accompanied by a meal plan. If you’ve never tracked meals or caloric intake, nor attempted to adhere to a meal plan, then your best option may be to hire a personal trainer or nutrition expert to help you set and meet your goals. In my case, I had no idea where to start when it came to nutrition – my trainer showed me how to set an appropriate goal, then create the workouts, recipes, and grocery lists which would drive me towards that goal. Then it was up to me to make time to cook, track my meals (MyFitnessPal is perfect for this), and stop going to the drive-through.

Speaking of the workday, now the time to start changing how you interact with peers and superiors, by communicating and enforcing your boundaries, and asking for help, as we discussed in Keys to RSI Recovery pt 2.

Throughout the days and nights, it is important to stay focused on breaking your cell phone and videogame addictions. I took small steps after the initial injury: I started leaving my phone in my car when I went out to social or work gatherings and I didn’t bring my phone into the bathroom with me anymore. Many months later, after countless days and nights of sad and longing stares, and even a few stupidly painful attempts to play, I sold all of my videogames.

Check in regularly with a mentor if you have one, continue to journal, and continue to read.

ACTION PLAN #3:

Make a plan

1. Answer the following questions in your journal: What will my life be like 5 years from now? What will my life be like 10 years from now? Write down what age you will be at those points.
2. In your journal, write down goals in the SMART format: at least 2 or 3 goals for the short term (no later than 2 year time frame) and at least 2 or 3 goals for the long term (at least 3 to 5 years). For each goal, write down how you will track progress and how often.
3. Track your meals for 1 week using MyFitnessPal (if you do not do so already). Review the results at the end of the week (preferably with your doctor, nutritionist, trainer, mentor, spouse, etc.), and decide for yourself whether you need to make any changes to your nutrition.
4. Turn off all unnecessary notifications from your phone. Uninstall all unnecessary apps from your phone. Especially games and social media.
5. Start reading books/audiobooks if you do not do so already. A good place to start is my blog post on 5 Books that Help You Cope with RSI
6. In your journal: Revisit the alternative computer use strategies that you brainstormed in Action Plan #2. For each strategy: write down whether you need more practice, whether computer use/work duties have gotten easier for you, as well as any roadblocks or frustrations that you are experiencing.

Thank you for reading! Let us know in the comments your thoughts and feedback.

For those interested in using a computer HANDS-FREE, check out Dragon Dictation and the 3DRudder Footmouse!

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