Day 3,004

Growth:

I am feeling pretty exhausted and wore out tonight. A younger version of me would have laughed it off, pounded an energy drink or two, and stayed up until the wee hours of the night not doing much of anything. The today version of me is wise enough to take a cue, head to bed early, get extra sleep, and be ready to kick tomorrow in the butt. Tomorrow morning the today me will feel leaps and bounds better than the younger me.

Appreciation:

Humans are a silly bunch, aren’t we? Sometimes it is so easy to hack into our own brains to better get the results we want. Case in point today is the Hawthorne Effect. This essentially states that humans react differently when they are being measured and/or monitored. One of the ways to take advantage of this is by doing things like tracking what we eat, measuring what we are doing and how often, and by finding some way to focus on something we want to change. Once we’ve got something picked out we become much more aware of it specifically because it is being measured. This then causes us to change our behavior without really doing anything about the behavior itself. Pretty wild!

I’ve recently started tracking more of the habits I want to cultivate in my life. At the end of each day I pause to track a handful of measurements – basically an accounting of how well I lived into being the best me I want to be for the day. Throughout the day the knowledge that I will be completing this task helps me make better choices in the moment to help me score myself better later in the day. Crayz, but it works!

Presence:

Today included a daily double! Sure, I prefer when the days are longer, but on days like today I don’t mind the fact that I get to experience both the sunrise and sunset while driving to and from our Eau Claire office. Both sunrise and sunset today were SPECTACULAR!!! The sky was light aflame with the reds, pinks, and oranges across the horizon. Both times I paused my audiobook to soak the entire experience up a little more clearly. What a breathtaking sight – both times!

Thanks!!!