Reading The Gauge

When I woke up yesterday I do what I (or maybe most Americans) would do - started making a list of top priorities and how I was going to achieve them.

I knew I had to prepare the condominium association's 2013 projected budget before Thanksgiving, so ought to get started soon.

I also knew that I'd be getting home at 8:30, after one of those 12-hour days I blogged about previously.

What's more, I know that there's at least a 50-50 chance that my brain will be ready to turn off for the night at that point. I read somewhere that a person's will power can be like a fuel gauge - there's only so much in a day.

Finally, I know that the student I'd be tutoring just before I went home had good days and bad days, a key unknown along with whatever cloaked challenges might emerge at the office.

Rather than drive myself to exhaustion, I decided that I would read my "energy gauge" after the tutoring session, and make the call as to whether I'd work on the budget that night.

Work turned out better than I'd thought it would.

My student had one of his best days of the semester (and frankly, I did a pretty bang-up job myself).

I was so psyched that I was able to pour myself into not only the budget, but reconciling the association's books, recording condo fees, and contacting all residents who are overdue in their fees. When it was finished, the clock read 11:30. Three straight hours, and more productive than I'd even planned!

Hidden Bloggers know that I give thanks to God for especially good days, the circumstances that come together beyond my control that give me an above-average chance to succeed. But I also like to think that my vision of what I might be able to accomplish in the evening helped me subconsciously pace my energy or drive me with optimism throughout the day in the hope that I might be able to achieve that goal.

If the day had turned out otherwise, I'd just have hit the sack earlier and given it another go today... no worries. And of course, now I get to sit here and conjure up what new steps I might take tonight if the gauges are still reading full enough.