Zack Vayda and a Bar Graph

One of the things that actually does get better about life as I've grown older is my understanding of myself. As a kid, I would run around all day with all the energy in the world (or so I thought) until I literally hit the floor. I only had two gears, fast and asleep.  

As an adult (at least heading in that direction), I've gotten better at self-evaluating. I can better tell how I feel, why I feel that way and how to fix it if it's a bad feeling or extend it if it's a good thing. 

For example, I can tell just how well I stuck to my healthy habits that I've set for myself (exercising, eating healthy, reading, writing, learning, etc) throughout the week my assessing how I feel throughout the weekend. Regardless of the weekend plans, if I've stuck to my habits, my weekend will be thoroughly enjoyable. But if I slacked during the week, even if I have an incredible weekend planned, its entirety will be tinged with a slight but persistent negativity. I'll get offended more easily, I won't enjoy my company as much (even if I am my own company), I even notice a difference with my more visceral senses. A beautiful view doesn't grab my attention as easily, food is a bit less flavorful, my favorite sweatpants are slightly less comfy. 

This understanding of how I feel is both good and bad. Part of me misses the simplicity of not understanding why I feel how I feel. Ignorance is bliss, after all. It is certainly much more work to keep tabs on how I feel and adjust accordingly. But at the same time, it certainly is nice to know that it's within my own power to alter how I feel when I don't like it. 

The way I see it in my head is like a bar graph. Each habit that I have is a bar (exercise is a bar, reading is a bar, eating healthy is a bar, getting good sleep is a bar, etc). I know that I feel solid if all the bars are above a certain level. If I do my self assessment and something feels off, I check all the bars (not alcoholic bars; I wouldn't suggest solving you problems that way). Is my Writing bar meeting expectations? Is my Learning bar above the minimum requirement? Whichever one is lowest, I work on. If all the bars look good except for Learning, I know I need to turn on NPR next time I'm in the car. If my To Do List bar is low, I know I need to check a couple of those things off the list. 

If you don't have your own bar graph, I'd suggest thinking about that this week. What are the 5-10 areas you know make you feel better? If you don't feel 100%, have you checked the levels on your bar graph? Are they meeting spec? 

If not, you know what to do.