Tuesday 29 May 2012

What Makes a Day Good?

I had a great day at work today. I don't often say that these days. So what made it good? Probably a little less than you imagine.

I think if you're even half way engaged in your job you start every day with certain things you hope and expect to accomplish. If you're like me and Kate and virtually all of the people I work and socialize with, those hopes and plans go out the window as soon as you arrive at your desk. Actually with laptops, VPNs, smartphones and the like your plans probably went out the window even before you got to work. Life in the 21st century.

Yesterday was a "Bank Holiday" here in Germany. Pentecost. For a country with so many religious holidays they sure drink a lot of beer. Apparently they are not mutually exclusive. But I digress. Yet again.

So today was Tuesday but for me it was really a Monday. I had a substantial list of tasks, at least a couple of which were anticipated to be quite challenging. I thoroughly expected to get distracted by emails and phone calls and went in with a mindset to do what I could. And then a very strange thing happened. I made progress. Normally difficult personalities proved to be cooperative. I got easy access to information I expected to struggle with. Oh sure, unexpected items came my way but I knocked them off as soon as they came up. Maybe I was in the "Problem Solving" zone. And by the end of the day I had completed every task I had set for myself. Every one. I even collected a couple of compliments. Unglaublich!

It was only after I had boarded my bus home that I realized what I had done. I was already happy but then I realized why. So I say again it doesn't necessarily take a lot to make a day "Good". What I will take away from this experience is to take more satisfaction from the things I do achieve and try to be less bummed by the things I don't. Become more of a "Glass half full" kind of guy as my friend Ryan would say. We'll see.

Thanks for reading,
Tom 

1 comment:

  1. My day went the opposite of yours. And who is this other guy, Ryan? He should know that a glass is empty by nature, thus...

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