You know the feeling when you’re having a great day. Everything feels within your grasp. The train shows up when you set foot into the train station. You are working on your strengths. The universe seems to conspire to make things work. You are in control and happy.
The crap day is a different experience. The train is late. You try working on a project using your strengths but you have to do something you don’t want on a day you don’t feel like doing much. A whole bunch of administrative tasks backfire and you are left calling your bank to follow up with this and calling up your travel agent to follow up with that. You’re not on your ‘A’ game and get told off a bit. By the end of the day, you are kicking yourself hard for not doing something well and you feel like the universe is conspiring against making things work. Cue feelings of stupidity and helplessness.
“How was your day?” – someone asked. “Crap” – I said.
I was wrong. It’s actually so very important that we feel stupid and helpless often. Strengths and happiness give us a feeling of invincibility which are great in short bursts. But, stupidity and helplessness are equally important (if not more..) because they make us stop, take stock, reflect, and learn. Crap days are not just crap days. They are days of great learning. And history has repeatedly shown that human beings only exercise ingenuity when we are feeling lazy, helpless, and fearful.
So, if you’re having a really bad day, remind yourself that this is the best thing that’s happened to you in a while because today will be a day of great learning. Go back home and write those learnings down! Use the strong emotions to make commitments to get better. It’s because of days like today that you will appreciate good things tomorrow and who knows – you might even exercise ingenuity and shape history.
Bad days.. greater purpose.. who knew?
A Learning a Day 