“I say, if your knees aren’t green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life.” ~ Calvin, Calvin and Hobbes
I play flag football on Sunday afternoons during the Fall with a group of friends, and it might be one of the most important pieces of my week. Aside from the great camaraderie, my favorite part is how tired I am after the games. Going home physically wasted at the end of the day is one of the greatest feelings, knowing I left every last bit of energy on the field.
There’s no greater feeling than going home, taking a shower afterwards and watching the dirt and grime swirl slowly down into the drain. That’s how I know I had a good, hard Sunday afternoon of football. The amount of dirt in the tub directly correlates to how satisfied I am. The dirtier the tub, the happier I am.
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The dirt in the drain can translate to other contexts as well. I get (nearly) the same amount of satisfaction from hitting the “publish” button writing for this blog. At work it’s an “a ha!” moment well-executed. It could also be spending hours piecing a design concept together, or finishing that last line of a song’s chorus.
It’s all just like watching the dirt slowly swirl around.
At the end of the day I have to ask myself one thing: am I tired but excited about the things I learned and accomplished? Have I come home with green knees? If not, then it wasn’t a day I’m proud of.
We all need a metric that gives us a signal that we’ve had a day that we’re proud of–one that we can watch go down the drain at the end of a long day.
What’s yours?
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