The 94% - How You Can Tip the Balance

Even though Romney blew his roll when he said it, he still made a valid point. He said that no matter what he did, there would still be 47% of the population who would vote for Obama. This implies, of course, that 47% would vote for him no matter what he did. The real battle is fought for the 6% who are undecided - they are the wild card.

I've been thinking about the difference between good days and bad days. The choice about whether a day is going to be good or bad is often made within the first hour of wakefulness. It normally pans out that 94% of our days are going to be neutral no matter what we do to influence it.

Of course, this is barring chemical imbalances. There are some who have actual chemical things going on - and those chemical things make it so they are predisposed to filling that 6% with crap. When we're having awesome days, we don't tend to want to go to the doctor.

Here are some ideas about how to tip the balance to the 'good'

The first hour of your day is the real moneymaker. If you've had breakfast, if you've had a good drive, if you're not late, if the kids weren't waking up all cranky - all of these are factors in how the rest of your day is going to go. Businesspeople should read this post from Fast Company about the first hour.

For me, the first hour of the day is the most productive. The writing juices are fresh and the muse is excited. If I'm following a diet, I get the chance to eat well and ollow my diet. If I've had a crappy time the night before, I can wipe those away. Each day really is new and different, and I get to set the precedent.

I've found that if the option is available, the best thing to do to reset the day is to take a nap. It doesn't have to be one of those long, painful naps - 20 minutes will do - just long enough to offer a good rest for the brain. The brain's always running, but sometimes it needs a breather so it can really really work well.

Water really makes it happen. If I'm more hydrated, and if I've managed to keep it up, I feel less angry at the world and less prone to think that the day sucks giant doggie turds or something. Water helps get all of those nutrients and things flowing within my body - and it makes me feel all spry.

Get some of the tiny things off the list early so that you can tip the balance and feel productive. A lot of the tiny things take only fifteen minutes or so, but they're well worth it in the mental warmth that we get as a result of them. Tipping the balance in this way also gets it off of the mind.

But, the fight is yours. You could say that since your days are going to be fairly flatline anyway that you shouldn't do anything to tip it into the good or the bad column. Seriously, though, I want to reduce the number of flatline and white noise days to produce some awesomeness. :)