Don Kowalewski
Writer. Ad Sales and Marketing. Social Media Content Creator. Aeropress Coffee. Makes the best salsa in the world.
Things I Do: Strike While the Iron’s Hot
I’m not a self-help guru, but I play one in secret, so here’s my advice . . . do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you’ve been shot out of a cannon? Like, you wake up and unlike most days, you don’t feel tired, or anxious, or hungover? Instead of thinking things like, “ugh …coffee” or “why didn’t I go to bed earlier, last night, like when I first started falling asleep watching the Super Bowl post game?” . . . instead you think, “I’m going to make breakfast for my whole family, and do 25 push-ups, and take the stairs at work, and I’m going to tell my wife I love her, and I’m going feed birds.”
You know you’re going to have those days. I don’t think anyone can live in a perpetual state like that. We all find ourselves, on other days, struggling to make it to lunchtime and all we can think about is that giant greasy burger and french fries we’re going to devour, even though we know we shouldn’t, because we know that in those 15 minutes it takes to eat our sack of Five Guys . . . wow, we’re gonna be soooooo happy.
And we ignore the reality that in about an hour after eating that 1/2 pounder, we’re going to be even more miserable.
But there are days …you think, “I could be President of the World if I could just maintain this level of intensity. What did I eat last night? What did I do differently last night and yesterday that made me feel this way?”
It’s my theory you’ll never know how to keep yourself always operating at that level. Life has ebbs and flows, and our energy, interest, and peak performance moments come and go.
My advice, however, is learn to recognize when you’re “hitting that zone” or “in the zone” and make plans for such moments. And when you find yourself feeling invincible, do the impossible for as long as that feeling lasts.
In the blurry, optimism fueled haze I’ve been operating in all day, I’ve told my best friend he and I are going to write a book together STARTING NOW! I told another friend of mine I’d write and do all his social media FREE for a month. I crossed more things off my to-do list at work this morning than I did all last week. I laid out a conversation agenda for my wife and I this evening, so we could discuss our Life Plan 2012 (yes, she is probably annoyed, but she’s learned to live with my moments of enlightenment). I ate a very sensible breakfast, an early lunch, and I’ll have a second lunch to re-stimulate my metabolism. I’m going for a run tonight. I’m going to write two chapters of the other book I’m helping write, and I’m going to schedule an entire weeks worth of social media and blogging for my 3 clients AND watch and write about The Bachelor for spunkybean.
It’s crazy. I feel awesome! I’ll probably work, write, and feel this way all the way until midnight or 1 a.m. and that will mean tomorrow I’m going to feel tired, overwhelmed by the tasks the Monday version of Don set in motion, and I won’t be able to muster up the same kick-ass energy.
For today – I’m going to capitalize on it. You can’t bottle it. You can’t store it in energy cubits. You simply have to recognize it when its happening, lasso it, and hang on and watch your best self bend spoons with your mind and climb Mt. Everest.
Huh? Maybe this is what they mean by “seize the day.”
Don Kowalewski 