I didn’t have a lot of energy today, and even my IBM team mate noticed
it. Perhaps it was the stress of fighting with the wiki I was using
this morning. Perhaps information overload from trying to organize so
many case studies and thoughts. Perhaps it was last night’s
high-energy DemoCamp, when I was out until 11. Perhaps it was the
embarrassment of being late and needing help finding the meeting room
this afternoon. Perhaps it was the effort of forcing myself to stay
awake (or at least not nod off too obviously) during the
conference-call interview. (I have to get better at sitting
still in one spot and listening actively.) Whatever the reason—or
combinations of reasons—today wasn’t one of my best days.

I did find the energy, though, to give one of my friends a big warm
virtual hug and a pep talk that she much appreciated. There’s always
energy for the important things in life.

Good thing I learned: many people don’t mind helping if you ask them
nicely. It makes them smile, too, remembering what it was like when
they were new. =)

How can I make this better in the future?

• No more late nights. No matter how much fun hanging out with the DemoCamp folks is, I need to set a curfew and stick to it.
• After stressful episodes, I can give myself some re-centering time.
• Shifting between writing on the computer and writing by hand helps me push myself awake.
• I shouldn’t be embarrassed about excusing myself for a stretch, a glass of water, or other kinds of breaks.
• Maybe I can bring mints or sour candies to stimulate my senses.
• More active participation in interviews can help. Maybe I can ask Kathryn if I can take the lead in asking the questions based on the outline, so that it forces me to learn how to ask questions and logical follow-up questions.

What do you do during low-energy days?

Random Emacs symbol: x-uses-old-gtk-dialog – Function: Return t if the old Gtk+ file selection dialog is used.