I used to have this quirky habit of always charging my phone to 100% and only charging it, after it died. I was so proud of this. The story I told myself was: I am being a great steward of my resources. In fact, I used to feel bad for the phones that were being charged otherwise. So careless I thought. I viewed their owners like parents who neglect their kids and as such jeopardize their quality as well as most importantly lengths of life.
Quite a hyperbole … huh?
So you can imagine my surprise when I read an article online where doing what I have been doing is exactly the worst thing you can do to a battery. As it turn out, the battery is most stressed when nearly empty or when full, because it keeps recharging itself to stay at 100%. As such, you should aim to stay between 20% to 80%.
Then I got to thinking …. isn’t this a great analogy of how I treat myself. Do I have habits, that I think are good for me, which are actually harmful?
I think the key is focusing on the story you tell yourself. Particularly when you are patting yourself on the back.
The first thing that came to my mind are my going to bed habits. I get up early for 5 am crossfit, so getting early to bed as well is in best interest, except for the fact that when I stay up longer to read, the story I’m telling myself is that I am a hard worker. Except that it’s not entirely like that. To tell you the truth I get side tracked, often reading random stories on Facebook, because I feel like I should stay up to maintain my self-proclaimed “hard worker” reputation.
Frequently it comes down to filling the time, rather than making the time count. So next time I feel like I’m doing that … I’m just going to go to bed …. Because I know that me getting distracted, is my body’s way of telling me I need to get some rest.
What are the times when you feel like you are going way and above the call of duty? How well is that serving you?
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