What should I do?
“What should I do?” my wife asked me last night as I was getting to bed. I am an early to bed, early riser (at least the intent) and she is the opposite. A night owl.
“What should I do?” she asked. “I have an important presentation to present at 8 AM tomorrow.” “Should I finish it now, or should I get up at 5 AM and do it in the morning?”
She is a get-it-done kind of gal, with a lifetime of getting things done rather than leaving things behind kind of personality. An anti-thesis to me. I am a ride by my pants at the last minute kind of person driven by external motivation and pressure. In this situation, I would have easily told myself that I will be fresh at 5 AM or maybe even get this done at 4 AM one day and that this was the way I would have rolled.
But, this is not me. And I could not slip away from advising. Taking a Socratic stance and saying “What would you like to do?” was not really an option. I had to give my opinion. I have been asked for one.
And I did. I tried to put myself into her shoes knowing her well for over thirty years and trying to think like her, I finally said “You will be happier finishing it rather than doing it tomorrow. It is not really you to do it the other way” — and made her some weak tea to consume and get the work done. And I with my finite energies went to bed.
I, later on, came to know the next morning that she did pull the energy out of her hat and ploughed away at the work and finished it half-past midnight.
Well, at least I think I gave her good advice which was “Be Yourself. Be consistently yourself.” What else could I have told her instead?
Though I wonder, why is an intelligent gal like her working at half-past midnight? Is that not what she is trying to change at work? The culture of effort. Irrational use of time. Meetings all day. Working all evening and weekends.
So I am hoping she finds an answer to those. If she wants to. Creative smartness. Not slog.