Taking cues from the Qs

Perhaps you’ve heard of IQ – intelligence quotient -- a metric that measures, well, your intelligence. I don’t think I’ve ever had it measured. Probably a good thing. I’m certainly not interested in this number NOW, as I’ve lost several miles per hour off my mental acuity fastball. Want proof? Oh gosh. Just hang around me for any stretch of time during the day. For even more tangible evidence? In this week’s running column for Dutchess County’s Finest Daily Newspaper, I mentioned how Spencer Johnson outdistanced Luke Shane by 35 minutes in Sunday’s Dutchess County Classic Marathon. Now, the great Spencer ran 2:22:23; finishing 35 minutes behind that is still a damn good marathon. However! Our boy Luke ran 2:47:42 – for those keeping score at home (and I know you are!), that’s 25 minutes (about 1 minute per mile behind Spencer, interestingly). Simple math. For me, I guess, not so simple.

Not sure why, but for the past few days, I’ve been fixated on the idea of creating “quotients” -- like the IQ. While mine are “original ideas,” they are way more dumbed down and more of a self-assessment tool rather than an SAT-like exam. One “Q” I came up with? The Weariness Quotient (WQ). On a scale of 1 to 10, rate yourself on mental and physical weariness. This is a negative-process scale; the lower the number, the better. I’m not getting any younger and life’s not getting any easier. Yesterday morning, as I self-assessed my creaky body, dealt with gnawing open-loop thoughts circling in my head, and also looked in the mirror, I came up with this WQ idea and intuitively gave myself a score of 8. It was shaping up to be that kind of day. And in the realm of self-fulfilling prophesy, it turned out just like that … and more! At one point, I thought, “hmm, it’s up to 9 now!” I said this out loud, gleefully, like it was a GOOD thing (until I remembered, oh wait, larger number = no bueno).

However, as I was driving into Marist in the morning, it dawned on me: I’m generally a glass-half-full kind of guy. This WQ definitely suffers from negativity bias. The “scale of 1 to 10” thing is better when the higher numbers are more favorable. One notable exception: When you are in an emergency room and the doctor asks for your pain level on a scale of 1 to 10 … higher number is definitely NOT better. But hey, let’s work on this. Let’s get our head out of the sand and think positively. How about a Gratitude Quotient (GQ)? Rate your level of gratefulness each morning, and aim for an above-average number! Wait, wasn’t GQ a famous magazine? OK. How about a Positivity Quotient (PQ)? How many positive thoughts and actions can you come up with to start your day? Or an Inspiration Quotient (hey! another IQ!) or Motivation Quotient (MQ), aim for a 5 or higher in them? I could go on and on with this alphabet soup, but you get the idea.

For now, I can only stick with one original idea at a time. So, I’ll aim to lower my WQ today and for as many ensuing days as possible. You can too! Set your goal for a sub-5 WQ every day. Choose to be energized, choose to have a spring in your step, choose to up your game by lowering your WQ score. Or at the very least, if you wake up weary, try to make something productive of the new day.