You’re running out of power.

There’s a story behind that.

This is your daily message from Chad number 1155 to upgrade your mental game today by telling yourself a better story, because the most important story you hear is the story you tell yourself. Likes, follows, stars, comments or subscriptions (whatever way your platform gives you to interact with content like this helps others find these messages.

Here’s the upgrade:

You think you need more energy, but upgraded thinking knows the real question is how you’re using the energy you have.

Here’s the story:

Voyager 2 launched in 1977. It’s now more than 13 billion miles from Earth, sending back data from interstellar space — a place no other spacecraft can reach. But it’s dying. Its plutonium power source loses about four watts every year. And every watt lost means another instrument goes dark.

So this summer the team at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) tried something they called the “Big Bang.” In one moment, they shut down certain powered parts — including an old tape recorder they’d kept running for years mostly for its leftover heat — and swapped in lower-energy alternatives to keep the critical systems warm enough to survive the cold of deep space.

If anything went wrong, there was no undo. Commands take about nineteen hours to reach the spacecraft, one way. They sent the instructions and waited two days. It worked. They bought at least one more year for the three instruments still doing real science out there. 50 years of scientific data from a spacecraft originally expected to run for 5 years.

The project manager, Suzanne Dodd, said, “Every watt saved now is a decision about what data humanity still gets to learn from out there.” They didn’t have enough power to run everything. So they made a decision. They turned off the things that was using power with limited ROI and they saved the power for the thing that was still teaching them something new.

How does this apply to you? You have a finite amount of energy today. It’s draining whether you like it or not. And you are running instruments right now that do nothing but drain your power — the worry, the scrolling, the old grudge, the argument you keep rehearsing.

You don’t need more watts. You don’t need more power. You need to decide how you use what you have. You are a steward of your daily energy. You need to decide what they keep alive. Turn off what is uselessly draining energy. Shut down the unimportant. There is an opportunity cost to activities. When energy is used in one area, it can’t be used in another. Save the power for what still sends something back.

The better story to tell yourself is, “I get to decide what my energy keeps alive.” You are a renewable resource, but not an endless one. A 49-year-old machine, kept alive by people who refuse to let go, because they decided the data was worth it. You get to make that same decision today. Not about a spacecraft, but you.

Tell me a story of stewarding your power to fromchadsmith@gmail.com. Send someone a text and tell them, “Guard your power.”