Today Was A Good Day
Net net.
“Just wakin’ up in the mornin’, gotta thank God,
I don’t know, but today seems kinda odd.”
Ice Cube had this vibe to the way he opened up with these lyrics for his mega hit, “It Was A Good Day”. Like, nna men…here we go again. And that is the MO for me…get up, gear up, and plan to have what I call a “net positive day”. As in, when everything is added up, tabulated, calibrated for outliers and edge cases…the ups outweigh the downs. More entries in the positive column than the negative column. Even when the positives are small positives, no wahala, then I go for volume. Let’s rack them up, Oga Chidi. Micro positives, mini positives, regular positives. Beat the Big Boss in the video game, walk for an hour, speak to someone I haven’t spoken to in a while, enjoy a nice bowl of ice cream, write a Fashi…whatever.
Shoot, if the day is threatening to be a net negative, I get gangster. I try to close out the day with good stuff. Read my carbs (no veggies at night, that’s for the morning)…a delicious chapter from whatever fiction book I’m into at the moment. Put on some music (”hey Google, play my Net Positive playlist on Spotify”), see if I can crank out a two-minute plank without cracking my waist, being a grey gold has its joys. This is not one of them. Most times I write in my journal…arguing with myself, downloading, uploading, and sideloading with my favorite .5 mm HB Kuru Toga in tow. Whatever it takes to push the day over the line into the positive arena. That way I can claim, “Yes, net, net…it was a good day.”
When you ask me, “Chidi…how body?”, and I say “I dey…I’m good”, it is true. Not that there were no negatives, they just got outscored by the positives.
Listen…this is self-preservation for me o. For real. Because some days, the negatives pile up and they come for you with a vengeance. With extreme prejudice, walahi. You want peace? They DO NOT WANT PEACE!! THEY WANT PROBLEMS. ALWAYS. (I’ve been waiting to use that line for a long time, lol). They just want to set up shop in your shop and take over your entire operation. They want the keys to your inner fortress. So you have to arm yourself and fight, sisters and brothers. As in, serious fight. Gear up, gather your weapons, and gladiate in the arena of life. Every day, my friend.
Ok, so for instance…net net, 2025 was not a good year for this bobo. And yet, my recollection of 2025 was that most of my days were net positives.
Wait…Oga Chidi, how? The math is not mathing. Don’t worry, it’s ok…I studied Complex Variables (the world where i² = -1, I know, I know…I’m a nerd), so let me math it out for you.
Ok, so it was because I was focused on being present every day, doing everything I could to tip the ledger toward the positive column.
“But if you had more positive days, how could the year be negative?”
Well, a few events rocked the ledger so heavily that they outweighed weeks of daily wins. That’s the thing about big negatives. They don’t play o. It’s like I had record revenue, but negative profit. Research & Development aka hard lessons ate up the budget. One big negative can swallow thirty good days whole and still be looking for more. So…the daily focus kept me in the fight. Simple. When you zoom out, yes ma, 2025 was a net negative. On the ground, where life was lifing…many of the days were wins. Both of those things are true.
And yes, the big positives did their thing too. They hit just as hard from the other direction. You know, those moments that rewrite your whole week. A win that makes the negatives step back and process. And so it goes beyond just stacking mini positives to stay afloat. It is laying down the conkri aka concrete for the runway, so when the big positives come, they land smoothly, and like Naija passengers after the plane lands, I unbuckle my seat belt, jump up and clap and shout “Alleluia. Thank you, Jesus!”
(If you haven’t experienced a Nigerian plane landing, you haven’t lived. It is like going to a revival.)
In today’s lingua franca aka parlance aka language…this is like Claude CoWork in the ChidiOS. It is how I keep that inner fortress fortified and standing. One day at a time, one task at a time, one skill at a time, one micro, mini, or regular positive at a time. Because the big negatives will come. With their own micros, minis, and regulars. They will come heavy o. Like a Big Boss. When they do, the moat b.w you and the madness is the stack of net positive days you built one by one, racking them up, building out your stash of positive deposits.
So when someone asks how I’m doing, and I say I’m good, I mean it. Net net? Like my man Ice Cube…”I gotta say, today was a good day.”