What a week. From volatility in the markets to the crazy weather across the country, we all deserve to take a deep breather this weekend to end off January.
Let’s all take a deep breathe together. I’m waiting….
Inhale….exhale….inhale…and exhale.
Did that make you feel a little lighter?
I hope it did because we are busier than ever for no reason!
Being busy and getting a lot done can have its rewards. It is a great feeling when you check that errand or mundane task you’ve been putting off on your to do list because life is more enjoyable without it. Especially being home, we are able to be somewhat efficient multitaskers and save time as well.
But is it really worth it?
Walking 2 ft to the fridge feels great when you get that hunger cue and no need to stand in the frigid cold to refill the gas pump before your commute to work every morning. We used to wish, at least I did that I wouldn’t have to commute to school anymore. I dreamed of a day that it would all go remote.
Well, the problem is the grass is rarely greener on the other side. With being home, we are not only working longer hours that lead to burnout and anxiety, less connected which is horrible for our mental health as species, sleeping less with all the horrific news stories and have no peace to waste time, yes I said waste time, we are less productive as well.
All In The Feels
The best feeling one can get is by accomplishing something they never thought they could. I’m sure you have no doubt in yourself that you can do the laundry or pick up your meds from the pharmacy, but the small wins in life are usually more impactful and keep us going far longer than those once in a blue moon big wins because realistically, how big is your day?
90% of our days are on repeat. We wake up, hopefully at the same time each morning, brush our teeth, drink that coffee that stains our teeth, put on an appropriate top for Zoom and bottoms can stay the same, maybe exercise and eat well if interested and fill it up with work until we feel mentally exhausted. Since there’s no commute, school vs family people separation, we feel obligated to work harder.
Sure you can grow you business to reach $100m in revenue each year, but that’s a unrealistic goal at first. Stay humble, reasonable and realistic. You’ll be happier if you brush your hair as a habit.
Daily Wins
While we’re all stuck at home, the least you can do to boost your enthusiasm and feel proud of yourself for once is to do something scary each day. Don’t make it something huge that won’t happen like riding the tallest rollercoaster or taking your best friend out on a date, especially now.
Instead, celebrate the small moments and emphasize them as important. Looking back on your day, you would most likely be proud of the small little wins that you did then that big unexpected win that came out of nowhere.
There’s a great sense of accomplishment when you get a lot done, but at what cost? Perhaps being a little less efficient can actually make you more content. Sorry to say but you’re not anymore special nor more important if you have more things to do.
Until HS, I assumed if I crammed everything on to my plate, people would think of me differently. They would see me as superior and that I have important things to do all day long. They must have a compelling reason to be a part of my schedule to be invited into a thirty minute chunk of time. What an honor. Long story short, that means you have no priorities or sense of time management. Sure, my day was filled, but for every other moment of the day, it was useless. How are you really spending your days? We usually denote the work day as M-S but why? Why don’t you become an entrepreneur that’s more fulfilled and works at the times that are best for them. I’m sure checking social media, refreshing email, eating, sleeping, exercising, etc. is all part of your day as well, so why are you letting it escape?
We waste our time so badly while complaining we don’t have enough.
Health Check
Blocking out time to simply think is one of the most overrated but easiest and most efficient things you can do for your mental health. No wonder most of us are depressed and lonely! We can’t stand spending a few minutes alone in peace. We feel socially awkward, alone. We would rather see our money go to waste on meditation exercises, Headspace and Calm apps to justify we are using our money appropriately even if we never use them than sit still for 20 minutes in our thoughts.
You are their favorite customer. You probably never use half the subscriptions you have anymore once signed up due to a fad yet you still pay them and see no results. Stick with something free before you move on to the premium version of anything. That trick will not only save you time which is equivalent to money, but also help you establish better habits down the road. I’ve never once purchased anything that helped me with my mental health and contribute my thoughts on here. I’ve only either read it online for free or watched YouTube videos. That’s it. Be creative, smart and out of the box a bit, even though it really doesn’t take much effort. I’ve never paid for free music, I use free Spotify and no apps. Less technology the better. Just because others are using it or free doesn’t mean it is good for you since in those cases, you are usually the product.
When it comes to sleep, it’s the same thing. We pride on being busy yet according to the National Sleep Foundation, “Human beings are the only species that deliberately deprive themselves of sleep for no apparent gain,” “Many people walk through their lives in an underslept state, not realizing it.” Sleep deficiency is linked with various problems that we’ve all heard of ranging from concentration to even a shorter life span but since we have the number one motivating factor of money to keep us going, we neglect health as wealth.
And don’t try to think sleep is like the bank. You can’t accumulate sleep debt and try today it off the next night. The brain has no capacity together back that lost sleep so might as well pay attention to how you are treating yourself before becoming busy.
“Busy, Busy Busy Must Be Funny”
When you think of being busy, you want to accomplish as much as you can in the day. When you say you are busy, it typically means during business hours, 9–5pm. That’s not busy, you are just limited to what you can do based on the world’s productivity time slot. In fact, when you look at when our melatonin hits us like a ton of bricks (sleepiness hormone) it is exactly after lunch mid day and once again right before we end work at the traditional but bogus time of 5pm.
The problem with staying home is that we feel we have no excuse to stop working. We believe since we don’t fill our wasted-yet very necessary time to recalibrate, we can get 10x more done.
That is the dumb way to go. That immediately will lead you closer to burnout which is very hard to fix once in that cycle. Just talk to any consultant, trader or investment banker and they’ll love to chat about it with you.
Instead, to be productive and work at your max peak, allocate your working window by waking up earlier because that’s when we have the most energy. Even if you’re a night owl, you still have more energy in teh morning due to the sunlight. Vitamin C and natural sunlight will inhibit melatonin. At night you are simply tricking yourself into thinking you work best because you glare lights in your face. That’s fake melatonin.
By working first thing, you will not only be able to accomplish far more than any of your colleagues-not that this is a competition or anything, your day will be done by 12pm. Structure your day around you, not necessarily what everyone else does to feel less busy. Your goal isn’t to feel more busy.
Cram
Stop trying to fill in all the work you can from 9–5. Maximize your time so your work is centered around people instead of tasks. Another way to think about it is not associating your job with work. I’ve never set a work life boundary because that means I don’t treat work or school as a student as fun. Make your life easier and more enjoyable by disassociating things in work as serious and boring and family time as fun and wishful.
Wrapping It Up & Cooling Down
Getting something done feels better than great, it feels ecstatic like you are on the top of the world. It only propels you to work harder like a lottery winner when they loose. Since it is a fair game and every number has the same chance of being part of the jackpot win, they try again. Winners skip out on trying again more than the losers.
But let’s push aside addictive gambling for a second, what about in our own lives?
Once we accomplish something, get a dose of dopamine and feel proud, do we really feel like going after something else?
Usually not right? This is a sign of burnout. You’ve accomplished something but truly don’t like the feeling of it. You forced yourself to do it becuase it needs to get done. The more you think of needing to work as mandatory or obligatory, the harder it will be to keep it up in the long run.
Instead of trying to be busy, try to structure your day around you first. The only thing in life that you need to take care of is yourself so why not prirotize that?
How you handle your emotions and thoughts are everything. Everything you feel is your fault.
Now get back to work.