It is so logical for me, yet so hard to apply.
Pace yourself.
Start small.
Don’t cram.
Take your breaks.
Even though I know it, I continously catch myself over-pacing, then slightly burning out. Many adult improvers, especially the ones successful in their career, struggle with the same problem.
The Core Belief
I’ve realized that the core belief that drives me into this issue over and over again is that I want to “get the most out of my time”.
That means a week doing less than I could is a risk. Even a shame. It means I’m lazy. Not doing anything with my life.
If I look at it logically, I have to laugh about myself.
A week enjoying my time, working well but not until I explode, getting a little bored and maybe getting a little bit less done than usual actually sounds great.
As a matter of fact, for many, not having to be productive all the time is a goal.
There are whole movements pushing towards financial independence, so they can retire early (FIRE). Ironically, most of us do it by pushing ourselves so hard that the journey sucks.
The Mexican Fisherman
This reminds me of the famous parable of the American Business man and the Mexican fisherman.
The mexican fisherman catches enough fish for the day, then relaxes, drinks wine, plays guitar and spends time with his loved ones.
The american businessman sees this as crazy and has a whole presentation on how to build a business, buy several boats… with the end goal of selling the company, to be able to relax, drink wine, play guitar and spend time with loved ones.
A reminder to plan, start small, enjoy life
I write this mostly as a reminder for myself. But I believe some of you will benefit from it, too.
Let’s go back to the basics.
Plan what we want to do.
Start with less than we believe is what we can do in an ideal week.
Take our breaks.
Enjoy and do it with good energy.
When we have extra time, instead of feeling bad about it, let’s just enjoy it.
The one thing that always re-centers me is re-reading 4000 weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Highly recommended.
Keep improving, but at a pace you can enjoy,
GM Noël Studer
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