In the last couple of weeks, there’s been a lot of chatter in our community around working hard vs. fueling yourself.
Is there a time and place to push your limits of productivity?
If you’re in a cashflow crunch, or you have financial targets you’re falling short of, or you have a deadline coming up, don’t you have to push?
There’s two assumptions to understand before we answer this question:
- “It took 2 years to dig yourself into this hole, it’ll take more than 2 minutes to dig ourself out”
Danny Iny said this to me when I came to him nearly in tears from exhaustion. My role became more than I could handle, there was too much for me to do, I was approaching burnout, and I wanted relief yesterday. If you’ve ever felt like “I can’t take this anymore!!!!”, that’s where I was at. - Different types of work take different types of energy.
If you have 100 emails to schedule, barring any errors from exhaustion, the email scheduled while you were depleted will be just as effective as the emails scheduled when you were energized. The same is not true or WRITING 100 emails. Sure Chat GPT could write 100 emails in the time you can write 1, but if you’re coming at it with the right energy, your 1 email will be way more resonant and impactful.
So assuming you agree with those assumptions, let’s dive deeper…
On point 1, it’s probably your hustle energy that got you in this mess to begin with. Let’s face it, you made some less that optimal decisions if you’re in a bind either financially or for time. No judgement, it happens to the best of us. Depending how deep in the hole you’re in, the way out will be different. But the way out is not more of the same. It’ll be a substantial shift in your approach.
On point 2, hopefully the vast majority of your work is thought work, where your energy has a direct impact on the result. If that’s the case, regardless of your current situation, making decisions that continue the burnout cycle are actually digging you deeper, not getting you out.
That said, let’s not forget the wisdom in Danny’s words “2 years” vs. “2 minutes”. It’s not practical to abandon everything in the name of refueling yourself.
It would be financial irresponsible and push you farther back.
So what’s the solution?
- Micro self-care: activities that take less than 15 mins and leave you feeling more energized than at the start of the activity. Examples:
- Taking 4 deep breaths
- Going for a walk
- Stretching / yoga
- Meditation
- Drinking a coffee while enjoying a view out the window
- Taking a shower and tuning into how good the hot water feels
- Pareto Principle (80/20 principle): I’m sure you’ve heard of this, but what I mean here is:
- 20% Water Activities: Like your body will die first without water, what are the 20% of “water activities” your business needs most. Scale back the 80% of activities that are in fact optional. This is hard to do, it takes some people months to let go, but invariably when my clients make this shift, they see better results (in business and energy).
- 80% Boundaries / Decisions: It’s time to start making different decisions. Say NO to (at least) 80% of what comes your way. This allows you to conitnue saying yes to the 20%.
Once you’ve made these two changes, you’ll start working your way out of the hole.
It won’t feel like you’re pushing anymore.
You’ll feel the relief of stepping off the hamsterwheel.
You’ll be in choice.
And most importantly, you’ll be energized by your work…
Which will lead to better business results (which let’s be honest, is energizing too).
And long may that new vertuous cycle continue 🙂