When we push too far
without keeping the balance
Hey friend.
This time the subject is a bit different.
Tell me if you can relate (or at least you get what I’m saying).
Main quest 🛡
Is with great confidence that I can say the following:
The majority of us here don’t have a problem with being “lazy”. Quite the contrary.
We can be the ones that keep going and keep pushing much more than the average
person. But sometimes, our results don’t speak for themselves.
While the majority are lazy, unmotivated, or get overwhelmed with too much before
even starting…
We can be found on the other end of the spectrum.
We take on challenges, we get into new areas, build projects (and probably start a lot more
than we can handle).
Statistically speaking, we have the most chances to become “successful” due to our
growth mindset, our disposition of trying new things, and the required traits to keep on
going when most give up or quit too soon.
Unfortunately, life is not a series of challenges or races to finish.
More often than not we make more progress but not being always in “go mode” but
instead taking the time to pause, reflect, and choose our direction.
Or how other people call it “picking our battles” wisely.
But this post is not about “work-life balance” or the importance of resting and taking
time for ourselves, it goes beyond that.
Sure, those are important concepts most of us (speaking for myself first of all) need to
remember & practice more often.
Though what I want to bring to your attention is that in a wider scale.
It’s recognizing the times or seasons of life.
If you look at nature, everything has a certain time.
All natural processes have a series of steps that happen in their own moment.
We can try to speed them up to get the results sooner but that only works sometimes
(in others you can’t no matter how much you try).
Living in the countryside has made me intensely aware of that.
There is a time to prepare the soil and a time to throw the seeds.
A season of tilling and sowing.
And a season of harvesting and processing the produce.
In the same way, we as online professionals and knowledge workers, have also times
and seasons we must respect.
(Or else the burnout gremlin will rear its ugly head.)
The difficult part is not just being aware of that fact first of all. But to also be able to
recognize the seasons and use them to our advantage.
The current work climate and “hustle culture” have done more harm than good
making us believe we should be on the attack every single day of every single week
for the 52 weeks of the year.
We have to be out there “grinding” or else someone more determined, more focused,
more “hungry” for success will do it and we will lose our chance.
That does hold some truth but it applies mostly to those who don’t want to put in the work. Who want the most results while doing the least effort.
The ones who want to earn “the big bucks” while working as few hours as possible.
That archetype is very familiar to me. Most of the people around me in real life are like
that to some degree.
But I’m not talking about them (I don’t talk to those anyway).
Having balance is not just knowing when to put in the deep work and when to rest.
That can work on a day to day basis or as a weekly thing.
It is also knowing at what season of your life you’re currently in and how to make
the most of it.
Like those terms that have gotten pretty popular in the self-development space.
“Monk mode”, “ghost mode” and “beast mode”, “warrior mode”.
Sometimes the season calls for unbroken focus, relentless determination, and almost obsessive dedication to the craft and the work you’re doing for months.
Other times the season calls for deep reflection, disconnection from all the noise and distractions of internet and social media, and taking time for ourselves to realign with our purpose and recharge our creative energies.
So how can we recognize the seasons and use the time in the best way to move closer to our goals without hating the process or burning out?
I don’t have any surefire answers because I’m starting to be more aware of this whole concept more and more for the past year. I’m mostly in the “discovery” and “experimentation” phase.
What I do know, is that doing this on our own is super challenging. That’s when we need a group of trusted friends or partners in our corner. To help keep us accountable and also helps us illuminate our blind spots.
It’s definitely a difficult path to take. And even more so on our own.
Looking at nature again, wolves are only lonely when they’re starving and about to die. Under normal conditions they live and move as a pack. They stay together to ensure their survival.
Something similar happens with us.
We can try and do things on our own. And if we can accomplish great things by ourselves, imagine the results and the impact we can achieve if we work together.
Even more so in these uncertain times we’re living in.
We may not know how to face all the situations or have all the answers.
But I’m fully confident that we can deal with everything and discover solutions to those problems if we work together.
Like in the Captain America: Civil War movie.
United we stand. Divided we fall.
Experiments 🧪
My experiment with creatine has worked so far although it’s a bit too early to come to conclusions yet.
According to theory, taking 5g per day will take around 3 weeks for the results to show in a visible manner.
Since I told you I would start taking it, the 1st week was building the habit of taking it regularly.
In the 2nd one, I only missed a day and was taking 3-4g in each dose.
The 3rd week (the past one) I took 5g every time without missing a single day.
So I should need a week and a half more to truly load those reserves.
Although I’ve already seen some bouts of extra energy coupled with the fact that for whatever reason I can only sleep or take naps on the afternoon. Even if I only have 3-4 hours of sleep on more than one day, I only start feeling the tiredness after 1 pm.
Weird quirks of my metabolism I guess (also the fact that if I drink coffee early in the day, I messed up my digestion, get an upset tummy, and pretty much can’t eat for the rest of the day).
To consider 🤔
Do you have a trusted friend or partner that you can talk with about this concept of understanding the seasons and knowing when the push or to rest?
How could you be accountable to each other and get support to not fall into extremes.
That’s it for this time.
It’s been quite a tough month so far. Hopefully the next 2 weeks are better.
Take care and catch you next Sunday.
Cheers,
Juan.
There is something to be said for trying to "go with the flow."
That might speak more to being curious and openhearted--and being mindful of the habit of hustling for worthiness.
I definitely can resonate with this post. The closest thing that I can compare to this is my journey here on Substack. I have been trying to keep up with my posts, notes, and my own fiction that I write, along with working a full-time job from home. There is the fact that I am type 2 diabetic, and there are days like today, for example, where I was so drained and washed out I couldn't get up at my usual 4 AM which is my goal to do daily to get up and write before my eight hour shift at 11:30 AM. However, there are days like today that my body says Bill, we can't do this, sorry. Sometimes that feeling lingers at work and says Bill, you need to rest. I will take off work but work on my writing. I feel I am always doing some form of work here. But I don't want to not have a day where I'm not building on my newsletter and risk losing subscribers or not finishing my novel I am trying to write. I guess the other part that plays in my head is I'm 54, and I'm not sure why, but ever since turning that age, I feel like I need to accomplish something besides working and taking calls. At any rate, I deeply understand this post and appreciate that you wrote it. Thanks for sharing, Mr. Juan. Blessings. :) :)