I’ve quit a challenging full time job as a consultant. And soon I found myself doubling my caffeine intake.
I couldn’t understand why.
But I realized my body was addicted to the grind and stress. It felt good to wake up before my body wanted to. And work way longer than my mind wanted to.
This is not the only type of stress. Learning about this new concept can help you manage your productivity sustainably.
Stress is a good thing. There is a thing called eustress which is a good type of stress.
Let go of the idea that every type of stress is making you anxious.
This is what you will feel when you’re experiencing eustress:
- Energized
- Positive
- Excited
- Confident
- Focused
If that rings a bell, that’s because it is exactly what you will feel during a flow state.
There is one important thing to remember about flow state:
There is a brief period of resistance before you enter flow. This is what my mind is saying when I start writing this newsletter
- It’s not going to work out
- I don’t feel creative
- I need to wait for inspiration
- Let’s research the best way to avoid slugs eating my coriander seedlings
15 minutes later I’m writing this newsletter in a calm and focused way.
Stress is embedded into our culture.
Our culture is Upbeat, high energy, caffeinated, productive. To the point where we – including myself – feel guilty for not being productive, every day.
I agree that we are made to work. We are also made to rest.
Ants are productive but they take one minute powernaps, up to 400 per day!
Lions sleep 15 to 20 hours a day.
Humanity is getting less and less sleep. The CEO of netflix even says that their main competitor is your sleep.
We are living in the “always on” culture.
So how do you get things done without the anxious type of stress?
Use the adrenaline score framework.
What is your adrenaline score right now?
Are you 1: mega relaxed, as if you just had a bone cracking neck snapping massage?
Or are you 10: Hyper stressed and anxious. You’re fueled up on caffeine and chemically processed sacred plants. You feel like a wolf of Wallstreet when the stock market is bearish.
Notice your score between 1 and 10.
Where do you need to be?
Are you going to give a ted talk about your awesome pet rock, you might want a score of 7.
Are you going to give people a guided meditation and re-connect them to their inner sloth? a score of 4 will be enough.
If your score needs to be higher you can do the following:
- Take a cold shower
- Drink some caffeine, mate or coffee.
- Dance your best impersonation of an electric eel
- Listen upbeat music
When you feel too hyped up you can:
- Breathe deeply, a few times.
- Meditate
- Journal to structure your thought and get a clear goal
- Caress your cat or your pet rock
- Lay on your bed and listen to calm music
Me and people around me feel bad when we are not productive. You feel worthless when you didn’t work at least 8 hours a day. Your self worth depends on your output.
You only feel relief after finishing writing a paper, an article or website. After which you finally allow yourself to Relax.
But not for long.
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What is it about our culture that makes us so obsessive about work?
In THIS video I talk about the core of our societies way of thinking.
In short. It started with philosophers like Plato.
The ancient Greeks believed that creation is where to god Apollo and Dionysus meet. This is the fine line between:
- Order and chaos
- War and orgies
- Clarity and intoxication
- Logics and emotions
The Greek appreciated BOTH sides.
Our current culture only values Appolonian traits like clarity, order, logics and structure.
Nietszche – the funky moustache guy – said that this created a dangerous shadow in our culture. We repress the chaotic, intoxicated, emotional and orgiastic side of ourselves (Yes I made that last word up).
What you resist persists.
When did this worship of structure an clarity start?
It’s not a moment when it happened. Traces of structure, clarity and order were found a long time ago.
There are archeological findings of pre-human times. These suggest that our ancestors already made a division of labour.
Archeologists found pieces of big rock chippings next to smaller and smaller piles.
This suggests that the big strong caveman did this rough work.
Handed his stone over to the next caveman or woman, who chipped away more stone.
The stone ended up at the caveperson who had the most eye for detail – that is, if they didn’t lose one from chipping rocks all day – who turned it into a refined and sharp stone tool.
Were they obsessed with productivity?
Did they have to show up from 9 to 5 and wear their best caveman suit?
Did they have production targets?
Most likely not. As they likely couldn’t count to more than 5 mammoths.
This productivity obsession is an emergent property of the system we are living in.
An emergent property is when parts come together and create a new function.
Here are a few examples:
- The parts in a vacuum cleaner individually don’t have the capacity to suck but together they suck very well. (I know what you’re thinking of right now)
- None of your individual 170 billion brain cells think it’s you. Yet together you think you are you and feel a sense of self.
- A violin, cello, clarinet or drum player alone is a musicians. Hunderds of them create Beethoven’s fifth symphony. Ta ta ta tuuummm…
- An ant alone will die. but millions will make a thriving nest.
In the same way, its not in an individuals nature to work from 9 to 5. Yet we do because that’s how the system works.
We are hunters and gatherers. Sometimes you can work from 8 till 8 and sometimes you work from 12 to 3.
You hunt that mammoth and work for a week. Then you rest.
You gather that chicken of the woods mushroom like I did last week, and than you rest.
I love working, don’t get me wrong. It brings meaning into life.
Why does our current systems makes us productivity obsessed?
Here’s a list:
- Your caretakers made you feel like you are worthy, only when you produce something. You internalized that voice.
- Some of your colleagues are thinking the same thing as you. And no one speaks up because we all think it’s normal.
- The production line – invented during the industrial revolution – can’t stand still. We need a reliable workforce that shows up daily. This will change.
- We are living in an achievement society. They told you that numbers on your report card determine your future.
- The panopticon effect, a.k.a. peer pressure. I lived in Japan, people never leave the office before their boss leaves.
- Money – which is great, don’t get me wrong – is virtual in essence. This makes it that you can never have enough. Unlike apples, shoes or yerba mate. Okay maybe not that last one.
- A deep sense of unsafety. Look at the covid pandemic. people started hoarding toilet paper and other life supplies. More feels safe.
I don’t try to “fix” this productivity obsession. I use the have the opposite problem, of not getting anything done. I’m happily surfing the productivity wave.
If you want to become more focused and productive I will help you with a free tutoring session. Click this link.
Thank you for reading, subscribe to the newsletter and eat your broccoli!