What's the alternative to pushing yourself harder?

Do you also sometimes feel really tired? Exhausted, even? All the time? You might be a parent then :-

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Mathias Jakobsen, Think Clearly @thnkclrly

Do you also sometimes feel really tired? Exhausted, even? All the time? You might be a parent then :-) Anyway, I've noticed something about my own exhaustion lately…

Hello Amazing

Now, I also have bouts where I'm full of energy, where I go for long runs or bike rides and when the ideas are just flowing, and that's always been the case. I'm not always tired.  But when I find myself tired, I've had this habit of always telling myself to just push harder. To just push through.

I always went for path A

This was especially true at times when I was beginning to catch a cold. It was as if I thought that if I could simply ignore it and pretend it wasn't there (helped along with a good dose of ibuprofen and paracetamol) it would perhaps just disappear. Maybe it did sometimes. But other times it simply delayed the inevitable crash.  I honestly thought I took restitution and recovery seriously enough, but mentally renaming a slightly delayed economy red-eye from Mexico City back to New York as "recovery time", after a three-day (and night) intensive workshop, just doesn't quite cut it. The truth is I always chose path A: Push harder.  But lately I've become more keen to explore the gentle path B. This is still mostly undiscovered territory for me. To take a sick day and rest. Not trying to simply work from home. But to cancel meeting, shut off email and stay in bed.  This, of course, is a privilege that not everyone has. I didn't have this all those years as an entrepreneur, so I don't want to take it for granted. But this is besides the point. What I'm curious to explore these days, is what happens when I try to take the gentle path. When I stop pushing myself harder and harder. Will I become a lazy couch potato, like that threatening voice in my head keeps screaming? Or will I eventually be rested and bored enough that new ideas will spring naturally? Or perhaps a push but gentler? I don't yet know. But I intend to find out. And if it doesn't work at all, I can always go back to my old ways.  With love — Mathias p.s. I hope you've also had a lovely summer. p.p.s. in case you missed it, my Annual Report for 2021 is out. You can get the PDF here.

Did you enjoy this issue? Yes No Mathias Jakobsen, Think Clearly @thnkclrly I'm a writer who also helps people. Currently working at @Orsted. Former @SYPartners, Parsons & @hyperisland.

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