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Hey there! I hope you had an amazing weekend and had a chance to rest, recover, and have a bit of fun. It is so important to shift out of “productivity mode” on the weekend and let your hair down a bit. We need some rest and play in life.
The biggest problem most people face with work is not knowing what they want out of it. It shouldn’t just be transactional, where you only do what needs to be done so that you get paid. That is not a recipe for long-term success.
If you spend all of your time at work doing tasks you are only doing for money, your motivation to produce great work won’t be there. You won’t be able to get to a flow state, where the time just seems to slip away from you while you dive into your work. You won’t feel a sense of meaning and purpose. Money does not play that role.
You need to understand why you are doing the work you are doing. What is it contributing to your life? Is that what you want?
You spend almost a third of your adult life working. That is a lot of time to put into something, so put a bit of time and energy into understanding what you want to get out of it.
Life passes by so quickly. Don’t trade yours away without knowing what you are actually trading it for.
Quotation that I have been pondering
Too often, people don’t take the action they know they should. Usually, this is a product of fear. Having a sense of safety and security is essential to our well-being. The need for safety is a fundamental driver of human behaviour.
However, there is a tension at play here, which is highlighted in this quote by author and speaker Josh Linkner.
Often, people don’t change as a way of avoiding risk, of playing it safe. But the world is changing at a blistering pace. Remaining stuck in a certain way of being and acting might feel safe to you now, but not adapting to change is not a viable long-term strategy.
Consider if there are areas of your life where you are avoiding making changes just because you feel more secure staying in your comfort zone. Staying comfortable can be risky indeed.
Journal Prompt
People have a tendency to feel that they “will be happy when”… We look forward to an imaginary future, believing that once we accomplish our goal, we will feel fulfilled. We will then be whole and life will be amazing.
But as anyone who has accomplished meaningful goals can tell you, that feeling is fleeting. You feel great for a bit, but the human drive to improve ourselves constantly kicks in, and you are off chasing a new goal. Believing once again that you will be happy when…
And the cycle continues.
One of my favourite sayings is that we need to “measure the gain rather than the gap”. What I mean is that it is more important to look at how far you have come and how much you have improved yourself than it is to look at how far you still have to go.
You will always have improvements to make, room to grow, areas where you feel you are coming up short compared to the ideals you set for yourself. Because as you improve, you set higher standards for yourself. You raise the bar and then wonder why you come up short.
While it is helpful to aim high and stretch yourself, you need to ensure that you also appreciate how far you’ve come. Recognizing and celebrating your growth along the journey provides you with the motivation and energy to continue.
Which leads to this week’s prompt:
If you keep advancing on your goals, even slowly, you will inevitably achieve them. Rather than always beating yourself up for not being far enough along your journey, stop now and then to recognize and appreciate how much you’ve grown along the way.
