Hey hey!
Let’s get this party started already. Three things for this week are
3 quotes that I thought you’d like to read and muse about for 5 minutes
the time a dog bit me on the ass and what I learned from it
on losing your drive and motivation to get your workout done.
Gonna try a slightly different format for the text version - making it more skim-accessible. If a post strikes your fancy, do read the longer version of it.
And do share 1 of these posts with ONE friend of yours. Thank you.
3 quotes
Momentum is a double-edged sword. It can propel you to new heights or keep you locked into previous choices and old habits.
- James Clear
The direction is more important than speed. Find your compass. Set your direction.
The chief enemy of good decisions is a lack of sufficient perspectives on a problem.
- Alain De Botton
Balancing perspectives, gathering enough mental models but not getting into analysis paralysis.
To worry about the meaning of life is to confuse a psychological problem with a philosophical one
- Sam Harris
If life has no meaning, is that so terrible?
the time a dog bit me on the ass
I love dogs. Always have.
From when I was 10 or so, I’ve had a house full of dogs.
When I was about 5, a dog bit me on the ass. Mom dogs are always protective about their pups but I didn’t know that. All I saw were puppies and I wanted to play with them and well, the result was a lot of crying and a visit to the doctor.
What was awesome about this was it did not put me off dogs. I’ve been around people who are/were terrified of dogs irrationally. I have irrational fears myself, obviously (snakes). But I am glad I was able to rationally not fear dogs after this potentially scarring incident.
The point is not to pat me on the back but to ask myself an important question - where did I metaphorically get bit in the ass which turned me away from something enriching?
I think it is an interesting question for us all to ponder about.
are you struggling with your motivation?
Starting is not that big a problem. We get tired of being where we are and start doing something. Anything.
A few weeks in, when things slow down and life starts getting in the way - that’s where the problem is.
Suddenly, working out versus hitting the snooze button becomes a hard choice.
Avoiding that sugar craving becomes harder.
We find ourselves losing the motivation, the drive.
We are in a slump.
There are two reasons I want to address. One, the search for instant gratification.
When results slow down, we lose interest and focus. My suggestion for this is to focus on the effort, the process. Not the results.
The second reason is that your body is smart - it is telling you to chill because you are stressed out. The pandemic has resulted in stupid work-hours, worsening work-life balance, and just a silly amount of stress.
In the midst of it, adding more stress is not possible. The body knows this.
So, when we have been in the fight-or-flight mode for too long, it decides to take a stand. It does this by trying to put you into rest-and-digest mode.
That’s why waking up is harder. That’s why motivation seems to suddenly slip away.
The solution is two-fold.
One, address the larger issue - the work stress.
Two, keep the healthy habits going but make them a lot more accessible. Walk instead of going to the gym, as an example.
There’s an infinity between 0 and 1.
Do this exercise - how do you tackle the large problem that you keep shying away from? The problem that’s causing you the most stress. In all probability, the silly amount of work stress.
Spend 30 minutes on it. Don’t run away. Face it head-on.
