2-3-4 Friday

‘Seeking to spark the most potential within you per word of any online newsletter’

1 thought

Here’s a curious question.

How have we gotten better qualities of life,

but ever increasing rates of mental distress?

In the name of figuring out why I was feeling worse even though I had gotten materialistically more successful, I went to Langkawi last weekend.

I had to force myself to take the flight, even though it was expensive.

After a snorkel in Langkawi, one of my guides offered to drive me. I realised he was only a 20 year old who had moved up from Johor, 8 hours away by drive, to intern at a diving company.

If you’re laughed at that ‘intern at a diving company’, and wondered how difficult that could be, I was much the same. I wished I had that internship as a 20 year old in university.

He had bigger dreams.

He wanted to open a diving school in Johor.

Curious, I asked,

Why don’t you stay in Langkawi? Doesn’t it have nice beaches, beautiful scenery, and a slower pace of life?

Yes, but it’s too small for me.

I pause.

Too small?

I confess. Before I went to Langkawi, I had the impression that in Malaysia, there was a slower pace of life and a better quality of living.

Here was someone looking to move to a place that was faster.

For those of us living in fast-paced cities, the illusion of slowing down is attractive.

But we often don’t realise the beauty of the city we live in, and how that amplifies the size of our dreams.

The best cities aren’t just a place to live in. They are places we dream in.

Choose a good city to live and work in, and your success is almost half sorted.

1 talk

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold.

• The Second Coming - W B Yeats (1920)

1 tip

But sometimes, cities are like machines. You get caught up in the machinery that constantly drives you forward, and you never have a chance to catch your breath.

We take a 5 day holiday every 3 months, and we think that’s enough… but it’s not.

The evidence is simple to see. The rates of mental distress, the climate change, is the world giving us signals that something is not sustainable.

What can change?

Research has shown that generally, there is no difference between vacationers’ and non-vacationers’ post-trip happiness. Read that?

You don’t necessarily get happier just because you took a vacation.

Instead two things might help.

Firstly, it’s recognising that modern work, with its fast pace, will always put us out of whack with our natural bodily rhythms. Strangely when we accept this, we stop fighting against the complaint “why am I so tired?”, and actually ask, “why not?”

But secondly, it’s about getting in touch with the rhythms of work.

Cal Newport observes that in agricultural work, there were seasons of harvest, and seasons like winter, where one would rest. But modern work is 365 days, with a brief public holiday every few weeks.

Perhaps it’s useful to schedule a month where you wind down, work slower, and take on no new projects. Or that you make it a point to end at 5pm.

Or if you work for someone, just tell yourself internally that you’re going to work slower this month - meet less clients, meet less people, do work slower.

Here I’ve tried reducing by 40% the number of meetings I have, and found it incredibly helpful.

If you’ve not scheduled a down season before, start this month.

Tell me how that goes.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love

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