2-3-4 Friday: Be low stress

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

1 thought

Growing up, I was always hustling. To revise for Singapore’s famed Primary School Leaving Examinations, I’d wake up at 4am. Study. Then go to school.

This persisted, all the way till today. So much so that if you meet me at work, I’d probably have a strong resting bitch face, looking fierce, angry, and unapproachable. It’s got me this far, but I’ve come to see that it no longer works if you want to climb any higher in your corporate career.

I never used to understand why people would say,

that guy can’t do the work, but everyone likes him.

I used to think that was about being well-liked, which I couldn’t care less about. But I’ve come to see that it is actually about being low-stress.

Low-stress, not well liked.

My entrepreneur friend loves telling me,

if you ever find yourself working too hard, you’re probably working wrong.

Do you find yourself resentful, angry, and frustrated? Wondering why you’re working so hard, but not getting anywhere compared to the person who’s just seemingly slacking, not getting much work done, but who keeps getting promoted?

We’ve all seen that in our lives. The person who’s incompetent, but yet keeps getting promoted.

How do you beat them? First it’s acknowledging that the world is not fair, and not to beat them at their game. They’re probably better at talking, playing and everything else. But what you can do is to be low-stress.

Deliberately give yourself resting space to grow your work.

1 talk

If you look at athletes, they aren’t training 12 hour days. They are doing quick sprints of 1-2 hours, then they rest, and they restart for the end of the day, and then they go back to doing the same thing the next day.

1 tip

For a long time, we’ve always prided hustle culture. I used to wear it like a badge of honor, telling people that I’d worked the long 8-5pm job, before going onto my business in the night.

But I’m increasingly learning that’s stupid. Because it leaves you in a state of high tension, hardly able to relax, and improve.

So the answer isn’t to work harder. It’s about giving yourself space to recover. It’s about telling yourself

1. I will work from 9-5pm (or whatever hours are most productive for you. For example, if your office is most noisy, then go find a quiet spot to knock out those two productive hours, and then knock out the rest doing low-value work like emails).
2. I will work my best during those hours.
3. For the rest of the hours at night, I will do things I enjoy.

John

Live Young, Live Well - Work Your Love