Taking a step back
Why taking a step back is quite often the best solution to a problem
It’s yet another long night. You’re crouching over your keyboard, and squinting your eyes at the maze of text in front of you. If you could only fix this one last bug you could finally go to bed.
As you’re re-launching the compiler you feel a soft hand on your shoulder. Thinking it’s your wife reminding you it’s late you softly say “just five more minutes, honey, I promise”.
The hand doesn’t go away and eerily enough, she doesn’t say a word this time.
You turn your head. Your mild irritation quickly turns into terror as you realize the person touching your shoulder is not your wife. It’s you.
“You’re wasting your time!” whispered the dark presence.
As you try to pull back and get up from your desk chair you suddenly wake up sweating. You fell asleep at your desk again.
We all have shortcomings and cognitive biases but this one is probably the most dangerous of all, because it’s so easy to defend.
I’m talking about Overworking and chances are you’re routinely sabotaging yourself with overwork.
Our society praises hard work to the point of neurosis.
We’re told that the early bird gets the worm and even that laziness is a deadly sin for which one must endure the torments of Hell.
But what if we’re enduring self-inflicted torment by overworking?
What if - and this one is really difficult to accept - but what if the most productive thing you can do is often to do nothing at all?
Here are just 3 things you need to do if you want to prevent overwork and have a healthier and truly more productive life:
Kill brain worms
Problem: You’re suffering from “shiny object syndrome”. You’ve convinced yourself that this new awesome feature will 10x your startup or your YouTube channel, or your side hustle.
This idea didn’t bother you yesterday but now it’s all you can think about. You decide to drop everything and focus exclusively on implementing it. Nothing else matters.
Time passes, unnecessary sacrifices are made, the feature is implemented, you launch it and... crickets! Nobody cares.
You have now convinced yourself that this idea was dumb to begin with and you can list 10 reasons why it would never work for anyone. Except one of your competitors launches the same thing years later and they’re wildly successful.
Solution: It’s really easy to check if you have been infested with a brain worm:
You’re suddenly extremely enthusiastic about a new idea
This new idea “changes everything”
Your current work seems insignificant in comparison
Once you spot that brain worm, just squash it! I know it’s difficult, because it’s anti-hedonistic - you literally have to filter-out joyful ideas, and that sounds nuts.
But just put a pin in it. Create a document, use a post-it - whatever works for you. Jot the idea down and let it cool off. You are not allowed to touch the idea unless it doesn’t alter your state of mind.
Because we are often drunk on desperation disguised as hope it is best to “take a step back”.
Stop analysis paralysis
Problem: You’re incapable of making a decision and when you do, it’s usually a coin toss. You’re never satisfied with your own decisions and you’re somewhat convinced that nobody else, in your place, could have made a better call.
Since you’re juggling probabilities instead of facts, analysis paralysis often leads to really poor decisions, fatigue and burnout.
Solution: The first step is always to identify your problem.
If:
You find yourself arguing that “it’s not that simple”
You build brain maps that turn into brain mazes
You feel like your mind is going 100 miles per minute
You feel like an hour is not enough to explain your idea
The solution is simple: throw everything away and take a step back.
This is difficult because you’ve invested a lot of time and effort into those complicated mind maps - but acknowledge that this is just the Sunken Cost Fallacy.
The best thing to do is to either postpone or delegate this task to someone else - hire someone on Fiverr if you have to - but just move on.
When your mind is finally at peace you will see the answer clearly and effortlessly.
Stop feeling guilty you’re not working
Problem: you’re on vacation or you’ve decided to take a day off but your mind keeps going back to work because you feel guilty and you're not solving those “important” work problems.
Solution: Extend your vacation. Force yourself to step away from work for as long as it takes for your thoughts to cool down.
The best way to optimize your work is to force yourself to step back and do less.
It is best to just step away:
From a heated discussion
From an all-consuming project
From a 10x idea
From a monumental task
> You need total mental clarity to both uncover and embrace the truth. <
This is hard, you might say. Or “this is irresponsible! I can’t afford to step back for a month!”
If you can’t afford to step back for a month, then you can’t afford to continue working, which means it’s time to move on.
Close your laptop. Go to bed.
And make it your priority to never put your wife in a situation where she needs to worry about your health and your sleeping habits.