Healthy, sustainable productivity

- Hands up if you've ever experienced professional burnout. I have. When I was running my first business, I went to the hospital for a heart scan because I'd been getting these severe stabbing chest pains. When the doctor gently suggested that it was stress-induced, I didn't quite believe him. I'd become so accustomed to a pace, so accustomed to pressure that I didn't even realize I was severely overworked and it was starting to take a toll on my body. I was only 30 years old. Since then, I have established ways to grow businesses, be focused and get the job done without the need for that intense pace or stress I'd previously become so accustomed to. So now I want to teach you some ways to do the same. We have to understand how humans are motivated. Research shows that humans have both an away state and a toward state motivation. Away state motivation is as it sounds that we are trying to move away from something. This is when we perceive a potential threat or a potential negative situation that we are trying to avoid. It's fear based, and it can be incredibly effective for us getting things done. In my career, and what I often observe in others, is this is typically our I go to strategy. We try to avoid missing that deadline. We focus on making sure we don't let the team down, we don't mess things up, that we don't get in trouble with our boss. We try to avoid making mistakes and move away from people not trusting our decisions. This form of motivation works, but it does have two potential pitfalls. Firstly, it's inconsistent. Do you ever find that if you are up against a deadline, you will go, go, go only to find yourself exhausted and drained the next day? Perhaps you feel as though your productivity has sharp spikes followed by low dips. This happens because the moment we no longer feel the immediacy of that difficult situation, the motivation that abates, this is why we are motivated to make positive changes after a difficult meeting, or when you know our jeans don't fit, that we soon re-center and find a new balance and the motivation waivers. Secondly, given its nature, moving away from a potential threat, it can create fear, panic, or urgency. So I want you to imagine for a moment that I am your boss. Imagine I call you in the morning and I say, "Okay, we have such a busy day to day, "there's so much to do. "Take a look at your calendar, "take a look at your to-do list, go through everything. "Do you have everything ready? 'Cause there's so much to do. "Are you ready? Let's go." What are the feelings that this kind of conversation would bring up? Maybe some panic or some dread. We can sometimes get this sense of bracing ourselves for the day. Now, at the same time, do you typically start your working day thinking, "I've got such a busy day today, let me check my to-do list. "Let me look at my calendar. "There's so much to do, let me check everything. "It's a lot. Am I ready?" Yeah, guilty. Me too. So what I recommend instead is, yes, allow yourself to be motivated by an away state from time to time, because it really does work, but also add in another motivating force alongside it. And that is the toward state. A toward state is inherently positive. It's thinking about opportunity and expansion. It's less about what bad thing will happen if I don't hit this deadline and more, "Oh, it will feel so good "to get all of this completed on time." Research has shown that those who use toward state language when setting goals are more likely to hit them. A really simple rule to follow here is instead of thinking about what you need to stop, focus on what you will start. Don't think about how you need to stop procrastinating, but think instead about how you can practically start increasing focus. It's the exact same outcome, but from a much more sustainable perspective. Your exercise is to make sure that you are crystal clear on what positive outcomes you are shooting for. As you move throughout your working day, become aware and mindful of how you're driving your action. Is it an away state? If so, great, it works. But at the same time, add in some toward state alongside. Don't just think about what you're avoiding, also think about the positive outcomes that you're excited to bring about when you succeed.