One somewhat of a different note from much of the other content on the blog, I want to address how to deal with a common problem that I personally run into a lot. While I certainly don’t possess a cure-all type solution to the topic issue of this piece, I do have a lot of experience in this area and can offer a number of things that I use for dealing with this problem. Of course the issue we are addressing today is how to fix chronic tiredness, something that not only myself, but certainly many people of the go-getter, or hyper productive mindset experience, hence why I thought writing about this would be useful. As someone with a penchant for making productive and burnt out synonymous I can relate to being exhausted while trying to be the best version of ourselves. All the while knowing intellectually, emotionally and in one’s body that being burnt out as a way of being more productive almost couldn’t be a worse idea. Rather than talk about a whole bunch of things that everybody already knows, like “sleep more, stress less,” I want to offer some tips that are seldom recognized when thinking about how to be more energetic.
1. Don’t Sleep More, Sleep Better
Given the colloquial advice that we’ve all been given around sleep, it’s no wonder that this piece is so often neglected. If you sleep less than 6.5 hours straight a night, or wake up feeling groggy both the data and your performance will be against you. Far more than sleep length, sleep quality is really what does everything. Just as we’ve probably all slept 7 hours and felt incredible, we’ve likely also slept 9 or 10 and felt groggy and terrible. Of course the underlying reason why we might sleep less or more, or get different qualities of sleep vary, but the key is getting the most out of sleep. In my experience a couple of things are important to keep in mind. If we are stressed physically or mentally we are not going to sleep well even if we fall unconscious. Late night workouts, alcohol or sleep aids may seem to help some, but very often we end up hurting our sleep quality by using band-aid fixes for inability to fall asleep. For myself, mindfulness, adjusting dinner time and nutrient ratios, or drinking relaxing tea are a few things that help. Consider adjusting the light in one’s environment, keeping the room cool, and of course cutting blue light and screen time if possible a few hours before bed.
2. Consider How Future You Will Feel
Something that’s helped me make better choices over the past few years is thinking about how some input will make me feel or perform at different time elapsed values. Eating a cookie feels amazing 5 seconds after doing it, and maybe even 10 minutes, but in a hour or 3, or maybe the next day or what have you, the effects are not so promising. Even though it seems logical in the moment to down a bunch of caffeine to the end of getting more work done on a given day, if the downstream effect is that you are half as effective the next day, or feel tired for the next week, is that still a good idea? Of course I don’t need to belabor the point of thinking more long term, but adding the additional short and mid term considerations I think can help us to focus on the right things more often. Consistency almost always trumps intensity or volume on a given day, so unless a deadline absolutely requires us to finish something that day, let’s hold on burning up all the oil in the lamp. Additionally in this category, exercise and healthy eating cannot be neglected. I’ve found that the biggest improvements both for myself and others come from questioning all of our inputs. Are the salads I’m eating making me feel better or worse? Is this exercise I’m doing making me feel better or worse overall? In many cases our energy and health get taken by things we think are healthy or good, or at least neutral that are actually hurting us. For me personally finding mentors or people that are healthy and knowledgeable has helped me tremendously to better myself. This could be for nutrition, exercise, philosophy or whatever else, but having a badass provide roadmaps is always tremendously helpful. The most important thing is to question and think critically about the advice they provide. As the famous Bruce Lee saying goes, take what’s useful, discard the rest and add your own spin.
3. Meditate, practice gratitude, and change your relationship with work
Whenever I allow myself to feel rushed, stressed or inadequate I tense up. Not only does this reduce the quality of my work and encourage fear based decision-making, but it causes me to become exhausted more quickly, and have worse sleep quality. Having some kind of mindfulness practice, reading stoic philosophy or writing a grateful log before bed can not be overstated in terms of the positive impact these have on energy, mood and performance.
4. Do use botanicals, supplements, vitamins and whatever else within reason
As some people have pointed out, the logic of using only nutrients and rituals that a caveman could have accessed would check out perhaps if we were living only with natural stressors and problems. I’m a huge fan of natural and food based supplements/vitamins and the like as I think they are useful without the concern about toxicity or using them as a crutch, but I don’t believe in using them as replacements for good fundamentals. Taking a green powder is not necessarily a replacement for eating some vegetables at dinner, but a way of covering areas otherwise not tended to. Personally I’m a huge fan of things like magnesium L-threonate, yin reserve by Strength Sensei, and green tea as ways of helping myself to relax and sleep better. Not only is my tolerance of foods and body composition improved, but I have fewer or no cravings and have much better energy, mood and ability to effortlessly “bring it.” No we don’t have to take any fancy drugs, potions or hormones, but a few herbs here and there, or a vitamin that helps is usually a plus in my experience. As always consult a medical professional if you have concerns about something you want to take. I don’t recommend power using something blind, and then “seeing what happens” as a means of experimentation. You can really mess up the system that way, in ways that could be much harder to fix after the fact.
5. Have clear goals and boundaries around productivity
Things like “I’m just gonna work till I can’t anymore,” or “I need to put in more hours,” are not specific and reasonable goals. Though I have been guilty of formulating goals like these, all they have ever done is lead to burnout and a drop in my consistency. As someone who has many different cookie jars that I’m reaching around in, it’s become incredibly important for me to block out my week or parts of the day around specific and narrow targets. Perhaps one day I work on creating art pieces, maybe another I create content for the blog. Perhaps another day I read, or focus on admin stuff like maintaining things, polish, email what have you. Another thing I do often is try to create in the morning right after coffee is made and then manage later in the day. A lot of this idea comes from Tim Ferriss who knows way more than I on this topic in particular so I encourage you to go check his stuff out if you haven’t. As for crafting better goals, I find it better to focus on what I want to make or accomplish rather than on hours dedicated. In many cases, I may limit the work time to less than I think I can do while still feeling good, as that encourages me to be more selective and effective when working. If I know I’m just trying to work on a manageable part of a project, sprinting becomes much easier than if you simply set hours without a clear idea of what should be done when you finish. Just because we have x amount of free hours on some day, doesn’t mean we should look to spend as many as possible on work. In my work, very often the whitespace and the recovery is what contributes to 90% of my leveling up and making better and better content, not putting in more hours.
Probably could say more on this topic, but I think this more or less covers what I’m doing when I feel my most fulfilled, healthy and productive, which all go hand in hand.
Take care of yourself,
Orion A. Webster
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