I was addicted addicted to wearing the grind as a badge of honor, working hard, cranking out to four in the morning looking up to guys like Jordan, Kobe and Casey Neistat.
I mean the dude literally has "DO MORE" tattooed to his arm.
I fantasized about one day taking my rightful seat in that hustle hall of fame.
But, man... was I utterly and completely wrong. Grinding wasn't getting me anywhere faster. It was preventing me from reaching my goals. It was wrecking my life.
Let me explain.
Many people think of grinding as just working hard but there's more to it than that.
I define grinding as putting more time into your work until your schedule reflects
literally nothing else.
Think of your schedule in blocks of time. If you put 10 blocks into a project compared to 5
you should get more done. If you put in 15 you should get even more done. The idea is that your productivity stacks up when your time stacks up.
Wake up a little earlier, stay up a little later. Wake up even earlier, stay up even later. Sleep less, socialize less, friends and family less. Avoid having fun. Avoid all hobbies. Avoid anything that lets you rest.
Grind grind griiiiiiiiind.
But this mantra makes a dangerous assumption that every block of time is equal. That you'll show up with the same energy and focus on day 30 as you did on day one. Like a robot.
But that's not how it plays out.
In the short term you will be more productive but in the long term and even as soon as
a few weeks later, you will start to slow down. You won't be able to bring the same intensity to what you're doing and you'll feel less creative, less inspired, and at worst you will totally burn out...
And at best you'll get lapped by another version of you doing something way smarter than just stacking up time...
Managing and mastering your energy.
What makes the biggest impact in your overall productivity is how much inspiration, clarity, and focus you can tap into and harness while you're working.
When I was grinding I wasn't able to do this very much and so something that would take me 15 minutes was now suddenly taking two and even three times as long.
I had the illusion that more time spent equals getting more done. In reality I just wasn't being efficient.
The remedy came from giving myself less time to get my work done. That meant I could
actually recharge. I could pour all this leftover energy into my next day and tackle it with greater intensity.
This allowed me to work less and less and so I started sprinting through my days
instead of slogging my way through it.
See, when you're grinding you have tunnel vision going on and you're blocking off all connection to the outside world.
You're blocking off all connection to people. But hey, who needs people? Success is a lonely road, right?
But the very things you're chasing after: more money, more opportunities, more
impact...all require you to connect with people on some level.
They require you to connect with your clients and your customers. They require you to connect with your audience. And most importantly they require you to connect with
yourself on a deeper level.
Now connection gets stifled if your schedule is just full of work and then you become this lonely stressed out person that no one wants to be around which really messes with your whole self-image because you're trying to exude the successful charismatic vibe and the painful truth is that no one wants anything to do with you.
In a nutshell, grinding is stupid. Here are three smart ideas to do instead .
1) FLOW WITH THE ULTRADIAN RHYTHM
The ultradian rhythm is a biological cadence that creates a natural ebb and flow in people.
I got this idea from reading the Power of Full Engagement by Tony Schwartz and Jim Lehr.
In the book the authors give plenty of evidence for this rhythm lasting about 90 to 120 minutes and then our body begins to crave rest and recovery.
We can fight against our own nature, try to slog through it but this is often a losing battle that just increases our exhaustion and stress.
So instead of working for five six hours straight, every 90 minutes or so take a 20 minute break. Rest your body, rest your head, rest your eyes. Take a walk. If you can, take a nap.
Play a game, meditate, think.
The whole point is just to disengage entirely from what it is that you're doing then at the end of your break come back and attack your next 90 minute sprint.
2) DIG DOWN WITH DEEP WORK
In Cal Newport's book Deep Work he suggests that professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration push your mental capabilities to their limit. This is known as deep work and it's when you do your best, most valuable work.
On the other hand, he says that shallow work is when you're trying to be productive
while entertaining distractions. You're checking your email, responding to text, looking at your social media notifications. You're allowing the outside world to interrupt you as often as it wants to.
With every innocent 15 second check you're losing momentum. You're forcing your brain to have to refocus all over again. Instead of gaining that clarity and concentration, you're having to start over from scratch every single time and what you're working on will take a lot longer than it has to.
The key takeaway is this: when you're on your 90-minute sprint, eliminate all distractions from your environment.
I understand if you're at a job or you have to be available on at least some level but challenge yourself to minimize as much of these as possible because every distraction you entertain slows you down and it cripples your efficiency.
3) DO WHAT SCARES AND EXCITES YOU
This idea i got from my own life experience and it's arguably the most important thing I've ever learned.
Each week do one thing that scares you and excites you. This helps recondition your mind to stop thinking in a linear way. Instead of robotically doing the same little things over and over again and then hoping they add up to something big, just go for it all at once.
Most people believe the only way to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be is by making constant incremental progress and there's a lot of wisdom in that. There's a lot of wisdom in showing up and consistently getting the little things done every single day.
But most people don't realize the barriers separating you from that wild outlandish thing you want is not just time and effort.
It's intentionality. It's aiming for it in the first place.
If you can do this each week you will be shocked at how much you transform in one year.
I made a video about a month ago talking about landing my first thirty thousand dollar client and this is exactly what I did.
I went from charging a thousand dollars a month to asking for 30 grand paid in full. I didn't incrementally raise my price. I just went for it and I did it all at once.
That experience completely changed who I am. Not getting the client - just asking for
it. Just aiming higher had me stop grinding and playing small in my business.
So those are the three ideas that help me give up the grind for good.
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