Original Asmita Karanje Cool Brain

Via: Dribbble

Author | Asmita Karanje

Translation | Nicky

Rewrite | Yi Li

Review | Zhu Chenxi

Read | Hu En

Art | Lao Diao Chong

Edit | Yinlan

We are often ashamed of our low productivity, but does being busier mean more fulfilling and happy lives?

Are you tired of hearing the same old "self-help" advice, such as: "You need to get up at 5 a.m. to pursue your dreams", "You need to be like Elon Musk every day" "Work hard 80 hours a week", "You need to be productive every minute of your life to be successful", "You need to be more self-disciplined in life".

Via: Giphy

In fact, most of these "words of wisdom" are written for algorithms, not for readers, so you will find the same quotes and Suggestions are reused and in the process embellished by authors in their secondary creations.

I know that in the past, this kind of "self-help" discourse was very effective in people's lives, but as times change, these ancient "formulas" are no longer effective.

Via: Giphy

Therapist Matthew Jones says, “Our society emphasizes productivity and the work ethic, two by-products of a capitalist and materialistic system . These two by-products make people feel unhappy, and society leads them to believe that the only way to escape unhappiness is to spend money on 'quick fixes' that don't actually work."

Me. I once tried to get up at 5 a.m. for a week. It was still winter, and it was dark outside when I first woke up. I did yoga for half an hour, meditated for 15 minutes, and listened to a podcast. Then I took a shower and started writing my blog.

To be honest, I felt that my eyes were still burning and I had no motivation at all. Around 9am I fell asleep again, I slept for almost 2 hours! Guess what? When I woke up at 11 o'clock, I felt worse than when I usually wake up at 8 o'clock.

Via: Dribbble

I’m not against getting up early, and I’m not totally against getting up at 5 a.m. either. I love the calmness of dawn and the feeling of being ahead of the world. But does it really help you be more productive?

Maybe this is true for those who work best in the morning, but it’s not for everyone. For me, I'm most productive at 5 p.m. So this is when I get most of my work done, or come up with ideas and writing topics for my blog.

I have many other examples of myself where the chicken soup advice spread online doesn’t work for me most of the time. But what bothers me is not that these strategies are ineffective, but that they have the potential to negatively impact my mental health. For a long time, I felt guilty for waking up later than others, and I once believed that “I was destined to be less successful because of this habit.”

Via: Giphy

Until I read more about circadian rhythms and understood that everyone has different work-sleep cycles. As long as you can get 7-8 hours of peaceful sleep, you will be very happy when you wake up, which lays the foundation for your day's work. If your eyes feel hot half an hour after waking up, it means you didn't get enough sleep.

Those who advocate this advice believe that shame motivates people to take action. But they forget that shame can also lead to mental stress, such as fueling the belief that “I’m not good enough.” This belief can lead to reduced productivity and feelings of self-shaming. It can be said that this is a vicious cycle that will lead you to failure.

Via: Giphy

“We live in a world where most people still subscribe to the belief that shame is a great tool for keeping people in line. It’s not just Wrong, and dangerous." - Brene Brown

So what can we do about it?

01 Stop feeling guilty

Understand that this is your life and only you know what is best for you. Don’t let others make you feel guilty about the way you lead, and set realistic goals for yourself.

Via: Dribbble

"Productivity shame is the behavior of setting yourself completely unrealistic goals or timelines and then blaming yourself when you don't meet them" - Jocelyn L. Glei

“You’ve done enough.

” - Whenever you think you’re not doing enough, let this sentence remind you. Remember, life is not perfect and it never will be. Because perfection is a myth. Even if you think life is perfect Highly accomplished people don't always follow through on everything they preach. They may not show you their most vulnerable side, but that doesn't mean it's not there. /p>

02 Take Your Mental Health Issues Seriously

Once you recognize the problem, it's actually quite simple to come up with a solution, such as taking a weekend off and giving yourself time to relax, but. Be mindful of spending less time on electronic devices. Give your brain and body enough rest to recover from the week ahead.

Via: Dribbble

Know your boundaries. There can be no uncertain goals, such as: If making money motivates you to do more work, then you need to define how much does "more" mean? Or it doesn't have to be a "how much" do you need to make to be satisfied? "Ultimate goal", a goal that is temporarily achievable in the short term. With this goal, you can know that once this milestone is reached, I will have time to take a break.

Nothing Doing is actually a skill, which is the most underestimated skill in our time. If you understand and master its importance, you can use it to motivate yourself.

Via: Freepik<. /p>

The famous Israeli author Yuval Noah Harari said that he goes on a two-month mindfulness retreat every year. In fact, his first book, " "Sapiens" benefited from his first Vipassana course experience. He meditates regularly every day, and meditation is the core of his writing.

You can get more by doing nothing. That’s the magic of meditation. It can help us build stronger focus, filter out the noise, and focus only on what’s important, so it’s a good idea to make a habit of meditating regularly.

Via: Freepik

03 Adopt a Slow Life philosophy

Listen, understand and think before you respond. Understand the purpose of what you are doing and why you are doing it. < /p>

Live in the moment. Ignore rules and don't respond to time. There's no fun in living by a fixed schedule. The most exciting part of life is that there are always so many things to do. , so we need to choose wisely how we spend our time

Via: Dribbble

Use your emotions as a gauge to know when to stop. I love routine because of it. Instills self-discipline, but I also often like to change up the routine to keep it interesting. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to experience the feeling of enjoyment all the time.

Focus on mindset rather than productivity. Happiness is in your heart. More busyness does not equal more happiness. Don’t be fooled by the propaganda of those “self-help gurus” and do what’s right for you. Believe that you already have a lot of wisdom, you don't need that much advice, all you need is some inner peace.

Via: Dribbble

“If we know we are rushing to death, some of us will start to slow ourselves down.

”——Mokokoma Mokhonoana

References (click to slide to view)

1. Matthew Jones. (2017, Oct 19). 11 Billion Reasons The Self Help Industry Doesn't Want You Yo Know The Truth About Happiness. Inc. retrived Oct 19, 2017, from /matthew-jones/11-billion-reasons-self-help-industry-doesnt-want-you-to -know-truth-about-happiness.html

2. Natalie Silver. (2020, July 13). Everything to Know About Your Circadian Rhythm. healthline. retribed July 13, 2020, from /health/healthy -sleep/circadian-rhythm

3. Ezra Klein. (2017, Feb 28). Yuval Harari, author of Sapiens, on how meditation made him better historian. Vox. retrived Feb 28, 2017, from / 2017/2/28/14745596/yuval-harari-sapiens-interview-meditation-ezra-klein

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Original title: "You are more self-disciplined, but why do you feel more uncomfortable"< /p>