[2021-05-30] Limits
Years ago, while I was interviewing for a job, the members of the hiring board asked me whether I considered myself a morning person or a night person. I paused for a second, then replied with absolute sincerity: "I think of myself as an all-day person." I've always worked equally effectively early in the day as late into the evening. The human resource advisor who sat in on the interview later told me that the board members loved my answer to their icebreaker question.
While being a hard worker has its advantages (I did get the job), it also has its downsides, as most personality traits do. The drawback to being a driven person is that I can push myself too hard, to the point of burnout, and I can neglect other equally important aspects of life, such as relationships and health.
I recently came across an interesting article that I would have benefited from a year ago, when I was at the height of my unbalanced lifestyle: 4 Ways to Manage Your Energy More Effectively by time management coach Elizabeth Grace Saunders.
Saunders says that while almost any of us can go above and beyond normal expectations in short bursts, particularly at the beginning of a job or project, pushing ourselves to work long hours over an extended period is not sustainable. She states: "The key to success at work and in life isn’t really starting strong, it’s staying strong."
Doing so requires self-regulation, which she defines as establishing both a lower limit and an upper limit to the level of effort we will expend on an activity. For example, someone aiming to write a book might set a goal to write for a minimum of 30 minutes and a maximum of 3 hours each day. And someone starting an exercise routine might commit to working out no less than 3 times and no more than 5 times per week. This approach avoids exhaustion and waning interest while maintaining momentum and leaving time for other priorities.
Another interesting concept that Saunders presents in her article is the importance of understanding our tendency to operate in high gear or low gear, or to fluctuate between the two. She advises:
For those in the first, "high drive" category, you’ll need to give yourself permission to be human, to rest, and to have real downtime. Keep a close eye on whether you’re going over your upper boundary of activity and headed for burnout.
For those in the second, "low drive" category, keep a close eye on whether or not you’re staying above your lower bound. You want to ensure that you’re doing at least the minimum before chilling out (as tempting as that may seem).
For those in the third, "fluctuating drive" category, you’ll need to keep an eye on both bounds. Avoiding going over your upper bound should prevent you from falling below your lower bound the next day.
Saunders quotes Greg McKeown, author of Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most, in summing up her argument: "Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow."
Building in time for rest and recovery are as important as identifying a certain number of hours or days per week for activities and projects, notes Saunders. Also helpful is setting aside blocks of time to devote to specific endeavours. This makes it easier for individuals to achieve flow and to maintain an appropriate pace.
Saunders' proposal of setting boundaries is a new concept for me. I'm the kind of person who toils until the job is done, however many hours that takes. Over the course of my career, the number of hours it took to "get the job done" increased with each new level I reached on the corporate ladder. Consequently, the relative amount of time I spent on office work soared, while everything else got squeezed: exercise, time with friends and family, projects.
Saunders concludes her article by saying:
Life isn’t a sprint. It’s an ongoing journey. And to stay high performing, healthy, and happy both inside and outside of work, you need to have staying power. Look closely at how you work and follow these tips to ensure that you’re working effectively, productively, and within your bounds.
This advice is as applicable to someone in the workforce as it is to someone, like me, recovering from an illness. I'm still an all-day person, but for the first time in a long time, I've learned to set limits to how much I can do in a day, whether that's walking or writing or puttering around the house.
