Adrenaline Junkies-The Thrill of the Near Miss
What is it about our addiction to getting one more thing done, doing it all ourselves and being exhausted in the process?
I have a friend who has a holiday business and for about five weeks, she hardly gets any sleep. In fact, she literally sleeps in her clothes at times if she’s too tired to go through the bed prep ritual, sometimes rationalizing it gives her an edge to start her next activities earlier.
Over half of the country are coffee consumers, most of us increase our consumption as we age. The U.S. ranks fourth in the world to sugar consumption, 8,614,460 tons of refined sugar to be exact. We use stimulants to give us the physical edge to do more in less time, even though sometimes the edginess produced from overuse of these can disrupt our productivity.
I’ve had clients who refuse to choose what work they’ll begin next, because they want to do all of it now. I often use the analogy with them about their multiple career interests (or their many goals) being like horses running around a track. I tell them to imagine there is only one gate at the end to get them all through. Similarly, goals have to line up to get through the gate and they have to be strategically paced to be fruitful and rewarding. It doesn’t mean that they won’t get to do all they want to, just not all at one time.
Sometimes clients tell me they have equal passion for their goals. Then I tell them it’s simply a matter of choosing which one will go first.
But often it’s the thrill of the near miss that keeps “addicts” coming back for more. They will push themselves to do it all or that one last thing, simply because it makes them feel heroic. If in pushing yourself and just by the hair of your chinny-chin-chin you accomplish the task, the unconscious rationale is how great you are and doesn’t it make you more accomplished than just having done things as a matter of course?! Of course not.
Not every busy person is an adrenaline junkie. But if you feel more productive when you’re stressed and working at your peak energy, while you feel undermotivated and a bit like a ship that’s lost it’s tether when you’re not running around, then you may have formed this nasty habit and mistakenly relate to the adrenaline feeling as the real you.
If you continue to push to get the last thing done (one clue: lunch is around 3 or 4:00 or skipped altogether, because you’ve been working through it), then you might need some help to break the habit. A coach can certainly help you get better at planning your action steps. PositiveThinkingWay.com will eliminate your old beliefs that keep your limiting behaviors intact. You can also read David Allen’s book, “Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.” I know it’s easier said than done, but rest whenever you can. This alone will lessen your dependency on stimulants.
And finally here’s two questions you can ask yourself: 1. Is it really necessary to do that now or can I do it later or not at all? 2. How important is this to the primary goal I’ve already committed to accomplish?
Even though you can do that one extra thing, it doesn’t always mean you should. Treat yourself with respect. Time marches on and at the end of the day, you’ll just have done a lot. But how much fun will the process have been in getting there?
Tags: adrenaline junkie, better planning, career goals management, goals stress-free, strategic pacing
