Sometimes I gave my cliënts the metaphor of the highway. When you’re driving on the highway, you have to switch gears a lot, speeding up fast, and getting into the lane. But after that, the only thing you have to do is keep your foot slightly on the gas pedal and you go 70 miles per hour easily.
That’s the same thing with life in general. I’ll remember the Chef of Dwyane Wade telling something about how he never indulged too much in sweets. He made the amazing quote “When you stay ready, you never have to get ready”.
Now here is the deal. Since I have a girlfriend and a 40+ hour job, the same scenario is happening:
- Monday and Tuesday kind of suck, it’s difficult to get into the work modes. I want to go back to the rest that I’ve had on the weekends
- Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I get into my work modus and love the grind. Want to innovate and work out new ideas. But then on Friday, my girlfriend is coming because she lives in another city. Now the same thing happens to what happened on Monday but in reverse. Because instead of resting, I want to work on my projects and build new things.
- On Saturday and Sunday I’m getting into chill mode, letting go of things and just enjoying the moment. I don’t over-indulge in alcohol or bad foods. I don’t go out or do anything that extreme to be honest. But after Sunday, I don’t really feel like grinding and then Monday starts again.
Now here is the thing. I like to be in the same routines and keep working on my craft. But I also need to wind down a bit here and there. The problem is, for me to switch from one side to the other, takes a lot of energy and mental power. I think I have some form of autism here
It’s like going off the highway because I need to refill the gas, but going off the highway and going on the highway takes tremendous energy. Do you guys sometimes feel the same? What are your ways of grinding and winding down without having to switch that much?