Burnout
📣 One quote
"As long as the mind is moving, it is unable to accurately reflect the various aspects of the external world, just as a warped mirror cannot reflect objects as they really are. Accordingly, we cannot expect clear judgment from an agitated mind." ~Zen: The Authentic Gate
🖋 One article
We're Optimising Ourselves to Death - Key quote: "The acceleration of our collective pace of life is not a result of stupidity or irrationality; rather, it is a symptom of what is perfectly predicted by the prisoner’s dilemma at a global scale: Hyper-rational individuals making hyper-rational decisions on how to spend their time by launching into an inescapable arms race of productivity. Burnout is inevitable."
💬 One thought
Being busy is like a drug. We use it to distract ourselves from the things we should be doing. I don't mean the work stuff that we have been putting off. I mean the things that are most aligned with our goals and our deeper values. It is much easier to optimise our calendar (see above), watch Netflix and call our friends, than to do the thing that is aligned with the direction we want to go in our lives.
It also feels good. When people ask us how we are we can exclaim "oh I am just so busy" with a sense of pride and self importance.
Being busy is the antithesis of deep work, of creative work, of a life of meaning and fulfilment. It is the result of lazy thinking, a lack of priorities and an inability to say no.
And I am guilty as anyone of this.
Thanks for reading, be well
Jamie