Workaholism Sucks

Work, work, work.

That’s all I thought of for 5 months.

Writing content
Recording videos
Engaging with creators

Work was the number one focus and I needed more of it. Every time I saw a new creator blow up I felt behind. I thought I was inferior to them.

This made me crave more progress and want more work.

This is a normal feeling in the creator space. You watch Jimmy the guru blow up with crappy content compared to yours.

“How is this bozo even getting likes?”

You run back to your desk and work on your content even more after you spent all day writing.

Not all input is the same.

The 1st hour you work isn’t the same as the 6th one. By then your energy tank is running low and your focus is all over the place. Work isn’t the end all be all.

But why do people force work when it’s clear they don’t have the energy to?

The Misconception of Work

Most people view work as number 1. They schedule their entire lives around work (for good reason).

Bills need to be paid
Lights need to stay on
Mouths need to be fed

But when work controls your life you’re at its mercy.

You try to scrape past your deadlines. You do even more work when you “feel like you’re not doing enough”. You crank out an extra work session.

This is why so many people “burn out”.

They allow work to run their lives. And neglect everything else to make it their number one priority.

The W.H.O (World Health Organization) did a recent study and found that overwork kills 745,000 people YEARLY.

That’s 3 times more than the number of people who die from gun violence.

The Web of Areas

Your life is a cobweb.

On your cobweb, you have many areas that break apart. One of those areas in particular is work. There are tons of other areas that interconnect and work together.

You see, with your Web of Areas. Your life interconnects and is free-flowing. This goes against the common belief that your life’s areas are independent of each other.

That means when your work is slacking your other areas will slack as a result.

Think of this:

When you put off writing your content for the week what happens?

You feel a slight urge to skip the gym because you didn’t finish your work. When you push yourself to get to the gym your content is all you can think about.

Once you finish your workout, you don’t get the typical “high” because all you can think about is your content. This not only drops how you feel during your workout but also your performance too.

When one of your areas isn’t watered it impacts your other areas. The opposite can be true. If you water one area it leaves a positive impact on all your other ones.

Hesitancy

There is a belief that procrastination and inaction stem from a lack of clarity.

Clarity within your goals
Clarity within your systems
Clarity within your headspace

Yes, clarity is a factor, but it’s only one of many factors. An overlooked factor is the practice of zooming in even farther. What is this?

Common advice tells you to focus on the steps toward your goals.

“Give yourself clear steps”

But when you overemphasize your steps you lose your grand vision. This allows your daily hassles to toss you around.

I call this The Map Perspective. Most people fail to cross off their goals because they’re far too zoomed into the steps to get there. They lose their vision along the way and they float around in the ocean without a compass to guide them.

More on that here:

You end up trying to do more when all you might have needed was to take a second and zoom out to gain perspective.

But what isn’t talked about enough is to gain clarity you must drop what you’re doing. You can’t craft the perfect newsletter if you’re sitting at your desk all day.

Clarity comes from letting your brain wander in The Default Mode Network. This mode turns on when you do low mental energy tasks and allows your brain to drift between thoughts.

Do you ever think of a past argument and come up with a thing you wish you would have said while you’re in the shower?

That’s The Default Mode Network in effect.

When you’re stuck and try to force a solution - you end up trying to force a square block into a circular hole.

Your Duty

Your ability to work caps off at a certain point and the only way to further upgrade it is to work on your other areas.

It’s like when you’re in a video game and need to upgrade your other skills to further upgrade your main skill.

This is exactly how your life’s areas operate.

To reach a new level with one area you must upgrade all your other ones.

Trung

@thetrungdao

If you aren't watering every area of your life I have a question for you:
What's a pile of money going to do?
- When you're obese?
- When you're fighting depression?
- When you can't play with your kids?
Water every area of your life during your journey to success.

3:12 AM • Aug 30, 2023

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Your duty is to fulfill your potential. And you can’t do that if you bash your head against one area.

But which areas should you focus on?

The Power 6

There are 6 main areas including work. These areas are the default areas everybody has. Put together, they all create your giant cobweb of areas (your life).

Building up each area is a lifelong process. There is no shortcut and you must put in years upon years of effort.

1. Physical Health

Your health is wealth.

It’s your backbone. There’s nothing that can replace peak health. Am I telling you that you need to get ripped? No.

Physical health is more than throwing around some weights.

You must make an effort to improve your:

Diet
Sleep Quality
Neuroscience

Exercise is what people think about when the term physical health pops up. Yes, it’s vital to put in your hours at the gym. But if you neglect other parts of your health like your sleep then you’re screwed.

Think of the gym bro who takes TREN (steroids pretty much), he’s more “ripped”, but what does that do for him? Stroke his ego because he’s part of the 0.2% of gym goers instead of the 1%?

TREN screws up other parts of your health. Higher heart rate and higher anxiety are two side effects. Sure you might “look” better, but for 99.9% of people, it isn’t worth it.

or someone who eats clean, but hates the way their body looks. How does that affect their mental health?

Like any other area, you must sharpen every aspect of your health.

2. Relationships

“Win alone” is stupid. What’s the point of being successful if you have nobody to celebrate it with?

Plus, it’s a lot easier to win when you have a tribe who has your back.

Grow with your partner
Meet similar-minded people
Spend time with your family
Go out with the bros once in a while

The lone-wolf mentality is a dopamine ploy.

3. Self-Improvement

This should be self-explanatory. You must always stay hungry and eager to learn.

Read more books. Apply your learnings. Consume valuable content.

The internet is at your disposal. There’s no excuse when it comes to learning a new skill. All the courses, people, and videos you need are out there. You need to find them.

Self-improvement can be very broad. I define it as any sort of activity that expands or pushes you toward your potential.

Here are a few examples:

Building up a new skill
Reading articles in your field
Chipping away at a non-work-related goal

You need to apply the things you learn. Learning itself isn’t enough.

Application is true self-improvement, not learning.

4. Headspace

Your headspace is your most delicate area.

If your headspace is out of wack then it leaves the largest impact. You’ll feel its impact a lot more than any of the other ones when you neglect it.

How do you maintain and improve your headspace?

Meditate & Journal
Connect with nature
Spend time away from your screens

Research proves spending more time in nature improves your mental health and well-being.

When you feel foggy go touch some grass and spend time away from your screens.

Journaling and meditation are life-changers. I’ve done both for over 5 years and I’m rarely overwhelmed by stress.

5. Hobbies

Don’t be a robot.

Nobody wants to only hear about what you do for work on the first date. Hobbies aren’t for fun, they help you take your mind off your other stressful areas.

They are also a reward for cranking out a successful day or week.

My biggest hobby is chess. I spend an hour or two every Sunday studying lines and playing some games of Blitz because I find it fun.

You don’t need to do the same.

Find some stuff you find fun and dedicate a day each week to doing it. Rewarding yourself after a long day is rock solid too.

Win in Every Area

The more you win in one area the more you win in the other ones.

But how do you win?

Trung

@thetrungdao

Life is more than work.
It's the sum of every area in your life.
Your lambo means nothing if you can't do 20 push-ups.

6:7 AM • Sep 7, 2023

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Some argue spending an entire month or year focusing on one area. Others argue you need to work on all at the same time.

Both of these ideas believe all your areas are separate and aren’t interconnected. The modern approach is to understand all your areas connect and attack from there.

Rather than focusing on one area at a time look for habits or activities that impact multiple areas. These essentials pack the biggest punch.

I call this Area Awareness.

Area Awareness

Hitting the gym doesn’t only benefit your physical health.

It boosts your confidence which improves your chances of finding a partner (relationships).

It’s a stress reliever after a long day of work (headspace).

It’s fun after you get into the habit of going for years (hobbies).

Hitting the gym is an activity that gives you the biggest bang for your buck. There are plenty of other activities that fall under this category.

I call them Area Magnets.

Why? Because they pull together all your areas while elevating each of them.

There are tons of examples of Area Magnets.

Here’s a list of Area Magnets I recommend everyone do:

Reading
Journaling
Mediation
Long walks
Deep work
Adding a work cutoff time
Scheduled time away from your screens

All these activities impact multiple areas and elevate them in the process.

10X Your Progress

Consistency is everything. Area Magnets take time to compound and the longer you do them the more results you get.

These activities cater to those who are willing to think long-term.

Journaling for 7 days won’t remove negative thoughts from your head. 1 year won’t either. It’s a lifelong process. But how can you stay consistent with your Area Magnets?

1. Start Small

New to journaling? Write for 5 minutes every day.

New to meditation? Focus on your breath for 5 minutes every day.

Most people bite more than they can chew when they first start. They spend an hour in the gym every day for a week and stop going after the first 7 days.

That shouldn’t be your goal. Start small and you’ll stick around longer.