Last week I was invited by Professor José Luis Berlanga from the University of Monterrey to give a talk about my book and mantra "Never give your 100, my sister told me" A series of reflections and life stories to navigate burnout and distinguish the things that are worthwhile in life, such as balance, time and life.

So as a good Jedi master who lives in a cave, I put on my best robes and visited the class virtually.

The class taught by Professor José Luis is called Politics and Governance and the interest in the subject arises from the fact that most of the students are close to graduating. My opinion is that the sooner they start to find out what are those things in their lives that are worth protecting so they won't experience work "amalgamation", the more likely they are to achieve that much-needed, precious stable life.

Anne Wilson, Professor of Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, defines "amalgamation" as follows:

When people invest a disproportionate amount of their time and energy in their careers, it can lead to a psychological state called "enmeshment," where the lines between work and personal life blur.

As I mentioned before, we are more than our work.

At the end of my intervention in the class session, I had the pleasure of receiving several questions from the students and one of them was the following:

How can I avoid feeling guilty when I'm not being productive?

I replied that if there is something that is clear to me, it’s that productivity cannot be equal to happiness.

It is not sustainable.

I constantly find myself telling my students that it is a very common practice to attribute meaning to symbols, that meaning helps us to make quick diagnoses about the messages that surround them, the same happens with words, there are some, such as the word "productivity", to which an aspirational feeling is attributed that seems to give it more weight, more priority and is even above other words or concepts, such as the word "happiness".

It seems that there are words, concepts and practices out there that we shouldn't give our 100 to either.

David Rock, author of "Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long" found that when you stop doing the things that keep you busy but don't get results (and are wearing you down energy), you end up with enough time for what matters and a sense of peace and spaciousness that was not available when you were constantly busy.

Life is a series of small decisions, some of which we make consciously and others not so much. The point is that we have to identify what not to do, we must answer the question: How can I apply "Never give your 100" to navigate the "burnout" without jeopardizing our results?

My method to "Never give my 100" is based on the following 4 steps:

1. Identify which activities are profitable for me and which will lead me to meet my goals.

2. I analyze and investigate what I have to do within these activities.

3. I question myself, how am I going to feel if I achieve what I set out to do? Will my physical and mental stability be compromised? Do I have the mental bandwidth to do it now or do I think again in 3 days?

4. I do what I decide.

Kate Northrup, author of the best-seller Do Less and Money: A Love Story, has a more traditional method that might be worth your review in which she adds from her own experiences:

...And don't forget to consider what brings you joy. Happiness not only makes you at least 12% more productive, it's also what makes life worth living.

Whichever method you choose, the only thing I want you to consider is that you do not get carried away by the pace of others and use your time more effectively to achieve your own happiness. My 100 is going to look very different from everyone else's, but it's a decision I constantly make to spend more time on the things that matter to me.

This article was translated by @ross.gspr

Disclaimer: The views expressed are personal opinions of the authors and do not reflect the views of affiliated organizations. The information is for informational purposes only and not intended as professional advice.

BBC News Mundo. (2021, May 19). Por qué nos definimos por nuestros trabajos (y cómo puede ser peligroso). BBC News Mundo. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://www.bbc.com/mundo/vert-cap-56754305

Want to Be More Productive? Try Doing Less. (2020, June 29). Harvard Business Review. Retrieved September 12, 2022, from https://hbr.org/2020/05/want-to-be-more-productive-try-doing-less?language=es