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STOP: The Counter-Intuitive Secret to Success
We read and hear so much about how to be more productive and efficient, and to stay motivated, and to do more. Gary Vaynerchuk tells us to always “hustle,” to sleep less than six hours per night, and to skip vacations. Meanwhile, one of the most important skills in the toolbox of success gets passed over: even more important than being able to slow down and increase strategic behavior is the ability to actually stop. Let’s begin by stopping running around like headless chickens.
Let’s stop feeding our minds with endless material to obsess on. Let’s stop focusing on how we have been wronged. Let’s stop engaging in arguments that are intended to never end. Let’s stop responding to trolls.
At night, when my eyelids are heavy, and my mind is craving the comfort of my bed, my body is telling me that it’s time to stop. It’s time to sleep. It’s time to regenerate, recuperate, regroup, and return to the world refreshed and ready to contribute with skill and care and quality.
Often, it’s only when we stop that we create enough space to realize that we need to stop other things. Some of my most productive time has been spent in hot-tubs doing nothing. At times like that, times when my mind has been still, I have suddenly realized that some project I was working on was overly complex and was wasting my time and energy.
