I agree! šš½āāļø I learned this one the hard way, grateful for the lesson, though.
Better to spend 20 hours working at 80% than 80 hours working at 20%.
I gotta block out time for work (usually mornings) and other time for whatever else, then stick as best as I can to those boundaries irrelevant of where Iām up to on the task.
Yeah, the hard way with this stuff is painful! But blocking out time/setting boundaries is everything. Iāve found that the clearer the boundaries I set with work, the better I prioritise and the better the results.
I gotta put me fkn phone away when itās work time. But I have to and it too, because itās a work phoneā¦ need to just keep it face down and have headphones in I reckon.
Takes me twice as long to get stuff done after about 10am I reckon.
I wonder if the breadth of your identities are a multiplier, rather than a sum?
Anyway, canāt wait for the Lions, and always grateful for the perspective that guys like you and Ollie Hoskins share about your careers and life. How good that heās getting the send off he deserves back with the Force!
Or diminishing returns as you can't satisfy the multiple identities? Some optimum level where you've got variety and redundancy built into the system but not so much sh!t on that you're stressed!
I see what you mean, thatās a good point. I pictured them (identities) more like the intersecting circles of a venn than a stack (adding), that might fall.
What do you think it means to satisfy an identity? Having lots of shit on doesnt necessarily mean you have lots of identities. You can just one and still be overwhelmed imo
Younger people seem to tie themselves to one identity, such as budding elite athletes or uni students. People think spending more time on their craft will make them better at it. But as you've mentioned, when it's not going well, it can bring us down. When we have other things in our life, hobbies, circles of friends, and community service, we give ourselves the energy to be better at our craftāquality over quantity.
I was chatting to an athlete the other day. He was telling me how he's started doing a welding course. His face lit up when he told me about it, and I loved that for him. I explained to him that non-elite athletes do sport as a hobby, but for elite athletes, what people would classify as work or school becomes a hobby, and how important it is to have a life outside of the sport.
It can be tough for athletes, particularly those who move away from home, away from their family and friends. This results in their circle outside of their sport being much smaller. Teammates often share housing together and train together, and the demands of the job mean that not much time is available to invest in building social circles outside of the sport. This is where community engagement, such as hospital visits, school visits, and general fan engagement, can help.
I'm wondering if education on this topic when kids are at rep team level or academy pathways would help them see the value in building multiple identities throughout their career, and therefore the transition out of elite sport a little smoother when the time comes?
About burnout culture. I agree with this as well. I was having a discussion with an ex-colleague just yesterday about this. She had taken a week off sick, even though she had been sick for 3 weeks. Her manager was giving her a hard time about not having tasks down, despite her being on sick leave. I commented that I find it interesting that you must accrue sick leave. I understand annual leave. But when you're new in a job, you have no sick leave. if you get sick early in, you don't have the leave to take and rest and recover. This creates a culture of people working when their sick, which means their sick for longer due to how hard their body has to work to manage the work stress and fighting of the viruses. My ex-colleague said that other managers and team leaders at work were comparing her to other colleagues who work extra hours or push through when sick as their "commitment to the company". This company isn't the only one with this issue. It's a common work culture across the board. How quality is the work going to be when you're unwell? If she had the safety to take a week off work when she first got sick, would her illness have dragged out to 3 weeks? We won't know. But my personal experience says she would have fully recovered with time off and then been able to give 100% of herself once she returned to work.
Having been self-employed for 16 years, with no paid sick leave. I worked through sick many times. When I stopped private practice and became a full-time student, it was a big adjustment, but towards the end of my degree, I questioned whether I wanted to work full time. I have no partner or depends so 4 days a week would probably work for me. My dream job would be a flexible one, where I could keep massaging at the brumbies between my other work.
Plan my work around my life, not my life around my work.
In sport, there is a push to help athletes prepare for life after playing. Things like study, community work, or planning a second career. But I donāt remember anyone ever connecting that to identity. I think if that was made more explicit, it could really help athletes understand why doing other stuff outside of sport matters beyond just ticking a box.
And on burnout culture, I think change has to come from both ends. Leaders creating environments that donāt push people to breaking point, and individuals learning to set better boundaries. From what Iāve seen, the people who are constantly sick are usually the ones who never switch off or take proper breaks.
To the first point around identity I would abstract it up a layer to saying people just need to do things that produce the happy brain chemicals. Whatever that is will vary between people. I think you've identified some critical high impact areas though around communities. We didn't evolve as solitary lone wolves so a solitary existence isn't, all other things equal, a good thing for humans.
To the second point around burnout I am fully happy to admit that, if my work is not something I truly love (and it isn't for nearly everyone) then my objective is to get paid as much as I can for doing as little as possible. That sounds bad on the face of it but doesn't mean I don't work hard or I do a bad job. Far from it. I wouldn't be where am I today in my work if I was sh!t. I'm just not a slave to it. There are many many more important things that you should give time to. As the saying goes, nobody dies wishing they'd spent more time at work.
thanks mate and I agree re brain chemicals and I believe Oxytocin is the most overlooked one! One that only comes from spending time with community and loved ones.
Nothing wrong with that re work and makes prefect sense as work can just be a means to an end. But people wont be able to enjoy "the end" if they're sick and broken.
I agree! šš½āāļø I learned this one the hard way, grateful for the lesson, though.
Better to spend 20 hours working at 80% than 80 hours working at 20%.
I gotta block out time for work (usually mornings) and other time for whatever else, then stick as best as I can to those boundaries irrelevant of where Iām up to on the task.
Yeah, the hard way with this stuff is painful! But blocking out time/setting boundaries is everything. Iāve found that the clearer the boundaries I set with work, the better I prioritise and the better the results.
I gotta put me fkn phone away when itās work time. But I have to and it too, because itās a work phoneā¦ need to just keep it face down and have headphones in I reckon.
Takes me twice as long to get stuff done after about 10am I reckon.
I wonder if the breadth of your identities are a multiplier, rather than a sum?
Anyway, canāt wait for the Lions, and always grateful for the perspective that guys like you and Ollie Hoskins share about your careers and life. How good that heās getting the send off he deserves back with the Force!
Perhaps! Never thought of it like that, but I do believe having wider breadth makes you more resilient.
Same and think you'll today's post then! Hope the Force and Ollie rough them up on Saturday
I definitely think so, and something Iām learning is to not keep them in silos.
Or diminishing returns as you can't satisfy the multiple identities? Some optimum level where you've got variety and redundancy built into the system but not so much sh!t on that you're stressed!
I see what you mean, thatās a good point. I pictured them (identities) more like the intersecting circles of a venn than a stack (adding), that might fall.
What do you think it means to satisfy an identity? Having lots of shit on doesnt necessarily mean you have lots of identities. You can just one and still be overwhelmed imo
Absolutely, Ben :).
Younger people seem to tie themselves to one identity, such as budding elite athletes or uni students. People think spending more time on their craft will make them better at it. But as you've mentioned, when it's not going well, it can bring us down. When we have other things in our life, hobbies, circles of friends, and community service, we give ourselves the energy to be better at our craftāquality over quantity.
I was chatting to an athlete the other day. He was telling me how he's started doing a welding course. His face lit up when he told me about it, and I loved that for him. I explained to him that non-elite athletes do sport as a hobby, but for elite athletes, what people would classify as work or school becomes a hobby, and how important it is to have a life outside of the sport.
It can be tough for athletes, particularly those who move away from home, away from their family and friends. This results in their circle outside of their sport being much smaller. Teammates often share housing together and train together, and the demands of the job mean that not much time is available to invest in building social circles outside of the sport. This is where community engagement, such as hospital visits, school visits, and general fan engagement, can help.
I'm wondering if education on this topic when kids are at rep team level or academy pathways would help them see the value in building multiple identities throughout their career, and therefore the transition out of elite sport a little smoother when the time comes?
About burnout culture. I agree with this as well. I was having a discussion with an ex-colleague just yesterday about this. She had taken a week off sick, even though she had been sick for 3 weeks. Her manager was giving her a hard time about not having tasks down, despite her being on sick leave. I commented that I find it interesting that you must accrue sick leave. I understand annual leave. But when you're new in a job, you have no sick leave. if you get sick early in, you don't have the leave to take and rest and recover. This creates a culture of people working when their sick, which means their sick for longer due to how hard their body has to work to manage the work stress and fighting of the viruses. My ex-colleague said that other managers and team leaders at work were comparing her to other colleagues who work extra hours or push through when sick as their "commitment to the company". This company isn't the only one with this issue. It's a common work culture across the board. How quality is the work going to be when you're unwell? If she had the safety to take a week off work when she first got sick, would her illness have dragged out to 3 weeks? We won't know. But my personal experience says she would have fully recovered with time off and then been able to give 100% of herself once she returned to work.
Having been self-employed for 16 years, with no paid sick leave. I worked through sick many times. When I stopped private practice and became a full-time student, it was a big adjustment, but towards the end of my degree, I questioned whether I wanted to work full time. I have no partner or depends so 4 days a week would probably work for me. My dream job would be a flexible one, where I could keep massaging at the brumbies between my other work.
Plan my work around my life, not my life around my work.
Thanks for that Clare. Very thoughtful.
In sport, there is a push to help athletes prepare for life after playing. Things like study, community work, or planning a second career. But I donāt remember anyone ever connecting that to identity. I think if that was made more explicit, it could really help athletes understand why doing other stuff outside of sport matters beyond just ticking a box.
And on burnout culture, I think change has to come from both ends. Leaders creating environments that donāt push people to breaking point, and individuals learning to set better boundaries. From what Iāve seen, the people who are constantly sick are usually the ones who never switch off or take proper breaks.
Great read Ben. Bang on.
To the first point around identity I would abstract it up a layer to saying people just need to do things that produce the happy brain chemicals. Whatever that is will vary between people. I think you've identified some critical high impact areas though around communities. We didn't evolve as solitary lone wolves so a solitary existence isn't, all other things equal, a good thing for humans.
To the second point around burnout I am fully happy to admit that, if my work is not something I truly love (and it isn't for nearly everyone) then my objective is to get paid as much as I can for doing as little as possible. That sounds bad on the face of it but doesn't mean I don't work hard or I do a bad job. Far from it. I wouldn't be where am I today in my work if I was sh!t. I'm just not a slave to it. There are many many more important things that you should give time to. As the saying goes, nobody dies wishing they'd spent more time at work.
thanks mate and I agree re brain chemicals and I believe Oxytocin is the most overlooked one! One that only comes from spending time with community and loved ones.
Nothing wrong with that re work and makes prefect sense as work can just be a means to an end. But people wont be able to enjoy "the end" if they're sick and broken.