5 Wisdom Insights To Improve Your Health and Performance.

Business growth is all fun and exciting, but it's limited by your ability for personal growth. The modern-day world makes it easy to forget about our health and performance. It’s too easy to attach ourselves to our work and sacrifice our well-being for financial or status gain.

This week I’ll share 5 philosophic thoughts and tools to keep your mental health on track.

Avoid the 3 W’s.

The 3 W’s are very common and hold you back. Here’s how to overcome them:

Waiting.
This is textbook. Waiting until you feel better or the perfect moment to start something you wish to do. The reality is, that moment never comes. Waiting is the source of your anxiety. You have control to take action now, so do so

The solution: stop waiting and start now regardless of how you feel.

Worrying.

Another classic. The reality is, most of what we worry about is irrelevant.

You can’t control the majority of events. Most scenarios never manifest and so worrying is actually pointless and drains you.

The solution: focus on the present and what you can control. Be okay with some adversity. Remember you'll soon forget what you were worrying about further down the line.

Wanting.

Desire translates to suffering in Buddhism. Placing emphasis on wanting something which you don’t have or that others have can bring out a bad side of you. Be grateful by wanting what you already have.

The solution: limit your desires to one (you’re still human) and then focus on the process to achieve that want, not the outcome itself.

Beyond the noise lies peace.

Noise keeps us distracted and on edge. When you can see through the noise then you can think clearly. Clear thinking leads to growth. The quickest way to cut through the noise is to learn to meditate. I recommend the app Waking Up by Sam Harris for a zero-to-one road map on meditation.

He uses the analogy of city light pollution. If you never leave the city, you can never see the true wonders of the night sky and all its stars. The mind is the same, when you look up you see noise. Meditation will help you cut through this, much like leaving the city and its light pollution.

Your worth is not attached to your job.

While it’s good to take your work seriously, don’t forget that it’s not a reflection of your self-worth. It’s easy to fear failure and want to force something. You then become tied up in the success of your work but in reality, that’s not true. Most people will admire you for trying.

Failure isn’t something to fear, it’s something to embrace. Everyone has failures, they make for good stories.

Remind yourself to detach your identity from your work and not be so serious. It’s more fun that way.

Freedom is when you stop sacrificing today for tomorrow.

I stole this one from Naval. It hits hard when you understand it and how much you’re living for tomorrow. Not being content and seeking growth is necessary but there can be a dark side.

It’s good to know when enough is enough. It doesn’t mean you stop growing or trying, it means you’re content.

This happens when you do activities for the sake of doing them, not to improve your future. This could be taking up a woodcraft hobby or teaching at a university.

I admire the multimillionaire who retreats to the woods. Don’t forget to live life.

Anxiety kills performance.

High performance can be stressful and anxiety-inducing. The reality is you make worse decisions and perform worse when your anxiety is out of control.

It’s essential to create a sense of calmness so you can do your best work

My favourite tools for this:

• Prioritise sleep.

• Lift heavy weights.

• Avoid overconsuming stimulants.

• Nail nutrition: particularly your protein.

• Ice baths, meditation and walks in nature.

A friend told me about the four-burner analogy: you have a stove with a burner representing an area of your life such as health, finances, work and relationships. The reality is it’s hard to keep all 4 burning full blast at once. There will be periods where you need to focus more energy on one, which is okay.

That’s not to say you let the other go out, just be okay with not making as much progress in that area while you focus on the more important one at that time.

Building a business is fun but it’s hard work. It requires consistent energy which means you need to be on your A-game. Don’t forget to have fun along the way and look after yourself. Enjoy the journey.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the above and if they resonate with where you’re at right now. Any questions or thoughts just shoot me a reply here or on Twitter.

Have a great weekend.

Tom Scourfield

Curious entrepreneur.