The Race with Limitless Effort – ElPropósito4 min de lectura

When the energy demanded is never enough

Photo by Maico Amorim on Unsplash

What happens when we’re giving 100% of our time, life, work, emotions and focus, and it still seems like it isn’t enough? The wear and tear on a person, a team or an organization starts at the core of who they are, and so does the solution. Before a high-performance athlete gives 100% in a race, they’ve gone through rigorous training that goes well beyond exercise, and afterward they take a (special) period of rest before the next race. I invite you to read on about your own race.

We live in times when giving 100% isn’t enough. Endless dissatisfaction is becoming the norm, and individuals and organizations alike are plagued by needless, short-term burnout with dire, sometimes even fatal, consequences. Doing for the sake of doing and having for the sake of having have become salt that has lost its flavor and no longer seasons our lives. No amount is ever enough. How do we face this huge challenge?

The athlete I mentioned prepares (physically, spiritually and emotionally) in every area of life. Even on race day, they know the race has a start and a finish. The big problem for everyone else is that the race seems to have started (without anyone firing the gun, and often for no reason or meaning at all) and, worse, there’s no finish line in sight. So the wear and tear is obvious, and if you’re reading this and you’re not a high-performance athlete, I’m sure that in your life and work you’re being asked to be one. Are you aware of that race and where it’s taking you?

To notice the obvious, we first need awareness. We can use Emotional Intelligence as a tool to see where we’re heading as people, where those around us are heading and where the world I’m, or we’re, building is going. Without it, we’ll hardly notice the burnout we’re causing ourselves, let alone the solutions that address the whole picture. A weekend off isn’t enough when a ruminating mind can’t switch off, and neither is feeding the spirit with a couple of exercises or trying to nourish the body with so much in so little time.

The solutions have to cover the whole picture, and the balance everyone talks about doesn’t happen overnight. It’s an ongoing exercise that takes persistent work in every single area (whether for a team, a person or an organization). Any burnout pushed to the limit has the consequences every extreme has. Up to a point, we know those consequences are real and can actually happen, yet we’re rarely willing to accept them (the principle of reality and consistency that a great professor I admire, Julio Sergio Ramírez Arango, spoke about so often).

The first big step in becoming aware of the race we’re in, and deciding whether to keep going, stop or step out, is knowing our Purpose. Finding meaning in what we do, want or long for is our biggest energy saver and what brings clarity to our decisions. It’s the spearhead that makes us willing to keep going the extra mile without burning out. It’s what will let us keep running a race you may never have noticed starting, and that you’re now fully immersed in.

Warm regards,

Rodrigo Baccaro

• P.S. This week’s VELA (what I was Watching, Listening to, Reading and Learning):
• What I was Watching: Why comfort will ruin your life. A good TED talk. What stood out for me were the rings of growth. We all need to grow in every area of our lives, and this is a great talk for discovering how
  – What I was Listening to: Burnout is Everyone’s Problem. From Adam Grant’s podcast, a great episode on a syndrome spreading every day to every corner of the planet
  – What I was Reading: Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. The latest book by Jordan Peterson, someone I admire more every day. It came into my hands a couple of months ago and had been waiting for its moment, and now its time has come. A great find, and both books (the first, 12 Rules for Life, which is actually his second, and this one) are gems in my library
  – What I was Learning: How Bill Gates Reads Books. Bill Gates is famous for how many books he reads each year, his recommendations, the book lists he publishes and so on. I’m sharing this video mainly for the kind of notes he takes, which is how I usually annotate my own books

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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