Overdrive - 5/31/19

“Don’t be so hard on yourself.” “You are your own worst critic.” “Take care [of yourself].” “Take it easy.”

Often we hear or say these phrases, but we aren’t so great at interpreting what it means. We say them as goodbyes, anytime a friend vents to us about stress, or when we talk about our own tough times.

I know for me, there are always two voices. One that wants me to push harder and another that reminds me not to burn out. This first voice keeps me going when I’m tired, gassed out, or uninspired. It’s the drill sergeant, the martial arts master, my father. It’s the voice that finds it very difficult to receive compliments or advice, and only seeks actionable feedback and criticism.

The other voice I have is nurturing, understanding, and gentle. It is the motivational coach, the analyst, my mother. You are 1% better than you were yesterday and that’s an improvement! Turn it off. It’s time for happy hour. I’m a fucking legend. 

It used to be a 90-10 split when I was in school. Only after years of focus and practice do I feel the pendulum finally moving to a more balanced position (60-40?). To separate these voices was very helpful for me, reduced my negative self talk, and made me a more balanced as a person, friend, and partner.  

ON SPRINTING

The World Health Organization announced this week that it has classified workplace “burnout” and related chronic stress as a syndrome (downgraded from a “disease,” which I think was appropriate). Either way, increased attention to our total health in relation to modern work culture and corporate work policies is long overdue. 

In the video game industry, “crunch” periods makes employees work mandatory 60-80 hour weeks or more, despite whether you had tasks to complete in your department or not. Rather than being treated as an boost and overdrive, it was abused, and the finger was never let off the button. These crunch periods, rather than being reserved for a few weeks of emergency firefighting, lasted months, sometimes over a year, perpetuating some higher up’s old notion of productivity and stroking their ego as an effective manager or executive.

In a CBSN interview on the topic, Dr. Daniel Bober even suggests changing jobs if a conversation with supervisors about "mental health days" aren’t fruitful. “Well that’s an extreme step,” host Chip Reid responds with a chuckle. This typical response by both media and companies is the problem. We take extreme steps to protect us from physical injury and liability, but not mental stress. It gets swept under the rug and if you complain about it, you are weak. After I was laid off from a video game company after a decade of service, I vowed never to step back into the industry. I was disgruntled and checked-out. 

I don’t regret pushing hard at a younger age. It is important for anyone to find their limits just to know where it is. I’m a huge fan of over training during practice. Just like pushing a race car to the edge, being in military training, or working out, practicing in a safe environment is key. 

This is what school is for. But mindlessly sprinting in a corporate environment where retirement, livelihoods, and paychecks are at stake, playing with other’s lives is another level of irresponsibility and recklessness, in my opinion. I’m not saying layoffs are completely unavoidable, but they should be preemptively avoided at all costs.

ON PRODUCTIVITY

In Chinese, “gung-fu” doesn’t only refer to martial arts, it is also used to describe everyday chores. We can approach our daily tasks in the same manner. Wikipedia refers to gung-fu as “any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete.” When our actions no longer become effective and lack patience, maybe it’s time to stop for a bit. 

Careful and effective time management means considering rest, play, and recovery into the schedule as well. One of the common mistakes I often see managers make is to simply multiply a level of daily achievement by an employee to forecast an arbitrary completion date, or rely too much on an employee’s rough estimation. They are then disappointed or see an employee as under performing when they do not meet this arbitrary deadline and expectation.

So much time and money is wasted when companies simply just choose to move quickly, without managing where and what moves to make. It may work to a certain degree for creative tasks to just “splash” around, but formation and direction should take place relatively quickly after this exploratory phase. Continuing this false sense of productivity increases and becomes prolonged the larger the company becomes. If people are “at their desks,” work must be happening, therefore I am a good manager. These happenings are often wasteful, decrease morale, and increase employee turnover. 

If you are pushing yourself and your employees hard, it must be met with a balance of unplugging, de-stressing, and recovery methods of equal value (read: time off). 

Until solutions or treatments are rolled out for the increased work pace, it is you that must be proactive in monitoring your health. 

So take care of yourself. Take care of your body. Take care of your thoughts.

Take it easy.