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The thing I want to talk about

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today is something that is a somewhat

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counterintuitive and tricky aspect

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of our

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own self-awareness.

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The way that we think about our self

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and our identity, and the

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way that we value it based

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upon how our emotions

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and our outlook is situated

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at any given time. To

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break down a little bit what that means is

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you always

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have this feeling

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about, are we doing good?

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Are we thriving? Are

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we succeeding? Are

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we progressing? Do

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people like us? Do we like

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people? Those

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feelings are always top of

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mind in this way, and

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not in a literal way. We're

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not going down a checklist thinking of all of

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those things and marking them off on a daily

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basis, but

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they create a culmination of

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self-image that

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we carry around

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with us. And

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that self-image shifts

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our mindset because

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how we're feeling about ourselves

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and our future and the world influences

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how we see the world. And

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that in turn influences

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or can reinforce how we

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see ourselves. It can

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create kind of a feedback loop

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of positivity or negativity or neutrality,

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whatever it may be. And

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so one

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of the things that we have to watch out for, and

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this is again one of those kind of

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slippery ones. Is

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the if you think about how you feel about

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yourself at any given time. And

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if you're feeling good you feel

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energized you have confidence

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you have a greater sense of clarity in

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most important you have a sense of

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self belief. Right so you're

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able to approach everything that

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you're doing in life all of your

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relationships your professional things your

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self care and inner work you're

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able to approach all that with a

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kind of optimism and

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power. Because your

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mindset situated in such that you

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feel yes I have this

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value I can do

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this. It

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is worth it for me to continue

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developing all these different areas in my

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life that are meaningful to me. And

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that's really great. But

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as we all know certainly

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that mindset is

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not permanent. That

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mindset even sometimes for some people

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in some seasons of

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life and become rather

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rascally and difficult to obtain.

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More often than not what

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happens is that people feel. Ground

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down we get into

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these patterns and these habits of

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living. We sort

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of repeat the same day over

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and over again going

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through the motions because we have to maintain.

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Our lives. We

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have to do certain things to keep

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it all going right. And.

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Because there's an endless amount of things

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that we can do to facilitate the

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keeping it all going this. It's

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very, very easy to wear

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ourselves thin. And

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that can be even, of course, on

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a physical level, just

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like our physical energy gets worn down

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because we're not taking enough time

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to rest and restore

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and do nothing, or

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even just something as simple as sleep sometimes. But

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also that can really wear down your

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mind. Just

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checking these boxes and doing these

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same things over and over again,

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it becomes very fatiguing to the mind if you

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don't give the mind a break. Because if you

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look at what the general pattern of a lot

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of people's lives are like, because they

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do their job throughout the

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day, that's a certain percentage

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of their intellectual power that is taken from

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that. Then

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in empty spaces within their job, they're

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looking at their phone and

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processing information on their phone, that's

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taking a part of your mental energy as

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well. Then perhaps you

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go out with some people that,

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after work, that drains the mental

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energy. You come home, you get

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back on your phone, you read, you do whatever it

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is. You take care of things around the house, whatever

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it is that you have to do. And

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that drains even more mental energy. Because

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you're just kind of like playing chess all day. You're

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kind of just processing bits of

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information and applying solutions

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to problems all day long

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and all night. And when

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you get into habits of doing that over

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and over and over and over without inserting

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the proper downtime or

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the proper time just to take care

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of yourself, to kind of detox, to

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reset, and to get some empty

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space, then you

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get really fatigued and

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really worn out and burned

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out. And whatever that

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happens, and it becomes... The

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dominant theme in your life at the

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same time that you physically are worn

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down as well, then

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it's very difficult to keep a

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positive mindset in that moment. And

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so whenever you're physically and mentally worn down,

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all of those checkboxes about the

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self that I mentioned earlier, how are

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you feeling? Are you

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thriving? Is your future looking good? Do

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people like you? Do you like people? Etc. All

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of those things start to take a bit of a different skew

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because your mindset is different

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because you're fatigued and you're worn down and

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you're feeling a bit probably

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numb at the same time to some

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of the pleasures and things that would

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restore you just because of the

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fatigue aspect of mind and body. And

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so whenever we're in those states of just

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feeling really worn down,

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what happens is that then our mental

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direction about ourselves becomes changed as

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well. So whenever our energy

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drops, we tend to think

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that our worth drops at the same time because

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when we're coming from a place of burnout,

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as it were, and overwhelm,

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when we go to think about

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our future, think about ourselves, think about

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what's possible, it

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really takes on a different look. It

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looks like, oh yeah, no, maybe

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I can't make

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it. Maybe I can't do this. I'm

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just tired and I

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don't have the skills.

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Maybe these people don't like me. Maybe I don't like

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these people. Maybe I don't want to hang out with

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them. Maybe I

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can't look for a new job. Maybe I

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can't go traveling because... No,

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I just can't do it right now.

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It's not me. I

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don't have the... the command

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and confidence of my life to write

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that script for myself and get it

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done. And once we get into that mindset, it can be really difficult

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to get out of it.

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You know, and a lot of people go through that

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naturally and then kind of come out of

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it once they really burn

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out so much that they're forced to take a break.

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It's just a mindset because you're kind of tired and

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worn down and whatever. And

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the longer that you think that, the

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more you confirm it for yourself to be true,

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even though it's not true. It's

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just a perspective, right? But

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the longer that you spend in that

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state of mind, and the

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longer that you just kind of keep trudging

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through life without ever just

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hitting the brakes and

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really treating yourself right so

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that you can set yourself up for success,

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the more you can just forget

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about the times whenever you actually

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did feel the other way. You forget about

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whenever you felt confident when you felt like

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you were going to go crush life and

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that all the things that you wanted to

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do or write your fingertips, it was just

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a matter of you executing them and getting

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them done. And

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that energy can kind of

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fade out because if you spend too

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long in this dormant state, you

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convince yourself that maybe

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you don't have as much value as you thought you did.

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You confuse being burned out for

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not having any potential. And

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that's a really unfortunate

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place to be. I've certainly been there

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many, many times where I'll burn myself

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out and then I'll think,

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oh yeah, now all the stuff that I had

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on the front of my mind that I was

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planning for the future. I don't know,

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maybe it's not gonna work out, maybe

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whatever. And the second I start thinking

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like that, I

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stop. And

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I come back to an

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objective view of self. And

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I remember, hold on, my mindset

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has shifted to where I'm feeling more

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negative and critical by myself. And the

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elasticity of my thinking has

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become tight and

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pessimistic. And so it

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means I need to take a break. I

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need to not worry about work

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for a while. I need to just do

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kind of the bare minimum and then

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do a lot of things for

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myself, get plenty of rest, go

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outside, hang out with some people

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that I always feel more energized

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afterwards. Spend

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some time doing some things, getting your

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hands busy, like doing things that really

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bring you joy. I know a

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lot of people like gardening or

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you're working on little projects and

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things like that. And

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so whenever I feel that way, I

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always just pump the brakes and

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reset and put in large chunks of

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time to just do nothing and to

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relax and to just restore. And

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it always works. It always

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works. And so consider

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and remember the fact that whenever

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you start feeling down on yourself,

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whenever your mindset starts shifting towards

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this negative state,

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where your energy drops and you confuse

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that for your actual value of self-dropping.

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Now that this has been articulated

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and it's had a point put on it, I hope

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that it will be helpful for you to

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be able to notice and recognize where

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that's happening, to break

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the story from the

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objective truth and to be able to

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put space in there and see. it, whatever it's

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happening, and notice,

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okay, this isn't actually

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me, this isn't actually what I think.

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And if you were

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rejuvenated, you would feel otherwise,

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you would feel positive and

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confident and thirsty and hungry

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for life and for your

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future. And

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so, yes,

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I hope that this is useful and provides

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a tool for you, you know, to be

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able to recognize that negative

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state of mind, that negative

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shift, and then notice it when

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it happens, take action, and

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don't be drawn into this

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state that so many of us, I guess,

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I suppose all of us get drawn into,

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when we get burned out,

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mistaking that drop of

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energy for a lack

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of value and potential. And

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what's really cool is that the more that you

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learn that, the more that you notice it and

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don't get tricked by that

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miscommunication, it's kind of an internal

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miscommunication of self, then

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you're able to push it in the

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opposite direction, where you recognize,

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okay, I'm going to take like bigger

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chunks of time and make

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that a priority to not put pressure on

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myself, to not be burning out my intellect

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or my body, the rest,

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and to just kind of do nothing, to just

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exist sort of like an animal to a degree,

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if you're just hanging out, just

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recovering, reflecting if you

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want or not, and doing

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what gives you joy, what

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gives you energy, and

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taking that time for yourself so that

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you can then move over back into

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a productive state of mind, and

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have that energy, that positive flow and

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that power, and the more that you continue

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to cultivate that sense of mind, the

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more you convince yourself that that's who you

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are, and that's where we want

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to be, right? So you can

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create this instead of a negative

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snowball effect, you can actually create a positive

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snowball effect. So then

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the confidence and the clarity really

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becomes palpable because you're like, no,

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I have found this pattern

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of taking time off and

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resting and doing what I

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need to do so that I feel like I have

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enough energy. And then

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putting that energy into something, into yourself,

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into a project, into your profession, whatever

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it is that makes

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you happy, and then being able to

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turn it off again and recover and

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then putting that energy back into

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progress again. And the more times that

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you do that and the more time that

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you consistently feel that

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positive flow and that optimism of

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yourself and your future, the more

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that you begin to believe that

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that is reality. And

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the easier it gets to stay in that

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zone, the easier it gets to be a

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confident person and to make those things

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in those changes and

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realize those goals that you have in your

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life to make them all actually come

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into fruition.