Self-discipline Vs. Burning Out?

[Scholar]

So I've been trying to get my productivity consistent in the past few months. A few weeks ago I decided to take it slow and just start from studying 1 hour every day, and increase it for an hour every week until I am at 8 hours. So, everything went perfectly well up to week 4, where I already started seeing signs of it getting more and more difficult. I decided to wait another week before I'd go to 5 hours of studying, and I also decided to have one day off each week. 

On week 6, when I increased to 5 hours of studying, it seems like I started to stumble a little more. One day I got only 2 hours, the other only 1, and then another only 3. So I was 4 hours short on how much I'd have to do for the week. I decided to once again wait a week before raising the study time, so the 7th week I still did 5 hours a day. But that week I kind of failed miserably. 

These were my hours of studying:

Mo 2, Tu 3, We 5, Th 2, Fr 5, Sa 4 and So 0, which is today.

 

I have the feeling like I am burning out, but it might also be my mind trying to stay in homeostasis, like mentioned in the book "Mastery".

 

How should I go about this? Just brute force myself through this or better take it slow and maybe go back to 4 hours a day next week? I'm not sure, because I really don't want to burn out completely. 

Edited September 24, 2017 by Scholar

[aclokay]

I feel the same a lot.. Looking forward to answers on this one

[Saarah]

@Scholar I feel the same doing certain tasks too long

With fatigue, it could be a 'flow' issue, do you ever notice the task may be too boring or monotonous? Or maybe it doesn't have enough variety to it. Or it could be the method of doing something is not enticing to your tastes e.g. Some people love research type skill while others prefer practical skill which requires using the hands, maybe combined with creativity, or another person would prefer to combine it with numerical/logical skill 

I notice these issues with myself, but it's tricky coming up with ways around such personal preferences especially if you have to read a long textbook for example to get information. 

I could be overthinking it and maybe focus is the main factor and just has to be built.

Another thought I have is maybe it's the end goal the task is trying to achieve, as in the vision. Vision could be a great motivator. Compare someone who is making pottery because their job is that, it's just a technical skill vs someone who's making a shop of pottery with the most inspiring designs to create beauty in people's homes, i think they'll each have a different attitude and ability to work hard. 

[Elisabeth]

Great experiment. What are you studying? 

Look, I am not very productive or disciplined and have a ton of problems, but I cared about my physics studies pretty much and always tried studying hard in the exam period. I never managed to do more than ~4 hours of studying a day, when I studied 6-8 hours (which got stretched over the whole day by the breaks) I burned out on day 3, and didn't do anything at all for another two days.

It may very well be that 4 hours is your optimum, if we're talking about real concentration here.

It may also very well be that I never managed more simply because I never cleaned up my diet etc., but that's how it was. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Elisabeth

[Scholar]

I'm studying drawing at the moment, and my tasks do get very monotonous. Whenever I introduce a new element or learn about a new thing I do tend to get in a flow state where I can just practise relentlessly. But the problem with mastery are of course the flatlines. I need to do the same thing thousands of times before it really becomes effortless, and often times introducing a new element is not really practical before I haven't learned the more fundmanetal thing first. It's the same with my meditation habit aswell. I usually am really good at meditating when I try a new kind of meditation, focusing on different aspects. As soon as I do the same thing every day my mind just goes on autopilot and it becomes boring. But the problem is that to get really good at it, I need to stick to one thing and do it over and over.

 

For now, I'll go back to 4 hours a day.

[BjarkeT]

Some research(by cal newport) have shown that the brain has a limited of four hour per day (at least if it's intense concentration) and after four hours people had difficulty to be productive 

so it might be good to stick with four hours and getting enough rest

Edited September 25, 2017 by BjarkeT

[Forestluv]

@Scholar I remember watching one of Leo's videos where he talks about self discipline. I think it was the Free Will one. My impression is that the message was that when one realizes and surrenders to the fact that they have no free will and they are a machine - things start to flow. Resistance dissipates and one "just does". He gave the example of a Buddhist monk that appears to be so disciplined. For you and me, it would take herculean discipline to live like that. Yet for the monk that has surrendered ego, resistance has dissipated and he "just does what he does".

[Brimstone]

@Scholar my guess is that you are either still quite young, or you are not studying what you are most passionate about and just studying what you think you should. 

If you are too young, there is nothing wrong with going out and living a little and gaining a bit of life experience. If you are not studying something and are passionate about, something that resonates deep within your core, then self enquiry is the best remedy.

No matter what though, you should know that you are exactly where you need to be in any given moment, doing exactly what you need to be doing to take you to the next moment. Thus when you are studying all is well, just as all is well when you are not studying.

Also, it might be of value to remove your attachment to a perceived outcome and just enjoy the doing as you are doing and things may open up.

As for burning out, we dig and strive until we no longer can. Exhausted we stop, look around, and see for the first time, the magic and wonder of what is. 

Edited September 25, 2017 by Brimstone

[Leo Gura]

How many hours are you "working" in total per week?

That's the key number you should be looking at.

If you're working more than 40 hours per week, you're over-working, so don't expect it to be sustainable.

Studying 8 hours per day for 6 days is a lot of studying. What the hell are you studying so much?

[Edvard]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

How many hours are you "working" in total per week?

That's the key number you should be looking at.

If you're working more than 40 hours per week, you're over-working, so don't expect it to be sustainable.

Studying 8 hours per day for 6 days is a lot of studying. What the hell are you studying so much?

At the university I'm attending now, the professors actually recommended to work at least 13-15 hours on each of three courses every week, and some may need more, especially the first semester to keep up.. was a little surprised about the amount of work required, myself.

[Scholar]

6 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

How many hours are you "working" in total per week?

That's the key number you should be looking at.

If you're working more than 40 hours per week, you're over-working, so don't expect it to be sustainable.

Studying 8 hours per day for 6 days is a lot of studying. What the hell are you studying so much?

When I say studying it also includes exercising it. I'd count learning anatomy and just drawing anatomy over and over again to memorize it as both studying. It's not just intellectual knowledge, but also practical skill.

It doesn't seem like 40 hours is a lot compared to what the successful people in the industry put into their craft. Some say they used to "study" 16 hours a day, every day of the week, for years. 

 

And didn't you spend insane amount of hours building your business, atleast in the beginning? How can one stay competitive if there are people who put in more than 40 hours per week into whatever they are doing?

 

I'm not yet studying 8 hours per day, but that was the goal I was shooting for. I'm a really low energy person, most of the time, and I'd hope to increase the energy simply by getting myself more used to working more and more. Is that a silly strategy?

[Elisabeth]

1 hour ago, Scholar said:

I'm a really low energy person, most of the time, and I'd hope to increase the energy simply by getting myself more used to working more and more. Is that a silly strategy?

 

I'd like some insight on that too.

[The White Belt]

11 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

If you're working more than 40 hours per week, you're over-working, so don't expect it to be sustainable.

So if we are working 35 hours in a regular job, we only have 5 hours we can devote to personal development, consciousness work, life purpose, otherwise we are overworked? Is this what you are saying here?

[Elisabeth]

12 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

If you're working more than 40 hours per week, you're over-working, so don't expect it to be sustainable.

 

@Leo Gura How is "work" in this advice defined? Is that including the breaks (and things like talking to colleagues, basically time at the workplace), or is it the actual time of concentrating on a task? How much of actual concentration is it realistic to expect?

[Joseph Maynor]

I went though lots of bouts with studying too.  Just key into your intuition, is it genuine?  If so, honor the Muse.  

Video right up your alley:

 

[Leo Gura]

On 9/26/2017 at 5:42 AM, Scholar said:

It doesn't seem like 40 hours is a lot compared to what the successful people in the industry put into their craft. Some say they used to "study" 16 hours a day, every day of the week, for years.

And didn't you spend insane amount of hours building your business, atleast in the beginning? How can one stay competitive if there are people who put in more than 40 hours per week into whatever they are doing?

And if your friends jumped off a bridge, you would join them?

Have you noticed yet that most of your friends aren't masterful people? So why are you seeking to be like them?

You stay competitive by working smarter, not longer. Long-term consistency is far more important to your success than working long hours.

If you worked for 30 hours per week for 30 years, you would out-master 99% of people in your field, including those who are working 70 hours per week. Because they cannot sustain that over 30 years. They will burn out.

You can crunch for short periods of time when the situation really hinges on it. But that shouldn't be your main strategy. That's what you do when you're backed into a corner.

On 9/26/2017 at 10:38 AM, The White Belt said:

So if we are working 35 hours in a regular job, we only have 5 hours we can devote to personal development, consciousness work, life purpose, otherwise we are overworked? Is this what you are saying here?

No, work and personal dev are separate things. I was talking about 40 hours of work max.

Studies have been done long ago (by factory owners) which show that 40 hours per week is the most productive schedule. Over 40 hours starts to become counter-productive.

This stuff is counter-intuitive. By trying to get more, you actually end up with less.