Between the requirements of work, life and the endless cycle of accounts, we often place our development, learning and self -improvement at the bottom of our daily task lists.
When I was younger, I usually justified this in two primary ways:
- Lack of control – I believed I had no choice. Things were my control outside. Apologies as “I’m just so busy,” “My boss is unfair” or “I’m just not as fast as my colleagues” were my go-to rights.
- Fear – I was afraid not to be the next one in line for a promotion, not to get my next increase, not being enough. Although I never missed a promotion, I was not exactly the healthiest person. Years later, burned, overworked and without feeling of who I was outside of my work, I collapsed.
It took years (and thousands spent in therapy) to realize that both apologies arose from the same place-a deep-rooted uncertainty.
Self -esteem and work
At that moment I knew without my self -esteem bound immediately to my work. My value depended on what my boss thought, how hard they saw me work and how much time I spent in the office (this was clearly before Covid).
As I am sure allure of winning To darken everything else in my life, including myself.
For those who are good at it, things is pleasure. Winning contracts, pursuing leads, sorting out a new code base, it’s all exciting! But that excitement was not enough to compensate everything else that I lost.
In the large schedule of a universe that is at least 13.8 billion years old (and probably older), it is stupid to think that someone, including your boss, can dictate your self -esteem or justify your existence.
Think about it. For all the great philosophical spirits that came for us – Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad, Confucius, the ancient Greeks – no one can definitively explain why we are here, as a kind or as individuals.
Before you panic
Years ago this uncertainty would be terrified of me. The don’t know Used to bring fear.
Now? I realized that it is one of the best parts of life: nobody can tell me whether you are here. Which means We can sort it out for ourselves– If we choose.
Most of us have come where we are today by doing what we were assumed Unpleasant. By following the rules.
But we probably left pieces of ourselves. Pieces that we miss, even if we don’t realize it yet.
The good news? You can rediscover those pieces Today By putting time aside to learn something new.
30 minutes of control
The lasting of only 30 minutes a day to learn something new improved my mental health, dragged my skills and helped me, the most important thing, Find myself again.
Here is how you can do the same:
Step 1: Identify your peak time
Find the time of the day when you are on your sharpest, most alert and most capable.
- For most this is an hour or two after waking up.
- Others touch their peak immediately after lunch.
- Observe yourself for a few weeks. Follow your energy levels during the day in a diary. Your peak time will of course reveal itself.
Step 2: Block 30 minutes to learn
Once you have found your peak time:
- Block 30 minutes on your agenda Every day.
- Only plan a week at a time to make flexibility possible for unexpected changes.
- Set a recurring meeting with yourself – just as you would do for an important customer or project.
Step 3: View and protect your time
This is the difficult part.
- To appear Every day (At least three times a week, minimal).
- Don’t let distractions cancel your session.
- Do not use holidays or busy schedules such as apologies.
- Don’t waste this time to respond to e -mails or texts.
Instead, use it to learn something meaningful, robotics, graphic design, mindfulness, coding, creativity, Whatever you call. Trust your intuition.
Step 4: Observe and adjust
As Annie Dillard said, “How we spend our days is of course how we spend our lives.”
By giving priority to yourself and learning daily, you make an investment that dividends will pay for you, your career and society as a whole.
After all, if we have all left pieces of ourselves along the way, it might not be a wonder that life is not as fulfilled as it could are.
The choice is yours, are you ready to reclaim those lost pieces?