I remember back to my year 12 days and even during uni exams the stress you would see on everyone's face was like incredible I do have a big believer that you need stress to perform you see Olympic athletes just before they're about to jump into the pool when they're you know you can see that it is that whether it's stress or the nerves or the excitement could be all those words could mean that but I know that that is an element of success can you talk about how we manage stress so it's a positive thing
and how we can actually gain from that the the idea of stress is that it's not necessarily a bad thing it's only a bad thing if it has a negative impact on you I think an overlooked aspect is that if you want to live a fulfilling life you need to have stress because the human sensation of fulfillment is often derived from overcoming a challenge the definition of challenge is relative to what your capability is we don't find fulfillment and satisfaction from doing very you know no one sitting there tying their shoelaces 12 hours a day
and feeling I have such a satisfying fulfilling life so because we're trying to pick a path of fulfillment we are picking a path of challenge which means there's going to be stress but we have to recognize this is the stress we chose this is the stress we wanted there is always the option to just remove the stress by removing the challenge you can sometimes people say oh I can't I can't I can't you can you may just not want to deal with the consequences of that decision so you might think my job is really stressful
then leave your job that is an option right in most countries if there's no massive repercussion from leaving your job you could get work somewhere else that has a more supportive culture or whatever that you feel is is going to be relevant for you or you may you know change proficions but if you're not willing to do that then you have to be honest with yourself I have the option however the work involved in finding a new job or whatever it is that is something that I would like less than trying to just deal with
the stress of this job it doesn't mean that you have to feel great about the stress of the job you have to understand that that is the stress that you chose in some cases you find you know what I I could deal with the stress but at the end of the day the outcome is not even worth it for me because I'm not even finding it fulfilling to begin with in that case it's the stress you chose but now that you have tried to engage in it a bit more we're realizing you know what this
doesn't read a line with with me even if I could manage the stress in a perfect world where I wasn't stressed but I could still achieve the outcome it doesn't I'm not really excited about that in that case we've learned a little bit more about ourselves we've learned about our work there's a realignment that needs to happen so you can leave and pick a new type of stress a new type of challenge there's a lot of barriers and hesitancy to that because of the sun cost fallacy where I put in so much time so much
effort in this already then pivot to something else and something new well look again you got to pick your stress somehow are you gonna deal with the stress of doing doing work that is unfulfilling and unsustainable what are you going to deal with the stress of trying to create a path for yourself and something new for me leaving medicine after having you know 100 000 plus a student loan plus you know the huge you know locked in career and seven years at University of Publications and medicine to go from that to say okay I'm just
going to go through entrepreneurship and education right no you know well I had little formal qualification and education at the time that was a a big choice but for me it made perfect sense because I'd rather deal with the stress of Entrepreneurship in education because it's the one that I find the most alignment with and on a daily basis whenever I feel that stress I can see it in a way as you know this is a this is a side effect of the challenge this is what I wanted and if I don't want that anymore
I'm always free to make it make a different decision so I think there is a lot of empowerment to viewing stress as something that actually is in your control let's talk about burnout and what's your tips on that yeah so again burnout big topic I'm not going to be able to do it for justice but there is a some this thing called the burnout cycle you you don't you never get burnt out the first on your first rodeo you get burnout on your 183rd Rodeo so the first tip is recognize when you're on the path
to burnout because it's always easier to change things when you're doing that so the past the burnout means there is a high amount of effort there's a higher Reliance on being very motivated in order to achieve a certain outcome if those com if that combination occurs then that's a recipe for Burnout because motivation inherently is not a it's not something that should be dependent on sort of on a daily basis if you're waking up every day and you require motivation to get out of bed then that is going to fizzle out at a certain point
and yes you might take your strategic sick day every now and again because you need that sleeping uh however that's just not going to be sustainable because number one you're gonna run out six days and number two at a certain point it's not gonna be enough everyone knows the feeling of going on leave and then coming back after like three four weeks sometimes and then coming back and being like Oh I'm fresh I'm rejuvenated and then three days in there like no I need to know I need I need no no I need another holiday
yeah well sometimes you don't even feel refreshed you get to the end of the month and you think right I'm now in a position where I'm ready to start relaxing and then you need another another month that is or these are all signs that we're on that path to burnout so number one remove the motivation dependency aspect of it so that could be about changing processes changing your systems changing you know Staffing changing structures whatever it is think what is it that requires me to be so motivated to overcome these challenges put yourself in a
position where your daily work is not dependent on motivation number one either through automations or processes or technology or number two through habits number three through delegation or number four think about restructuring the process within a task that you still need to do in a way that it generates motivation because it is inherently enjoyable so if we're doing a task that we're inherently enjoying it creates more motivation for us rather than pulling that motivation out of us we want that motivation to be a precious resource because push will come to shove one day and if
you are in Rock Bottom when that happens you will not be able to withstand it that motivation should be guarded as as a precious resource just like how we try to guide our time and our free time and other things that are precious to us so think about what can generate motivation for us if we have to do something is there a way that we can change the way we do it so it's more motivating this happens a lot with learning a lot of people find learning dreary and boring and tedious actually the human brain
loves learning what you probably hate is studying so that might be changing the way you study so it's more authentically learning therefore you would find more intrinsic enjoyment in the process now you no longer need motivation in fact it's the opposite you want to do it because you feel that it is motivating Justin I've got a question on productivity uh there's a video that you've done which is awesome we talk about productivity and when productive is efficient and when productivity is not efficient I want to talk to us about that yeah so I'm a huge
believer that productivity in itself is not inherently a good thing and that no one should be seeking to become more productive for the sake of being more productive I consider myself as a highly productive person I do not see myself as being like I am a productive person I don't associate my identity with being productive I don't associate my value my worth with being productive productivity should always be what are the steps that you can take and your ability to take those steps getting you to the goal that you want and it always has to
be personally relevant productivity is nothing more than producing the outcome that you want and the outcome you want is completely up to you if you want to sit by the beach and just chill out then you have to be productive at doing that and it's not sometimes it's not a matter of just going to the beach and chilling out sometimes it's a matter of well what can I do to put myself in the position where I'm able to do that and not have to stress and worry about these other things if what you want to
do is I want to you know give up my material positions and live in the mountains and meditate for the rest of my life power to you you know do that in that case to be productive all you need to do is quit your job you know sell your material it's very very easy to do that so there's this sort of toxic productivity people get really caught up in the idea of just being productive and just constantly going for the sake of it without taking the time to think whether that is what you really want
out of your life you never want to be in a position where yes you're succeeding in your career but then the cost of that was against the very prep you know there's all these stories about you know you've got kids and then you're working so hard to provide for your family and then you turn around you think well my family is miserable because I never never at home you know well then what was the point you're actually being unproductive yeah right so I think productivity because it's one of those things in this capitalistic world right
it wraps up our whole lives and it's possible for your entire life to without realizing it shift towards that or produce just producing being productive for the sake of being productive but we have to for our own sake think about what is it that we want and then gear productivity towards that and sometimes your boss will hate you for it sometimes your colleagues won't agree with it but it's your life and that's what you know that's that's what productivity is about I'm a strong believer in that foreign
