Loop 003 · about 3 minutes
Ever had a month where work was going great, and everything else quietly fell apart?
That was my September. I launched a book on top of a full-time job. The launch was busy and exciting. Meanwhile, my workouts shrank (on purpose, like I wrote last week) and my sleep slipped (not on purpose).
It showed. My back started hurting from sitting all day without my usual workouts. And because I was tired all the time, I got short with the people I love over small things.
At the time, those felt like separate problems. A back problem. A sleep problem. A patience problem. They weren’t. It was one problem showing up in three places.
Here's what I've learned about what happens when one part of your life takes over.
Your life runs on four parts: health, work, relationships, and money. They all share the same you. Same 24 hours, same energy. Nothing new gets added when one of them gets busy. So when one takes more, it has to take it from somewhere.
It usually goes like this:
1. One part asks for a little more. A deadline. A launch. A move. A sick parent. You give it an extra evening, then another.
2. It borrows from the quietest part. Usually health, because sleep and workouts don't complain right away. Sometimes it's relationships. Nobody sends you an angry message about it, so you don't notice.
3. You try to fix the part that's paying. You notice you're exhausted, so you start a new sleep routine. Or you sign up for a new gym plan. It lasts a week. Then you blame your discipline.
Step 3 is the trap. The sleep routine didn't fail because you're lazy. It failed because work was still taking those hours. You fixed the wrong part.
There's an example in the book about a manager named Adam. He thought he had three problems: his health was bad, things were tense at home, and he was stress spending. When he mapped it out, it was one thing driving all three. Work was bleeding into his evenings.
He didn't fix his diet first, or his budget. He put a limit on work: meetings ended an hour earlier, and no work after 6 pm. With those evenings back, the other three finally had room to recover.
That's the whole idea. Don't fix the part that's paying. Limit the part that's taking.
The bad-week version
Take five minutes and a piece of paper.
Write the four words: Health, Work, Relationships, Money.
Next to each one, write one line: how is it running right now?
Circle the one that's taking more than its share.
Underline the one that's paying for it.
Now, don't start with the one you underlined. Start with the one you circled. Give it one limit this week: an end time, one evening off, or a smaller version of what it's asking for.
Then watch what happens to the part you underlined.
One question
Which of your four is taking more than its share right now?
Hit reply. I read every one.
Mahmoud
P.S. If the book has helped you at all, an honest review on Amazon helps other people find it. Even one sentence makes a difference: amazon.com/dp/B0HFRMDLBT