For all the essays and podcast episodes I’ve done about doing less, knowing your why before you start something, and redefining productive, I do believe there is value in striving. Not fulfilling our life purpose, avoiding effort, and quitting out of fear does not lead to a Sustainably Productive life. In fact it is the exact opposite – it is checking out of the life you are intended to lead. While you are busy being busy, you might be missing the value. Missing the meat of the meal because you are making sure the silverware is set perfectly. (Apologies to the vegetarian readers). 

I have been thinking about this topic a lot in the last few weeks and am starting to get my thoughts to form sentences. I am going to make this a series over a longer period of time so I can workshop these ideas around striving with you. Let’s start where I often go when I am working through a complicated-for-me idea: the dictionary.

Striving has two definitions that I want to introduce you to.

Make great efforts to achieve or obtain something

and 

Struggle or fight vigorously

Using these definitions, I want to talk about striving in terms of activity and inactivity. 

Striving Can Be Doing

I bet most of you reading this related more to the striving as doing. Cake even wrote a song about it:

The arena is empty except for one man

Still driving and striving as fast as he can

The sun has gone down and the moon has come up

And long ago somebody left with the cup

But he’s driving and striving and hugging the turns

And thinking of someone for whom he still burns

Cake, The Distance

I believe the key is to consciously choose what you are striving for. I want to call this deliberate practice. This idea of deliberate practice takes a beginner mind. By checking your ego and need to be perfect at the door, you make more space to strive, fail, and learn. To be clear, this is hardly the American way. We don’t want to do or watch the work, we want to see the result.

“With everything perfect, we do not ask how it came to be. Instead we rejoice in the present fact as though it came out of the ground by magic.”

Nietzsche

• We expected Michael Jordan to be a batting All Start just because he was an NBA All Star. Watching him work at it was boring to most people – we wanted the All Star performance. 
• People often get frustrated at crafts because they can’t replicate the sample or perfect a technique the first (or tenth or hundredth) time they attempt it. We don’t even consider that by failing to copy the sample, we have created an original.
• Time is considered wasted if the garden didn’t yield a massive harvest. We discount the joy at puttering around in nature and the lessons learned from a smaller than usual crop. 

Don’t miss the experience that striving gives – the effort to achieve or obtain something can be what makes life interesting, fun, productive, and sustainable. 

My Deliberate Practice

One of the ways I recently engaged in this idea of deliberate practice was with quilting. A shop in the mountains of North Carolina runs online classes, which I had not tried – all of my classes had been in person. I wanted to get better at a few techniques that this online class offered so I took the leap. Going into this experiment with a beginner mind was key. Knowing there would be challenges, imperfection, and a lot to learn were things I reminded myself often. I also knew that this quilt would be one I kept or donated (vs. having the gift recipient in mind while I made it like I usually do). This took the pressure off and freed me up to make mistakes. 

While I was not wrong about all of that, this deliberate practice was a challenge. I ripped out portions, resewing them to get it right. Watching the lessons multiple times on half speed became the norm. I have a list of things that are wrong with the quilt now that it is done. And my people use it daily. We can have both.

Which leads to the other half of striving. While striving is doing something, it can also be NOT doing something.

Striving Can Be Not Doing 

As I sit here striving to draft this essay, I just heard the washing machine finish and I desperately want to pop up and put the clothes in the dryer. Because I like the feeling of things flowing easily and getting stuff done, knocking out a chore quickly is a really attractive option. But I believe my purpose is not to just do chores, it is to share the Sustainable Sue message also. To learn to be a better writer – by writing. I know this all sounds woo woo, but the point I am trying to get across is that striving is not always about DOING something, it can also be about NOT doing something. To return to the definition – I am fighting vigorously to not pop up and turn over the laundry.

I wonder if you can relate? Do you want to say no, but instead do what seems easier and say yes to please the person in front of you? Maybe you are feeling some feelings and lash out at whoever is closest because that is easier than removing yourself from the situation and putting yourself in timeout. 

Just because there is less action in the decision, does not mean you are not striving. Not doing something can be harder than doing something. 

Sustainable Productivity Reflections

• Where are you striving in your life?
• How is that striving working for you? 
• Do you relate more to striving while doing or not doing? Why is that?

Until next time remember to create productive results in a way that you can sustain and that work for you. 

Course correction can be a tricky thing. I am the queen of overcorrection gone awry.

Overcorrection is generally my jam. When I can’t find a clothing item in my closet, I throw out too many things. Inevitably there is something I end up needing to repurchase (I’m looking at you, khaki pants). I cancel all my streaming services to save money, then buy 5 books and a ball of yarn to keep busy and can’t figure out why the balance is still negative. 

Sometimes adjustments that don’t work are not overcorrection as much as just paying attention to the wrong thing. I focus on not crashing into trees while mountain biking or people while surfing, then crash into those trees or people. Today I want to talk about how to navigate course correction when you know a habit is no longer serving you.

Course Correction from Coach’s Playbook

As an athlete I understand that sometimes to teach a skill you have to overcorrect in order to fall in the middle. When I swam on a masters team I struggled with a part of my stroke where I was crossing my hand too far in one direction. In order to correct this, my coach had me swim with my arms REALLY wide. It felt awkward, unnatural and slowed me down. This did not seem like it was making me swim faster (i.e., not productive) and it was extra tiring mentally and physically (i.e., not sustainable). But this is the neat thing about the body – it can adapt to almost everything. It wants to be good to us so it adjusts to the conditions we give it – for better or for worse. After doing the wide arm swim drills consistently for a few weeks, my stroke was corrected (that part of my stroke at least). An amazing thing happened – with a more efficient stroke I was able to go faster with less energy. 

via GIPHY

Sometimes we just need to get out of our own way and try something radical. I watched the Robin Roberts interview with Michelle Obama a few months ago and something Michelle said struck me. She was talking about always trying to achieve and be her best. She said, “Sometimes my mental health gets in the way, it’s not sustainable.” Perhaps Michelle listens to the Sustainable Productivity Podcast?!

Course Correction from a First Lady

This was the interview where she talked about learning to knit during the pandemic. She wanted her book Becoming to be out in the world, but COVID cancelled her book tour. She was like we all were – concerned about the world, our kids education and mental health, and where we would get toilet paper. So she had to take the opposite approach and find a way to check out of her monkey mind and found knitting. 

This is like another Michelle Obama gem: They go low, we go high. 

I’m trying, girl. That is a tall order. 

But you see where I am going with this related to course correction. Instead of trying harder, longer, faster, more in the same direction – let’s opposite to get what you want / need.

Slow down to go fast. If you are training, make sure you get your rest. Rest and sleep is when your body rebuilds itself. Be sure to work on flexibility, not just strength training. A flexible muscle is a strong muscle. 

Go quiet to find your voice. When I am struggling with something I am writing, it helps to stop and take a break. I always try to work ahead because nothing stops creativity for me than a deadline. There is a corollary to this with relationships too. In order to help my spouse understand what I am saying, I need to shut up and listen to what HE hears me say. Communication is weird!

Go small to go big. This is another one from Michelle Obama.  To do big things, focus on small details. You cannot change world hunger if you don’t learn what you need to learn today. To run a marathon, you need to do a 3 mile recovery run today. To manage your anger and repair your relationships, you need to spend an hour with a therapist today. 

Friends, sometimes we just keep going down the same worn path and wonder why you are not getting the result you want. I encourage you to take course correction in another direction. Maybe the opposite, maybe just a swerve. It might be counterintuitive or it might be what the universe keeps tapping you on the should to know. Beware of that overcorrection, but if you end up there we can course correct together from there.  

Sustainable You Reflections

• What habit have you been thinking about adding, removing or changing?
• What is one small course correction you could take today or tomorrow?

Until next time remember to create productive results in a way that you can sustain and that sustain YOU.