"I'll sleep when I'm dead!"

For those of you who just read that and thought "Hell yea, get that money! HUSTLE FO' LIFE! GRIND OR DIE!"

Fuck off my blog. Leave now.

I'm sorry (deep breath). I do in fact hope you stay and read because it is you (you 12-hour-day, self-employed, workaholic you) who is precisely the individual that stands to benefit most from this post...and downloading the supporting checklist.

If I'm heated in my verbiage, and passionate in my messaging it is simply because that guy was me more recently than I care to admit. I had an epiphany though. I realized I might just get my wish sooner than I thought: I'd sleep soon for I would indeed be dead soon. I was "poundin' the pavement", "puttin' on the elbow grease", "burning the candle at both ends".

I felt reassured though, as influencers the likes of Gary Vaynerchuck and Grant Cardone preached "hustle harder!" and "Don't outsmart, OUTWORK!". For a while I couldn't seem to find any self-made entrepreneur that would admit they took vacations, slept more than a couple hours a night, or even watched a bit o' Netflix every once and again. Furthermore, these folks were positively adamant that they loved their lives! That they had no regrets missing family functions or kid's recitals and ballgames! I was skeptical, but I was also naive and gullible so down the rabbit hole I went.

I felt like a shuttle during reentry, bits of my hull ripping off and disintegrating as I hurtled towards my goal. I prayed that enough of me would remain intact so that when I finally reached my destination I'd be whole enough to enjoy my success.

But the further I went, the more I became convinced I would not be so lucky. At this rate I wouldn't reach my destination at all.

Then seemingly out of nowhere Arianna Huffington resurfaced in my life with a blasphemic perspective:

Lean back a bit, get good sleep, recharge...repeat.

Wow! Mind blowing! Well, it was for me at that time in my life. And not a minute too soon either! If I'd allowed myself another week at my then current pace, you might be reading nothing right now, and reading nothing sucks ;-)

I've come to believe the body, mind, and soul to be nothing more than machines. Yes, beautiful machines capable of great creation and massive output, but machines nonetheless. And as with any machine they suffer from lack of maintenance and neglect.

We productivity junkies and workaholics are perhaps defined by a heightened tolerance of stressors and heavy workloads, as Arianna personally attests. We seek this stuff out, we love challenge, and we take great pride in accomplishment. But we still have a limit, a “production capacity” if you will. Those that know their limit and capacity have only discovered it on the back end of a burnout

And those that don’t? Well, they’ll find out soon enough...

That is, unless we begin to institute some simple daily practices of mental oil changes and soul-battery recharging. These are the tips my checklist holds. The solution I offer is not only the continuation of your precious productive life but also happiness, stresslessness, and comfort.

Your turn:

Are you a hustler? Are you a chill mo-fo? Do you try to combine the two like Arianna? Would love to hear your thoughts on the matter. I will never presume to have "figured it all out", and I always learn best from conversation and healthy debate. Feel free to spark the chat-fire below!

Also, I'd be remiss to not offer you "MegaFishbein's Mental Maintenance Checklist for Workaholics" after this rant of a blog entry. Just look for this picture in the sidebar to claim your copy: