Sharpen your axe
I find it hard to concentrate on work (ADHD doesn’t make this easy believe it or not)
So I’ve learned how to get into the zone with a few productivity habits such as: breaking a task down into mictro-tasks, completing my pre-deep work checklist, exercising daily, meditating, and journalling.
All this ‘extra work’ puts my brain into focus mode. And when I’m in focus mode, I have the speed and efficiency of a Japanese bullet train gliding on ice through the vacuum of space. I’m able to work very quickly, and to a very high standard.
Sometimes though, I feel self-conscious when I’m working with others. To them, they see the ‘extra work’ I do as a complete waste of time.
And that makes me self-concious. Like yeah, why can’t I just sit down and work without having to break down a task into multiple 10-minute micro tasks? Why can’t I just be ‘normal’ and do the work without having to do all this extra stuff on top?
But every time I let my negative self-talk win and don’t do the ‘extra work’, I end up working as efficiently as a tortoise walking through quicksand.
I’m actively working to de-train this negative self talk, and a quote by Abe Lincon reminds me of this more than anything.
He said: “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” (obviously this is probably an exaggeration, but the point still stands - sharpen your axe!)
To me, sharpening my axe is the equivalent of the ‘extra work’ I do to get into the zone.
If I don’t sharpen my axe, I cut down far fewer trees and at a slower pace than if I had just sharpened my damn axe in the first place.
Just a friendly reminder to what works for YOU, even if it looks weird to others.
✌️