What to do when you feel stoppable
A common catchphrase we often hear in pop culture is “Unstoppable!” It denotes a “zone of genius,” a frame of mind or body where you can do no wrong, nothing can get in your way of accomplishing a goal, a project, what have you.
While those zones of the mind are real, and they are attainable, they are fleeting. it seems more often than not that mindset is like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. You’re always searching for it, but can’t quite get to the bottom of the bow.
A mindset I’ve adopted as I’ve lived in this world a bit is to think of myself as “stoppable.” I have limits, physical, emotional, and otherwise. And I have to fight through those limits just to get even one thing done on any given day, let alone multiple things required to GSD (get stuff done) in my personal and professional life.
A pastor named Douglas Wilson coined the term “ploductivity” to describe this anti-phenomenon. You’re beset by emotions, setbacks, betrayal, sluggishness, but you just do a little bit each day, if nothing else than to just be in motion.
While I like the word “ploductivity” I’m not content to use another man’s creativity when I can use my own. So I coined the phrase “minimum effective dose of productivity,” aka MEDP, a play on words from some of my friends in the health and fitness world who use the term “minimum effective dose of exercise” aka MEDE.
A MEDE is the minimum amount of exercise to basically maintain your fitness or strength. You’re not getting any stronger, but you’re not getting any weaker either. It varies for different people. A professional body builder’s MEDE would be very different from mine for example.
But the thing about having a MEDE, and sticking to it even when you’re busy is it keeps the momentum going, which is a very real phenomenon. And once the momentum builds just a little bit, i.e. once you’ve done your daily minimum, all of a sudden you’re not feeling “stoppable” anymore, at least physically. You might decide to get in a real workout, or maybe you’re overwhelmed with stuff to do and the MEDE is all you have time for.
It’s a victory either way.
The MEDP is basically the same thing, and more than a few people have told me it has helped overcome mental blocks in their own productivity. Just like the MEDE, you have a bare minimum of productive things you set out to do each day. And of course it’s different for everyone. For me, it’s writing 500 words for an email or blog post (or both) and doing 15 minutes of some sort of intentional musical activity, be it playing trumpet, singing, or even attentively listening to a great composition.
Now there are days when I absolutely feel “stoppable” for any number of reasons, but there’s just something oh so satisfying about getting in that minimum effective dose of productivity. You finish a 500 word email before 7 am, and you’ve actually accomplished something for the day. You’re not working for “the man” nor mindlessly watching cat videos on Facebook, you’ve done something tangible for your own personal brand.
Did you hear the one about….
There’s the old joke about the man sitting alone in his apartment about ten miles from the ocean, when suddenly the door knocks. He opens the door, and there stands his friend a snail who says, “Can I have a glass of water?” Saying nothing, the man picks up the snail, drives to the oceanfront, throws that snail into the ocean as far as he can, and then drives home.
About a year and a half later, the man hears a knock at the door and it’s the snail who says with a puzzled look, “What was that all about?”
Misguided loyalty to a friendship that wasn’t meant to be aside, we must admire this snail’s persistence. You could probably say he felt “stoppable” when he was cast into the ocean after a request for a simple glass of water from his friend. But he went back, and although it took quite a long time he finally achieved his goal.
That’s really what it’s all about when we feel “stoppable”. You just keep at it, little by little.
It’s cool to imagine ourselves in that magical “flow state” where everything just clicks, we’re seemingly invincible, everything is just right. Now I’m not saying those flow states don’t happen. They do, and when they do you just ride the wave and enjoy it as long as it lasts. But they don’t just happen. They happen because we build momentum with that MEDP, or MEDE, or whatever you choose to call it.
Just a little bit each day, and see what happens. If that’s all you’ve got to give that day, then you’re grateful for it and move on to other things. But oftentimes it’s like pouring a bit of oil onto a rusty bike and soon enough you’re able to ride freely, sometimes even into that flow state.
Full disclosure here: I have felt more “stoppable” than usual this last week. I got hit with a nasty infection that laid me out for days. Fever, chills, body parts enlarging to abnormal sizes. It was pretty crazy. I’ve got some prescriptions and am on the mend, but suffice it to say I didn’t feel up for even my MEDP for a few days.
I didn’t write one thing during this period. It’s dangerous to publish things when you’re in such a state of mind; you just can’t trust what’s going on in your head at any given moment!
Regarding the musical element of my MEDP, playing trumpet is just not possible in such a weakened state, and it was a struggle to even follow along with the tunes at choir rehearsal and Sunday service.
But even this period was useful in some ways. It gave me a chance to think on things. What’s important, what’s not. I didn’t send any emails, nor even tweak any of the ones in the queue to be used when I don’t have anything to write, for reasons mentioned above.
So in those situations you patiently wait to recover from your ailment, then get back on the horse, wait, the giant snail and ride again 😉
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