Hello Reader
A warm welcome once again to everyone reading, especially my newest subscribers!
I am so glad you have joined the Everyday Mentor newsletter where I aim to bring health, strength and sustainability to your Inner-Life. Without doubt, this is where all success in life stems from.
"Producer Mode is a 2-Way Switch"
I need to start by qualifying what I mean by the phrase 'Producer Mode'
Simply put, to be in producer mode, or to be a producer (in this context) is anyone who is creating, deciding, solving, distributing for the benefit of others. In other words your vocational and relational life is oriented around what you are able to produce for others.
Some common examples include; Emergency Service Workers, People who Train & Teach, Stay at home parents, Solo parents, Business Owners, People in leadership & management roles etc.
Obviously, this includes a lot of people. That's why I am writing about it.
But, I also want to shine a light on the truth that there are people who are in this mode a lot of the time, and the output flow from their life is high quantity and high quality.
The net result of high flow, constant output as a 'producer' is that your soul resources get more depleted than most people, and it happens at a faster rate.
In turn, this can leave you suffering from what feels like a perpetually low tank, struggling to have any margin or resource left over for yourself.
Today, I want to enlighten you with a few profound thoughts that can begin to have an immediate and transformative effect on your life.
Firstly, I want you to lean into the fact that none of us were designed to function (at least not in a healthy or sustainable way), in a manner that has us 'switched on' 24/7/365.
I understand that typically people who exist as producers in this life tend to have a high capacity for 'pouring out'. This is a little like endurance athletes who after a period of intense training can build up their capacity for swimming, riding and running very long distances.
However, just like those athletes, producer type people cannot sustain being perpetually 'on' and perpetually 'pouring out' unless there is wise and strategic stopping and refuelling.
You need to stop. You need to refuel. You cannot be at your best unless you do both of these things!
Secondly, we need to embrace the reality that the highest quality stopping and refuelling is done in combination with two practical, essential strategies;
- We need to identify in advance our exact 'switch off' time, and our exact 'switch back on' time - Ninja level stopping and refuelling happens when we CLEARLY identify the exact moment when it is time to turn off producer mode. Just like a Formula 1 car making a pit stop does not get refuelled by driving slowly through pit lane (it must come to a complete stop to refuel, change tyres etc), so too do we need to make a complete stop. Do not blur the lines.
- We must intentionally choose the activity we will engage in during our 'off' time. One of the greatest threats to your endeavour to replenish soul resources, is the unintentional, accidental down time. It doesn't work, and it can actually get you into a worse state than when you started. There is tremendous power unlocked through choosing (in advance), specifically and deliberately the activity of your 'off' time. When you choose, you stay powerful and purposeful. When you allow the activity to choose you, something deeply hidden gets activated that can cause us harm in these moments (more on this thought below). Your 'off' time activity could involve; Exercise, Sleep, Hang time with friends, Movie watching etc. The activity itself is not as powerful as it could & should be when not personally and intentionally chosen by you. When our 'off' time happens by accident (even if you call it organic), we risk blurring the lines between 'on' and 'off'. When this happens, we exist in a nowhere land in the middle, neither fully 'on' or fully 'off'. The ensuing result is increased frustration, agitation, anxiety and decreased rest, refuelling and peace.
Thirdly, we need to understand and accept that 'Self-Leadership' is one of the most crucial skills to develop if we want to passage through life healthily and sustainably.
You are powerful. You need to remain powerful.
You need to lead your own soul towards wise choices, and expose it to healthy habits.
I have discovered that our souls have a default tendency to wander off into negative and destructive places mentally, emotionally, relationally and spiritually, unless we exert good leadership over ourselves and require our soul to 'get with the program'
The cold hard truth is that our souls do not remain in lush, green pastures for very long, unless we shepherd them intentionally and consistently.
Can I urge you to deploy some of these ideas into the garden of your contemplation to see if they might just produce some healthy green shoots in your soul in coming days.
I would love to hear from you; Are you living your life as a producer? Do you struggle to find the 'off' button? What about refuelling . . . Have you mastered the skills of refuelling effectively yet?
Until next Tuesday, have a great week!
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