In the present day, long hours of work, increased screen time, personal and professional stress might just be a few concerns that you are dealing with. No matter how hard you work, do you feel like you aren’t achieving enough? If the answer’s yes, you’ve come to the right place.
Bethany Butzer, an author, speaker and Lecturer at the University of New York in Prague shared a motivational TEDx talk in which she explained the nuances of how to live life and achieve goals effectively and efficiently without over exertion.
Bethany chronicled her life in the video, she drew references from the times she held a job at the Harvard Medical School, where she studied the effects of yoga in school settings. She explained that even though she had achieved success in her professional life, the love and respect of her peers, she somehow still felt like she couldn’t achieve anything.
She explained, “I was struggling with crippling self doubt and perfectionism. I ended up spending 6 years on antidepressants and many hours in therapy.”
She continued, ”The trick seems to be learning how to balance effort with ease. And there are two different types of effort that I believe we can engage in in our lives. And the first type is something that I like to call “upstream effort.” So when we’re engaged in upstream effort, it feels like we’re paddling a boat upstream against the current of the water. So it feels like you’re trying really hard, you’re pushing, you’re striving, you’re maybe burning out, your health and well-being are maybe suffering, and even though you’re engaged in all this effort,it doesn’t really feel like you’re getting anywhere.”
“I call this one ‘downstream effort’. So when we’re engaged in downstream effort, we’re still engaged in effort, we’re still trying, we’re rowing a boat, but we’re paddling that boat downstream with the current of the water, or with the flow of life, if you will. So we have a goal, but we have a loose grip, or loose attachment to that goal, and we’re more focused on the process or the journey of getting towards that goal.”
She concluded, “And so I would encourage all of you to take a good hard look at your own inner achievement addict, and ask yourself why you’re doing what you’re doing. What’s motivating you? Are you motivated by something that’s true and authentic for you, or are you motivated by something that’s external to you? I believe it’s important because your health, your well-being, and your authenticity, are more important than any job, any promotion, any salary, any degree, or frankly, anyone else’s opinion of you.”
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