Listen – you’ve got to stop using another cup of coffee to get through your day. (And this is coming from a coffee drinker, so don’t think I’m hating on a tasty hot drink. I’m not.)
What you’re doing is fundamentally overloading your capacity, refusing to cut today’s to-dos down to size, and leaning on caffeine to get you through that task list.
Don’t. Stop.
That’s against the whole point of becoming unbusy – your day is supposed to be manageable *without* energy drinks and drugs, not only barely with it!
Listen, you need to radically chop your to-do list if you’re constantly staying up way too late finishing your “absolutely essential must get done” to-do list.You need to be able to close down and go to bed on time (so you can get up in the morning).
And if you can’t, whose fault is that? That’s right, yours. (Special exceptions granted for night-nursing mothers, of course.)
*Your* job is to make sure you’re in bed, *on* time, mentally slowed down enough to be able to go to sleep. Not “there I plopped myself in bed after going 60 miles an hour through the kitchen” I’m in bed. Okay?
So, here’s the quote you need to remember if you’re ever tipping into caffeine-to-cope land. It’s from Lauren Chante. “Don’t use caffeine to mask self-care.”
Because if what you really need is 2 hours off, but you just chug another coffee (or soda or energy drink) and force yourself back up, you’re missing the whole point.
You’re not just a to-do list cranking machine. Your worth is not measured by your productivity. Your output does not determine your free time input.
It’s *your* energy levels, day to day, that set all of these things. (Well, not the self-worth part – that’s from God.) But your productivity capacity, when you need to take a break, and how long that leisure-time input is for.
That’s what *your* inner metrics should be guiding.
Your productivity output does not determine your free time input.
So make me a promise now. “I’m not going to use coffee to keep myself going when what I really need is a sit-down, a nap, or a break.”
Then live by it.
But Alyssa, you say, what about my to-do list? What about when I’ve run out of steam? What about when….?
And here’s what I say to you: if you find yourself in need of a productivity booster, and *you* think the occasion is justified, you’re allowed to go for it – but not with more caffeine.
Do it the old-fashioned way, so that you’re more in touch with your limits. More likely to stop before you hit burnout.
In other words, the “yes I’m tired but I want to finish this *one* thing before I quit for the night” and let yourself go there. Finish cleaning up that kitchen.
You knew what you wanted to wake up to tomorrow morning, you didn’t *quite* manage to squeeze it in before your energy reserves ran out, and *you* made the choice that you’d rather work on empty for 5 more minutes than come back to this mess.
That’s okay. That’s today’s choice you’re living.
Now next time, see what you can do (or not do) earlier in the day, to make *sure* you don’t run out of steam tomorrow night after supper.
That’s how we do it, you see. We preventatively plan ahead for tomorrow. (After experiencing some kind of hiccup or lack of energy today.)
We *fix* things. We adjust energy levels.
So do the best you can today, then put in place something better for tomorrow (like a mandatory 2-hour sit-down before supper to restore your energy or a “kids come help me do the dishes).
You’re worth it.
And your system, its hormones, and its energy levels, is worth being supported by the *right* amount of caffeine – the enjoyable amount – not being overloaded by it.
Are you with me? Then let’s go warm up that cup of coffee, enjoy it, and say that’s enough for today.
It’s time to *chop* your to-do list, and go be unbusy.
You’ve got this!
