Mental Thrashing: Eternity

As I was writing my previous post on how mental thrashing kills productivity, I began pondering other ways mental thrashing affects our lives. Intermingled with my confused musings on how to be more productive were thoughts like “What am I really doing with my life?” “How am I contributing to the greater good?” “Where’s the value in what I’m doing?” etc. Any of these sound familiar? It seems to me that these kinds of thoughts are also a form of mental thrashing, so it is of utmost importance that we get them answered and remind ourselves of those answers often. I used the word eternity in the title of this post because the kind of questions aforementioned are more ethereal and tend to stretch beyond our immediate circumstances and even beyond our own person.

The key question of the day is, are people who know what they want, why they do what they do, what value they bring to the world, and where they are headed happier, more productive, and more fulfilled than the average person? Hopefully the answer to this question is obvious to us all. So what can we do to ensure we are one of those people? Here are some of my thoughts. I would love to hear yours as well.

• Truly Acknowledge Your Value – The fact of the matter is that you have intrinsic value. Your very existence guarantees it. You are the only you in the world, therefore no one else can contribute to this world what you can. What you do with your wonderful you-ness is up to you, but this knowledge alone should give us the confidence and launching point necessary to gain the happiness, productivity, and fulfillment we need and deserve. Forgetting, being wishy washy on, or mentally thrashing about this fact will prove most detrimental to our futures.
• Truly Acknowledge That What You Do Matters – I mentioned in another post, we should never ever underestimate anyone’s role. Anyone doubting or belittling the value of a custodian or administrative assistant need only step into their shoes or do without them for a couple of weeks to quickly correct their viewpoint. The fact that what you do matters is another undeniable truth you can bank on and needn’t spend any time wondering or mentally thrashing about. To further strengthen your resolve on this subject, I highly recommend Andy Andrews’ talk on the butterfly effect.
• Truly Understand That the Ultimate Purpose of What You Do is to Benefit Both Yourself and Others – In many of our day-to-day jobs, roles, and responsibilities, it can be very hard for us to see and remember this truth. Try as we might, we cannot come up with things people do that just disappear into nothingness never to be seen or used in some way by some one.

That last one, by the way, is the key to real productivity and fulfillment. That kind of understanding can lead to a kindling or renewal of love for your job/project/interest and breathe new vitality and creativity into what you do and the results will be extraordinary. There is a reason I preceded each of the above points with the word truly. These are not self-help tips or motivational speaking points that can just be heard and forgotten after some initial, feel-good thoughts. They must seep into our being and become part of who we are and what we are doing, never to leave our thought or consciousness for long. Only then can we stop mentally thrashing about our eternal value and do great things.

~ John