Quick Tip: Personalize it

TL;DR: If something feels harder than it should, tweak the task to fit you. When you tailor things to your preferences, they feel easier and more manageable.

If you’re having trouble completing something, don’t be afraid to tailor it to your own preferences.

An example of this came up for me earlier today when I was watching Masterclass while also trying to do my workout. Midway through the workout, I realized my chest was tight and my belly felt anxious. Why am I feeling so anxious? I wondered. I usually like working out, in part because it brings out the exact opposite feeling of the physical anxiety I was experiencing in that moment.

I was attempting to watch Cal Newport’s Masterclass on Slow Productivity (the one I mentioned starting and stopping the other day) and, funnily enough, I realized what was stressing me out: he actually talks kind of fast! A fast delivery, combined with the fact that I was genuinely interested in the material and didn’t want to miss anything, had me feeling stressed!

The other day, I had turned Dr. Anna Lembke’s Masterclass (on doing a dopamine reset—also good!) to 1.25x speed because her pacing felt a little slow to me. So when Cal Newport sounded fast,  my first thought was that I must have left everything on 1.25. But nope—Ol’ Cal’s just a fast talker!

Anyway, all of this is to say: I turned him down to 0.75 speed I immediately felt better. I also paused a few times to take breaks and let what he said sink in a bit before moving on.

How can you adapt your life and tasks to make them more you? You’re allowed to personalize. You’re allowed to tailor things to make them easier for yourself.

She's a tailor--Get it?!

Image by Amirhossein Soltani via Unsplash.