Brad Stulberg

So the principle title in the book is be patient to get there faster.

And

So often we don't correctly define the timeframe for our endeavors.

So if I want to be the best writer or the best coach that I can be, or the best interviewee on podcasts like this for the next month, I would slam four Red Bulls every day and work for 20 hours.

and I'd be great for a month.

I'd get so much done and I'd be on my game.

But what would happen on day 32 or 33 or 34?

I'd totally fall apart.

Whereas if I define excellence, performance, success over a year or a decade or a career, suddenly the way in which I work has to look a lot different.

So it helps to be able to zoom out and ask yourself, all right, I want to quote unquote optimize, or I want to be efficient.

That's great, but on what time horizon?

Because often being the most efficient I can be today actually is inefficient for the long haul, especially in creativity.

We know that creative thoughts and creative feelings happen

Not when we're doing the work, but when we're daydreaming.

So if you're so focused on productivity and efficiency, again, you get a lot out of yourself today, but perhaps you shortchange yourself over the long haul.

So the first step of patience is really defining the time horizon that you want to operate on.

And then the second part is what you were speaking to earlier about being consistent is having some restraint.

So stopping one rep short, you know that you could crush yourself every day and it feels really good.

It's like in a gym workout where you just go to fatigue.

You feel so worked.