Brad Stulberg

Intensity doesn't mean any given moment or any given day.

I think it's the totality of the work.

It's the body of work.

So when you zoom out and you say, let's look at the last decade of your work, I'd say it's been a pretty intense effort.

It's definitely been a consistent effort.

The body of work is heroic.

Are you going to feel like you're heroic today, tomorrow, the next day?

No, probably not.

And that's actually for good reason.

Because if you brought that level of energy every single day, you probably wouldn't be able to stay consistent.

I think that people make these two mistakes around intensity.

The first is, again, that intensity and joy can't coexist.

And that's just not true.

The second is, I think people often overrate intensity because they see the all-nighter.

They see the person who works out till they puke.

And they think like, oh, that's awesome.

That feels so good to just really give it your all.

And they underrate consistency.

And consistency is the showing up day in and day out and actually showing some restraint.

Because if you push way too hard, then you're never going to be able to get back and do it again for a long period of time.