Work With, Don't Fight, The Natural Ebb & Flow

- In the 'old energy' past, no matter what happened, you worked on pushing and forcing a new business forward.

- But in the 'new energy' current and future, although the old brute force method of constantly pushing does work, it's not as productive as appreciating and harnessing the ebb and flow of, well, everything

- EVERYTHING ebbs and flows (mood, energy, businesses, relationships, commitment, passions, teams, companies...)

- Rather than fighting the ebb (which is so unproductive and usually frustrating), practice paying attention to when something (either a project/biz or relationship) is ebbing vs flowing...and then accept it.

     * When it's ebbing, sometimes you should just let it simmer without much attention until it's ready to flow again

     * When it's flowing, go for it!!

- Having multiple projects or methods to your business helps even out the overall ebb and flow, so that as one project is ebbing, you'll likely have another project that's flowing. 

- For example, BlackBox Revenue has consulting, an expert network, websites and another half-dozen ideas on methods. Whenever one part of the business is ready to ebb, we can let it simmer and move to the others more ready to flow.  This way, we can always be as productive as possible with our time and attention.

Tim Ferriss blog post:

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2008/01/23/depression-how-you-label-determines-how-you-feel/

EXCERPT

Here are three concepts that I and others have found useful for preventing the inevitable ups and downs from becoming self-destructive thinking and behavior:

1. Depression is just one phase of a natural biorhythm and thus both transient and needed.

Energy and interest are cyclical. Nothing can peak or sustain red-zone RPMs forever. Normal people exhibit alternating periods of high-output and low-output, the latter being recovery periods during which depleted neurotransmitters stores regenerate, fatigued neural networks recover, etc..

The symptoms of depression often just reflect a system undergoing routine maintenance.

Fixating on the symptoms as “depression” becomes self-fulfilling and can lead to a downward spiral. Don’t jump to conclusions. Having recurring down cycles is natural. Thinking about them as unnatural, and the poor — sometimes devastating — decisions that follow, is what does the damage.

2. How you label determines how you feel.

Don’t use the term “depression,” which is loaded with negative and clinical connotations, without considering other labels that might be more appropriate. “Loneliness” or “isolation” are two common substitutes which are not just more precise but more actionable (the term “depression” doesn’t suggest a solution).

In their fascinating study “Would you be happier if you were richer?”, published in Science, Princeton professors Alan Krueger and Daniel Kahneman, winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize for his work in behavioral economics, found that perhaps the best indicator of happiness was frequency of eating with friends and family.

If you have to chose one activity to produce an emotional upswing, start breaking bread more often with those who make you smile.

3. Gratitude training can be used pre- or mid-depressive symptoms to moderate the extremes and speed the transition.

It’s frighteningly easy to develop pessimistic blinders and lose sight of the incredible blessings and achievements in our lives. This is common when a single identity — for example, job title and function — leads you to measure self-worth using one or two metrics (like income or promotions, usually in comparison to others) dependent on some variables outside of your control.

Recalibrate your perspective, and prevent over-investment of ego in one area of life, with scheduled gratitude training that takes a holistic inventory of the positive people and achievements in your life.