The pot of gold is scattered throughout the journey.

Embrace slow productivity by extending your timeline.

Hello there beautiful people! My name is Ash Lamb, and this is The Visual Growth Letter. An illustrated newsletter about life and creativity.

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Right before the summer started, I promised myself that I would create 15 more visual book summaries and I would rebuild my website using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to put into practice my newly acquired coding skills. All of this before September.

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I knew this challenge would be tough, but the thought of having all these projects under my belt in such a short span of time got me excited and motivated.

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Well, long story short, the motivation lasted until the 15th day of non-stop work. I realized that I was exerting myself for all the wrong reasons.

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I was heavily relying on the two fastest paths to the devil himself: brute force and extrinsic motivation.

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I was jumping from one task to the next without enjoying the process. In fact, the more I pushed through, the angrier I became with myself and the world.

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On lunch breaks, I quickly devoured my meal without even looking at it and savoring it. The fastest I finished the damn meal, the better. Or so I thought.

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I used the same approach at nighttime, instead of stretching, reading a bit, and winding down for bed I just continued working until late. Why waste time taking care of my sanity?

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After a dozen long-hour workdays, it struck me right after watching the first episode of this amazing show. I was chasing a non-attainable goal because deep down I very well knew that once I finished those two projects, there would be something else to work hard towards, and the cycle would never end unless I changed my behavior.

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The main character in the show I've mentioned above loses his family (wife and kids) to a fatal car accident, and after discovering he can travel in time, he spends several months if not years reliving those little moments that he once took for granted, like going for a morning walk with his parents or sharing a delicious night date with his significant other.

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I don't want to be the guy who only works, works, works inside a dark room, chasing a pot of gold that keeps moving away as the days pass along with their unique moments.

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I had to accept that the only real path to the fulfillment I was craving was to slow down and enjoy the everyday small tasks as if they were the last. Instead of seeing the outcome as the prize I had to embrace the moment and accept that the only real outcome and prize I could aspire for was the process itself.

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When you adopt this new perspective your career timeline naturally extends as you understand that there's no point in rushing because even if you did you would never finish the race no matter how hard you tried.

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That's exactly why I got rid of my bloated notion database and endless sophisticated to-do list. Now I just grab a small post-it and write down 3 reasonable tasks for the day. It's funny how the smallest changes make the biggest differences.

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I know it’s very very very hard, but try to temporarily forget about those external measurements like how many finished projects you have on your CV, how impressed your peers are, or how much extra money is in your bank account (The pot of gold I kept chasing again and again).

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Instead, put your energy into stacking those small private victories that add up over time and take you closer to your goals without you having to constantly worry about them.

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As long as you stay committed to being fully present in the task at hand (and entering a flow state), you'll see the fruits of your labor eventually. It just happens to be a longer game with delayed gratification.

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You surely wouldn't play a video game just to complete it or watch a movie just to tell your friends you know more about cinema than they do.

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So why not try approaching your daily tasks with this same philosophy?

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You might discover that after all, life is a game, and the pot of gold you've been after for so long is not at the end but scattered throughout the journey.

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Thank you so much for reading!

I truly appreciate your readership and support. Without you, this project wouldn't be the same. :)

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Feel free to reply to this email, and I'll respond.

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Great love and respect,

Ash Lamb

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visualgrowth.com

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