How to deal with stress (according to Alex Hormozi)

I woke up a little frustrated.

The night before was punctuated by regularly waking up due to an over-awareness of every little sound as well as sudden injections of anxious energy.

After starting my week with an amazing pace, this sudden halt in momentum was challenging me.

When I eventually got to sleep it was well past 1am.

I fell asleep annoyed.

This led to a slow start to the next morning and a general sense of overwhelm that my day was now 3 hours behind schedule.

I sat at my desk frozen with choice fatigue.

"Do I start with the first task?"

"Do I skip to where I should be in my schedule and circle back to what I missed?"

"Do I scrap the schedule all together and go for a walk to reset?"

"Do I just sit here and let my frustration boil over into anger and resentment toward the world for how I was feeling?"

All of these things overlapped in my head as I struggled to centre myself.

Then I grabbed my copy of Meditations and flipped it open.

There it was... exactly what I needed to hear.

I was sitting at my desk expecting something to happen.

Hoping the world would give me a sign.

I needed to get a grip, survey the landscape, collect my data, dial in a response and get to work.

No one was going to give me permission.

No one was coming to save me.

What an empowering and terrifying thought.

I opened up my journal to the schedule I had scribbled out the night before and pinpointed where I was at.

The frustration from the bad sleep and the shitty start to the day lingered, but it was no longer in my control. What was done was done and there was no going back.

Some things are in my control.

Those are the things that I can care about and should take care with.

Let everything else go.

In a recent podcast episode on dealing with stress, Alex Hormozi made a couple of incredible points.

1. Depression (sadness) comes from a lack of options, and anxiety (overwhelm) comes from too many options
2. To solve sadness = more knowledge... solve overwhelm = make a decision aka action

Hormozi says that "stress is just a part of the human condition, because you know who isn't stressed? Dead people".

It's a pretty funny point he makes, but I like it.

Stress isn't the enemy, inaction is.

Stress acts as an alert system to tell us where to point our attention. Overwhelm and indecision are unwanted and unhelpful potential side effects.

On this morning I was in an anxious/overwhelmed state.

I felt like this because of the work I am doing and the importance of the phase of life I am in.

The stress (good thing), led me to inaction (not so good thing).

Then came the avoidance. Chasing dopamine around like a mad man trying to get a fix that could subvert the necessity to feel.

What I needed was a decision, to take action.

That's when I read that passage from Marcus. That's when I sat back, took a breath and centred myself.

I made a decision to collect my thoughts/data.

This is an action.

This is me running toward the pain.

Hormozi agrees...

The act of collecting what potential actions I could take, acted as a circuit breaker that cut through the noise of the overwhelm and brought me back to somewhere useful... the present moment.

With the power of my own reasoned choice in front of me once again, the stress subsided.

The day didn't work out perfectly, it never will.

Nothing does.

The important thing to note is our reaction. Are we solving the problem that is in front of us, or making it worse.

If we decide to solve our own problems, how can we get to that outcome quicker next time.

I believe I will make mistakes until the day I die - I can't control that.

What I can control is the time it takes me to get to realisation and then to go from realisation to action.

The size of that gap is called progress.

If that gap is getting smaller, it is because I am evolving and progressing. If that gap is remaining stagnant or widening, it's because I have stopped improving.

I never want to stop improving as a human being.

And neither should you.

How do you guys deal with stress?

Are you improving your event response programming?

Thanks for tuning in and I'll catch you next week.

Sav.

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