Over the past few months, I have grown hard, both personally and professionally. But something gnawed each time. Who was I really and what was my mission on earth? Nice spiriwiri but I wanted to figure this out and didn't know how.
And then I came across Hell Week. A week in which you would discover yourself by going to extremes. Getting up really early every day, a gym session, a knowledge session in the theme of the day and finally completing those tasks you've been struggling with for far too long. Sounded good! Now that I have completed this week, I like to look back on how it was and what I got out of it.
Working out at 5:15 a.m. is chillier than it sounds
Anyone who knows me a little knows that I am not a fan of sports. I like surfing and horseback riding, but ball sports, team sports or sports that involve running are just not my thing. I know that by doing so I am eliminating 99% of sports, so I can say with certainty that I exercise far too little. Before COVID19 I did still go to the gym in college, but that was mostly for the meditation classes - and since I was paying anyway, I also grabbed a weekly BBB and yoga class. Oh, and I cycled. But since living in Vienna, my exercise has gone to zero.
Working out so early every morning seemed like hell. Still, I went into Hell Week with the attitude: I'm going to try to participate in everything as much as possible, unless it's really impossible. So also the early sports. Actually I didn't mind it at all. The beginning was tough and I admit that I still looked at the clock every time, but I just kept going and participated in every class. After exercising I also felt much more energetic and didn't want to go to bed at all.
I think it was also because there were so many different classes. One day it was gentle yoga, the other day I was panting the whole time. We danced, squatted, breathed, stretched, stretched, twisted, jumped ... and through that I found out that there are so many different sports.
If you start the day right, you'll have more energy than you think
I was quite afraid of collapsing mid-day. Normally when I worked hard in the morning, I was really broken down in the afternoon and had to sleep. I was kind of afraid of that here too, but it wasn't too bad with everything. I can think of two reasons: I start with exercise and then do something I really enjoy. This makes me start the day much more energetic.
That slump didn't come, either, because I was just chill all day. After all, I had done so much anyway. I ended up putting in very fat hours, but I wasn't overtired. Because I got into such a good mood so early on, I held on very well.
Following your own path is not selfish
One of the biggest insights from both the knowledge sessions and the whole week is that it is not selfish to choose for yourself. Thinking of yourself and standing up for yourself is actually a form of taking good care of yourself that will benefit everyone later on. It is best for everyone (including yourself!) if you can be the best version of yourself. And that means choosing for yourself and following your own path. So identify what makes you happy and dare to go for it. Future you says thank you.
Meditating in the evening is incredibly chill
Under the spell of Miracle Morning, I subscribed to Headspace last year. The first few months went super and I really liked it. But I noticed that my motivation waned. I meditated less and less and got completely out of rhythm. Sinful, stupid, annoying - but there was no other way. During Helweek we meditated regularly, both in the morning and in the evening and sometimes during a knowledge session. Nostalgic moments. Forgot for a moment how mega chill meditating could be. Especially in the evening I really enjoyed reflecting on the day.
You can do much more than you think now; your 100% now is actually only 70%
People declared me crazy for participating in this. 'You're already super productive, right?' Hell Week was an experiment for me to see if I was already getting everything out of myself. And yes, I was already doing a lot and already had a strong focus, mission, vision and work-life balance. But I just wanted to try to discover if I could do more. As it turned out, I could.
You will never discover how much you can actually do if you don't push your limits. You may now think you are already 100% full in terms of productivity and work happiness. I challenge you to give Hell Week a try. Bet you can do a lot more than you think. For example, you'll discover that you work best first thing in the morning, that you work better when you've exercised in the morning, that you feel better about yourself when you meditate in the evening, and that you feel more relaxed when you journal. Just to name a few. Because in Hell Week you really push your limits and analyze yourself so extensively, extraordinary things come up.
I work more when I have less scheduled
It's an eternal struggle for me: I know I work better when I have less scheduled, but I don't want to risk getting bored and I want to make sure I get everything out of each day. As a result, I plan all days pretty full and have mild stress and panic the night before. Then when I fall behind, I lose motivation and become unproductive. This is of course an exaggeration but it's pretty much what happens.
During Hell Week I was pressed on top of this again, but then I discovered it in a positive way. In fact, I was told beforehand that you can only schedule 60% of your regular work. To be sure, I cancelled almost all my meetings and scheduled half of my work, leaving me with only about 30-40% of normal work tasks. This is where the magic happened: I got all my tasks done every day and picked up the next week's tasks as well. Really a wonderful feeling. Because I had no stress beforehand, I went into it much better. Eye opener.
My new schedule
With Hell Week, you are "reset," so to speak, by getting up early, being pulled out of your normal rhythm and continuously challenged to think very hard. It is not necessarily the intention that you maintain this rhythm exactly. Of course you can, but I personally found this too intense. Especially sleeping at 10 o'clock was too early for me, because I was still talking on the phone with my friends or drinking wine with my parents.
But I'll take wát little things from it:
- Up at 6 and exercising
- Don't drink coffee in the morning
- 20 minutes of reading
- 20-minute journaling of gratitude
- No social media during work hours, but read magazines
- No meetings or phone in the morning so I can be fully focused
- In the afternoons, go outside for a while
- Limiting Netflix
- Sleeping at 11 a.m.
Are you considering doing Hell Week yourself? In the next blog I'll give you some tips and tricks & tell you a bit more about how I went about it.
