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Idk about you Reader, but I had the craziest summer (and not always in a good way..)

My closest point to a meltdown was in August.. I was fixing furniture in my flat until 10pm (f*ck knows what my tenant did in there), getting the 5.30am train to run a client workshop in London & then flying straight to Berlin. It was intense.

I'm not really sure how I made it all happen.

Product Management often looks like this. A rollercoaster of planning, launches, fires to fight, targets that are falling behind - never mind your social life, family life, gym and any time to relax. It gets wild.

We stay on this rollercoaster for years. & even when I stepped off of the 9-5 ride, I just hopped straight on to another rollercoaster.

I'd never really stopped to question why my life always ends up being insanely busy.

In July, I'd invested in the most incredible personal development coach & one of the topics we spoke about was addictions.

I like to think I'm a balanced human (don't we all).. but the reality is, I know I'm addicted to stress (or as I call it - always being on). Sound familiar?

& it turns out - it's a thing... (and a thing that I suspect a lot of people in Product have).

When we face a stressful situation, our brain sends a signal to the body that something bad might be happening and activates the fight or flight response.

This process releases cortisol and adrenaline.& it gets addictive.

Your body gets used to these hormones, and often associates stress with success.

I have spoken to so many people that 'struggle to switch off', because we're just not used to it. It doesn't feel comfortable (on our body or our nervous system, or on our ability to 'perform').

But you can get comfortable switching off. As with anything, you can train your brain and your body to move from the always on state, to feeling safe at a more relaxed level.

This is exactly what I set out to do this Autumn. I knew I needed to break the pattern, so I wound my client work right down. I spent hours in nature. & even then I still had to really work out how to stop my brain from going at a million miles per hour and just enjoy it.

& I know it's not a one and done exercise. So now I am forcing myself to stop every single Wednesday. No meetings, no client work, no social media. A day of baking, walking and slow reading. & it is hard, but so so worth it to get comfortable and always be able to tap into this balance.

But Evie, I work full time...

Wednesday's off isn't the right solution for everyone, but could you:

• Go for a walk once a week without your phone
• Take an hour to just read per week
• Wake up and have your tea first thing without checking your phone
• Work on Wednesdays, but switch off slack & emails so it does feel more focussed and flowing

It's all about finding one small habit a week that you can implement and enjoy to show your body that it is safe to go slow, and over time that calm can flow into so many other areas of your life.

Maybe next week I'll talk about why we don't make these changes, even though we know we should 😉

Let me know what you bake into your week! Have a fabulous one,

Evie

I'm so so excited to keep sharing more tips & lessons with you on burnout and the best product management practises. If there's a topic you'd love to hear more on - just hit reply 🤍

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