Long before sunrise that day, like most days, I started my day with the same question:
Should I make myself a big healthy (HUEL) protein shake or a really yummy mug of hot chocolate?
When I ran a LinkedIn poll, I had expected everyone would endorse the protein shake, and then some would offer me strategies to make it easier to choose in that direction (hide the cocoa powder, think about the perspective of “gifts from my future self,” set up a wall calendar where I can make big red X’s to celebrate a streak of hot chocolate avoidance days, etc.)
I was wrong. The hot chocolate was the winner 3:1 and no one offered me helpful hints on hot chocolate avoidance. Perhaps it is simply a kinder, gentler, more accepting world than I had thought.
Unsurprisingly, no one asked a question to gather information before responding. In that respect, it was just like real life. However, One person, Vadim Goverdovsky, did offer the useful perspective that the answer depended on my goals. It’s valuable to ask, “What are you trying to achieve?” before offering advice.
When I make a hot of hot chocolate or lemon tea, it’s prioritizing emotional self-care. The protein shake is prioritizing physical self-care. Lots of things we write off as moral failings are in fact emotional self-care. My inner debate that morning was centered on the prioritization
of mental health and physical health.
How many of our inner struggles that are seemingly about willpower are better thought of as legitimate questions of prioritization?
Of course, neither physical nor emotional care would be the forus of the prioritization question if I was part of a startup company. There they would ask one, and only one question. They would have asked:
Which one would better support hyper growth?
