A Little Bit of Healthy Anxiety Goes a Long Way

Hey folks, welcome to MeowMed. Today I'm keeping it short and sweet because we're all about productivity this week. But for those of you who are new, I write about productivity, well-being, and self-improvement…and perhaps some other topics I’m interested in. You can check out last week’s article here.

Anyways, onto the juicy stuff. Ever struggled with motivation? Essentially, if you're a human being, the answer is probably yes. It can cause one a bit of worry and anxiety to fall behind on tasks or struggle with purpose for the day. I have always known about the Yerkes-Dodson law claiming that there should be an optimal level of arousal for performance. This arousal, can in fact, come in the form of anxiety itself. But the issue for me is that I don't always have this particular level of anxiety. My workload may be too much or too little, and generally I've never really considered myself an anxious person. However, I've lately come across the fact that (assuming you live to 80) you only have ~4000 weeks to live. Keep in mind that this does not necessarily mean to have an existential crisis on the daily. Rather, you should realize that you should be making the most of every day, defining a purpose for improving yourself and/or your community. Even on days when I am spending time with family and friends instead of doing work, I commit to being as fully present as possible to hopefully minimize future regret. In other words, I use this 4000 weeks metric to make me a little anxious about not making the most of my day, rather than obsessing over how life is so short and the sun will someday explode.

Anyways, that's a wrap! Hope you have a fantastic rest of your week!

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