Olive Trees, Test Your Fatigue & Confirmation Bias

 

Purpose

Even though we are surrounded by New Year’s Resolutions that will likely be all but gone by next week, try to avoid focusing too much on the short term and set your sights higher.

There is a great quote in the book The Greatest Salesman In The World by Og Mandino that reads:

“To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesmen.“

We often overestimate what we can accomplish in the short-term and neglect our longer-term potential.

So, as well as setting yourself some New Year’s resolutions, take a moment to think of what life could look like in 10 or 20 years from now.

And who knows, maybe that perspective will change what you decide should be your resolutions for this year?

Energy

Many people report feeling tired, exhausted, or just used up at the end of every day.

One of the definitions scientists use for fatigue is that it is a “disinclination to continue performing the task at hand and a progressive withdrawal of attention”.

Obviously, is we want to keep pushing ourselves towards our goals, having high levels of fatigue encourage us to quit is not going to be helpful.

Enter the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS).

This test takes less than 2 minutes to complete and will give you a score for both mental and physical fatigue levels. The scale ranges from 10-50, and if you score over 22 then you have a significant level of fatigue, and should probably do something about it. And if you complete the test a month later and your scores go up, then you know something happened to bring more fatigue into your life.

We know what the physical symptoms of fatigue feel like, but you might be surprised at some of the questions that assess and identify your mental fatigue, so check out the Fatigue Assessment Scale test and see if you can find ways to reduce your overall fatigue levels.

Productivity

Confirmation bias is a psychological tendency that we have to gravitate towards things that reinforce our existing point of view.

When we get some new information, we tend to only see those pieces which match our expectation, and can often ignore other contradictory, but useful, pieces of data.

If we are not careful, it may feel as though we are being extremely productive and working fast, only to arrive at a final product that is missing many of the elements required.

Even though conflict, diversity, and contradictory opinions can slow things down, in the end, it makes for a better end result. 

So, your productivity tip this week is to find ways to break your confirmation bias tendencies and create better work, even if it feels like it is slowing you down in the process. Here are a few ways I have found work well for me when seeking to make something better.

  • AI Prompts. Give ChatGPT or Gemini your thoughts and framework and ask it for things that you have not considered.
  • Break Something. Instead of asking for feedback, give your ideas to a group of people and ask them why it wouldn’t work?
  • No BS Friend. Find someone that can give you direct feedback without sugar coating it. It can be brutal, but it is worth it.

I hope these ideas have given you something to think about and reminded you of what is most important to focus on for the rest of the week. 

Until next time…