good morning Hank it's Tuesday so as you
can see I have a level 1 hair mergency
and you're probably wondering how I let
this happen but the thing is four days
ago when I last made a vlog brothers
video my hair looked fine like I had at
most a level eight or level 10 situation
you know like some kind of intervention
would eventually be required but there
was no immediate threat and then four
days later hair mergency this happens
every single time right after a haircut
my hair is great and then for a long
time it is good enough and then one
morning I wake up with a critical
situation and then I have to call my
hairstylist and be like no it cannot
wait until Thursday I look like an
elderly porcupine now Hank I am aware
that I could prevent this cycle by just
saying yes when the receptionist at the
hair salon asks me immediately after my
haircut if I would like to schedule
another appointment but I always say no
why because I've just gotten a haircut I
look great I'm bulletproof the last
thing I need to do is schedule another
haircut every single time I am so
weirdly confident that this haircut will
end up differently from all of the past
ones oh and then 10 weeks later I wake
up one morning look in the mirror and
there's Doc Brown so Hank this is not
only a problem for me when it comes to
haircuts I experienced the same issue
with burnout like I start to think to
myself I would like to do another thing
I have time I know that I have time
because I have time to think about this
new thing I want to do it might be that
I'd like to start a weird new podcast
where I review different facets of the
human centered planet on a five-star
scale it might be that I'd like to start
a book club or that I'd like to write a
new novel and I will tell myself this
won't be like those other haircuts this
one will end differently now I know what
I'm about to say is like a standard
acknowledgement in the genre of YouTube
burnout videos but I really like all my
jobs in fact I'm in the ridiculously
privileged position of being absolutely
sure that I like my jobs because I don't
need to work I choose to work and I
really love my work and I want it to
have value not because I'm like
altruistic or whatever but because it's
very useful to me to pay attention to
the world outside myself the problem is
that as I add stuff it all feels totally
and completely doable in precisely the
same way that the hair situation is
entirely under control until one day
quite suddenly it is not under control
and I have a level 1 burnout emergency
and the unfortunate thing is that once
that starts fix
is not usually as easy as getting a
haircut because once I start to feel
really overwhelmed I don't like
magically become more productive I
become less productive because being
overwhelmed is super time-consuming
burnout does not inspire me toward
productivity it inspires me toward a
kind of exhausted fatalism also I forget
to schedule haircuts anyway I have an
exceptional inability to see burnout
coming and so when it arrived recently I
was completely gobsmacked
why was there suddenly so much to do and
so little time to do it in the answer of
course being that I had scheduled it
that way I think this happens to a lot
of people current you imagines that
future you will be slightly more
productive and energetic than current
you is which is great that's the kind of
optimism that has fueled the human story
like forget about my level of
overwhelmed 'no samman the overwhelm
nosov the humans who were like we should
get into this ocean we can't see the end
of and sail over the edge of the world
in these tiny wooden boats future us
will have no problem figuring out the
challenges involved so what am I gonna
do about feeling overwhelmed well I'm
not going sailing that's for sure I do
think it helps just to acknowledge it I
also think it helps to prioritize the
most important relationships in your
life and remember what actually matters
which is not whether the anthropocene
reviewed comes out on time but also when
the receptionist asks me if I want to
schedule my next hair appointment I'm
gonna say yes and I'm gonna try to pay
better attention in the hopes of being
able to intervene earlier so that fewer
level-8 situations become level one hair
merchants ease Hank I am gonna go get a
haircut I will see you on Friday