This is the fourth published week of the "Lights Spreadsheet" -- tracking/controls on habits and productivity. This follows on the heels of Week 3, which was published yesterday.
The first thing I've got to say is, wow, this is so very useful for analysis. Combined with a bit of thinking and other things, I can see where the chain reactions that lead to fallings-off are.
I suppose the first thing to note down is that this is not quite the bloodbath it looks like. I inadvertently had a good opportunity to start working on my #2 biggest project, the one that I was holding off on getting started, and it got underway well.
This came at the cost of general admin (FinalVersion, Touch It Once/TIZ) and "Progress on Biggest Thing" (a project which is almost finished).
Outrunning One's Supply Lines
I was doing some reading and learning about WWII in North Africa, the Western Front, and the Eastern Front lately. One of the biggest criticisms of both Patton for the Allies and Rommel for the Axis was that they frequently out-ran their supply lines.
For Patton, it never really caught up with him. He drove hard on the Axis and made significant progress, but was relieved of his command for a year during the part of the war, D-Day, where over-aggression would have been most dangerous. Once re-instated in Europe, Nazi Germany was falling apart and aggressive action wasn't a huge hinderance... but Patton still drove too hard and (literally) ran out of gasoline and got bogged down for a while.
My understanding of history is that if Eisenhower hadn't (subtly) reigned Patton in, Patton would eventually have run his command into the ground by winning too much and getting overstretched.
Rommel, too. The brilliant Desert Fox -- and one of the few Third Reich commanders respected for his morality and ability to defy criminal orders -- he was an excellent tactician and combatant. But he did not build up underlying operations, and it led to the collapse of his units in North Africa.
Rommel's lack of mechanics, spare parts, reinforcements and fuel left him fighting an Allied Force that outnumbered him, had air superiority, and despite perhaps having less raw tactical ability, was able to withstand blows to stalemate the First Battle of El Alamein, and effectively completely win the North African Theater of the War at the Second Battle of El Alamein.
Churchill famously put it: "It may almost be said, 'Before Alamein we never had a victory. After Alamein we never had a defeat.'"
As Applied to Personal Operations
I know many, many, many young and brilliant people who "out-run their personal supply lines" -- a metaphor, of course. Lack of sleep, fitness, discipline, and long-term solid foundations can lead to a great push forwards, followed by a falling-off... perhaps at a critical time. Burnout is real. Fatigue is real. These things are real. As I near 30, feats of stupid quasi-heroism that were possible in one's late teens and early 20's are a distant memory. I imagine it only gets worse with more age, caffeine and other stimulant-fueled massive overrunning creative and building campaigns don't let you consolidate the results.
Well, I was doing some of that this week. I am intentionally trying to limit the things I do, to close and complete and consolidate. I'm leaving lots of resources on the table as I do so. This is fine.
I've got lots of unanswered email with lots of opportunities -- not good, but fine.
It occurs to me that the next two months I can finish two large projects -- my second book, and a complete onboarding system for new team members at GIveGetWin -- and then do a strict consolidation cycle.
In the meantime, I need to re-establish fitness at whatever the cost. This is key to keeping things up. I have lower energy and some fatigue -- I'm having a hard time sleeping well in Morocco with it so damn hot and dusty and crazy here -- but and fatigue comes with that, but I think more fitness and more walking will aid with that.
I held the line on my diet completely despite the rapid travel. This is encouraging.
Napping is back more-or-less happening.
A Push For the Draft, or Not?
Brian Sharp's "The Push" is an excellent piece on how, if you're behind when cycling, sometimes you want to make a huge push to get back in the "drafting region" where things get easier. Go read The Push; it is a great piece.
I don't think a Push is in order. Everything is very slightly off and very slightly crazy, but I'll simply hold the line on things that are going okay, but a bit of extra attention on getting things that are going poorly back on track, and give myself some easy ways to hit Green Lights for missing habits.
Actually, I'm just now figuring it out while writing this analysis. I'll make a quick bodyweight workout to do, and do that at the house we're renting here in Marrakech. I'll get in some walking. I'll do some simple Declare-->Complete steps, and perhaps agree to give myself a Green TIZ light if my email goes down by net -10 at the end of the day.
This should let me fix things for Week 5.
Final Thoughts
Week 4's numbers are not as bad as they look on paper. Travel through two countries and adjustment to my first time on a new continent, lots of opportunities that I'm turning down (and some that I'm taking), and grabbing an opportunity to kickstart an important #2 project, and finally cleaning up and accepting some damage to habits while rapidly traveling and "paying off administrative debt" -- these all led to the week's lights looking bad, but actual production and results being not-so-bad.
Still, these are the factors that I isolated as critical to long-term success, and this week missed many of them. I don't want to out-run my supplies and get unhealthy and fatigued. This week, scope down and carefully find a way to re-track and repair those habits even while keeping a lot of the gains that have been happening.
Questions and comments are welcome.