In the 2003 film How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, columnist Andie (played by Kate Hudson) intentionally acts crazy in order to push away her new boyfriend Ben (played by Matthew McConaughey). Given the current quarantine state (and even when we are free citizens again), I think we sometimes are intentionally or unintentionally doing things that can cause us to lose our sanity and go stir-crazy (or maybe can lead to losing a guy/gal too). As I’ve also run across a fair share of hot-headed people when I’m out these days, I must assume the corona madness has gotten to some people—as a result, let me serve up some ways you can be intentional about not losing your sanity. There are some tips that pretty obvious and you’ve heard from many other people (eg, take breaks during work, move around, set a good routine, etc) and some maybe not as evident—which I’ll use this blog to focus on those.

Treat yo-self—but not too often. When the days are more monotonous relative to normal times, it’s good to have something to look forward to—“a treat” if you will. Once a week I will splurge on a piece of very high-quality steak as my reward for kicking ass that week (doesn’t matter if it wasn’t my all time best week—I tell myself that I did enough to warrant a reward). When confronted with the frozen protein aisle, my strategy goes as follows:  Prime grade? Of course. Grass fed? A must. Organic? Definitely! The cow was constantly massaged by muscular trainers? Kidding!! But I’d probably pay for that too. The point is I’m happy to pay a premium—and because it only happens once a week, just the anticipation of the event brings me joy! This is where we can learn from our younger selves as well—think back to when you actually believed in Santa Clause---on the few days leading up to Christmas, you are already glee with joy—happily anticipating what the jolly fellow will bring you and how you’re going to place the cookies and milk so Santa can immediately see it upon entering your house. As adults, we’re so eager to get to the main show that we forget that just showering in a sea of positive anticipation can be rewarding too.

Well, if you love steak so much, why not have it more often? Well, unfortunately too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. No matter what it is that makes you happy, if you overload yourself, you will get bored of it. Psychologists call this “hedonic adaption.” Two additional points on how we can attempt to avoid this phenomenon—use time to your advantage and really differentiate. Treat yourself everyday, the object loses its allure but treat yourself once a year, you’ll probably feel deprived. Somewhere in between is a happy medium where you feel your reward is sufficiently special without getting frustrated because it seems sooo far away. What is that happy medium? Again, the title of this blog is not “Crystal Ball” and unfortunately I don’t have the perfect answer. It’s time for you to experiment a little and find out. Secondly I think your reward should be sufficiently “different” than your usual MO to again not have you get on the hedonic treadmill. For example, I’m a big wine drinker and once a month or so, I’ll splurge on a nice bottle. Say my normal weekday bottle on average costs $20-$25 (depending on your wine taste, that may seem excessive or stingy—this is judgement free zone though so whatever floats your boat)—and the other day I bought myself a 2015 Domaine Phillipe Livera Red Burgundy (for non wine drinkers, it’s a pinot noir from central part of France—the most expensive wine ever sold—at a Sothebys auction in 2018 was a Red burgundy)---it cost me more than a few times my normal wine budget. You must now be wondering---Have I drank it yet?—nope—but I am eagerly anticipating a special occasion to bust it out. Whatever the object of your affection is, I’d say make it so that the difference between your “normal” and the “special” is very noticeable.

Put up voluntary obstacles. The Roman philosopher and statesman Seneca in teaching stoicism said, “Set aside a certain number of days, during which you shall be content with the scantiest and cheapest fare, with coarse and rough dress, saying to yourself the while: ‘Is this the condition that I feared?” Basically the guy (who by the way was uber wealthy) took a few days a month to mimic poverty—he’d wear tattered clothing and eat like he was dirt poor. So why, you ask would this guy (who’s actually loaded and can afford the best food that money can buy) want to do this? Well, apparently voluntary suffering or some “planned discomfort”, if you will--can help you not lose your marbles when unplanned disasters happen. I suppose this is also the theory behind lint as well--- having to voluntarily give something up—in order to appreciate it more. I also think that once you come out on the other side, the sense of accomplishment you feel will give you a tremendous mental and emotional boost.

If you don’t want to dress in rags and eat PB&J sandwiches everyday like Seneca recommended, that’s totally fine—but there is some truth to the saying what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and by willingly inflicting some challenge and discomfort on yourself can help preserve your sanity when the real sh*t hits the fan.

For me--- with shelter in place and not being able to walk to/from work (which was 3 miles round trip) has made it much more difficult to reach my daily step count goal of 15k. I could chalk it up to circumstances outside of my control and readjust my goal—however—I am still sticking with you, 15k—even though it’s been significantly more difficult---but again, what did I say before--purposely making things difficult for yourself can have its benefits---call it eating your vegetables if you will. This means for me—no sleeping in and getting up early to go for a walk/jog---also maybe doing some jumping jacks during a break from work (sorry neighbors if you think it looks silly), and the worst is going outside on days it’s raining (when I hate getting wet).

Be a creature of habit---what are you talking about, you say! Now that I’m at home, I should have much more flexibility--- everything from what I can have for lunch (gee so many options on Doordash) to what day I can do laundry, to having more time to periodically check Instagram to see if someone is coping with quarantine better than me. Having a routine work schedule in many ways forces structure and routine into your schedule—Sunday was always my grocery shopping day, Monday was usually my laundry day, I usually had rotating set of lunch options I ordered at work, etc. Having a rigid schedule is a good thing, you say? Here’s the thing—every decision you have to deliberate and make uses a bit of your creative and mental capacity—therefore if you spend most of your cerebral horsepower on trivial decisions, you have less creative juices left to brainstorm bigger things—like coming up with new revenue opportunities for your work project for example. Therefore if you can learn to automate your life for small things (like what to eat for breakfast or what day to do your laundry)—then when it comes to the really important things—like a new product for your start-up, writing your first fiction novel, or composing music--- your brain will be much fresher and the output will be much better.

I hope some of these tips resonate and help you preserve some of your sanity in these crazy times. In the meantime, stay healthy and drink red wine---for me today—it’s a Mondavi Private Reserve cabernet aged in bourbon barrels.