Boss of Busy, 2nd Edition

CHAPTER 2Know your state

Purpose and progress are the critical components required to transition out of overwhelm. But when we look at these components in closer detail, it's how purpose and progress interact that becomes really interesting.

First, have a look at figure 2.1, which shows the first of the four states of the Stand Out Model™.

Figure 2.1: Check Out

If you're down in the bottom left quadrant, you're not making any progress at all and have no connection to why. This is where we Check Out. You may recognise this state if you find yourself on Monday morning literally counting down the seconds until Friday afternoon, or if you spend more time on your smart phone than actually being smart.

Often what happens in this state, though, is that we get into action in order to move forward and feel like we're making progress. We shift over to the bottom right side of the quadrant (see figure 2.2), where we're absolutely making progress, kicking goals, winning awards and being recognised by other people as doing amazing stuff — but somehow we've kind of disconnected from why we started all this progress in the first place.

Figure 2.2: Burn Out

This space is where we Burn Out. You might know that you're in Burn Out when the thing that you used to love now frustrates ...