The Long Game: Why Endurance Beats Intensity

Season 3, Episode 2

As humans, we're drawn to what's visible. The big launches, the early success. The people who seem to be crushing it right away. 

But what if that's usually not what lasts? 

In this episode, I'm sharing a moment from one of my yoga classes that completely reframed how I think about creative work, and why going all out in the beginning can actually work against you. 

If you're building something that matters, this is your reminder: it's not about being the most impressive early on. It's about staying power. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Welcome back to your next chapter, the podcast for women who read, write, and live creatively. I'm your host, Rebecca Hasselak. And today I want to talk about something that I thought of in yoga the other day. And hear me out. I know I use a lot of yoga analogies, but this one really stuck with me and it brought something up about the creative process and creative careers that I wanted to explore with you today. So when I was in class, I noticed somebody kind of next to me, a little to the side and to the back, which you can see because of the mirrors. And I try very hard in yoga to focus on my own eyes, like they tell you to do, to stay on my mat. I mean, I always stay on my mat, but to keep my focus on my mat and on myself because I'm the one who's working on my growth, on my peace, on my breath, all of the things. And focusing on other people just doesn't get you anywhere. But naturally and inevitably, you will notice someone in class for one reason or another. Maybe it's someone who is extra antsy and they're moving a lot and so they're catching your eye, or maybe it's someone who just seems really impressive. So I was going about my postures. We were in the second posture of the class, and I noticed that this person kind of behind me to the left was going all out. The posture is called half moon, and it's kind of like you might imagine a crescent moon looking like. So your arms are over your head, your hip is pushed to the side, and you're making that crescent shape with your body. And you have to hold it for a decent amount of time. So it's easy to do quickly, but when you actually have to hold it, it becomes a little more difficult. So this person was in a very deep half moon posture. And my initial reaction was sort of like, wow, I don't do half moon like that. And it was almost a moment of annoyance that she was doing it so well. And also sort of like this competitiveness, like, yeah, well, let's see if the rest of the postures go that way. And I don't know why I'm like this. I hope I'm not the only one like this. But anyway, I get very competitive. And there was a part of me that was like, what are you trying to prove? And meanwhile, I'm just trying to hold my half moon and then move on to the next posture. And I will say, before you start judging me too hard, I I have been working really hard on coaching myself out of those moments and on wishing other people in class well. And if someone's struggling wishing them well, if someone's really crushing it, wishing them well, just try and just sort of really question and be curious about that competitive streak that I have. But in this moment, it got me thinking kind of about the idea of pace. Should you go all out in the beginning and then maybe you don't have reserves for later, or should you just pace yourself and go for endurance? I think there's a case to be made for both, but today I want to talk about the long game and about having staying power in your creativity. And I will say, spoiler alert about this story, that that individual, from what I could tell, even though I was trying not to focus on her, trying to focus more on myself, she would did not, she was not able to maintain that level of depth throughout the entire class. And sometimes that happens. If you go too hard in the beginning, you can burn out and you can kind of fizzle. And so I'm applying this to our creative journeys because it kind of taps into the idea, and I'm not saying this about this person. This person was probably just doing their best, but some of us will try to be impressive early on, right? We're trying to prove something, we're trying to show that we are really good at whatever we're doing. And so we just really go all out. But halfway through, that person is usually the one who's also exhausted. And by the end, they're the one who's probably barely hanging on, if they still are at all. Meanwhile, someone who has paced themselves and remained steady and controlled is often still strong at the end. That's the long game. We get this wrong so often because we're wired to notice what's visible. We notice the big launches, the viral moments, the immediate traction. And we don't really notice the consistency, the quiet reps, the work no one applauds. And so we assume that success comes from intensity when it actually often comes from endurance. When you create to impress, you are going to overextend yourself, you're going to burn out, and you're attaching your worth to the reaction that other people will give you. It can feel exciting at first, but it's not sustainable. And creativity that isn't sustainable doesn't last, obviously. So what actually builds a creative life that you can continue to turn to throughout your entire life? It's approaching it like a long game, like a marathon. But don't take marathon advice from me because I've never completed a marathon. But in this regard, I do think the same concept applies. If you know you're going to be running 26.2 miles, you are not going to sprint in the first mile. You're just not. You know better or you should know better. The long game is built on repeatability, sustainability, emotional regulation, patience. It's choosing a pace that you can come back to again and again, not your max effort. It's a consistent effort. So when you think about this in terms of like the yoga class, I could push myself to go harder in half moon, but then I'll have less energy for the next posture and the next and the 20-something after that. And so, do I want to be impressive in that first posture? It's tempting. Do I want to feel good that I've challenged myself and gone as far as I can? Absolutely, that's also tempting. If I relate this to writing, that would be like me putting the pedal to the middle on my first novel, sacrificing my sleep, sacrificing my health, trying to get accolades and focusing on other people's reactions and trying to make myself a commercial success right off the right off the bat. I almost said off the gate, which would have been mixing up metaphors like I like to do. Off the bat, out of the gate, pick either one. Don't be like me, don't mix them up. Anyway, that would be like trying to do all that really early. And if you think about that, that's not sustainable. Even if I were to get published, even if I were to get a bestseller with my first novel, can I maintain a round the clock schedule that doesn't set me up for success, doesn't set my health up for success. Like obviously not. So you have to remember where strength is built. And I think about this a lot in yoga because I'm like anybody else, like, and especially because I'm competitive, I do want to do the impressive postures. We all do, right? Like standing bow pulling pose. You see that all over the place. It's the one where you have your leg up behind you and it's almost like you're pulling it into a standing split a little bit and your body's more horizontal and your front arm is outstretched. I'm sure you've seen it. A lot of people like to do it on like mountaintops and stuff. I too have done it on a mountaintop for a photo opportunity. But anyway, it's a cool one. I love it. It's probably my favorite posture, and it looks really impressive. And it is impressive, and it's impressive to hold and to have the strength and all those things. But what about the postures where people aren't going to notice as much? Like there's one where you're laying on your back and it's called wind removing pose, and you're supposed to hold your shin basically against your body, avoiding your rib cage, and you're supposed to have a web-to-web and grip. And that one, everyone's on their back. No one's noticing what you're doing. And even if you do it to the fullest extent of the posture, like it's not impressive. It's not one where people are gonna be like, ooh, check out that pose. That's amazing. It's not. So, how how do you approach a pose like that? I try to white knuckle it. I try to give everything I can to that pose without burning myself out, but I try to do it properly. I try to have the right form because I know that every posture matters and every posture is going to lead me into the next one. So you don't want to burn yourself out. You don't want to go too hard or focus on being impressive. You want to pace yourself, but you still want to give every stage of the process your best, whatever that looks like in the in a given moment. So just remember that strength is built in holding a posture that no one notices, stabilizing muscles that no one sees, staying when it would be easier to drop out. And it's the true, it's the same thing with creative work. It's showing up when you're tired, it's working on something no one will see for months, it's refining instead of posting. That's where the work compounds. So the shift in mindset kind of comes from instead of being like, how do I stand out right now? How can I be impressive? How can I achieve maximum depth early on and look like I'm really crushing it? Try to shift from that to how do I still want to be doing this in five years and in 10 years? It shifts you from performance to practice, it shifts you from urgency to patience, it shifts you from ego to craft. The long game requires restraint. It's okay to go all out sometimes. I mean, you'll never get deeper in something if you don't try, right? So there are postures where in the very last two seconds, I'll explore how deep I can go or how flexible I can get. And that's that has its own benefit because you're testing your limits. So it's not to say play it safe and never try and never be bold. The point is look far ahead. Plan to have a creative life for the rest of your life if that's what you want. And think about how you can pace yourself. How can you make this something that is not only rewarding for you now, but will be rewarding for you later? You also have to have boundaries. We will talk about that in a few weeks. And you need to have perspective, zoom out beyond the results of just this one moment, this one project. How does this fit into the greater picture of who you are as an artist and how you want to be perceived and how you want to bring your art into the world? And also you need trust. Trust that slow growth still counts. Trust that you're not any less impressive as an artist just because you're not showing off early. And just trust that the long game looks different. And that's okay. You don't want to be that star that fizzles out because you were never set up to sustain. You want to be the star that's still glimmering decades into the future. At least I do. And just remember, because comparison just always gets us, doesn't it? And in a situation like this, when you see someone who is holding the posture longer, better, deeper, whatever, it's easy to feel like I'm not there yet. You know, that person is not only published, but also had a bestseller. That person's book is being made into a movie. That person has this, that, and the other. There will always be people who sprint. There will be some of them who burn out. Some will pivot, some will disappear. It's not your journey. And so you don't have to worry about it, good or bad. It's not your journey. You can want the best for people, but then focus on your own journey. If you stay, you will outlast, you will deepen, you will evolve, and over time that will become your edge. So just remember, you don't need to be the most impressive person in the room or in the industry. You need to be the one who keeps going and who has enough perspective to pace themselves, to take care of themselves, to give your body and your mind what it needs in a given moment, and focus on that rather than on how you're appearing to other people. You need to be the one who keeps going. And I'll leave you with a quick quote. It's often said that Confucius said this, which is it does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop. And on that note, I wish you the time, the space, the care, the energy you need to create so that you can keep creating and keep turning the page.