What If You’ve Been Solving the Wrong Problem?

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Table of Contents

• 1. The Wrong Problem: Motivation

• 2. The Wrong Problem: Time

• 3. The Wrong Problem: Hustle

• The Right Problem: Endurance

Imagine going to the doctor with knee pain. The doctor gives you painkillers, but the real problem is a hip misalignment. You can numb the pain all you want, but until the root cause is addressed, the injury only worsens.

That is how many of us approach productivity. We think the issue is motivation, willpower, or time management. So we double down on hustle: longer hours, fewer breaks, more caffeine. But the real issue? We are sprinting when we should be pacing. We are treating an endurance problem like a speed problem.

1. The Wrong Problem: Motivation

We tell ourselves, “If I could just stay motivated, I’d get further.”
Science says otherwise. Mental fatigue is not laziness. Your brain literally burns fuel during focus. Without intervals to reset, it depletes, which leads to distraction and burnout (Nature Communications, 2022).

Motivation is not the problem. Endurance is.

2. The Wrong Problem: Time

We believe, “If I just had more hours, I could get it all done.”
But studies on ultradian rhythms show we are built for 90 to 120 minutes of focus followed by a natural dip (Kleitman). Adding more hours without respecting those cycles does not create more output. It creates more exhaustion.

Time is not the problem. Rhythm is.

3. The Wrong Problem: Hustle

We idolize the grind. Late nights. Nonstop effort. Sprinting toward the dream. But in both sports and work science, sprinting without recovery leads to overtraining syndrome or its workplace twin: burnout (Maslach & Leiter). Endurance athletes know the secret. Progress comes from intervals: effort plus recovery.

Hustle is not the problem. Recovery is.

The Right Problem: Endurance

The real challenge is not finding more motivation or squeezing in more hours. It is learning to build sustainable rhythms. Endurance means:

• Work in intervals. Treat focus like training: push hard, then step back.

• Honor your rhythms. Flow with 90-minute cycles of focus instead of fighting them.

• Value recovery. Growth happens in the rest phase, whether in muscles or in the brain.

When you solve for endurance, overwhelm fades. Your productivity stops feeling like frantic sprints and starts looking like steady progress.

If you’re reading this far…

I hope this message finds you well. I’m sharing from my heart in hopes that you will be inspired to unearth and live out your God-given purpose. Hopefully, something I said resonated. I would love to hear from you if so. Please feel free to reach out to me on social media. FYI: I’m mostly active on Instagram these days. If you were forwarded this message, you can subscribe here to receive thoughts like this directly in your inbox. And don’t forget to check out the latest episode of my podcast, ConvoRoom with Mark Allen Patterson.

See you next week,