Too much
You take on more than you should.
You said yes when you should've said no.
You thought it'd be easier than it is.
You thought it'd take lesser time than it requires.
You thought you had thought of everything.
How much is too much?
Work/Gym/Diets
What am I talking about? Lots of things.
Work. Taking on a project that's less fun than you thought. Taking on more and more projects than your time can handle. Producing average quality work as you are spread across too many things.
Gym. Spending hours and hours at the gym. Constantly aiming to outdo the previous session. To get more weight on the bar. To get more muscles on your body. To get more external validation.
Diets. Obsessing over what to eat, and what not to eat. Saying no at social gatherings. Constantly watching the scale. Not having fun doing any of this. Not seeing progress doing this.
Stress. Boils up. Keeps boiling up. And somehow, you let some steam out and hope to get back to things.
Thinking. About everything. Thinking too much. Is this right? Or should you be doing something else? Should you be doing more of this? Should you be doing more of this and more of that?
Unsustainable in the short term
Most new habits or change of directions need a dramatic shift.
If you are looking to get fit, aiming to go to the gym for one hour a day for 100 days in a row is a lofty and difficult challenge. Is it too much? Definitely. But is it wrong (to se that goal?) Hard to say.
For a few of you, that commitment might be needed to shift you away from status quo. And it will deliver a large set of results that vindicates what you are doing. That validation might be what's needed to make this into a long-term habit.
Doing something unsustainable in the short-term might be the key to creating a sustainable habit over the long-term. Talk about contradictions.
But for some of you, it might be too lofty a challenge. Or luck doesn't go your way - a flat tyre on the way to the gym, a life event, a spanner in the works and it derails.
See-saw
Nothing happens in isolation.
Too much of something here will mean something else has to give.
Too much of something for too long will spell disaster.
Too little of something (rest, vacation, chilling out) will also spell disaster.
Do your best
Observing from an external perspective, without any judgment can help us cut through all this. And employing a coach who can provide this external perspective, who has tools and frameworks at their disposal will provide structure and objectivity.
Too often, we think we need to go it alone. Or that this is something only we are facing.
That's not true. Almost everyone is going through the same thing, or at least, has gone through it (if not right now.)
Too much sucks.
Too little sucks.
Personally, I am at a place where I need to say "No" a lot more.
I'd rather have too little on my plate to understand where I am at and how I am doing.
Having too much is a confounding method of copping out from figuring out what I need to be doing.
And things I've said "Yes" to, I need to bring my best.
It is that simple.