Find A Lower Gear
Some solid advice from a friend.
An old friend came into town last week, and after watching all the stuff I do, gave me this advice: “Dave, find a lower gear.”
He was essentially trying to say, dial it back, your current intensity level isn't sustainable.
And he's right. Personal sustainability and mental health is a huge challenge for anyone working on climate. Like everyone else, I have family obligations. I have work obligations. And when it comes to climate, a very long list of things I’m passionate about and would like to help move faster:
shift investment dollars away from fossil fuels faster
make rooftop solar and distributed generation go faster
make heat pumps and electrification go faster
get more talented people working on climate faster
educate people about how fast climate innovation is moving
get my local politicians to put their $ where their mouth is on decarbonization
educate people about the economic wins of decarbonization
get people to understand the forces blocking decarbonization
get people to understand the urgency of climate action
etc.
The list goes on. And it runs through my brain non-stop, generating half baked and three-quarter baked ideas, and sometimes whole cakes.
How to slow it down is the question; how to "find a lower gear" enough hours of each day to not diminish my own ability to be effective?
Here’s one thing I’ve been doing, for 15-20 minutes each day:
You may recognize this as the New York Times spelling bee puzzle… so satisfying because I can succeed at it every day (as long as I don’t fall into the diminishing returns trap of trying to get all the words).
Here’s another one: playing with the dog. He’s always in a lower gear.
And a third thing: just getting off the screen for a few minutes and trying to notice and appreciate everyday things. Here’s an amazing rainbow we saw the other day in San Francisco, for example:
What ideas do you have for finding a lower gear, while still working on climate with urgency? I’d love to hear them.
Meantime, if you want to browse some of my recent ‘higher gear’ stuff, you can do that on my website, Dave Margulius on Climate.
Have a great week!