Does that sound like a big claim?

If so, stick with me. I promise you I’ll pay off the claim in the next minute or two.

Let’s take a simple example. 

Say you’re stressed out because you often stay late at work and you think you’d enjoy your life more if you weren’t quite as stressed.

So what to do?

Well, there are two ways to go.

The first is to tackle the symptoms of your stress and carve out some time for breaks, a walk or a yoga class every now and then.

The second is to tackle the root cause of your stress.  That could mean getting better at setting boundaries or managing your time.

The difference between the two?

Addressing the symptoms of your stress will never remedy your stress.  It will just remedy the symptoms.

Instead, addressing the root causes is the way to remedy your stress. 

So far so good.

Now here’s my claim:

Addressing root causes rather than symptoms doesn’t cost you time and energy. 

It creates time and energy.

I don’t even mean the time and energy you get from feeling less stressed.

What I mean is applying a sticking plaster to the same problem for weeks, months or years adds up. 

Going for a walk might only take 10 minutes.  A yoga class might take 45 minutes.  But over months and years, all that time and energy accumulates.

Tackling the root cause might take a few hours.  It might take a few weeks or even longer.  But once it’s done, it’s done.  And you’ve saved all that time and energy you would’ve spent otherwise.

Now in case it’s not clear:

I’m not suggesting you should never go for a walk.  Nor am I suggesting you cancel your yoga membership.

But if you’re going for a walk or going to yoga in order to feel less stressed, my claim is that you’ll give yourself far more time and energy back and enjoy your life more by looking at the root causes of your stress rather than the symptoms.

And if you enjoy going for a walk or to yoga, you can still do that too.

You can do it as an end rather than a means to an end.

Now here’s the kicker:

What I’m seeing more & more is that addressing root causes is still actually addressing symptoms.

And, in fact, when it comes to our experience of life and how we can turn the volume down on our stress or any other “problem” like overwhelm, worry, anxiety, indecision, feeling stuck, lack of clarity, doubt or insecurity, there’s only one root cause:

Getting caught up in our thinking.

Yes, I know this might sound overly simplistic. 

I know it might even sound hard to believe.

All I can say with 100% honesty and for whatever it’s worth is that seeing the truth of this has fundamentally changed my experience of life.

Of course, the devil’s in the detail.  I get that.

And even though I’m back in the 9 to 5 nowadays and juggling my banking day job with my newsletter, my coaching and everything else going on in my life (I’ve got a half marathon on Sunday which is certainly not the way to find more time & energy!), I’ve decided to set aside an hour to host a free webinar to add some more meat to this devilish bone.

If you’re open-minded, willing to look at things differently and maybe even take a small leap of faith, this webinar might be right up your street.

I’m calling it Mind over Matter. 

The topic of the webinar? 

How we can use our minds the best way and stop our minds from using us.

It starts 8 hours from the time I sent this email. 

In case this email got caught coming down the pipe, that’s Wednesday 15^th May 2024 at 10am PST/1pm EST/6pm UK Time.

If you'd like the details, hit reply and let me know.  Once I start the webinar, it’ll be too late.

That’s it for now.

I’m looking forward to seeing those of you who’ve signed up in a few hours.

 - Tom