When I was doing a locum in northern Ontario, I once covered a small emergency department for 72 hours.
Yes, you read that correctly.
And no, it wasn’t because the administrators expected me to work for 72 hours straight. It’s because the locals understood that when the pharmacy closed at 6 pm, there was really no point in going to see the doctor. Hah! So I went to my bed and breakfast and could rest, barring any truly emergent cases overnight. Everyone in that town respected that there were opening hours and closing hours and that even an out-of-town city doctor deserved a coffee before turning on the compassion fire hose.
Most high performers can function at their highest level for about 3-4 hours a day. They acknowledge that rest and recuperation are essential to being able to provide that concentrated burst of 3-4 hours of dedicated work.
So why would you expect to always be ready to act, solve, fix, or care for whatever comes your way?
That mindset is the “trap” of the high-functioning person. It’s the tension between an outward appearance of efficient competence while struggling internally with anxiety, panic, depression, overload, and even burnout. The external polish hides the inner struggle.
Okay, so what does this all have to do with Korean boy band BTS? Well, I took my kids to the BTS concert in August. The fans were some of the kindest, most generous, and most diverse fans I’ve ever seen. There were some kids the same age as my kids. There were also grannies with four-wheel walkers. And there was everyone in between. And (notwithstanding a few moments of fear when I worried whether the steel rafters would harmonically disintegrate under the crowd’s rhythmic stomping), I loved the concert immensely! One of the reasons why BTS is so beloved is that their songs describe the inner struggle so commonly felt in this hectic world where perfection is prized and everyone needs to be a winner.
As the band began the closing set, they sang one of my favourite songs, “Zero O’Clock”. Here is a snippet of their lyrics:
“Like the snow that has just fallen
Let’s breathe for the first time
are you gonna be happy
turn this all around
everything is new, zero o’clock”
Even though you might feel that the day went badly or you really struggled while everyone else seemed to be winning, everything resets at “zero o’clock.”
Have you done 3-4 hours of hard work? Have you given 3-4 hours of yourself to make someone else’s day a little bit better.
Relax and breathe.
It’s zero o’clock again.
Question: “Can you tap into the inner struggle and still reset at zero o’clock?”
