Time for Rest

You May Need it

Tuesday, April 29th, 2025

Writing to you from Denver, Colorado

At one point or another in your life you have probably worked hard enough for a long period of time that you were completely burnt out.

Day in and day out you were sitting down to do your work no matter whether or not you were in the mood for it. You woke up early, went to bed late, and the fatigue that built up over time and ended up hitting you like a ton of bricks.

At that point you realized that you had been falling asleep in the middle of the day, getting mad at your wife for asking if you could do anything that didn’t involve rest, and you could feel yourself stumbling along the work “treadmill”.

You knew this wasn’t good.

But, you kept pushing. You’ve got things to do, you’re behind on emails, and you’ve got a wife and kids to feed. Day by day you’re getting less and less done. Not only do you not want to do your work, but you can’t even think!

After falling asleep in the middle of the day again you finally put your foot down. “All I need”, you say, “is just a few days of rest. Then I’ll get back to it…”

Wouldn’t you know it…

You get a bit of rest and now you can look at your wife like you love her again, you’re getting your work done at a good pace, and you feel good knowing that you’re back on track and feeling productive.

She’s happy, you’re happy, and you’re getting good things done.

Rest - You Need it

The Preparation is like life, but without much of the responsibilities that come later on. Its a direct reflection of life without the wife, kids, and bills that need to be payed.

Your major responsibility is over yourself.

In the beginning I was speaking to your parents. More specifically your father who has burnt himself out more times he can count from working ceaselessly, but now I’m speaking to you.

There’s no one to hold your hand every step of the way - to tell you what to do, when to do it, how long you should study or work, where you should go…

Your success is dependent upon what you choose to do, you reap what you sow - that’s how life actually works.

At a certain point in the program (hopefully early on) you will understand this and begin to load your schedule with enough to bring you to the brink over a long enough period of time. Working, studying, and learning new skills will be all that you do…all day…every day.

Good, that’s what you need.

You should hit several “burn out points” in your preparation, especially in the beginning. That’s how you know you’re doing it right - by finding out how much you can bear by overloading yourself.

Burn out 2 or 3 times when starting out to get a sense for what that feels like.

And be prepared to burn out later in your preparation too.

All you’ve got to be able to recognize is when you have actually burnt out. That way you can rest when necessary. Like your father who took necessary time to rest when he finally realized he was burnt out, you will come back to your work and study refreshed and see it in a better light.

Usually just one day of rest (which means doing almost nothing that requires lots of focus and attention) is enough.

Balance?

One time when I had the chance to be present during a live Q & A session that my dad and Doug Casey were having, I remember Doug answering a viewers question about maintaining a work-life balance…

“The whole idea of having a work-life balance is silly. Your work should be a direct part of your life - something you enjoy doing. The two shouldn’t be separate.”

The Preparation, which involves constant work on your part, ends up becoming your life. The two are intimately connected.

Throughout your preparation you need to maintain a strange balance. On one hand you need to reject “balance” and work/study nonstop - build momentum and maintain it. On the other hand, you need to know when to reel it in a bit, for a short time, in order to not burn out and lose progress.

Work hard, but remember to rest.

-Maxim Benjamin Smith