Anti Depression Guide

On page 5 of “The 4-Hour Workweek“, author Timothy Ferriss features 2 quotes that describe the typical bipolar to a tee.  Here they are:

“Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect”-Mark Twain

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination”-Oscar Wilde

Being bipolar myself, these quotes hit close to home.  Manic excesses and zealous drive rarely place me on the side of the majority and I don’t suffer from a lack of imagination in the context of Oscar Wilde’s quote.

For whatever reason, these quotes had a way of hyperlinking in my mind the concept of lifestyle design to the productive bipolar.

Before we attempt this, one more great quote taken straight out of Ferriss’s book:

“Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid”-Heinrich Heine

The best place for us to start is to introduce Ferriss’s DEAL acronym.  We’ll apply this acronym to “reinventing” the productive bipolar in order to utilize the variations in mood exponentially more than ordinary productivity literature would.

So what does the acronym stand for in the context of the productive bipolar?

D-for Definition-we’ll throw the majority aside and apply the rules and objectives of Ferriss’s New Rich to the productive bipolar.  We’ll take the fundamentals of lifestyle design for the New Rich and apply them to lifestyle design for the productive bipolar.

E-for Elimination-Ferriss will teach us how to tear apart the concept of time management.  We’ll learn how the productive bipolar can utilize selective ignorance, and a low-information diet in order to make more time for either focused goal-oriented production or preferably relaxation and a reduction in illness-related symptoms.

A-for Automation-we’ll apply Ferriss’s rules of geographic arbitrage, outsourcing, and non-decision.  We’ll help the productive bipolar generate an automatic income stream that will provide an economic cushion in case of relapse, magnify the results of hypomanic behaviour by allowing the productive bipolar to focus on other areas of income generation and reduce the stresses of personal financial management that often results in festering symptoms of the bipolar illness.

L-for Liberation-Ferriss will introduce us to the concept of mobility in the world of 9-5.  We will also be introduced to the concept of mini-retirements, especially useful in the case of bipolar disorder.

So we have a summary of the DEAL acronym.  I’m not going to explain the concept of the New Rich for two reasons:

1. it’s not necessary to our purposes here.  We’re not necessarily attempting to become members of the New Rich although anyone who does, I must extend my congratulations!  We’re simply trying to find ways to help the productive bipolar become even more productive while at the same time reducing the stressors that culminate in the manifestation of negative symptoms of the disorder.
2. I have alot of respect for Timothy Ferriss.  He’s one of the two living people I’d really like to meet at the current time (the other being Eric Reynolds, the creator and founder of Nau), so I don’t really want to kill that possibility, however remote it may be, by cutting into his book sales and having him came after my sorry bipolar ass (that said tongue-in-cheek, of course)

I will say though that the “D” for Definition mainly addresses the fear of taking a leap into the unknown which shouldn’t phase the typical productive bipolar in the slightest.  We’re born risk-takers.

“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.  Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man”.-George Bernard Shaw

Ferriss end the “D” for Definition with a little lesson regarding goal-setting but we’ll save that for another posting.  Goal-setting is one area of productivity knowledge that needs to be modified for the productive bipolar.

Instead for the time being we’ll move on the “E” for Elimination.  There are two extremely important concepts to be understood under the “E”. The first is Pareto’s Law, also known as the “80/20 Principle”, which states that 80% of the outputs in any given situation come from 20% of the inputs.

If you begin applying Pareto’s Law to all areas of your personal and business life you will find that as Ferriss states, “most things make no difference“.

“Being busy is a form of laziness-lasy thinking and indiscriminate action“-Timothy Ferriss

So knowing this, we should return to our list of values and take a close look at what our priorities are because as Ferriss also states,

“lack of time is actually a lack of priorities”

Our goal is to be more effective in light of our values by applying Pareto’s Law.  This should allow the productive bipolar to focus their manic energy on what is truly important and effective.

The next important we need to understand in the context of Elimination is Parkinson’s Law which states “that a task will swell in (perceived) importance and complexity in relation to the time allotted for its completion”.

Using these laws simultaneously we must then:

1. limit task to the important to shorten work time (Pareto’s Law)

2. shorten work time to limit tasks to the important (Parkinson’s Law)

The key for the productive bipolar is to approach these two laws in context of his or her illness.  There must be a balance so that shortening time doesn’t place undue stress on the bipolar psyche which could trigger a festering of negative symptoms.

However, once again if we come back to our list of values we should be able to eliminate the unimportant and utilize the two laws safely and effectively.

In summary, here we have the steps necessary to beginning the redesign of the productive bipolar to become even more productive and effective:

1. Decide what your top 5 values in life are and then prioritize them

2. Set goals based on the selected values (this will be discussed at length in a future posting)

3. Utilize Pareto’s and Parkinson’s Law inorder to eliminate the unimportant in context of values and goals selected in order to focus energies and save time

In Part II we’ll continue with the application of the low-information diet and selective ignorance to be optimally used by the productive bipolar.

Smoking among the mentally ill, bipolar disorder sufferers included, is highly prevalent.  While the rationalization by most bipolars is that cigarettes promote relaxation, nicotine is a stimulant that can ultimately promote the racing thoughts, agitation, and difficulty sleeping so typical of hypomania or mania.  Before the release of the hugely successful book, “The 4-Hour Workweek“, author Tim Ferriss blogged at Tim Ferriss: The Human Experiment Blog and posted there a helpful article about cutting down on and ultimately quitting smoking.  His thinking is that specifying X number of cigarettes in a day is ineffective as most smokers will just smoke regularly and then end up having ”20 hours to go” before they can have another one.  Anyone who smokes or has smoked in the past knows this an extremely ineffective method.  Here is his his five tip plan paraphrased for our purposes:

Tip #1-Decide how many cigarettes you want to smoke in a day.  This may seems like we’re choosing to smoke X number of cigarettes in a day, but there is more to it.

Tip #2-Ferriss then tell us to divide the day into 2 12-hour periods.  He states that Phase I should begin at 12 noon and end at 12 midnight and that Phase II should start at 12 midnight and end at 12 noon the following day.  This is fine but I would suggest altering this schedule slightly in order to cut down on the amount of nicotine consumed by the productive bipolar (PB) near bedtime.  I would suggest starting Phase I at 9 AM and ending at 9 PM and Phase II starting at 9 PM and ending at 9 AM the following day.  This still gives us the effect of delaying the morning smoke but lowers the amount of nicotine in the bloodstream at bedtime if the following three rules are followed.

Tip #3-One of the two phases is to be strictly non-smoking.  Unless you happen to work the graveyard shift, that would probably be Phase II-9 PM to 9 AM.

Tip #4-Divide 12 by the number of target cigarettes chosen in Tip #1.  This will give you the hour figure that must pass between each cigarette.

Tip #5-According to Ferriss, by standardizing the schedule as we have we a constant steady stream of nicotine in our bloodstreams (a la the patch or Zyban) that can be decreased over time.  Withdrawal symptoms usually disappear within 3 weeks, so by standardizing the dosage we should be able to reduce the amount of cigarettes smoked during the smoking phase every 3 weeks until we have officially quit!

I encourage you to read this PDF file entitled “The Hypomanic American” and written by John Gartner,  clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University Medical School and a psychotherapist in private practice in Baltimore.

Gartner discusses the results of a study he carried out which found rampant evidence of hypomania resulting in the “great American dream”.  He connects the behaviour of entrepreneurs to hypomania as well as that of the great number of immigrants that make up the population of the country.

He published the full results of the study in a book entitled, “The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between Craziness And Success In America” which can be purchased through his web site, The Hypomanic Edge.

It’s a well known fact that the typical bipolar can be extraordinarily productive at certain stages of her illness.  During mild manias, known as hypomania, the bipolar is overflowing with brilliant ideas, has the ability to think symphonically, and has the energy to act on all of his newly generated ideas.  Unfortunately, as any bipolar will tell you, this productive period eventually succumbs to a more extreme mania where thoughts become incoherent and the weight of all the projects initiated during the hypomanic period begin to feel like the crushing weight of the world on her shoulders.  At this point, thoughts are so fleeting and disconnected, and the physical energy of the bipolar is so abundant that he becomes completely and utterly unproductive.  The other side of the coin entails the bipolar slipping into the deep abyss of depression which nullifies any chance of productivity altogether.

So the challenge the bipolar faces is to best utilize his variations in mood in such a way as to become as productive as possible.  My thinking is that by modifying and tailoring the massive amount of excellent productivity knowledge out there to the bipolar psyche, it can result in the bipolar actually being more productive than the “normal”, balanced person even with the obvious disadvantage of the illness.  You must also remember that this idea was born of my own struggle with the illness and the lessons I have learned along the way.

The first order of business for the productive bipolar (from now on we’ll refer to the productive bipolar as PB) is to ground him or herself in a set of values that will ultimately decide where the bipolar expends his energy.  In other words, values determine behaviour.  Of course, it is not so simple to just stay grounded during a hypomanic or manic episode, but we need to start somewhere.

How do we determine what are values are?  First of all I must say that for anyone to not sit down for a few moments and determine what their true values are in life are bound to make poor decision in their personal and business lives and live in a state of constant agitation brought on by an absent sense of direction.  This is amplified for the bipolar as a profound sense of agitation typically accompanies both manic and depressive phases of the illness.  So to avoid this, we need to sit down and determine what we value in our business and personal lives:

Question #1-What is truly important to you in life?

Try to think of single words describing what you find to be important.  These can apply to both your business and personal lives, but over time we will aim to integrate the two.  For instance, service and family are of true importance to me in life.  If you need help with this I recommend following this link to Steve Pavlina’s Personal Development blog.  There will will find 374 single word values from A-Z.  It really doesn’t matter how many values you come up with.  Most of the available literature states an optimal number of 10-15, but I would recommend the bipolar choose around 5 all encompassing values.  The reasoning behind this is the need for a more clear focus on the part of the bipolar.  I know from experience that 10-15 values would lead my mind in way to many directions, ultimately leading to my failure to make decisions based on those values.  By broadening the range each value covers, I find it much easier to make good decisions based on a smaller number of values that aren’t to specific.

Question #2-The next step consists of asking yourself “Which value from the list generated is the most important to you?”

By choosing a smaller list of broader range values, the bipolar will find this exercise much easier.  Assuming you choose five values, after you picked the most important value, choose from the remaining four values the most important value of the four.  This will become your second most important value.  Complete this until you have your list of values organized from the most important value to the least important.

Question #3-How do I live and make appropriate decisions based on my values?

First we must acknowledge the fact that values can change over a lifetime.  We’ll address that issue another time.  At the moment, we simply want to generate a compact list of values prioritize them, and then learn to make decisions based on the chosen values.  Let’s use an illustration to explain this.  Suppose your list of five values, ordered from most important to least is as follows:

1. Family
2. Service
3. Balance
4. Success
5. Serenity

From this list, let us focus on the values of family and success.  If this is my list and I live according to these values, I’m not going to move to the other side of the country in order to further my career if that means I spend less time with my wife and children.  Very simple illustration and it should be.  Eventually you should see if you have really chosen what you truly value and make decisions according to these values you’ll have a lot more focus in life.  If you’re like me and have always had a chronic existential ache somewhere deep inside you, its intensity should lessen as you learn to make decisions according to what you value most.

For the productive bipolar this is key.  Without this grounding of values or universal truths, the sheer speed of mania and the crushing melancholy of depression will only serve to lead you in the wrong direction.  I recommend that anyone feeling they may becoming hypomanic or fully manic to examine these values when your thoughts are coherent and attempt to make choices based on them.  If family is your most important value, you must continually remind yourself of that even when the euphoria of mania seems to be pushing you to make rash, impulsive, damaging decisions or the “black dog” of depression seems to pull you away from giving time to your children and being intimate with your spouse.

Now this may all seem a little to simple to you, but for the PB it needs to be.  Complete this exercise, put your values on a few Post-It notes and stick them somewhere in full view in your office, your bathroom, your bedroom; anywhere that’s convenient to remind you of what’s truly important even during ill periods.  I promise, from experience, it will do wonders to ground you and focus your manic-depressive energies into productive energy.

Below are a list of links that I believe do an excellent job of explaining what values are and how to live by them:

• Steve Pavlina.com-Living Your Values, Part I
• Steve Pavlina.com-Living Your Values, Part II
• Steve Pavlina.com-List Of Values

Much of what I’m about to say can be found in the About section of this blog, but I’ll rehash as a way to introduce myself.  My name is Justin Davey.  I’m a 26 year old, happily married, Business Administration student at Red River College in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  I also happen to suffer from an illness known as schizoaffective disorder.  In my case, the symptoms of my illness are remarkably similar to bipolar I disorder, namely the extremes of mood known as mania and depression.

There are tons of blogs out there written by the depressed and bipolar of the world, usually chronicalling the writers path to recovery or used as a therapeutic tool to deal with the difficult feelings associated with the illness.  What there isn’t, is any information teaching those that are bipolar how to be more productive in their lives.  While certain stages of the bipolar spectrum are sometimes correlated with increased productivity and sometimes creativity, usage of all of the great productivity tips and techniques published on the web and in print have the effect of running the manic bipolar right into the ground. 

That said, the purpose of this blog will be to create new productivity tools, tips, and techniques and repurpose all of the great productivity info already available for those in the corporate world and the world of post-secondary education who also happen to suffer through the highs and lows of bipolar disorder.  I will aim to provide productivity information that will turn the extremes of bipolar illness into a benefit rather than a curse.

And so we will have Manic Productivity!