Overwhelmed? Overscheduled? Here's the antidote.

Tapping into the Buddhist concept of “wise effort”

There’s a special kind of shame that comes when you make the same mistake over and over again. For me, that shame is sometimes intensified by the fact that I’m a quasi-self-help guru who should probably know better.

One of the mistakes I make most commonly is adding too many things to my workload, then getting overwhelmed and snippy.

There’s a Buddhist idea that goes straight to the heart of this problem: wise effort. It’s about putting your energy where it actually counts.

So how do you cultivate wise effort? Psychologist Diana Hill has three tips:

1. Get curious. Ask: Where is my energy going? Am I working on stuff because I genuinely care—or am I adding stuff to my to-do list out of fear, guilt, or habit? Just noticing is an intervention.

2. Accept it. Allow in the tough stuff—fatigue, anxiety, self-doubt, you name it. Acceptance isn’t resignation. Only once you stop warring with reality can you actually change.

3. Focus your energy. As Hill puts it, your time is a jar—and every commitment is a rock. So choose your rocks based on your values, not your “shoulds.”

I’ve found these steps very helpful. I still screw it up all the time. But the overall trajectory is positive.

For more on reducing overwhelm, listen to Diana Hill on today’s episode of 10% Happier.

Paid subscribers get a custom guided meditation to help cultivate wise effort.

Also out this week: my new episode with Buddhist master GuoGu, about how to get out of your head. There’s a guided meditation for this episode, too, called “If Only…”

This Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 4:00 p.m. ET, Teacher of the Month Christiane Wolf will do a live guided meditation and Q&A sesh for paid subscribers on Zoom. Meeting link beneath the paywall below. Drop your questions for Christiane in the chat.

One last thing: if you want to meditate with me IRL, come to a live taping of my pod on November 18th in NYC. My guest is comedian Pete Holmes. Grab tickets here.

Paid subscribers get the 10% Happier podcast ad-free, as well as:

• A cheatsheet for each episode — with key takeaways, time-coded highlights, and a transcript

• The ability to comment on posts and participate in subscriber chats

• Access to our weekly live video sessions on Zoom, in which I and/or our meditation Teacher of the Month guide a meditation and take questions

• Tailor-made meditations every Monday and Wednesday, led by our meditation Teacher of the Month and designed to pair with the podcast episodes

Join the party.

Join us live on Zoom

Our next weekly Live Meditation and Q&A for paid subscribers is Wednesday, Nov. 12 at 4:00 p.m. ET (we’re skipping Tuesday for Veterans Day) with Teacher of the Month Christiane Wolf and executive producer DJ Cashmere. Drop your questions for them in the chat.

You can join from your browser on your laptop or desktop (no download needed) or download the Zoom app for your device.

Meeting info: