Fatigue Affects Work

Last time, we talked about reading. Reading for extended periods can lead to fatigue. Some say they get sleepy as soon as they start reading, especially the Bible. This is a matter of overcoming fatigue. Of course, some fatigue is spiritual oppression, but other fatigue is of a different kind. If a person is constantly fatigued, what can he accomplish? If he tires easily, he will not do well in anything. How can one live abundantly if one cannot do well? It would be one thing if they could not do well but still live merrily. However, not doing well leads to inner turmoil, and this turmoil leads to illness. After becoming ill, one becomes even more troubled, leading to more illness and turmoil, and then eventually death. This entire life is a life of fatigue. We must consider whether we want to live such a life.

Today, we will discuss a crucial topic: overcoming fatigue. To some extent, I may not seem qualified to speak on this, primarily because I rarely feel fatigued, as I am a workaholic. Once I start working, I forget to drink and eat. I enjoy working very much, so I do not feel fatigue. However, I believe I still have some qualification to speak on this. Why? Because I am someone who has successfully overcome fatigue.

Fatigue Is a Negative Sensation That Needs to Be Overcome

Whether a person feels fatigue is a sensation. Sensation is a very interesting issue. For example, when we feel bad, and we all have times when we feel bad, what we do at that moment determines whether we continue to live in that bad feeling or move into a good feeling. I am someone who enjoys overcoming fatigue and various negative sensations, such as turmoil, depression, and discomfort. Recently, there is a trending internet phrase: blue, skinny mushrooms (sad and wanting to cry). I feel quite distant from this phrase because when I am sad, I do not mushroom. I do not particularly enjoy the mushroom thing; I prefer to take action.

You might notice that many people in this world have a predisposition to mental illness. They are also very sensitive to distinguishing between good and evil. However, why do they not develop a severe mental illness? Because they are diligent. Therefore, brothers and sisters, let us begin to understand that loving to work and enjoying overcoming fatigue can solve many problems. Some with mental illness simply give in to fatigue. They become fatigued and succumb to it, then become lazy, and laziness makes them even more fatigued. Increased fatigue leads to more laziness, which leads to poor performance. Poor performance leads to turmoil, which leads to more laziness, eventually resulting in physical or mental illness.

In February, when I went to Taiwan, I met someone who was frequently fatigued, to the point of developing hydrocephalus. After interacting with this person for some time, as I wanted to minister to him, I felt the need to address the issue of fatigue with him. He had a concept: “I am fatigued, so I should rest; resting should solve my fatigue.” However, he rested and was still fatigued. He rested again, but after resting, he was still fatigued. He could not break free from this cycle. Later, he developed hydrocephalus.

After careful consideration, I realized that fatigue originates in the mind. Have you noticed that all human sensations are felt after being processed by the brain? As someone who studied control systems, a control system has a central processing unit, where all information from sensors is transmitted. The central processing unit processes this information to determine what is happening. If a person’s nerves are severed, they lose sensation. For example, if the nerves in a hand are severed, the hand loses sensation. It would not feel hot even if placed on a stove. Sensation exists because of nerves. Therefore, pain and the lack of pain are produced in the brain, and the same applies to fatigue.

False Fatigue Requires Proactive Overcoming

Later, I discovered that people who are often fatigued are prone to diseases related to the brain, and these diseases can be fatal. When I was ministering to this person, I told him that what he needed was not rest, because his rest involved doing nothing but sleeping, which was not the best solution. There are two types of fatigue we humans experience: true fatigue and false fatigue. What does false fatigue feel like? It feels as if resting does not help; the more you rest, the more tired you become.

We can conduct an experiment: if you sleep for ten hours, you will find your whole body aching. If you sleep for two more hours, your whole body will still ache. The more you sleep, the more aching you feel. However, if you sleep for five or six hours, you will wake up feeling refreshed. Some fatigue is true fatigue, while some is false fatigue. False fatigue is the result of excessive rest. Believing that you need to rest in such a state is a lie. Therefore, true fatigue genuinely requires rest, while false fatigue requires resistance and proactive overcoming of this feeling. The feeling of false fatigue indicates the need to take action and do different things.

If you experience false fatigue, you need to learn to proactively overcome it. Why do I say I am qualified to speak on overcoming fatigue? Because I am someone who proactively takes action. By taking action, I overcome fatigue. Do you know what I was doing recently? The books in our church were not organized after repeated attempts over about two years. After I pushed them, they gave me a poor PDF file, which I printed out. After printing them, I cut them into quarto and octavo sizes.

Then I invented wooden jigs. Why did I make wooden jigs? Not because I felt the need to do the binding myself, but because I was fatigued. After my brain becomes fatigued, I like to find things to do. Therefore, whenever you see me using a saw, I am addressing the issue of fatigue. I am someone who enjoys taking action. The holes in the walls of our church were all drilled by me, and I installed all the fans that needed to be installed. When I see something dirty, I grab a broom and sweep or a mop and mop. I am addressing the issue of fatigue. I seize every opportunity to do these things, and I still maintain a very good living environment. I have very good living habits. I cannot stand messiness; I do not like things being disorganized. Why do I like to keep these things clean? Because I am addressing the issue of fatigue.

Proactive action is the key to solving the problem of fatigue. I enjoy reading very much, but reading can be tiring. If you read for an hour and then mop the floor for ten minutes, and then read for another hour and mop the floor again, you will find that the work gets done and you do not become tired. I am especially opposed to the idea of going to sleep when tired, as this is a very bad habit. Therefore, going to sleep when very tired is not the solution. It is indulging the flesh.

Sometimes I see mentally ill people sleeping for ten hours, and then they tell me they have insomnia. Why do I not have insomnia? One reason is that I need sleep very much, but I push myself to the point where I can fall asleep as soon as I lie down. If you use a proactive approach to overcome your fatigue, your sleep quality will be very good, and you will be less prone to mental illness. Those who indulge the flesh are trapped in the lie of rest.

There was a sister in Taiwan who was a senior pastor of a large church. When I was in Taiwan, I heard a pastor say the following: the pastor of this church had tens of thousands of members, and she arranged to rest on Mondays. If anyone called her on Monday, she would say, “Do you know what day it is today? It is my day of rest.” If her wife called and said, “My son is about to die,” she would certainly not say that knowing what day it was. I want to tell everyone not to assume that rest can solve the problem.

Perhaps I am a workaholic, so I do not know what it means to be tired. In past years, from my twenties to now, I have hardly rested for a day. I have not rested for a single day, yet I am living well. Why am I not tired? Because I have the habit of proactively overcoming fatigue. I do some woodworking, some manual labor, sweep the floor, mop the floor, iron clothes. I do a lot of work, but I am not tired. Why? Because I let one thing rest while I do another. Sometimes, when my muscles are tired, I read. When I am tired of reading, I use my muscles to overcome the fatigue of my mind. Do you think a person like this will not live abundantly? Of course, they will live abundantly.

For People with False Fatigue, Taking Action Is the Best Rest

Today, we must know that lazy people are prone to illness. Even if two people have the same level of sensitivity to distinguishing between good and evil, the diligent one will not develop mental illness, while the lazy one will. Therefore, today you must know that sensitivity to distinguishing between good and evil is a problem, but laziness or passive rest and indulgence of the flesh are more serious problems. Fatigue is a problem we must overcome today. For people with false fatigue, taking action is the best rest.

For example, our brains are divided into the left and right hemispheres. When logical thinking becomes tiring, you engage in creative thinking, and the logical brain rests. If you become tired of doing mathematics, you draw; if you become tired of drawing, you do mathematics. When you are working on one side, the other side rests. It is very interesting. I will tell you a concept: successful people in this world are very capable. Deng Xiaoping, Emperor Kangxi, Emperor Yongzheng, Emperor Qianlong, those generals in China, all slept very little.

Why did they sleep so little? Especially Deng Xiaoping, who slept very little, could live to 97. Do you not find it strange? He smoked and drank, had bad habits, often stayed up late, and yet he could live so long. Because he mastered the habit of proactive rest. Therefore, today we must overcome this false sense of fatigue. This false sense of fatigue is a very vicious thought. What is false fatigue? It is fatigue from something else. Do you ever experience a state where you become easily fatigued when doing something you do not like? You do not become easily fatigued when doing something you like.

I used to minister to a young man who could play games all night long. Do you not find it strange? He became tired after reading for ten minutes, but he was not tired after playing computer games all night. Is this not very interesting? Was he really fatigued? No. He was bored. He was not fatigued; he was bored. A person easily becomes fatigued when doing something they are bored of. What problem needs to be solved? Fatigue is actually a form of boredom. Boredom stems from being frustrated with the task, from not being able to get into it, from being defeated, and then fatigue is reflected, and then one goes to sleep. So, one gets up and starts again, and is defeated again. In fact, frustration or boredom is a very important problem that generates fatigue.

First: Train Yourself to Proactively Take Action

The physical fatigue that people experience is something their inner thoughts must manage. Whether you can turn what you do into your interest is key. For a while, I was promoted from an engineer to a manager. Managers are responsible for handling employee leave requests, employee schedules, and checking invoices for purchased items. It was very troublesome. I preferred being an engineer, solving technical problems, and not having to worry about anything else. But you cannot stay an engineer forever; you have to become an official, right? So, people cannot disregard money. It was not that I liked doing that work, not that I liked being an official, but that I liked the salary.

I need to manage those dozens of people, not for their enjoyment, but for you to manage them, with your salary above theirs. Later, I became very weary of that job. Sitting at that desk, I would get a headache just thinking about it, but I had the willpower. I used my inner thoughts and intentions to proactively set things according to what I wanted. Once you have an interest in something, doing it won't be tiring; you'll enjoy it. If a student spends six years in primary school, six years in middle school, and four years in university, totaling fourteen years, and then another three years for postgraduate studies, that's seventeen years. How many books do they have to read in a lifetime? If you don't enjoy reading, won't you get tired of it? You definitely will.

Second: Grasp the Essence of Things

For example, when learning mathematics, if you get every problem wrong, you'll definitely get annoyed. If you can't solve one problem, then another, then another, you'll definitely be frustrated, and you have to solve the problem of挫败. Solving the problem of挫败 comes when you start to have an interest in the subject. Then you start to attack it, and once you attack it, you discover the rules of development of things. Once you know the rules, you'll like it. Interest is fake; everyone needs to know that interest is not innate. It's an illusion. Once you grasp the laws of how something develops, you overcome frustration. Overcoming frustration solves the problem in your mind of disliking that thing. By proactively managing your thoughts, you will prosper in everything you do. So today, we must cultivate this habit.

I encourage everyone to cultivate the habit of constantly exploring and digging into the intrinsic laws of things. For example, customer service has its own rules. If you do customer service and know all the secrets, everything will be resolved by you, but not necessarily by others. In sales, difficult customers can be smoothly handled by you and turned into good customers. Then, every customer will like you. Everyone must learn not to be败 by frustration when you’re frustrated. Develop a victorious character, and once you form a habit, it's hard to get tired.

Third: Passion is the Key to Solving Problems and Overcoming Fatigue

Why doesn't a person get tired? Recently, I've been so engrossed in renovating my place that I'm obsessed. I'm doing research every day. I asked CW brother to buy a set of tools, electric saws, drills, etc. I want to build a physical model to study whether this design will work. I'm very interested in solving this problem. When you have that drive, you'll find the answer. This morning, I was preparing my sermon, and I couldn't go on. My head was full of exhaust systems. You say if you put an air conditioner in here, who can stand the draft? But if you don't install it, where does the cold air come from? So I was doing research. If you install a bathroom exhaust fan, it's as loud as a fire engine, and you can't work, so you have to solve it. Later, I found a very cheap extractor fan. Will you be tired this way? You won't be tired. What do you overcome fatigue through? You overcome it through understanding things.

Having enthusiasm for doing things is the key to solving problems. In our era, the initial stages of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala were very interesting. As a result, they invited a person named Fei Xiang to sing a song called A Fire in Winter. Do you know it? If you know this song, you're my age. A person must have passion in life, and there must be a fire inside. I have an older sister whom I admire very much, she's full of enthusiasm for everything she does. Like doing micro-business, she's full of enthusiasm, talking to people she sees. She went to the ski resort and took a photo with my mom and posted it on Weibo and WeChat Moments, full of enthusiasm.

Enthusiasm is the key to solving problems and overcoming fatigue. Why don't I have cerebral effusion? I haven't rested for more than twenty years and I haven't gotten cerebral effusion. I haven't been exhausted, why? I'm full of that fire inside, that fire is burning there. You know, we made that virtual background, and the green screen studio was all made by me. When you have a fire in your heart, you become young. Enthusiasm is the key to solving problems. If you want to make this thing happen, you have to be full of enthusiasm.

I've recently been studying the success and failure of small group pastoral care in the church. Some people's pastoral care is very successful, and some are not. Some have already left the church because they are really not suitable. Later, I discovered the reason, and that reason is enthusiasm. If you have enthusiasm inside, the way you speak will be different, and your attitude to solving problems will be completely different. If you are like a ball of fire, full of enthusiastic service, you will infect people. When people get close to you, their whole enthusiasm is ignited.

Recently, L brother told me something. He said that ghosts are afraid of heat. I said, how do you know? He said he did an experiment. He said he steamed in a sauna, and prayed while steaming, wow! The ghosts went out. I said that was his experiment, and I think it's enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is an emotion, a person will enjoy doing things by relying on emotion, and a person cannot do things without emotion.

If you are a customer service representative, you are full of enthusiasm, and the words you type are different. If you are full of enthusiasm, there is enthusiasm in typing, and you have an interest in people's problems, then what you say will be different. So why do people like to write love stories? Every ethnic group in the world has Romeo and Juliet. China is called Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, because it is a love story. What is revealed in a love story is the yearning of human beings for love and emotion. If a person's inner emotion is dead, he is dead, so fatigue starts from the fact that you are not full of enthusiasm inside. If you have a passion inside, it is difficult for you to get tired.

Third: Efficiency is Also a Very Critical Factor

Without passion and emotion, you cannot live abundantly, you cannot live prosperously. Passion is the key, the second key element. I'll talk about a few key elements: Efficiency is key.

When a group of us lived together, I gave them a demonstration. I cooked a meal in five minutes, ten minutes, do you know how I did it? Let me introduce my secrets to cooking, I am very pursuing efficiency, put the sausage into the bowl once cut, put the vegetable into it, I’ve fried the vegetable ahead, put the chilli sauce into it, put it in the pot and resolve it in three minute, after I turn on the electrify, things start to steam; then I remove the cover of the other pot and put the steam bun into it, and cover the cover; then I add some water into another pot, some vegetable, some material, and boil the soup, boil the noodle, about more than ten minute at most. If I cook the meal finished for everyone in more than ten minute, do you think cooking would be my burden?

So we must know that pursuing efficiency is critical, the reason why internet can be successful today is that internet resolves one problem of efficiency. The first industrial revolution resolved the problem of efficiency; the second industrial revolution resolved the problem of efficiency; the third industrial revolution resolved the problem of efficiency; the fourth industrial revolution resolved the problem of efficiency. Why Taobao can do things so great, because of high efficiency.

Ma Yun has done a very great job, efficiency is the key. Everyone must know that you will no longer be fatigued by keep promoting efficiency. During the process that I promote from engineer to the manager management, I resolve one problem of efficiency, I do things fast, I resolve the problems in half an hour, then I do what I have interest in, then I resolve that many problems in half an hour, even I myself think I am great. If you are grind and grind all day long, and after that, the things behind are stacking there, and will wait you to resolve, you will catch the craze.

When you pursue efficiency in everything you do, you are not easy to be tired, the reason why a man is tired is that he grinds. I was giving a lecture one time by talking about washing dishes, I was washing dishes extremely fast, I was keep pursuing efficiency, what were taken from the table were always full of oil, if I put the bowls directly into the water tank, all the things will be oily, aren’t you creating trouble for yourself? I was washing an apple last time, the sister was watching me very strangely, I washed it by using soap, the apple has oil on it, it’s OK if a bit of soap smells still left after I finished washing it by using soap. Pursuing efficiency, so what should we do if we don’t overcome fatigue, overcome fatigue by using efficiency, overcome fatigue by using passion, and then except the false lie, and overcome fatigue.

Forth: Innovation is a Kind of Seasoning in One’s Whole Life

Innovation can promote efficiency by ten times, ten hours of work can be finished once, that efficiency is very amazing. I am always an innovative person, I can tell you a most typical example: Some people clean the sanitation once for one week; some people clean the sanitation once for one mouth, once you touch them by hand, there will be glutinous wherever you touch, if you will rectify one building, you will be tired to death, I don’t do such things. After I finish washing my face, I will wipe my sink dried; and the toilet is I clean it clean once I finished using it; after I finish using the bathing room, I clean it dry the ground, one minute, all of them are one minute, this is innovation.

There are many key factors to overcome fatigue. My car is white color, the result is, the top of the car is black two months later, and then, I was unable to wash it by using car washing things and soap. I drove it to the Nissan company at last, the result is, the boss and looked for an worker, he poured one thing looks like milk on it, at once they were all dropped away, and it become cleaning. I was always keep innovating, and resolving the problems during innovation.

This generation will not work if without innovation. How is that you don’t be fatigued if you don’t innovate? Once you innovate, you will be extremely exciting, you always keep innovating, your head is rotating speed is doubled by that innovation. Our God is the God who always doing new things. I am very surprised for some church, nothing has changed for several decades. You will discover we are innovate always in our church, for each time promotion, for each time innovation, all are bring the excite and satisfaction.

One can bring constant excitement and satisfaction by constantly thinking. I feel that innovation can have an alternate kind of innovation, how should you record a small video clip? Have everyone heard the story of The Romance of the Three Kingdoms that was told by Shan Tianfang? The beginning someone told was a magnificent momentum, thirty years of accomplishment is dust and soil, eight-thousand-mile distance is only for the moon, do not wait for nothing until the teenager's head turn white. Each provincial government is currently talking innovation, high-tech industry all are talking innovation. Innovation is very important.

If you are fatigued, no matter if it is a true fatigue or a fake fatigue, resolve the problems by using passion, by using intention, by using efficiency, by using innovation, and only after that you rest. So we shall have interest. A man will not be far from disease if he is fatigued, because his way to resolve fatigue is resting well. So do things positively and actively. There are many people who like to resolve the problems by using passive way, we shall resolve the problems by using positive and active way. Faith is positive and active only, and the passive is not. It is affirmative that the active rest is better than the passive rest; it is affirmative that doing things actively and positively is better than doing things in a passive way. If you are a person who do things positively and actively, you will affirmately prosper.

One’s whole life is like it is playing a chess, you should always walk the first hand, first hand is grasping the initiative. To study in with positive and active style, it is affirmative that to thinking with positive and active style is better than in a passive way. Brothers and sisters today, you are sit here listening this lecture, are you listening it in a passive way or listening it in a passive way? If you will read a book, keep doing note and write and then record a small video clip, and to clarify the things, then you will be great! to become a positive and active and enthusiastic person, it is affirmative that it is better to become a passive person.