My friends and I have this term called “Business Autism” and I want to tell you about it.

It describes dudes who get so deep into business that they become boring and weird.

Of course it’s not actual autism… more of an atrophy of social skills.

Initial symptoms include becoming no fun. You forget how to vibe because your brain is overrun with logic and work widgets.

It can happen to anyone. In fact, I’m writing this email because I feel a wee case of Business Autism coming on for me right now.

I’ve been working a lot the past two weeks with little social activity.

This isn’t a bad thing. In order to build, one must go deep and avoid distractions.

However, you must watch yourself. If you go too deep for too long, you may get trapped.

This is because isolation is addictive.

The less you socialize, the worse you become at it, which makes you want to socialize less.

If left unchecked, you may morph into a lonesome incel neckbeard who is afraid to leave the house.

Think of it this way…

Your social comfort zone is like a bubble. Every time you do something courageous, it expands.

Let’s say you muster the courage to talk to a girl at a coffee shop…

Whether the interaction goes well or not, your bubble will expand.

It feels great. Your world expands along with your bubble.

New opportunities that previously seemed out of reach are now possible.

The only issue is that the bubble is not a ratchet mechanism.

Ratchets are designed only to go one way and not in reverse.

Your bubble can go in reverse. If you stop with the courageous acts, it will shrink ever so slowly…

This is how Business Autism happens.

Your world slowly shrinks as you retreat into yourself. You get less comfortable in social settings and become weird.

How depressing.

What is the solution?

Glad you asked. I have a few tips. Let’s dive in…

1) Determine your autism window and avoid getting too deep

Your autism window is how long it takes for your social muscles to atrophy a meaningful amount.

You know you’ve reached it when someone says: “How are you?” and you say: “Not much.”

The further you advance into your window, the harder it is to reset it.

It’s just like going to the gym. Every skipped workout makes it harder to go the next time.

I go full autistic after about a month of mild isolation. I need to get out every 2 weeks minimum to remain normal.

2) Improvise on an instrument or freestyle rap

I play the saxophone and nothing gets me out of my head like ripping spontaneous notes.

When I was in college, I’d freestyle rap with my friends before going out. That would fire us up big time.

Making up stuff on the spot is the perfect antidote to an overly logical brain.

3) Go out but don’t drink

Many people avoid going out because it means they have to drink.

I’ve been in this situation many times.

Solution: go out but don’t drink.

If you get too much flak from your friends for doing this, you need new friends.

Thankfully, alcohol seems to be having an anti-moment, along with an explosion of non-drinking social events.

We hosted a wellness event at our house a few weeks ago and it was awesome.

4) Stop talking about business

There’s no better boner killer than someone who asks what you do within the first 30 seconds.

This is a telltale sign of Business Autism.

Don’t get me wrong, I love talking about business, but there’s a time and place.

It’s usually better to crack jokes and banter about absolutely nothing.

5) Leave your business at least once a year

Figure out how to leave your business at least once per year for a week. I wrote a little email on this here.

No emails, no calls, no Slack. Go on a trip and be with the people in front of you.

Be a silly goose. Have fun and maybe even do something a lil’ crazy.

With that said, I plan to be a silly goose this very weekend.

I will be socializing a lot and will reset my autism window once again.

I hope you find some time to reset your autism window as well.

Talk soon,

Graydon

If you found this post helpful/entertaining or know someone who would, I’d love if you could share it with them and invite them to subscribe:

https://www.entreflaneur.com/p/business-autism

Cool things I found during my weekly internet stroll.

They are calling this the best SNL skit in the last 20 years.

Good little article on avoiding cognitive biases when making decisions.

How companies think adults stay motivated 😂 

UBTech achieves world’s first multi-humanoid robot coordination feat.

How to do a proper foot massage. Implementing this ASAP.

Served up by Spijker & me.

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