The problem with productivity

Productivity -much like inspiration- is a fickle thing.

One second you're prepared to organise your room, do all the chores that need doing, and finally get around to that article you've been meaning to write; the next, you can barely be motivated enough to move from the bed.

Maybe I'm alone in this opinion. But I doubt that.

It's not too dissimilar from trying to fall asleep- the instant it's moved from the periphery of your mind to the forefront it vanishes. 

Lots of people will argue about what makes person A more productive than person B, but it's not as simple an answer as "they're more confident" or "they woke up earlier in the day". To take the goal of being productive and distill it down to such simplicity is near pointless. We know that attributing an unsuccessful day to a triviality like bad weather or a late start isn't the whole truth. Yet, we believe it regardless. Why? 

Because it's an easy answer. Far easier to blame it on a poorly made morning coffee than the uncomfortable truth that actually there is no good reason to not be productive, that the only reason that right now you're not doing birthday cards in advance is that you simply don't feel incentivised enough.

On the other hand, people pursue 100% efficiency like their life depends on it, like their very purpose is based upon it. What can be easily forgotten, however (especially in today's perfection-centered society) is that humans are by nature imperfect. There’s no good reason to not be productive, but there’s also no reason to strive to only be productive. You, for instance, right now, are reading this article. It's probably considered by you to be an unproductive task for you to be doing right? But doing so has no negative impact, it’s not productive, but it's also not unproductive.

That didn't make much sense, oh well.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2019 at 11:42 AM

    This is a very interesting perspective on productivity. We strive to be like robots, as you said, with 100% efficiency, but we are humans. This does make me question a few things in my life. We should take time to relax and not do anything. We don't have to always run around being busy. It only becomes a problem if a person doesn't do anything for days and neglects their responsibilities. I agree with you and it makes a lot of sense :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. TyFebruary 14, 2019 at 9:59 PM


      Exactly. Living is somewhere in between doing nothing and doing everything, And i'm glad you gained something from my post!

      Ps: how did you find the blog out of curiosity?

      Delete
    2. AnonymousFebruary 15, 2019 at 11:41 AM

      I agree!

      P.s. I just stumbled on it by accident and found the posts so far quite interesting :)

      Delete
    3. TyFebruary 15, 2019 at 3:30 PM

      ah haha well i'm glad you're enjoying my posts so far!

      Delete

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