How Your Productivity Obsession is Killing Your Productivity
We live in an era where every tick of the clock echoes with a demand for efficiency. Society glorifies productivity, and many of us, in an attempt to conform to this expectation, perpetually seek ways to maximize our output. We hustle, grind, and strategize to squeeze the most out of every minute. But in our relentless quest for productivity, are we paradoxically undermining our effectiveness?
Consider the last time you took a walk, drove, rode public transport, prepared a meal, or sat down to eat. If you're anything like the modern efficiency-obsessed individual, you were probably not alone. I’m guessing you were accompanied by the sound of podcasts, audiobooks, educational interviews, or online lectures. Every moment unoccupied by physical activity becomes an opportunity for mental exertion. We're consuming information non-stop, our minds always in a state of receiving, processing, digesting. One could argue that we are making productive use of our time. However, in doing so, we risk slowly but surely destroying our capacity for focused, high-quality work.
Our society's obsession with productivity has led to an almost pathological aversion to silence and boredom. We have deconditioned our minds to tolerate these states, let alone appreciate them. And yet, these so-called "unproductive" states are essential prerequisites for deep work and creativity. Boredom and silence are fertile grounds where seeds of innovation start sprouting, where thoughts solidify into concrete ideas. But we're so caught up in being 'productive' that we hardly give our minds the space they need to wander, to explore, and to create.
Our constant consumption of information, whether educational or entertainment, has another sinister side-effect: it reduces our capacity to sustain focus. Important tasks often require us to maintain deep concentration, to steer our attention in a specific direction, and to hold it there. This is where the most significant and high-quality work of our lives is done, as well as where some of the most enjoyable moments of our lives are experienced. It’s what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi named the flow state. However, achieving flow is not an easy feat in a world that clamors for our attention from every side. Our constant need to be productive or "entertained" has made our attention muscle weaker than ever, making it difficult to direct and maintain focus where it's needed.
This presents a profound paradox: our obsession with productivity might, in fact, be compromising our productivity. As we fill our hours with ceaseless consumption, our ability to engage deeply and meaningfully with the task at hand is diminished. Instead of being more productive, we're exhausting ourselves with constant activity while achieving less.
But how do we escape this paradoxical trap? The first step lies in becoming, once again, familiar with silence and boredom. It's crucial to retrain our minds to become comfortable with these states. But beware: the goal is not to turn these moments of silence and boredom into another level of a wicked, never-ending productivity game. That would merely be replacing one obsession with another.
Instead, we must learn to appreciate silence and boredom for what they truly are: opportunities to reconnect with ourselves. These are the times when we can be truly present, experiencing life as it is, rather than as a series of tasks to be accomplished or knowledge to be acquired. The fact that this will make us more productive should be taken as a bonus.
The aim is not just to become more productive; it's about becoming more human. It's about embracing the full spectrum of our existence, the silence as well as the noise, the boredom as well as the activity, the being as well as the doing.
So, yes, by all means, read that book, listen to that lecture, and take advantage of your 'empty' blocks of time. But don't let these actions define your worth or become an obsession. Learn to relish the moments of silence, to cherish the times when you are doing nothing. This is not about becoming more productive. It's about becoming whole.
As paradoxical as it may seem, it's time to embrace a bit of unproductivity for the sake of our productivity and, more importantly, for our well-being. Only then can we begin to truly understand the complex landscape of our minds, the ebbs and flows of our emotions, and the intricate nuances of our existence.
In the end, it's not just about what we accomplish or how much knowledge we accumulate; it's about who we become in the process. And perhaps, in becoming fully human and learning once again how to engage in everyday moments of our lives, we might find ourselves more productive than we could ever have imagined.
Thank you for reading.
P.S. My free self-actualization course, (Re)Build, starts on Monday. And one of the main topics we will be covering is how to master your attention and focus.
If you want to become the architect of your own life and start actualizing your potential without being constantly sidetracked by internal and external obstacles, click here to join for free.
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