BLOG POST #16
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BLOG POST #16 -
A Counterintuitive Philosophy to Time Management and Productivity
Adam Ziger
This one’s for all the overachievers, highly conscientious individuals, and ambitious students out there—you, and your worth, extend beyond your level of productivity or output.
I know, it’s weird to write this. Like, who even needs to hear this? Isn’t it common knowledge that this—the idea that you’re only valuable and/or worthy if you meet some (usually self-imposed) productivity or achievement quota—is somewhat ridiculous?
Well, the fact I’m writing this may suggest that this notion, though still ridiculous, is prevalent enough to mess with some people’s heads, myself included.
Particularly, I’ve found that in some circles—usually those involving young, highly motivated individuals against the backdrop of fierce academic competition (did someone say Psychology Honours?) or work settings in which early career professionals face seemingly unreasonable expectations from certain employers—the notion that one’s worth is inherently tied to their output or achievement is especially pervasive.
For some, this notion gets baked into the background of their existence—echoing David Wallace’s This Is Water parable. Being productive becomes your life’s “default setting.”
You cease to have an opt-in mindset to work, by which you demand an a priori justification for doing any piece of work or expressing interest in any opportunity. Instead, you may implicitly adopt an opt-out mindset to work, by which you try (and usually fail) to jam-pack most of your life’s waking moments with tasks, meetings, or otherwise “productive” errands—many of which wholly unnecessary; operating with an unconscious assumption that, broadly, time off work or bouts of being “unproductive” are what need justification or a “valid” reason.
With this opt-out mindset to work, you may acknowledge that spending an afternoon with a friend who’s visiting from another city is a “good enough” reason to cut your essay-writing session short for the day. Fair enough. However, you may disagree to similarly shorten your work day to allow yourself to go on an extended, relaxing walk in the sun or spend an afternoon reading a good novel you haven’t managed to get around to yet or, quite frankly, just lie lazily on the couch and contemplate the absurdity of modern life.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that being ambitious is bad. Or that you necessarily have to give yourself time to be “unproductive” each and every day. Or that having more jam-packedy periods in life is to be avoided entirely.
I’m just asking you—the overachieving academic weapon and the young professional who says “yes” to virtually everything that comes their way—to reconsider your relationship with work and leisure. And, ideally, re-evaluate the (slightly toxic) mindset that you must justify your existence through productivity and achievement.
You may find that you don’t only enjoy life more (because you’re not constantly and continuously trying to bite more than you can chew), but, counterintuitively, you might just become more productive in the areas of work and life that matter most.
This message relates to the notion of Essentialism. This is the idea that to make your highest possible contribution to a cause or project—less but better usually beats more but mediocre. Or as Greg McKeown, author of the book titled Essentialism, puts it:
Read at 00:00
“Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.”
But, tactically, how do you do this?
It’s all fine and good to speak about concepts such as productivity debt and Essentialism, but how exactly does the overachiever place guardrails over their innate tendency to over-clutter their to-do list or Google Calendar?
I think the topic of tactics inspired by this counterintuitive approach to time management and productivity deserves its own entry. Though, in the meantime, here’s an excellent article, written by one of the above-cited authors, discussing several specific tactics in some detail.
Finally, if you’d like to follow some incredible authors and content creators in the space which I awkwardly describe as “productive anti-productivity”, then I’d recommend looking up the three following individuals (in no particular order):
Oliver Burkman—author of Four Thousand Weeks and Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done.
Cal Newport—author of Deep Work and Slow Productivity.
Greg McKeown—author of Essentialism and Effortless.
Until next time,
Adam
MUPA Education Officer
