On [un]Productivity
You know the drill, set timers, use a kanban board, set specific, measurable goals, etc. etc.
Those techniques are effective, but I’m not going to talk about them today. Instead, I want to talk about something much deeper than that.
I want to show you a brand new perspective on productivity, and unproductivity.
We all consider being productive as good and being unproductive as bad, but why is this the case? What if i told you that a lack of productivity (unproductivity) isn’t only good, but essential.
Hear me out.
The human mind is naturally productive. It loves solving puzzles, completing tasks, and getting stuff done (with the required time to rest of course).
Procrastination and a longing desire to stop working and go play video games, however is not natural at all.
It happens as a form of sabotage. Sometimes in a form of an outside distraction, but usually it is sabotage from within.
This self sabotage occurs because your subconscious mind is trying to stop you from doing what you might think you want, but deep down, you don't.
You may believe you want to be a developer at microsoft, but if you need to drag yourself, kicking and screaming, to write another module, then maybe that's not the case.
You may believe you want that engineering degree, but if you feel like you'd rather do anything than study for your test, then maybe engineering isn't the best thing for you.
So, the next time you find yourself procrastinating and being unproductive, stop what you're doing.
Have a dialogue with yourself.
Ask yourself why you're doing what you're doing. Does it make you feel Happy? Scared? Depressed? Is it really what you want to do during your limited time here on earth?
Do it. Write it down. You will feel better.
Until next time, peace
I found out that for me it's harder to procrastinate if what I'm doing is actually important and it matters to me.
In that case you might be dealing with fear.
I planned to talk about it in this article but it got too long.
For now, consider why you may fear doing an important task. Do you fear failure or do you fear success?
A lot of times we aspire to achieve a goal, but subconsciously we fear the changes that will result in achieving our goals.
For example I really enjoyed my time learning development, but I noticed I was very slow and easily distracted.
One thing led to another and I understood I was scared of becoming a Dev, because I was scared of being accountable to the code I write. I became better once I faced this inner demon.
Well, I made it so that what is important and matters to me is bringing me much joy, consequently the process is like play time in itself. So I wouldn't say that it's fear. It's more like I always "play", so the process of "playing" is a great achievement in itself.
I am result oriented, being result oriented ONLY would cripple my actions, I agree with you, because of the fear of not achieving them, and hence unnecessary procrastination, but making the process itself prime over the result works form me, and ironically the results are even bigger than estimated :)
But I agree with you, no matter how much I enjoy something, fear of failure is making its way inevitably at one time or another in our mind...
PS: Great post, forgot to congratulate you on it.
Thanks 😃