There is nothing that our society glorifies more than productivity. The endless cycle of setting and accomplishing goals keeps us busy throughout our adult years. We’ve been conditioned to measure success in direct relation to how busy we are and to determine our level of satisfaction according to the number of boxes we’ve ticked off our to-do list. The template that we’re encouraged to follow enables our profit-driven society to function at its best, but it fails to take into account what makes us thrive as human beings on a personal level.
When the world seems to attach the highest value to that which is quantifiable, tangible, and visible for all to see, what feels most easily expendable is our private sphere, and the invisible emotional toll. A one-size-fits-all social system leaves us little opportunity to tune in to our own inner compass, to determine the pace that works for us and honour the path that most resonates.
Busy schedules certainly have benefits: planning does enable the realisation of projects, and action is indeed essential for our personal and collective development. Busyness becomes problematic, however, when we abide to a busy lifestyle unquestioningly. Sometimes we use it as an escape route to avoid treading on the less familiar and more unpredictable territory of our inner world. Introspection can seem daunting, and when a collective dodging tactic is not only socially acceptable but encouraged, we can even feel smug in proclaiming that we have no free time to ourselves, and avoid all inner activity without any reprimand.
Ladder to Nowhere
Society implicitly tells us that there is no time to stop, it gives us limited opportunities to explore our evolving potential as adults and provides us with no tools to heal or even just find our bearings in a crisis. Thus, we’ve become masters at bottling up complicated emotions. We’ve learnt to function, rather than inhabit and express ourselves.
Productivity was sold to us as the ladder that would help us reach our goals, but somewhere along the line it seems that productivity itself became the goal. This addiction to action means that we’re often moving too fast to notice our personal needs. We may seem to make great progress to the outside world, but at the same time be at a complete standstill when it comes to nurturing ourselves and evolving internally.
Alternative Wins
What do we look for when we strive to be productive? Ultimately, we just want to feel a sense of accomplishment and improvement. We want to reach for a better feeling. We want to move towards the prospect of increased comfort, more intuition, more knowledge, more joy or more satisfaction. We’ve learnt to associate productivity with the completion of work-related duties and practical chores, but if we look at the bigger picture, we will see that a productive day can be anything that translates into our personal advancement.
Beyond performing the actions necessary for survival (which is an accomplishment in itself, considering the pressures many are under), a productive day could be one where you confront an obstacle, which may be as minor as acknowledging an uncomfortable thought and moving past it. It could be going from feeling completely overwhelmed to feeling a little calmer, or it may involve having a conversation with someone and gaining a new insight. It can be learning to still the mind and inhabit the present moment for a short while, connecting with nature and feeling whole, speaking your mind, or apologising for something. Such experiences can feel small and inconsequential, but they are productive in that they build strength and pave the way for inner clarity and peace. In the grand scheme of things, one of these tiny accomplishments can have a deeper effect on us than ticking off an entire to-do-list made up of duties and chores.
Re-writing the Rules
If society overlooks the wellbeing and evolution of what lies at our core, if it treats us as busy bees rather than complex emotional beings with our own unique needs and desires, we must take it into our own hands to readjust not just our trajectory but also the lens we use to evaluate our daily actions. So when are we really being productive? The answer lies in the end objective, in what we consider to be our ultimate goal. If it’s true that our most valued experiences tend to be the times we share with loved ones, or the hours spent engaging in our favourite activities, then each and every moment we dedicate to such pursuits is productive.
Real freedom is not to be found at the bottom of your to-do-list, but at the other end of a change of perspective. Regardless of what the world dictates, in the privacy of our homes (both physical and spiritual), we get to decide what truly matters.
Better Humans
Building meaningful relationships is an achievement. Engaging in the activities that make your heart sing brings satisfaction. Acknowledging difficult feelings without projecting them onto others is growth. Making friends, having fun, facing your fears: these were your primary concerns as a child, and they will likely be among your fondest memories when you will look back at your life. In between these stages, the world may trick you into thinking that your reputation, or job title, or earnings should top the priority list, but each time you shut out the external noise, the song you should be dancing to will sound clearer and clearer.
Whenever you feel that you’ve given yourself a slice of joy, or a piece of understanding, a new layer of strength, or even just a crumb of added wisdom, you can consider yourself to have been productive. Being a better human is the most useful gift you can give back to society.
Art: Jacopo Iraci Tobbi @jacopoiraci
— Mersa Auda
