a note on productivity
I was walking through the Diag today when I overheard someone say to a friend: “And I was so productive! Like I have never been that productive, ever.”
I began to wonder what prompted this acute phase of productivity. What is caffeine? An 8-hour, phone-turned-off study session in the stacks at Hatcher? How do I become as productive as this person was?
And then I caught myself, because why was I trying to compare my own work ethic with that of a complete stranger based off of a single snippet of a conversation? Why was I so quick to assume that this meant more of me needs to be invested in my studies?
This is something I think about a lot, whether it be because I am a student or am constantly attempting to structure my life to find the most effective use of time to better myself and reach my goals
The long-term plans I envision for myself require commitment to my academics, my job, and my extracurriculars. I know this, I understand this, and yet, I often question how the time I have invested to become who I want to be has detracted from who I am
It’s daunting how we so strongly associate productivity with measurable success because it essentially means that our time is only used valuably when spent working on this external thing
Is taking a break to call a loved one not productive? Is spending an hour of your day exercising/reading/journaling not a valuable use of your time? Who defines what is productive in your life?
If it’s not you, shouldn’t it be?
At what point do we learn to inhibit the guilt-trip response of choosing ourselves over our work? How do we begin to effectively dissociate productivity into both what we are responsible for completing and what we owe it to ourselves to pursue?
I don’t have an answer to these questions yet, but I find myself hoping that one day we will begin to realize that our time spent with others, with nature, with a cup of tea, and most importantly with our own clear mental spaces seems pretty valuable too.