I put out a public shout-out that I was having an unproductive day, and then someone highlighted sarcastically that “yes, being unproductive is bad”… So, I redeclared today as an unproductive day, and then, something strange happened, I became very productive.
There has been a lot of psychic energy trapped inside me. I want to let it all out and release it as a form of work. But no amount of effort that day could release that. All I wanted to do, was to do nothing. And all that was staring at me, was my to do list. I even have a list of todos to be done when I am braindead. On this day, I wasn’t braindead. I just didn’t want to do the things on any list.
This got me thinking – what exactly is it that is holding my attention now?
Yes, I would like to finish that book I am reading. Yes, I would like to do some research on an investment. Yes, I would like to do some analytical work on some statistics. Yes, I would like to explore some different revenue potential. But all these are not the things that are capturing my attention at this very moment. All these things, although they align very much with my long term goals, they are just not the goal I want to achieve right now.
And when I release the burden of needing to achieve all these supreme goals, I suddenly become more productive.
See, productivity is relative. The common definition normally relates to action. Productivity is all about action. And yes, I want to be all action as well. But all the talk about all action is causing my inaction, so much so that I come to a stand still. I just don’t want to do anything.
And then it hits me. I don’t have to do anything if I don’t want to.
I realise this might not be obvious, or even viable for a lot of people. But the mere action of releasing this constant need to be in action made me took some real action.
Try it. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You don’t have to think that you need to do everything right now. By not allowing the mind to think that it has to accomplish everything, you end up accomplishing more things today.
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