The Myths of Productivity

Sometimes I feel like I can never catch up on my to-do list. Even when I make progress, more items just get added, or I get excited and decide to add a new project. Usually this makes me feel overwhelmed and tired and I end up sitting almost comatose in front of the TV, snuggled up to my fiancé. This isn’t a terrible place to be, but after talking to my sister the other day, we both were at a place mentally where we know we want to do these things on the list. They are actually things we find really rewarding and are very important to who we are. So why do we end up frozen into inaction when the things on our list are enjoyable?

Productivity is a word that is thrown around a lot in recent years, and not just at your day job. Necessity has caused people to be more productive at home. It’s something we all want to master so we can live our so-called best lives. If I can squeeze everything I want to do and need to do into one day, I’ll be happy, right? Wrong. I don’t buy it. Except that I do.

I definitely get a sense of unease at the end of each day when I don’t accomplish all the things I wanted to that day. That pile of dishes. That unfolded laundry. The edits of my screenplay waiting for me, and countless other tasks and projects that could use my attention, all scream at me. I try to silence their voices and the guilt I feel from not listening to them instead of just doing them. I get things done—but usually it’s the household chores that I give my extra energy to. They just take less mental energy than creative tasks, even though I get nothing out of cleaning (except a clean house). 

I’m setting a goal to un-intimidate myself about working on creative projects. Maybe you need to do this too? I’m vowing to give less much more often. Sounds weird, but I think we forget that to make progress, you don’t always have to work on something all day long. Ask yourself what’s better; working on something all day and burning yourself out for an entire month, or working on it for 15 minutes every day? Yeah, every day is definitely the answer.

Setting Big Goals

There is nothing wrong with thinking and dreaming big. Just break those goals down into more digestible chunks so that you can get to the finish line without wanting to run and hide before you ever really start the race.

Multitasking is Bad

I’m so guilty of this. I love to do five things at once and probably drive my fiance, our dog and our kids crazy as they try to follow me around the house working here, there and everywhere, doing dishes, laundry and work at the same time. Having several projects at a time can be good sometimes. If you get stuck on one, you can put in some time on another, that way you always have something of value you can do, but expecting to finish projects without really sitting and putting in the diligent effort on one that it needs is fooling yourself.

Long Hours = Productivity 

This is so wrong. Most of us know this from times we’ve had to work 12+ hours a day at some jobs. Once hour 6 goes by, productivity goes way down. The human brain and body can only focus for so long before they do not produce results at the same level. Rather than trying to run a marathon with every project every day, doing sprints yields higher quality output (I love my Pomodoro timer!).

Finally, let’s all just shed the guilt of not getting everything done today. I can guarantee that being the most productive person on the planet does not equal happiness. All you would be is just very productive. Productivity and happiness are not the same thing. It’s good to work on things you need to and things you love. God knows I love crossing things off a list, but then I look at my lovely family and I realize that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is just sit down and be there.