PRODUCTIVITY VS REALITY

I have a mild obsession and I don't mind admitting it.

I find anything to do with being more efficient, productive, and organised virtually irresistible to watch, read or listen to.

To say that I thrive on seeing other people plan, speed clean, and generally dedicate great swathes of their daily routine to rearranging their lives and devising new, streamlined, and labor-saving ways of doing the same old, same old would be an understatement.

The disclaimer that fits best here is that I see it as a case of, if they're doing it I don't have to. I almost see it as a duty with all this planning and productivity already in action to create some kind of counterbalance.

That's not to say I don't wish I were a little more methodical than I actually am, but I don't stress about it.

The closest I get to upending my non-routine routine is when I lay in bed each night and purposefully visualise my ideal morning. Oil pulling, incense, yoga, and mindful meditation is my preferred start to a well balanced and fulfilling day but after three coffees a few cigarettes, and a panicked search for some clean clothes I have to admit to not being very bothered about swilling oil around my stale mouth whilst saluting the sun to the smell of patchouli while I meditate on my oneness of being.

Disclaimer number two is that a trio of mental health disorders predisposes me to be slightly more erratic and a lot less likely to have life aesthetically bullet journalled and that's OK.

It's OK to not have a plan. It's OK to wake up and not know exactly how you're going to fill your day and, on occasion, it's also absolutely alright to not quite fancy what you're facing and cancel the day altogether. Which, truth be told, I do quite a lot of.

Toxic productivity is now getting the kind of short shrift it deserves. This long-held belief that the busier you are and the more tangible your results, then the more successful and more deserving of respect you are. But it begs the question, what do we really get out of reducing our day to working through one task to another to the point of mental and physical exhaustion.

Productivity is good, to a point. We all have to get things done. What's not alright is feeling that you have to have every moment of your day set to a detailed plan or to be shamed into feeling you're less than worthy if you don't.

If your conversion of inputs to useful outputs are slower and slightly more slapdash than someone else, what's the worst that could happen?.

If we see productivity solely in terms of time traded for money or tangible results we face the danger of getting caught up in the proverbial rat race. And if we mistake being busy for being productive we gain little more than a ticked-off to-do list and little self-fulfillment.

Balance is what we really need to strive for, and being productive in the most personally fulfilling way.

So your day may have started by chanting mantras aligning your chakras, wafting sage around your home, and planning your next 24 hours down to the last detail, and if it did, and it's working for you that's great and I applaud you. But if it didn't and the duvet is just too snug to let go of yet and the day ahead feels just a bit too overwhelming, take it easy on yourself. Take each step gently and with as much confidence in yourself as you can muster.

Do your day, your way.