Death by Productivity

I have noticed a very perverse trend in the world of self improvement recently

No its not more people trying to sell on the idea that all you need to be rich is to constantly fantasize about having a pool of money with a bunch of naked chicks dancing around it

Being productive

Awesome concept in theory, basically get more things done that actually matter to you and less things done that have no positive impact in your life

Sounds great right?

It is great, as long as you spend some time goofing off as well

It seems as if every financial, self help, nutrition, and cat hypnotist blog on the planet is selling out the idea of making your life more productive

They have tips, tricks, guides, ideas, and generally all that you need in order to stop spending 5 hours a day in front of a TV and pick up that novel you have always wanted to read, or at least read a book with some pictures in it

Its these people who are trying to make your life better but might be in-adversely hurting you in the process

You can get the yellow fever equivalent of many self help junkies

Over productiveness

What are the symptoms you might ask?

1. A unrelenting desire to do something productive at all times of the day.
2. Going to the bathroom and at any given moment thinking about how you should be reading a book while doing your morning “cleanse”
3. Beating yourself up for downloading and watching last week’s episode of entourage and promising that next week you will rewrite a encyclopedia instead as reoperations
4. Constantly updating and checking your to do list on your iphone so you don’t miss an opportune time to get something accomplished while you wait in line at the baseball game

You get the idea, it’s basically obsessing over getting “important” things done in your life at all times

I know that something like this exists not just because people talk about it on forums on the internet, but also because I went through it myself for a period of time

I was obsessed with only spending time doing things that mattered, and after nearing burning myself out to the point of exhaustion I realized that in order to actually enjoy life, you need to have a healthy mix of productive, goal oriented time, and time best spent watching TV or mindlessly shooting zombies on your Xbox

But how do you find the right balance?

Depends

If you already spend almost all of your time watching TV, it’s probably a good idea to do the extreme opposite for a while and find a smooth middle ground between the two

If you are already an overachiever, try watching all three Lord of the Rings movies back to back and then reassess how much time each day you should spend doing “mindless” activities

Everyone will be different, and just because Joe down the street has written 18 books and done 4 marathons and is in talks with Spielberg for a movie adaptation of his latest screenplay doesn’t mean you need to be as productive as him

Hell, for all you know, he could be miserable as hell with no time to reminisce after a night of glory with his chosen mate because he is too busy furiously punching away at his keyboard

Do I want you to use this post as an excuse to sit on your ass longer and get nothing done?

Hell no

Do I want you to understand that like anything in life, balance is necessary in order to succeed so that might mean mixing a bit of video games in with your latest painting your trying to finish?

Hell yes

Put down the to-do list

Gabriel