Privileged Productivity
Being productive is truly a privilege that I have in the context of health.
Definitely over the last couple of days, my productivity has plummeted because I haven’t been feeling well and largely been sleeping.
And as a result, I’ve come face to face with the notion of privilege in terms of my health, well-being and support system in place that allows me the opportunity to push myself productively.
Without any of those aspects of my health, well-being and support, I would not have the time or energy to focus on being productive.
And I think the takeaway is to make sure you establish for yourself a routine or strategy to optimize your health, well-being, and have a support system in place.
Whether that is:
Regular exercise and attention to your diet to build endurance, optimize physical health, and balance your nutrition
Meditation and Mindfulness to focus and ground your mental health, provide a creative outlet or provide a mental anchor amidst the chaos of life
Having a loving Support System of friends and family to seek advice, to talk to, to rely on, to bounce ideas off of, to hold you accountable.
So develop those things for yourself.
I was reminded of this while watching ‘Stutz’, ,the Netflix Jonah Hill documentary when Dr. Phil Stutz talks about Life Force and the life force pyramid
Work on your Life Force (Always)! Everything else will fall into place.
And I think there’s something stabilizing about the directness and straightforwardness off that advice.
But it goes to show that if one doesn’t have one of these facets of their life in check, that their productivity can be detrimentally impacted. If you have physical health issues, those can certainly make you feel unwell or unable to sustain long periods of productivity.
If your mental health requires your attention, then that too can impact your ability to focus on work. If you suffer from clinical depression for example and lack the motivation to get out of bed, how can you expect to optimize anything?
If you lack the support system in place that holds you grounded in yourself, your values, your community, then you may lack the direction or vision to inspire and foster grassroots growth.
I don’t think this post necessarily has to do with optimizing or overall performance but serves as a gentle reminder and recognition for the behind the scenes impact of these modalities on one’s output. An appreciative post on the spotlight-less side.
After all, we celebrate the person, the icon, the individual more than the circumstance, the support network and the balanced lifestyle they have.