Productivity Is Not a Requirement
Productivity Is Not a Requirement.
You do not need to be productive 24 hours a day.
It isn’t necessary.
And although I do love being productive, it’s an important thing to remember and ground yourself in to allow yourself to rest, allow yourself to relax, and allow yourself to accept.
If you think that every CEO or productivity guru is max productive all waking hours of the day, you’ve got it completely wrong.
Hustle culture is a huge space on social media outlets. People have quotes, motivational videos, show you bank statements and all their success and money promoting the work culture and nonstop grind. Typically, there’s a one-up nature to these posts where I’m getting some advantage over the competition by living a more extreme version of life. Whether that means waking up at 4AM while others are sleeping, taking meetings until 10PM, or whatever else lets you get ahead.
I think the two things to remember are as follows:
You don’t need to be productive all the time to be happy.
“Successful” and “Productive” people also relax.
Those two thoughts are intertwined but I think there are key distinctions that warrant considering them two different thoughts.
Happiness and contentment don’t require you to be productive all the time. Finding YOUR OWN personal balance on how productive you like to be and how that makes you happy is the MOST important. If you aren’t happy or your happiness suffers because of your desire for productivity, is it worth doing?
“Success” is more than productivity. Similar to how people can make mistakes or bad choices and not be bad people, people can do productive things without that becoming their entire identity. You can still enjoy your existence, be who you are, have your own interests and hobbies while still being productive sometimes - not all the time. In my personal life, I’ve met many successful people who do one specific thing or provide a service in a niche extremely well. But they can also relax, shut off, disengage, rest, waste time, and do so many unproductive things in their off time because they have a balance. You don’t need to work yourself to the bone to be considered a ‘success’ because ‘success’ should be defined by your happiness more than your wealth or efficiency.
You can be productive some times and then not productive other times. And that’s 100% okay. You don’t need to do more work on the weekend if you don’t want to.
I think it’s simply finding the balance that works best in your life.
Gary Vee, CEO of VaynerMedia has his garage sales. Comcast CEO Brian Roberts plays squash. Deloitte’s Punit Renjen is a runner. There are benefits to a balanced life that are not necessarily visible from a productivity standpoint but they ARE ABSOLUTELY a part of balance, happiness, and mental health.
Productivity is more about working efficiently during the time you do spend on work.
And ultimately, the goal is happiness. So if you are happy in the first place, carry on!