Sunflowers.

I bought sunflowers the other day.

And I’m going to preface this story with the notion that I rarely buy flowers.

I buy them sometimes for Mother’s Day but I personally don’t see the point or sentiment associated with them. My wife is fine with me not buying them for Valentine’s Day either. A nice meal is much more up her alley anyways. The point being, flowers and me.

We don’t overlap.

But one day, while picking up groceries, I bought some sunflowers for my wife.

They were massive flowers. And the most saturated deep yellow colour.

It was on a whim.

Now, I don’t think they have measurably changed my life. There’s no standard or measure to objectively qualify the benefit or “productivity” that a sunflower brings to my life.

Because flat out, it wouldn’t.

But a sunflower to a sunflower grower or flower shop is a monetary productivity measure.

A sunflower to my wife’s happiness and feelings of comfort and homeliness provides a positive output that can impact my interactions and relationship with her.

And if it makes her happy and if it brightens her day at home, whose to say that that isn’t a productive purchase in my life.

I think the older I get, the more I recognize that my productivity is not simply impacted but my own inputs and I am largely impacted by the network of people and my relationship with others.

I’m not a productive individual working in a vacuum or on some uninhabited island. My existence is impacted and influenced by the people around me, and sometimes the positive impact I have on others, can not only be impact them dramatically in a positive way, but it can also manifest positively for myself in the future.

Networking and long-term investments into friendships can be considered this way as well. We don’t start these friendships with a “productivity” goal to extract from the relationship but I would argue that my friends have supported and uplifted me to become a better person as well as motivated me to pursue my professional and personal goals more intently. Furthermore, they have supported me in ways that I perhaps could not reach on my own, providing different perspectives on my problems and providing their own experiences and perceptions to supplement my own - something that I couldn’t necessarily accomplish on my own because my perception is my own and I wouldn’t necessarily see a situation from a different perspective.

Sometimes, I get annoyed or feel guilty that I spent a day hanging out with friends rather than accomplishing the to-do lists I set out for myself. That, in some way, hanging out with friends has sidetracked me or prevented me from doing what I really wanted to accomplish. This feeling pits me against my friends, which is stupid and unnecessary.

For me, it’s always been remembering to have a frank and open conversation with myself about what truly matters and what productivity means to me.

On the one hand, sure, if all i do is socialize with friends, then it can detract or eat up time from the business or entrepreneurial things I want to accomplish. I’m not arguing that. So maybe I need to limit my relaxed social time to 1-2 hours a week, but those 1-2 hours can be a mandatory need in order to charge my social and emotional battery.

Things that may not necessarily seem “productive” for one aspect of your life may be deeply productive to you in another facet of your life.

And deciding on prioritizing things for your mental, emotional, and spiritual health can be just as important as your financial and physical health.

Sure, sunflowers don’t last forever and eventually they will shrivel up and need to be discarded. They may seem like $10 wasted for a couple days of decoration but there’s something less tangible about these types of products and I’m okay with these small investments into my home, my mental health, and my wife’s happiness.

And I think if you’re in a similar situation where you feel guilty about spending time and money on the people you love and care about, give yourself some slack. It may not feel like “productive” time but it’s important for your own health and you most likely are working to provide and support your friends and family.