The Productivity Trap

It never occurred to me that I should have been looking for ways to do less.

For many years I have tinkered with all manner of productivity hacks — from paper task lists, to mobile apps, websites, and so on — I even read some of the more famous books, such as “Getting Things Done”, and “The 24 Hour Work Week”. I spent years finding ways to fit more into each day. It never occurred to me that I should have been looking for ways to do less.

Lockdown opened my eyes

I think perhaps the lockdowns of the last year have brought into focus just how crazy the world we knew really was. We never stopped to consider that we might do less because we never had time — we were too busy running like mad to keep up with the rest of the world.

Spending time wisely

Lockdown forced many of us to slow down — yawning chasms appeared in the calendars we had so carefully curated, forcing us to reassess how time might be spent. In a strange sort of way, the meaning of “spending time” came to the fore as a result. Time is finite — we don’t get it back — therefore the time we spend on a given activity can be thought of as an investment. Time is spent, and we choose what we spend it on.

Investing in ourselves

It took quite some time to realise that “doing nothing” is never really “doing nothing”. Time spent lost in thought, or making plans is a form of investment in ourselves. Rather than spend our days furthering the agenda of another, we have the chance to repair, heal, and cultivate our own hopes and dreams. It doesn’t necessarily mean we have to go anywhere or do anything to achieve. One of the biggest lies sold to us by social media is that we must strive for fashionable goals or campaign against this week’s flavour of injustice.

Great expectations

Life can often seem like a complex tapestry of obligations and expectations — those required of us, requested from us, and asked of ourselves. The slower pace of life experienced over the last year reminds us that expectations are not tests. The world will not stop turning if we fail to attain manufactured goals. As our path towards destinations changes, we realise the value of the journey.