Sometimes I get emails from people who believe that productivity turns us into robots. The arguments are as follows: we spend so much time focusing on personal effectiveness that we miss the opportunity to have fun, relax and do various "unproductive" things that are worth living for. People write to me: "Yes, I could do more, but at what cost?"
I hope that most of you do not share this misconception. However, I can understand why some people think that way. All this talk about habits, perfectly organized to-do lists and maximum efficiency sounds a bit mechanical. And for shallow people, productivity really becomes the center of life. But actually becoming productive is one of the best ways to enjoy wonderful unproductive times.
I write about productivity because I'm a fan of it. I admire how people do their jobs and what motivates them, so I always have a lot of ideas. This does not mean that I never postpone things for later, do not give in to laziness and do not change my useful habits. This means that I have spent a lot of time looking for ways to overcome my natural flaws.
If we met in real life, you would hardly call productivity my main quality. To most friends, I'm just a guy who likes to party, goes to the gym, and does everything else that people my age usually like. Doing work is what gives me more time to socialize, relax and enjoy life.
The problem with productivity is that it is not the answer to all questions. If you do not have interesting hobbies, social skills and flashes of spontaneity, then an additional amount of work will appear in place of the completed amount of work. However, if you have all this in your life, productivity allows you to do more and devote time to other aspects of life.
The more work I do, the better. I don't see any side effects from doing more tasks in less time. Even if you genuinely love what you do, the more you do, the more you get. Of course, productivity techniques can be used to speed up the work you hate. And yet they are designed to get more out of the work you love.I get up at 5:30 to get the most out of every day. The first 10 minutes after waking up are hard, but working quietly in the early hours is an amazing feeling. Focusing on productivity doesn't stop me from waking up late on weekends. It doesn't hurt to spend the whole day playing video games or watching all the Bourne movies. On the contrary, it helps me to be selectively unproductive when it matters.
In his book "How to work 4 hours a week and not stay in the office "from call to call", live anywhere and get rich," Tim Ferris emphasizes the importance of separating work and personal life, not the balance between them. In his opinion, the balance leads to the fact that these spheres mix with each other. And I totally agree with him. It is necessary to divide your life into areas where it is important to focus on productivity, and areas where you can enjoy unproductivity.
Every time I experiment with a new productive habit, such as turning off the TV, waking up earlier, or checking my mail less often, I try to figure out how this habit will affect my unproductive activities. If I can increase productivity with the least loss to my free time, it's usually worth it. But if this does not work out, I understand that it is necessary to debug the habit in order to maintain the separation between work and personal life.
Productivity problems begin when you take the "quantitative" mindset that helps with work and apply it to "qualitative" areas of life where it doesn't work. Separation helps to engage different thinking in different areas.
When I try out a new productivity tip, I have the following goals:
Both options are suitable for me. If I take on more projects, I'll get closer to my goals and do what I care about. If I decide to spend the saved time on something unproductive, then I can enjoy life and not worry about the to‑do list.
After all, the purpose of work and leisure is the same: to spend more time on something that inspires enthusiasm. It's easy to think of productivity as a reduction strategy. But where you simplify and shorten, you can get the time and energy to do more.