This two-part series was originally intended to be one blog post, but as I continued to thank about it and add to it I realized it would be too large as one post. Part 2 should be published Thursday, so look for it!
Introduction: Enslaved to Productivity
Have you ever felt like your productivity system is running your life instead of helping you live it? Do you feel like you’ve given up your freedom of choice to a system? Do you feel disillusioned by your productivity system? You’re not alone.
“Many people these days report the feeling that they begin each morning in a kind of ‘productivity debt,’ which they must struggle to pay off over the course of the day, in hopes of returning to a zero balance by the time evening comes.”
Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, by Oliver Burkeman.
I’ve been hearing from more and more people lately who are being worn down by their overemphasis on productivity and following productivity systems. This theme is expressed in user forums, in podcasts, in books and articles.
Perhaps you became interested in productivity with admirable motives—you wanted to become more efficient and better control your work and life. However, in seeking more information, you became addicted to productivity podcasts, blogs, books, and articles. You constantly jump between apps, hoping to find the perfect system.
You feel you must constantly work to achieve the elusive goal of being “productive.” Even when you take a break, you feel guilty because you should be doing something productive instead of wasting time.
Too Much to Do, Never Enough Time to Do It All
Many of us feel that productivity has taken over our lives, that our systems are bossing us around, and that we have lost our free will.
We hoped that productivity systems would help us gain control and do our work more efficiently, but instead, they have stressed us out and made us feel like slaves to their systems.
Our systems give us infinite tasks, far more than we could ever complete. As Oliver Burkeman writes in Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts, “The truth is that the incoming supply of things that feel as though they genuinely need doing isn’t merely large, but to all intents and purposes infinite. So getting through them all isn’t just very difficult. It’s impossible.”
As a result, we feel like productivity failures, unable to do everything the system tells us to do. Even if we do catch up, we feel there’s something else we should do to be more productive. The constant pressure to do and be more leaves many of us feeling like we’re never enough. It’s exhausting.
The Myth of the Perfect Productivity System
Efforts to find the perfect system are doomed from the start.
Productivity profiteers promise that their new system will solve all our problems. If we just follow their system, life will become meaningful and efficient. We will gain control over our lives.
We want to believe that some system will solve all our problems and put us in control, so we spend the money and go through the hassle and work of switching to new app.
After the initial rush of excitement, we realize this is just another productivity system, and our vision of productivity nirvana is dashed on the rocks of reality. We again resume the search for the perfect productivity system. It’s an endless cycle.
“The thread that runs through all these, though, is the idea that there exists some way of being in the world, some way of mastering the situation of being a human in the twenty-first century, that you have yet to discover. And that you won’t be able to relax into your life until you do.”
Oliver Burkeman, Meditations for Mortals
Humans, are limited, imperfect beings. We cannot control or master life. We will screw up, fail, disappoint ourselves and others, and not be perfect or in control. No productivity system will change that.
Coming in Pt 2—How to Escape Productivity Slavery to Freedom
The stress of productivity slavery is real, but so is the possibility of freedom. By understanding the limitations of productivity systems and ourselves, we can begin to reclaim our lives and find a healthier rhythm. This realization frees us from the illusion of gaining control and opens up other options.
In Part 2, I’ll share strategies to simplify, refocus, and reframe our approach to productivity. We’ll explore how to use these tools without losing ourselves in the process. Watch for it.
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