Productivity Illusion

For a while now, I have believed in the principle that action was an antidote to my anxiety. The busier I was, the more that was on the plate, the better… so I thought. But over time, I realized that busyness did not always equate to productivity. Just because I was consistently doing something didn’t mean I was moving forward.

This realization came after I tried something new one morning this past week. Meditation. I followed along one of Tim Ferris’s newer segments called “Meditation Monday,” which focused on calming your inner storm. Seemed fitting, so I figured I would give it a shot. Sitting there, incredibly uncomfortable trying to keep my back straight I began to question a lot of things. I questioned my approach to work, school, business, writing, and even workouts. I was spreading myself too thin, giving each area of my life a fraction of my attention. No single thing was going to get the attention it deserved and that bothered me.

I had overcommitted myself, convinced that taking on more was helping me. It was moments after that meditation, I realized this mindset was doing the very thing I set out to avoid. My quality or work suffered, my focus was constantly scattered, and my anxiety only increased as I struggled to fit everything into my day.

I needed to make a choice: continue putting unnecessary pressure on myself to do everything all at once or allow myself to temporarily set something aside.

It’s not longer about just taking action for me. It’s about being very selective about the right amount of action in the right areas. Having a bias for action can serve you well when working toward a goal, but it has to be focused. The vital few must take precedence over the trivial many.

Only then can I move forward in life with some clarity, peace, and purpose.

At least that’s what I think.

P.S.

I can’t help but laugh reading this over, realizing all this comes back to Essentialism. Even after having read that book, I still fell into the very trap it was written to help me avoid. It didn’t necessarily prevent me from falling into the trap but instead helped me recognize what I was going through after the fact. I don’t know what that says about self help books. Maybe that’s the reality of them. You can understand something intellectually, but until you have experienced it firsthand, it’s hard to fully internalize it.