The Anti-Productivity Manifesto Part 4/5
How to let go of your invisible procrastination compulsion and create real momentum in your life.
(Read part 1 here… Virtual Reality)
The quest for productivity makes our life disappear like the rabbit in the magicians hat.
A frantic obsession with task completion means that we get nothing substantial done.
To make meaningful strides we have to reframe our perspective…
Respecting your gift
People come at life like checking off some list of tasks is the most important thing in the universe
They miss the big picture…
You’ve been gifted with something invaluable. Awe-inspiring. God-like.
TIME
Here you are full of life experiencing the world.
This moment that you have, NOBODY can give you more of it.
Time is the most precious of resources.
It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it.
Seneca
Making Time is Making Space (for what’s important)
Productivity = getting more done (’Getting Things Done’ is the linchpin book) – by building systems around efficiency.
Wrong idea.
Doesn’t honour how precious our time is.
The key is effectiveness (rather than efficiency)
Being effective unlocks your time’s potential.
Efficiency just gets as many things done as possible. Effectivity means you choose what’s important and dedicate yourself to it while ignoring the rest.
Being effective means you’re NOT getting caught up in lower level tasks, distractions or procrastination.
In a way, being effective GIVES YOU MORE TIME, by eliminating the superfluous.
The essence of effectiveness is focus
An hour spent on focused writing is a world apart from an hour spent on distracted writing.
Think of focus as INHABITING your time.
Like being in the ‘Flow’ state – Time has a different quality when you’re immersed in something.
It feels like you’re really IN the activity, by being really IN the moment.
You’re not split apart somewhere else lost in your thoughts.
This is what I mean by inhabiting time – think of it as something tangible you can step into.
When you step into time, whatever you’re doing becomes infused with this ‘in it’ QUALITY.
That’s the quality of your focus – the essence of effectiveness.
So being effective gives you more time –
Or you could say it GIVES YOU MORE SPACE
Creating space is prerequisite to doing anything:
You make time for the thing and then you step into that time – ie focus.
If you’re detached from what you’re doing in thoughts or distractions, you’re only half using your time, because you’re not really there, IN the thing that you’re doing.
ie You’re not giving it space
If you’re in a distracted state, there’s no space.
We all know what it’s like to lose an hour faffing around. It doesn’t feel good.
Time disappears as if you’ve been absent from your life.
Your time is uninhabited – it’s flitting – it passes mindlessly.
‘Wasting time’ is synonymous with a wasted life.
You let this precious resource slip through your fingers like sand.
Lacking the skill to inhabit time (ie focus) is enormously frustrating…
Nobody wants to spend days lost in their instagram feed or flitting around procrastinating.
A solid foundation of ‘productivity’ prevents us from throwing away countless hours despite having the best of intentions.
Except it doesn’t… because most ‘productivity’ lore is centred around just getting tasks done.
And misses the higher purpose…
Productivity is producing more in less time
But you’re not a machine
Ruthless efficiency is NOT the path to satisfaction
Time Enrichment is the key to a Quality Life
Forget Productivity.
What you want:
Time Enrichment
You want to use your time in the most enriching way possible.
The goal is to have the best quality of life by being IN it.
You’re working on the most meaningful and important tasks to you (effectiveness)
And you’re immersed in them (focus)
Focus dictates reality
Inhabit your time – Infuse it with focus to give it QUALITY and RICHNESS
Because a life of quality time IS the path to satisfaction
Time Enrichment enhances every element of our lives
Because attention is the foundation of finding joy in experience
AND pursuing your mission
Whereas the productive ‘efficiency’ mindset will run you into the ground
It’s a constant preoccupation with the next ‘thing’
What else needs to be ticked off the never-ending to-do list?
It creates a fixation around what’s UNDONE that doesn’t switch off
It prevents you from enjoying anything and damages your relationships.
When you’re with friends, your thoughts are tormented by an incomplete to-do list –
exactly like the person who always has their phone out when with others-
always doing something else –
there but not really there –
a spectator in life rather than a participant.
Don’t be a spectator in your own life.
Immerse yourself by inhabiting your time.
The main question is always:
What am I giving my focus to right now?
This is part 4 of the 5-part Anti-Productivity Manifesto.
How to let go of your invisible procrastination compulsion and create real momentum in your life.
Read part 5 here…Tenet