59/365 Toxic Productivity

By vinodnarayan on August 21, 2021 • ( 0 )

Yesterday when I wrote about Toxic Positivity there was another Toxicity that was bothering me. This is Toxic Productivity. In the same way as the other, Toxic Productivity is this obsession with being productive in every waking minute we have in the world. May be even increasing the waking hour we have.

Productivity tools and Productivity tips and comparing Productivity techniques and this guilt trip that we are not being productive enough… where does this lead us. While I all all for creating more value with the time we work, for me it simply does not mean being Productive every minute. What happened to getting bored, and searching and being lost and just lazily sitting on the couch.

One of the word I heard when I came to US is Couch Potato.. I agree sitting on a Couch always doing nothing is bad.. But sometime I just want to lie in there looking out of the window as I let my mind wander where it wants to… The body is inside the house and mind wanders miles away…. even to different places at same time…. beyond space and time… and if it is raining outside… it is heaven…

Isn’t that productive..? Sure it is…. You have no idea the rejuvenation I get when I do it. Even an afternoon nap… though that is not my habit… sometimes that short nap on weekends are so relaxing.

I don’t think we can ever make every singly moment productive for us.. I don’t even think we should try. But yes meetings can be very unproductive. In corporate sector what is the big point in talking about productivity tools without having a check on all those wasteful meetings people have to attend. Don’t you think that it is such a shame?

Sometimes we are so obsessed with productivity that we miss the importance of value, improvement, just the fun of doing something. I think I have been more productive when I try to understand the value I produce and also convinced that this value matters. If not we will always be struggling.