Doing something useful with my time is something I value. It feels good to be productive. There’s a feeling of satisfaction when I get to the end of the day and look back at projects completed. My time wasn’t wasted.
It’s my personal values and beliefs that determine what’s useful and whether I’ve spent my time in a way that’s rewarding to me. To someone else with different values or beliefs using time this way might feel frustrating and unfulfilling. Clearly understanding your values and beliefs is key to recognizing the merit of your activities and whether they will leave you feeling satisfied or discontented.
Is it important to me to be productive during the day?
I’d never questioned this belief before. After spending a lifetime being rewarded for getting tasks done at school and then at work, it’s not a pattern that can’t easily be undone. It’s an entrenched belief that I need to be productive to have worth. But I am starting to rethink what tasks constitute productivity.
Rethinking Entrenched Beliefs
Being lazy is vilified by our capitalistic society. It doesn’t make money. It’s not efficient. But what if lazy, wasn’t evil? It’s definition is “lack of effort.” It’s morally neutral. Having a “lazy morning” or eating a “lazy meal” can enrich our lives by slowing us down and unwinding us from stressful situations. That doesn’t count as wasted time if you value your health. And yet, it’s not considered productive by conventional standards and that can feel unsettling at first.
What do I include as a productive activity?
Now that I have some time to think, I’m reassessing what I define as a productive activity. Having clarified my key values, I can use them to evaluate how I spend my time. I value self-compassion, and so spending time being lazy, and listening to my body’s needs, is worthwhile for me. It’s a different understanding of productivity that required rethinking an old belief that I held. Now I understand that I’ve produced something of value to me by supporting my wellbeing. If I’ve spent my time in service of one or more of my values, then I’ve been productive.
Busy Days Can Feel Pointless
I’ve had days where I’ve been very busy and haven’t sat down all day and yet those days have felt empty and unproductive. The difference between a day that felt productive and one that was very full of activities is not the amount that was done. It’s not filling my time that gives me a feeling of satisfaction, it’s whether what I did was valuable to me.
Adjusting Your Day: A Reflection
Here’s a short activity that you can do to reflect on your end of day feeling of satisfaction:
If today was a pretty typical day*, list the activities that you’ve done. List all of them including the boring stuff like making your lunch and taking out the garbage. For each activity, identify which of your values it reflected. For example, making my lunch reflected my value of self-compassion because I was taking care of my body and feeding myself healthy foods. That time wasn’t wasted. You may find that you forgot to value the boring stuff that supports your health and the wellbeing of your home and your family.
There will probably be activities on your list that don’t reflect a value that you have prioritized. What do you do about those activities? Look more closely at them. Do you need to rethink your beliefs about them? Do they leave you drained? Ask yourself how you feel about spending your time doing these activities, and adjust accordingly.
We deserve to look back on most days and feel that what we did with our time was worthwhile and fulfilling.
I’d love to read your thoughts about what constitutes a productive day for you. Comment below.
*I recognize that there are times, such as during illness or emergencies, when we don’t get to choose how we spend our days. This activity is for the ordinary day.
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