Someone once told me - and it wasn't meant as a compliment - that I worship at the altar of productivity. They probably weren't wrong. I do judge myself by how much I accomplish. The last thing I do before bed each night is to make a list for the following day. If I manage to go to bed without making my list, it will keep me up until I go downstairs and do it. I know that's not particularly healthy, but it works for me.
When I added writing professionally to the mix of things I needed to accomplish every day, the list got longer. Because I break tasks up into small pieces, both for the rush of checking off multiple things, and because it's more realistic than thinking I'm going to get an entire book edited and formatted in one day. Much more realistic to put "edit five chapters" on the list, and if I do more, I'm ahead.
With all this, there are still times when I think I'm not doing enough. If I'm sitting on the couch at night with my husband, watching a movie, I'm also reading on my Kindle or doing a bit of hand sewing, or scheduling social media posts. It's hard to switch off.
And yet the voice is still there, saying, "You haven't gotten all that much done today. You should keep going."
The solution to that - and I offer it to you if it's at all useful - is to change the story I'm telling myself. We all know the power of stories. If you say you're unproductive and disorganized, there's a good likelihood that you will be unproductive and disorganized. If you tell yourself that you're productive, you will be. We believe the stories we hear, even if we're telling them to ourselves.
Now, go forth and accomplish something. That's what I'm going to do.
6 comments:
You already did accomplish something: you wrote (in a well-written way) a helpful blog post that may influence lots of people in a good way.
I am that person, too.
Thank you!
Glad to know I'm not the only one.
I am the same. This past year with my health iffy I start sewing and 3 months later I still have not finished the item. Inertia hits. Still working on fixing this as it compounds the feeling of 'not doing enough' which causes stress. BTW, I love you pic. I don't know if it is new but you look really great (smart). I don't mean intellectually. Karen in Illino8is
This may not be helpful, but if I'm having inertia with one thing I try to do something different for a while. If the inertia is only directed at one thing, I don't feel as bad. And thank you - new pic, new haircut. It was time.
Post a Comment