Worshiping at the shrine of productivity
Quick show of hands (because I can totally see them):
Does checking things off your to-do list make you feel good, valued, worthy or validated?
Do you feel "better” when you have a packed schedule or get a lot done?
Has your mantra been “It’s better to be busy than bored”
Yuppppp, that looks like about 97% of you. Sweet, we’re on the same page. The other 3% of you don’t have to read this post, thanks for playing.
It might be a highlight, a line or an actual check mark. Your list might be on your phone, your google calendar or on scraps of paper that seem to bury themselves at the bottom of your bag. But if you have a to-do list, chances are you like checking things off it.
To be clear, I do as well. As an American in the 21st century I have been trained to make a list > cross everything off it as fast as I can do > check more things off of other lists. In a Capitalist system one must both produce and consume in order to be deemed “acceptable.” Accomplish the most amount of tasks in the least amount of time. Make the most widgets for the least amount of money to increase profits. Do just two more things and then you’ll finally be good enough. That sort of thing.
So like you, my list making friends, I have been conditioned to worship at the shrine of productivity. Dominate culture tells me that I am good, valid and worthy if I do and consume more. If I both export myself at at a higher volume (production) and import the ideas and feelings of others (consumption) then I will valued. Each of us is trying to do all we can to gain favor with someone (his name is Patriarchy) who will put a gold star on our chart, give us a pat on the head or a thumbs up.
For most of my life I’ve been drinking (and in some cases, chugging or beer-bonging) the preverbal kool-aid. I’ve been in the cult of productivity for way too long and I’m just now trying to get out. I want to denounce the hours = money paradigm that has dominated how I have lived my life. I want to escape the idea that someone else owns my time (for example: a measly 2 weeks vacation per year and minimal, if any, maternity leave). I want to release the narrative that busy is better.
The new mantra: You are intrinsically of value. Your value is not tied to your production. You don’t have to be productive to be “good.” You don’t have to accomplish things to be of value. You can have unchecked items on the to-do list, heck you could even burn the to-do list. Busy is not a badge of honor.
I often say in my yoga classes, “You are a human being, not a human doing.” So just for today, or maybe for an hour or maybe simply one minute of deep breathing, how can you just be? Can you set down the old narratives and notice what shows up in the stillness?