A multitude of research shows that happy people are more productive – by as much as 12% according to one study from the University of Warwick. But it actually goes both ways – productivity can also directly affect happiness, actually instigating it.
There are several reasons for this:
- Productivity gives you purpose. Having purpose in your life gives you a reason to get up every morning, and when you reach a goal your self-esteem rockets. Striving towards something gives you energy, focus and conviction; people who lack this direction are rarely happy.
- Productivity helps you grow. Productive people are always pushing and challenging themselves, developing their skills and informing a more well-rounded approach to tasks and interactions. If you’re on a path that’s always moving forward, you’re constantly growing – even if you can’t feel it in the moment.
- Productivity lifts your mood. Exercise floods your body with feel-good endorphins, to the extent that some see regular exercise works as a form of medication. Whether mental or physical – checking off your to-do list or hitting the gym – the more productive you are, the more motivated you tend to feel. But obviously, quality rest ensures you keep that balance healthy.
The internet wants you to believe you aren’t doing enough with all that “extra time” you have now. But staying inside and attending to basic needs is plenty.
A year ago I was trying hard to be the super-duper productive machine. I exhausted myself with work, meetings, 10 projects at the same time and lived by the motto of, ‘The more — the better’.
At some point, I broke down. My body couldn’t take it any longer and it revolted against my strict brain with a series of severe panic attacks.
After a few months of psychotherapy and reassessment of what really matters in my life, I realize something important that I want to share with the world.
Trying to be more productive all the time is toxic. It makes you constantly feel stressful, undervalued, under-accomplished and generally, not enough.
But the most important part is that it’s not healthy.
You work so much because you think you’re inherently flawed.
This is something I took a long time to come to terms with, but it’s true. We overwork ourselves because we think that we are made to be loved simply because we exist.
Ask yourself, ‘Would you make your loved one work 14 hours per day, constantly feel tired and try to accomplish everything at once?’. I asked my followers on Instagram, and 100% of them said NO.
Then why do you do this to yourself? Why do you push yourself hard, when you don’t even need to? Why do you think it’s noble to be constantly exhausted and over-worked?
The sad truth is, we don’t love ourselves. And we think that there is no chance that somebody else would love us unconditionally, too.
You’ve got two options.
Option A:
You can Mr. Productive. Always on the go, always listening to some insightful podcast, waking up at 4:30, taking an ice bath, having 10 meetings per day, and sleeping only 4 hours per night.
You think you’re cool. But what you’re really is just tired.
Option B:
You can be Mr. Calm. Always happy, always present in the moment. You do only what you want to be doing (and don’t do anything you don’t like) because you love yourself. You wake up when you want. You go to bed when you want. You get stuff done but without any stress or exhaustion. You are fulfilled.
See the difference? It’s a choice. And it’s yours.
You think other expect you to be a certain way.
But in reality, they are too busy thinking about themselves. The sad truth is that nobody cares.
I was brought up by a mother, who worried too much and by a father, who rarely gave me and my sister the needed emotional connection. I learned quickly that in order to win my father’s attention and approval, I would have to achieve stuff. So that’s what I did, at school, in college applications, at work.
And as you grow older, nothing really changes. Instead of chasing approval of your parents, you start chasing approval of society, of your boss, of your audience. You think that by achieving, somebody has to love you more.
You couldn’t be more wrong.
You can start loving yourself, today.
You can quit the rat race of productivity, and you can stop trying to beat the world at the game you’re predetermined to lose. The world is moving too fast for anybody to understand, and you won’t be able to keep up, no matter how many podcasts you listen
At the same time, you won’t be able to do everything. Rather, by constantly overworking yourself to the point of exhaustion, you’ll probably end up at the psychotherapist’s office sooner or later.
What you can do, is quit.
Tell yourself, that you love yourself unconditionally.Realize, that nobody is expecting anything from you. You can be yourself, and the world will not change.
In fact, you’ll delight everybody with your ‘new self’, by being happier and a better person to hang out with.
It’s possible to be productive and happy at the same time.
As one of my favorite humans on Earth, Arianna Huffington said:
Burnout is not the price you have to pay for success
And it’s true. You can be calm and serene, present and happy and still achieve all of your goals.
In fact, by doing what you really want, by following your instinct and not telling yourself what you must/should do, you’ll probably arrive at what makes you passionate even more quickly.
Nobody has ever arrived at their passion by pushing themselves towards it. It all happens organically.
And by giving yourself time to restore and recharge, you can actually be more creative, productive and make the whole process more like play, than work.
So take breaks. Rest well. Don’t worry, you’ll have time to do everything you want.
The important part is to be yourself.
There are people who have a strong nervous system, and they enjoy working 15 hours per day. Good for them. That’s just not me.
And chances are, that’s probably not you either. Because we are all different, and there is really no rule that would fit everybody. That’s why I hate ‘4 rules of highly effective people’ and all of that crap. It’s too generic to be valuable to anyone.
Who cares, if Elon Musk wakes up at 4 AM and brushes his teeth with a raspberry toothpaste?
It’s like the story Seth Godin told about Stephen King’s pencil. Stephen travels a lot and meets people at writer’s conferences.
At once of these conferences, an aspiring writer came up to him and said, ‘Hey Stephen. You are one of the most successful writers in our generation. Could you tell me what type of pencil you use?’
As if it really mattered.
What matters, is that you be yourself. You live the life that works for you and you don’t push yourself too hard to fit some ideal of how you think you should be.
If GaryVee likes to hustle, it doesn’t mean that you should too.
When the world feels so heavy it can feel even heavier when you put pressure on yourself to do things that you don’t feel ready or able to do.
Sometimes putting too much stress and pressure on yourself can actually make you feel less fulfilled, because it’s pretty counterproductive to do things when your heart simply isn’t in it. Pushing yourself too much could lead to lethargy and a different level of burnout that you might find harder to recognise.
Instead, as clichéd as it sounds, try to find small things throughout your day that can make you happy. Spend a little longer making a breakfast that you really enjoy, or call a friend who always makes you laugh. Now is the time to indulge in all the things that you enjoy without feeling guilty or like you should be building your business empire. The time for that will come soon.
Redefine what productivity means to you – outside your degree. Consider it productive if you managed to find matching socks today. Consider it productive if you combed your hair. Focus on finding the energy to keep learning and the rest will come when you feel like it.
Things are hard without putting too much pressure on yourself. Be gentle on yourself and stay safe.
Life is about experiencing pleasures in all forms. If hard work brings pleasure to a person, than hard work can be what life is about. I myself, find lots of pleasure in thought, I feel I work hard at it, and sometimes have great thoughts. We as humans want to be productive at whatever it is WE WANT TO DO, not what is asked or expected for us to do. We have two driving forces in my opinion, pleasure and pain. Pleasure drives us to do things that sustain us, and rewards us. Pain teaches us what to avoid in life (e.g. Don’t touch fire, avoid hurtful people, etc.).
In my opinion the meaning of life is to experience as much pleasure as possible throughout life.
Datascio 