Neutral Productivity

Why productivity should be nonjudgmental and accessible for everyone.

Illustration by author

I’m subscribed to all the popular productivity newsletters — Tim Ferriss’s 5-Bullet Friday, James Clear’s 3–2–1, Laura Vanderkamp’s Week’s Worth, From the Desk of Daniel Pink, Farnam Street’s Brain Food, Ashley Richmond’s This Week’s Habit, Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic, and more. All these people I hold in high regard, something for me to strive towards.

My process of writing Venture Out, a newsletter focused on my journey towards positivity and productivity, for these past few years includes researching other writers, from Google searches to Harvard Business Review articles to Medium posts. All these people I compete with, believing my writings are comparable.

The belief that some people are aspirational while others are competitors is wrong.

“Our society is built on the idea that we are all created equal, with each person afforded one vote, and one rule of law for everyone. At least that’s how it goes in theory. We all know that equality doesn’t play out anywhere close to perfectly in any human society. And therein lies the rub. Because while we all possess equal and irreducible value, it’s hard to see that equality in everyday life. Whether we allow ourselves to…