Aug 10, 2022
Take a F*cking Break
Why being productive isn’t always productive.
As an entrepreneur, I’m no stranger to the “hustle culture” that pervades modern society. And I hate it.
It leaves me feeling as though I’ve never done quite enough, giving new life to the voice in my head that reprimands me for taking an afternoon off. It makes it near impossible to relax without whispers of guilt disturbing the silence. The voices of motivational speakers and influencers echo in my head, telling me to stop wasting time, to get off my arse and do something productive, and that, if that time spent in productivity is even a minute less than sixteen hours of work per day, I might as well forget it.
I understand that these resources aim not to inspire guilt, but to spark a desire to change within all of us. And that’s all well and good when we’re out running or working on our business or lifting weights. But when all we want to do is sit down and fucking relax, it becomes near impossible to cut the noise.
It’s important to remember, though, that sometimes sitting down and relaxing is exactly what we need. That is, to raise a hand to the incessant choir of productivity-touting voices and say wait a minute. I’m not a workhorse. I’m not a productivity robot. And there’s more to my life than simply getting shit done.
Sometimes, we have to disconnect to reconnect — reconnect to what’s truly important to us. The productivity dictators of today’s world forget that happiness is about more than working. We could work every single day for the rest of our lives to buy a house for our mother, only for her to die of cancer before she opens the front door. Bleak, I know. But true.
And the point is that we may indeed strive to achieve goals during every waking moment, but life might through us a curveball that means we never get to enjoy the view at the top of the mountain. All that time, all those sacrifices, and for what?
There’s an alternative, though. We could instead strike a balance, working to meet our goals, and still striving to buy that three-bed seaside villa for our parents to retire in, but not at the expense of the present moment.
We can enjoy mealtimes with mum and dad, party with friends, indulge in the odd chocolate cake and take a fucking Saturday afternoon off every once in a while rather than keeping our nose on the grindstone during every single second that we’re alive.
There’s more to life than productivity. Don’t lose yourself in the process. Make ends meet, tick boxes, and pursue bigger things, yes. But never at the expense of the present moment.
Remember to live a little. You are a human, after all. And we’ve been given this life to enjoy, not to slave away.
That’s all. A friendly reminder to both myself and whoever might need it.
— Adrian
