WHAT ARE YOU PRODUCING WITH ALL OF YOUR PRODUCTIVITY?
- Gina Marks
- Feb 21
- 3 min read
When we think of productivity, or being more productive, we’re generally talking about receipts for time. This is how we’ve learned to live, and this is an insane way to live.
Making sure we account for ourselves every hour of the day, or else we’re not worthy humans. Making sure to earn our rest and our rewards. If we haven’t put enough work in, we do not deserve to enjoy ourselves! We do not deserve to pass “go”!
But what is it all for?
Is it really about what we have to “show” for our time?
To whom do we show it?
Is there a judging panel that reviews our completed time blocks?
Where are my gold stars?
Is there some contest I’m unaware of?
What do we win?
Do I get to turn in all of my receipts in exchange for swaggy merch or something? Do I get a Harrier jet smattered in Pepsi logos? (Free coaching session if you can guess which podcast I just listened to for that reference to be top of mind!)
I don’t think so. Really, our time is for us. It’s for us to spend, or better yet, invest. It's for us to experience. My time is for me. Yours is for you. What you have to “show” is entirely for your own satisfaction.
Does some of our time involve staying on top of adult-y things and handling our life’s business and what not? Of course. Being a generally responsible human is a perfectly reasonable result for one’s time.
But it’s about the result, not accounting for your time as a means of feeling worthy by some arbitrary measure. …results that may include HOW you want to experience your time. …how you want to FEEL more of the time.
How you feel, how you experience your life, is a result. One that is more likely to be produced with intention, on purpose, not by default.
It’s also far more motivating to get the pesky tasks done when you’re clear on why you’re doing these things vs the mythical “should” of maximum productivity.
A trend I noticed with my earliest clients was that even when we would move forward on their initial goals, even if they would lose weight, build better habits, get more tasks done, check off more boxes, they would still find themselves dissatisfied. The sheer act of getting more done didn’t leave them filled to the brim with life satisfaction.
Imagine that!
Some of the most dissatisfied people I know are among the most “productive.” They’re the type that has everything planned out, sunrise to bedtime, and actually follow through.🙄 Yet, still, they’re always looking for what’s going to make them happier (i.e. more at peace with themselves and their lives).
…because they’ve never taken the time to clarify what they’re actually looking for…what feels worthwhile, what they want to have to “show” when it’s all said and done.
What they’re producing with all of their productivity.
Flash forward a few years from now.
What do you want to be able to say about how you spent this time going forward?
What do you want your life to look like?
What do you want your life to be about?
What do you want it to feel like?
Pick 3-5 things for each question.
Do you want it to be about the shoulds and coulds?
Do you want it to be bins of filled calendar pages that no one is going to look through, except perhaps when you die? Okay, when you die you can have the productivity award. Congratulations!
Rather than obsess over arbitrary productivity, practice being the PRODUCER of your own life.
What would this life be like?
EMAIL ME YOUR ANSWERS FOR A FREE COACHING CALL!
If you’d like help sifting and sorting through all of this, getting crystal clear on what matters most to you and what results you’d like to produce in your life, let’s talk it out. Answer these questions above the best you can. Email me your answers. I’ll be in touch to schedule a call! No strings attached. ginamarkscoaching@gmail.com
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