Redefining Productivity: Finding Balance in an Unbalanced World

In the relentless currents of modern life, we have become both captives and captains of an insatiable drive toward productivity. Our daily calendars are gridlocked with endless to-do lists, and our waking hours consumed by a perpetual rush to accomplish more. We are trapped in a vicious cycle where resting feels indulgent and simply being feels unproductive. I come from a family steeped in to-do lists; every one of us—myself, my mother, my brother, my son—feels incomplete without at least one list for immediate tasks and another for those we assume may take 3-6 months. (Note: they never do; invariably, they take years to complete—if ever).

But what enriching truth or beauty can be found in a life measured strictly by output? When did checking boxes become the yardstick by which we determine our self-worth? Perhaps it's time we rouse ourselves from this task-induced slumber and redefine what true productivity means.

The notion that more effort equals more value is an age-old delusion. A tree doesn't struggle to produce fruit—it simply bears in accordance with its inherent rhythms and the nurturing conditions around it. When we push past the boundaries of our natural energies and creative cadences, our efforts become strained and joyless.

As we navigate our busy lives, it’s worth considering the reflections of contemporary thinkers like Oliver Burkeman. In his book Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Burkeman reflects: "The average human lifespan is absurdly, insultingly brief... Assuming you live to be eighty, you have just over four thousand weeks." I wish I’d started counting earlier; now, the countdown weighs on me as I think of all the paths not taken and opportunities frittered away. And by ‘opportunities,’ I don’t mean just professional ones, but rather the chances life has thrown my way to be alive and joyful. To play with my child rather than keep working on a document, hunched possessively over my laptop. To wake up early and watch an unforgettable sunrise rather than snuggle under my comfortable covers, determined to squeeze the last millisecond out of my morning alarm.

It isn’t just me and my family who are obsessed with lists as a means to master our time. Why are we all so goal-oriented? Two hundred years ago, Arthur Schopenhauer argued that humans are wired to strive towards existence and life, without, alas, any definite purpose. Not having a purpose yet possessing a high IQ and the will to live, we invent goals to strive towards. Once we attain a goal, it becomes no longer of interest; boredom and disappointment ensue until we find a new goal. In Schopenhauer’s worldview, ambition and the pursuit of wealth and status lead to frustration and disappointment, as such pursuits are mere distractions from the deeper truths of human existence.

In case you think people’s preoccupation with productivity started with the industrial revolution, more than two thousand years ago—long before the invention of clocks, watches, and smartphones—Aristotle, in his Nicomachean Ethics, advocated for a balanced life, where “time well spent” was devoted to activities that promote virtue, intellectual growth, and the well-being of oneself and others. Aristotle believed that the ultimate goal of human life is to achieve eudaimonia, often translated as "flourishing" or "happiness." In his view, eudaimonia is achieved through a life of virtuous activity in accordance with reason. Work, in this context, is a necessary means to sustain life, but not the ultimate purpose of life. Productive work should contribute to a well-ordered life that allows for the cultivation of virtue and the exercise of reason.

What does this all mean for us, modern humans caught in a cycle of uncertainty, risk, and ever-shifting cost/benefit ratios? I posit that our true north resides inside each of us, and if we allow our bodies and brains restorative stillness, our internal compass will point us in the right direction. Whether it takes putting quality over quantity, slow living over life-in-the-fast-lane, community over individualism, digging deep over leaning in—we each have to find a way to fundamentally redefine what efficiency means in a world that often conflates busyness with self-worth. True productivity is a harmonious dance between effort and pause, giving and taking, sharing and absorbing.

Take a moment during your day, even if just for a few breath cycles, to realign with your values and essence. Ask yourself: are you subsuming your humanity to your tasks, or bringing your fullest presence to each act?

#productivity #worklifebalance #familylife #lifevalues