Disorderly days
If our days have become crowded containers for what we did or did not do, perhaps we do not need to pursue more ways to be productive, but rather shake up the contents.
I’ve had too many days to count that have been flattened by productivity guilt. They follow a pattern: there is the thing I should be doing, but for whatever reason I find myself not doing the thing at this time, so instead I don’t do anything. Instead of turning my attention to something else that can be done, the day seems to evaporate as I sit, stifled by the taunt, I didn’t do the thing today, I didn’t do the thing today. Wouldn’t it be more satisfying to at least enjoy the day instead of washing it away with guilt?
Productivity is too narrow a lens for our days. It flattens the day to a plan, an order, an outcome. When the day takes a different shape, we find ourselves coiled in a spiral, narrowing in on ourselves and our shortcomings.
Productivity tells us to live sequentially, but our days rarely unfold in perfect order. Not only does each day vary, but we vary within them. We are constantly shifting, creating and re-creating parts of ourselves. I have come to see the value in being more flexible with the order and shape of things: I can see what I have
