Our Productivity Obsession (even during a pandemic)

wow new vid can u believe!! hope you're all doing ok, and hope this discussion about productivity is interesting! ** captions will be uploaded soon! ** TIME STAMPS BELOW: 0:00 - intro 1:24 - should we use this time to be super productive, or to finally relax? 2:46 - Icons of Productivity (CEOs, millionaires, tech bros, etc... secrets to success?) 4:23 - capitalism!!! labor!!! means of production!!!! 5:28 - the gap between productivity and wages 6:59 - productivity (like paid work) vs the sense of accomplishment that we crave 7:47 - motivational content (study with me, clean with me, productivity tips....) 9:38 - don't compare your life/habits/workload to others. be kind to yourself! 11:42 - let's start an anti-productivity revolution!!! 13:03 - getting work done helps us have a sense of normalcy, structure, and purpose 15:34 - fun things that feel productive (reading, puzzles, journaling, make some art!) 18:05 - how are you? how am I doing? let's catch up a bit

John lennon said: “time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted” and i live by that

"Shakespeare wrote King Lear while in quarantine" Umm, yeah he also wrote all that other stuff while out of quarantine. I think the lesson here is that Shakespeare wrote a lot.

Me: doesn’t do anything Me: feels awful Me: spends hours being productive Me: feels tired and depressed

“We do not exist just to work.” This is the sentence that truly got through to my brain and the reminder I absolutely needed. Thank you <3

"don't tie your productivity to your self-worth" me: nods in agreement as if I haven't been doing that since I was 11 years old

“I’m not a slob, I’m not a couch potato, I’m a woman chilling, okay? And there is nothing wrong with that.” PREACH. this video hit me exactly where I needed it to. thank you thank you thank you

I feel like lots of people think that hobbies like reading, painting, or crafting are good things, but ONLY if you’re doing them at certain level. You only read one book? Read five more. Your paintings aren’t pretty or at an advanced level? What’s the point. People think that how much you enjoy the action isn’t as important as how impressive that action is to other people, and that prevents people from feeling proud of what they did. It’s ok to be bad at something. It’s ok to do something once without being perfect. It’s okay to do something for a while without improving. As long as you enjoy it, it was worth doing. You’re hobbies don’t have to be impressive/pretty/worth money to be good hobbies. Be mediocre. It’s ok.

I work at a bookstore, and before my country's lockdown, people were in high-gear panic buying mode, so there were tons of people buying literal stacks of books, puzzles, colouring books, self-help books, etc etc. People buying 30 books at the time because they're so scared of being bored and unproductive. Like, you don't normally read for fun, so why do you think you're gonna read so many books in 3 weeks? You're allowed to be bored, you don't need to keep your mind active and you don't need to feel guilty about not doing anything. Don't force yourself to binge read books you don't even like; if you'd rather rewatch a show on Netflix, do that!!

"CEOs and Billionaires are not God that I worshipped. They didn't do anything to me, they are not even related to me... So, why would I care?"

"extreme fasting / disordered eating habits that are disguised as 'biohacking'" Preach. I'm so sick of this stuff lmao

It’s triggering my husband with his health anxiety too. We’ve just been trying to live for today. We sat out on our back porch and watched birds eat from our bird feeder. We’ve painted. We’ve taken many walks, done many fun photo shoots. One day we sat down in a bed of clovers at sunset in silence. It was beautiful. We’ve had some really special moments in all this. A few months ago before this happened he read me a quote about us paying rent to spend most of our time in the office but now we’re having the time to value our home-the thing we spent thousands on for over 2 years. Home feels more like home. I feel closer to my husband, my inner child, the earth, and humanity.

I read something that said tiredness is a reaction to trauma. Our bodies and our minds are trying to shut down, to shelter us from the trauma. So if you're feeling particularly tired, lethargic or lazy right now, don't sweat it. That's a perfectly normal response to the world that we're currently living it.

"Okay??? I'm not Shakespeare" mood

Prime Example! I told my friend; “I think I want to start knitting” and they replied: “For like Etsy or something?” 🙄

Aside from the pandemic ofc, I’m enjoying the fact that everything is being slowed down. Like, there were so many times where I’d feel overwhelmed and felt like I could never truly take a step back and breathe because the world would just pass me by, and I kept wishing the world would stop or slow down for a little while. I never thought that’d be possible, but that is what has happened now, and I wish we didn’t have to have a pandemic for our world to not be so fast-paced

also important to remember that "success" is partly luck of the draw. You can work as hard as you want and not have it happen for you.

I feel like everybody should take a break and not put too much pressure on themselves to be productive all the time Except me, I should be working twice as much because I'm not good enough (Does anyone else feel like that?)

I feel like the main thing hustle and productivity culture leave out is that the point of everything we do at the end of the day is to be happy and enjoy life. If working a regular job and watching netflix makes you happiest, then why are you killing yourself waking up at 4am to read a lifestyle book and meditate while downing lemon water.

“Shakespeare wrote King Lear while quarantained.” Okay??? He also got paid for playwriting. Most people who are in quarantine right now are not getting paid a dime and are legit fearing for their lives and financial stability. King Lear is also just one of about forty plays he wrote.