What's the point of being productive if it makes you miserable?
Rethink how you spend your time, including the two great Substacks you should know about and subscribe to.
Sitting down to write when you don’t know what you’re going to write about is—well–set up for staring at the blank page for hours, watching the black cursor appear and disappear, looking outside the window and wondering if you should put on a face and go for a walk—maybe the idea will magically pop up like in the cartoons. You get the cartoon-like lightbulb moment above your head, and sparkles in your eyes will indicate—once again, you have a purpose.
I don’t normally have this block. I normally know what to write, but right now, I am tired of thinking about time because “time shall pass” one way or another.
How it passes is up to you, and that was the front, centre, and essence of the past weeks while covering the time topic.
Last week's post ended with one question to ponder:
What’s the point of being productive if it makes you miserable?1
What was your answer? The chances are you’re caught up in the productivity cycle: weary of testing productivity wonder-hacks or reading more about how to be productive. Why is that?
The answer is relatively simple, but what it takes to unpack is beyond complicated.
A/You do not particularly enjoy how you spend your time, so why optimise for something that does not bring joy and satisfaction?
B/ You know there’s a bigger issue brewing underneath, and you’re not ready to remove the lid, so getting on with general stuff seems easier.
C/ You’re exhausted. More mentally rather than physically. Driving away in the caravan across Europe sounds like the best idea you’ve ever had. Leaving all the commitments for some other time months later. After all, you only need to rent a caravan and pack the bags, and you’ll deal with the consequences later.
We could go through the whole alphabet; there are so many options. For now, let’s circle back to my original point.
But for that, I have to give you a bit of backstory. Otherwise, it’ll seem I’m having Brittney Spears’s 2007 shaving head moment—it might resemble it.
Backstory to today’s block.
I make it a point to engage as much as is relatively timely and possible in conversations on Substack, whether on the Notes or comments after reading an article.
I don’t do it to make others aware I exist. If the writing speaks to me, and I get a nudge to have my say, I do it.
In real life, for example, at work, I think and consider what I share. Substack is different. That’s a good thing. It’s important to have a place where you can be yourself, share your opinions freely, and have genuine conversations about other topics rather than talking about daily volumes, deliveries, and all that ‘exciting’ stuff I get to deal with at my full-time job.
Because I have a well-paid job, I get to be paid subscribers to some of the Substacks. The most recent I committed to for a year is
, whose writing inspires me to be a better writer (still a work in progress, as you can see).The timing of the subscription could not be better.
What I gather is that she has the Wednesday threads, and she asks questions for the discussion. Last Wednesday, she provided a question and sort of exercise, which goes like this:
“If you found out tomorrow that you had only six months to live, would you be glad you are living your life the way you are? If not, what is holding you back from living a different life now?”2
Auch. The answers cut deep. They made me realise that I focus on time, maximising my productivity while battling burnout from last year, barely keeping my head above the water—I am doing it all wrong!
When I started
, my original idea was to work on my burnout, search for the joy I’ve lost along the way, and share tips, ideas, and commonly useful strategies for having a fulfilling life. (I know this is not a modest goal.)By no means am I an expert on either of the topics I cover, but I spend hours reading, pondering, writing, listening, and learning about the topics that spark enough interest for me to try them out and uncover the truths or false premises.
I’ve been on a personal quest and self-improvement for over a decade. I believe that whatever cards you’re handed to are not the only cards you have to play with. A growth mindset comes to mind. There is potential in all of us; some choose to develop it, and some don’t.
And that’s fine.
Look online, on the Substack, or around yourself, wherever you are. Many people experience a lot of what you do. I write about my experiences in the hope that they resonate with you in the same way that other posts resonate with me. It sparks ideas or questions that force you to examine or reexamine what you’re doing here and now and whether it is still working for you. That is what I love about learning, exploration, and writing.
So, I’ve come to realise one big lesson this week.
It synchronises with the posts I’ve released over the past few weeks on managing time, particularly last week's auditing time.
The underlying idea, of course, is to — Identify the time-consuming yet non-rewarding activities to allow us to replace them with more meaningful and enjoyable tasks.
Thinking I only have 6 months to live, am I happy with how I live now?
To some extent, YES, but the honest answer is NO. If the only answer you’re after is one word: yes or no. Then NO would tip the scale.
If I had only 6 months (which might be the case; this is the scary unknown), I would get that caravan, pack the bags and set out on the trip across Europe. I’d start up North and head to Norway, Sweden and Finland. I’d make my way to Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium. I’d time it perfectly for Munich in October and start winter in Switzerland. Then I’d head south, starting with Greece, which I’ve never visited, followed by Malta, Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal.
The European trip is not what’s important here. It’s the fact that I would let go of my current commitments, including handing in notice at my current job, and head far, far away.
That is if the six months were all that remained. I still enjoy where I live, working on my Substack, and the lifestyle I can afford with my current earnings.
Could life be better? Absolutely. That brings us to the second part of this exercise.
“What’s holding you back from living a different life now?”
The commitments, the lifestyle I am used to, and the future plans. Making Substack my primary income would be a dream, yet there’s still time for it. For a start, my writing would need to improve (I am open to feedback and constructive criticism and welcome your tips), and my reader engagement would need to increase. It’s fair to say that Substack is a long journey. It would be unfair to place such high stakes and responsibilities on my writing.
Money is, for sure, what holds me back. And I could bet it’s the same for you, too.
Is that truly so? I don’t have to work as a manager; I could do any job (that does not require much qualification). Could I pick strawberries in Italy? Or pick the unique Godello grapes in some regions of Spain? Yes, you need to be willing to spend hours in the sun, working manual tasks for a lower income. But, yes, you could earn money that would help you get by.
“If you found out tomorrow that you had only six months to live, would you be glad you are living your life the way you are? If not, what is holding you back from living a different life now?”
Ask yourself this question and then subscribe to
Her Wednesday thread is the flawless catalyst for the change you might need after completing your time audit last week.
We often fill out the blank spaces on the calendar as soon as we create them with yet another task without pausing and considering: Is this truly how I want to spend my time?
A lot of adulthood is about doing things we don’t want. As
puts in his post: “A letter to a younger writer”.“Part of being a writer (or an adult, for that matter) involves spending a lot of your time doing things you’d rather not be doing (especially the dishes.”3
Stop reading this post and read “A Letter to a Younger Writer.” It has such great advice, and laughs are guaranteed.
What I am about to say next is a massive cliche: Next time you’re auditing your time, carving out more to do more, remember this: focus on your own happiness and do as much of what makes you happy as possible.
We all heard this phrase enough times to cringe when we heard it again.
Once you repeat something long enough, it loses its charm.
It’s mental health awareness week, so make sure you do something for yourself this week.
Here’s what’s coming up
What happens when you start doubting your choices? You start to question everything. It happens to all of us at some point.
If, like me, you find that you need to make some major changes to how you’re spending your time now versus how you’d love to spend it, stay with me. Next week, I will share how to turn it around.
Thank you for reading, and have a great week,
Jana
This is the seventh post out of 24 essays I plan to write as part of the Sparkle on Substack Essay Club to keep myself accountable and post regularly.
If life often gets in the way of your regular writing and you are a fellow Substacker (which many of you are), I'd recommend you join
’s ’s Essay Club.
I really enjoyed reading this article - and you have chosen a compelling title! I think, you already do awesome with your writing. And I am going to follow along :)
The title really grabbed me because it perfectly sums up my journey to improve personal productivity.
To me, you are a great writer. I enjoy reading your articles. I could never write like this on my own and I rely a lot on generative AI to polish my grammar and choice of words. I'm curious what is ideal or good writing skills that you meant or are looking for.