Being unproductive doesn’t mean you’re lazy

We need to redefine our obsession with productivity.

For a long time, I was the ultimate achiever. Everywhere I looked, I collected trophies. I followed the rules. I asked for more, more, more — and felt uncomfortable when all the “stuff” stopped. The praise. The awards. The projects.

Basically, I was obsessed with reaching for that ever-elusive, shiny orb that we’re taught to seek, but will never catch — just like the Golden Snitch in Harry Potter: productivity. I was an efficient machine that never stopped running on society’s Hamster Wheel, and I didn’t see anything wrong with it.

When I look back to my life pre- The Unproductive Realization, I used to say that I “hated” being bored. I thought that slowing down meant that I was lazy, which was the ultimate enemy. Because, whenever I had unwound my never-ending To Do list, I became uncomfortable. I searched for my next victim — an unorganized closet, a sliver of an idea for a creative project — and worked on it until my fiending stopped. But, I only got my fix for so long; my To Do list would shoot up with random ideas again, and I was back to running on the hamster wheel.

It wasn’t until I achieved all the stuff and an empty voice within me quivered, “You know, this list could go on forever,” that I picked my head up. That I slowed down for…