Are we measuring our WORTH by the VOLUME of our work?
P.S. It’s not just you and it’s not because there’s something WRONG with you.
It’s a common and oh so seductive trap… AND it’s encouraged by our culture.
Here are some cultural indicators that ENCOURAGE us to think of productivity in terms of VOLUME.
Did you know…
That revenue from the productivity planner industry increased by over $50 million in the last 2 years?
That there’s word in Japanese for death by overwork (“karoshi”) because it’s so common?
That we’re often MORE creative when we’re not working at all?
….think about the insights that come when wandering in the sunshine without a deadline or the flashes of brilliance that emerge in the shower or on a long flight with no internet.
Sometimes my clients confess that they feel GUILTY when they have a block of time on a Saturday that isn’t planned.
There are so MANY projects that SHOULD be done — usually having to do with the mind-boggling clutter in the left corner of the dining room or the languishing pile on the floor beside the desk.
Sometimes, it’s more of a lament of not knowing WHAT to do that would feel like FUN or PLAY or freedom. It seems we forget- literally- how to have a good time.
There’s a reason for that AND it’s not because you’re doing something WRONG.
It’s because our brains and bodies are wired that way. When we feed our brains constant information and productivity overload, the BRAIN does its job to respond to threats. The primitive part of our brain (amygdala) that scans for threats thinks that this overload of stress means that we’re being eaten alive by a saber-toothed tiger and jumps in to save the day. It sounds the fight or flight alarm.
The executive function part of our brains takes a back seat… so too our creativity… feelings of love and belonging … the ability to relax… All those juicy parts go into hiding until the threat passes. And in our overload culture, the threat seldom passes.
Our BODIES respond too- all the stress hormones that help us run from the saber-toothed tiger surge when we’re on the run in our busy lives.
NO WONDER that we feel jittery, anxious and edgy… Followed by the crash of lying on the couch feeling a little baffled about what’s next.
The rest of the story is that we also respond to the feedback loop of the “high” when we ACCOMPLISH something ON THE LIST (to our overloaded brains, this feels like a win). That little hit of dopamine is like heroin to our busy brains.
The addiction to achievement is the seductive part. We inadvertently rewire our brains to need more and more of this feeling just to feel OK. Just to feel like ourselves again.
We LITERALLY forget how to disconnect from the onslaught of information and DOING because it’s physiological and psychological.
Then we think we’re supposed to do MORE or do it BETTER (cue the new planner!) and unleash our critical self-talk to further ratchet up the stress and feelings of overwhelm.
What we REALLY NEED is not to DO so much.
Our bodies, brains and spirits need a break. Our inner critics need to take a little vacation so we can unplug from it all and spend some real quality time just being who we are and loving what we love.
What we NEED is to REST in knowing that who we are is enough.
Declaring that the weight of our WORTH is
NOT derived from the VOLUME of our work.
But rather from the deep knowing that who we are right now is ENOUGH for right now.
Shifting our thoughts and hearts to know our intrinsic value opens up all sorts of possibility for that block of time on a quiet Saturday morning.
And it probably won’t be spent answering emails…
The first step is to DECIDE to look at the VALUE rather than the VOLUME of where we spent our time.
And so the fun and the best work of our life begins!
