Balance > Productivity

I used to think my perfect day was one in which I was productive. If I was “busy” and consumed with outside tasks, it was enough to keep my mind from falling anxious, which is a total enemy of productivity. It was a constant battle between my mind and my body, and in this game, the body always wins. You can take as many Adderall as you want, but you’re still going to fall asleep at some point. It was this weird purgatory between too much time and not enough; anxiety and stress; wired and tired. I failed to find peace in this dichotomy because there was no balance. I treasured the hustle and resented the rest. I would get upset with myself for taking naps or needing a break, thus taking away the benefits of resting in the first place. While the body may have always won, the mind was always a very sore loser, and never let the body enjoy any victory. I just wanted to be going nonstop at all times.

But one day I broke.

I’m not ready to share what happened just yet, but I will tell you that when part of me died, I was worried I was never going to be good at any job ever again. I was worried that the constant hustle and putting my customers’ needs above my own was what made me a valuable employee. I didn’t realize that the only thing undermining my worth, was me. I sacrificed my health to be good at my job and when I was no longer willing to do that, the job was no longer right for me. If you have to take a lot of Adderall to be interested in what you’re doing, doesn’t that mean you aren’t actually interested in it at all?

Fast forward to 2020

Now, I consider my perfect day is one where there is balance. It is a day where upon conclusion, I can look back and know that I put forth my best effort at work without overexerting myself. I developed the daily schedule because it allows me to list out the top 3 things I want to accomplish, while showing me my schedule at a glance. I will do a further post on how I use color coding to acknowledge all of the areas that are important to me (as well as what these are).

I saw a quote the other day that I absolutely loved:

“You’re only unproductive by the standards of the world we lived in two months ago, and that world is gone now.”

Make sure to visit the homepage to download your Daily Schedule and post it using the hashtag #AZdailyschedule and something cool will happen. 

I'll see you on Friday for how I use color to organize my life! (Yes, I'll still be talking about the daily schedule, so you might as well download that now) :)

xoxo,

Allison