Productivity

[tealin]

Things I have done this week:

• completed student evaluations for my teaching in Denmark
• had lunch with a VIP (taking most of the day, in effect)
• booked SO MUCH AIR TRAVEL (I am killing the planet I love, I'm sorry, this won't last much longer I promise)
• thinned bookshelf and donated excess to library
• read and wrote and thought a lot about John Lasseter
• completed artwork for a commission 
• cooked a lot of food (why am I cooking so much, I don't know, it's not really necessary)
• did surprise scanning for freelance job from this summer, then packaging up work from said job so they can pick it up and scan it themselves
• tidied, turned my back and the mess returned pretty much instantly, tidied again
• replaced my rear tire and tube
• attended a meeting about glass doors

Work I have done on The Book this week:

• diddly-squat

So of course I am feeling colossally unproductive.

This is why I keep a diary of what I actually accomplished every day, because unless I have an actual itemized record of what I did, I can't remember doing anything, and despair at wasting my time.  Of course, it is possible to fritter one's life away just keeping house, without being idle per se, but I need to be reminded that I'm actually getting valuable things done even if the balance on The Big Job is a deficit.

Now to transfer the intellectual comprehension of this into something like a feeling, an antacid for that gnawing dissatisfaction ... 

Comments

[frith]

Apparently airplanes are quite efficient, they consume less fuel than do zeppelins, and since the number of passengers aboard an airplane must be taken into consideration, air flight consumes less fuel that the same distance by car. There many other things we contribute to that are probably a lot more lethal than air travel. Like using plastic bags and wrappers, cosmetics and toothpaste containing microbeads, buying produce that had been protected with nicotinoids...

[(Anonymous)]

Very visceral imagery in the last line but I can relate; sometimes self-condemnation makes me want to crawl out of my skin. I'm glad making a list helps and I hope you can internalize your accomplishments despite neglecting your Big Thing. I might start making weekly lists as well; my Big Things are always neglected...

If your travelling ever happens to bring you to my neck of the woods (New England) we should meet up for tea! I realize this statement is somewhat odd, since I can only post here anonymously but I found my way here from Tumblr/Patreon. Hopefully that's not too mysterious.

P.S. A meeting about glass doors sounds farcical.

[enigel]

That's a great way of phrasing it, "antacid for dissatisfaction".

I started "measuring" my days, by chronicling every "thing" I do into Achievement, Connection, and Enjoyment buckets after the brief CBT course I was offered. It was promoted as a way of fighting the depressed thinking of "I did nothing today", but when the brainweasels want to chew at something, they point out that all those little chores don't contribute anything to any "life goals" or higher order personal development.