An Antidote to Productivity
There are over 20,000 books on productivity on Amazon.
Which tells me one thing: time is not actually our problem.
If it were, one of those books would have solved it by now. But here we are — busier than ever, more informed than ever, and still feeling like we’re behind.
So this week, I want to offer you a different question. Not “How do I fit more in?”
But: What is actually worth my limited time?
Taking Things Off The List
Oliver Burkeman, in his book 4,000 Weeks, offers a sobering calculation: if you live to 80, you have roughly 4,000 weeks on earth. That’s it. There will always be more to do, more unfinished business, more on the list. That is not a problem to solve. It is simply the condition of being human.
So instead of trying to become the kind of person who can finally manage everything — the perfect career, the perfect body, the perfect inbox, the perfect morning routine — what if you took some things off your list?
When You’re Stuck, Commit
Sometimes we feel stuck not because we have no options, but because we have too many.
Here is what I have observed: commitment feels like constraint, but it is actually the opposite. Every time you commit to something — a relationship, a career path, a project— you close off other options. And closing off options is what makes it possible to go deep and to build something real. It gives you a ‘directional freedom’.
If you are in limbo right now, the answer is probably not more information or more time to decide.
The answer is to choose — and let the choice carry you forward.
Grab The Present
So many of us are living in the future tense. Productive, busy, moving — but always toward a moment when things will finally be sorted, when we will finally give ourselves permission to pursue the thing we actually want.
“When things settle down, I’ll…”
Here is the question I want to leave with you this week: if you knew that things never really settle — that this, right now, is it — which goal that you have been postponing would you start today?
Energy Is Your Real Resource
Jim Loehr’s work on full engagement reminds us that the key to sustainable performance is not better time management, but better energy management.
We need periods of focused effort, but we also need recovery.
Our energy diminishes when we overuse it. But it also weakens when we underuse it.
Sleep, food, movement, relationships, and spiritual health — whatever that means for you — make all else possible.
It’s the one thing that will always be worth of your time, it’s the one thing to always keep on your list.
What the Smartest People in the Room Are Really Asking
In 2006, a positive psychology course at Harvard — taught by Tal Ben-Shahar — became one of the most attended classes on campus. Hundreds of students, many of them among the most high-achieving young people in the world, packed the lecture hall every week.
Not to learn how to succeed. They already knew how to succeed.
They came because they were asking: How do I actually live well?
My answer, distilled: do the things that matter to you. Not the things that look impressive. Not the things that fulfil other people’s expectations of you. The things that are genuinely, specifically, yours.
(French psychologist Monique de Kermadec, who spent her career working with highly successful individuals, observed that the greatest regret she encountered was a life spent meeting other people’s expectations instead of one’s own.)
The Most Powerful Thing Anyone Can Give You
In a conversation on the Invest Like the Best podcast, host Patrick O’Shaughnessy asked Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky an unexpected question at the end of their interview:
“What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?”
Chesky’s answers:
“The biggest thing anyone has ever given me is to believe in me.”
Not a contact. Not an opportunity. Not advice.
Belief.
The greatest gift you can give yourself is to surround yourself with people who believe in you. The ultimate gift is to believe in yourself first.
How do you spend your time when you have both?
This Week’s Question
If you stopped managing your time and started protecting your energy, hence what truly matters to you — what would you do differently?
I’d love to hear what is shifting in your life and work.
Write to: welcome@standoutjane.com
I read every reply. Send me yours.
Bon weekend.
Image: Alamy, Roger Federer.