Bad Poetry for Better Productivity
Productivity
We yearn for meaning of life
But it’s hard to find
While many animals communicate with each other – whales sing, howler monkeys screech, and crows caw – as far as we know, humankind is the only one that writes poetry. August 18th is Bad Poetry Day, and you can see my own personal entry in the haiku above.
But what does poetry have to do with productivity?
Working more hours does not improve productivity
To the great misfortune of most of us, a huge myth has taken over American culture.
Myth: if you don’t work all hours at your job or business, then you’re a lazy, bad person
If you’re not hustling and grinding, then you should feel guilty about it, according to unspoken culture. So many business owners feel like they’re doing something wrong when they go home to their families at a reasonable hour.
Let’s just take a moment to reflect on how insane that is.
Of the 24 hours each of us has during the day, and even assuming you’re getting a good amount of sleep (seven to eight hours each night), you’re supposed to work sixteen of them? Ignoring your loved ones, your hobbies, your fun? Your appreciation of the sunset, the ocean, the forest, your own body?
How does that even make any sense? Suppose you make more money from all this work. What will you spend it on? You don’t have time to take vacations or even enjoy the house you live in if all you do is work and sleep.
Our apelike ancestors did not come down from the trees and take up bipedal movement and give up tails so you could sit in front of a screen for sixteen hours, reducing your physical, mental, and emotional health in the process.
Many of us work in knowledge industries, where our brains are the main driver of results. While you can often get more results from a machine if you let it run another hour, the same is not true of human brains.
We only get about four hours a day to do hard, focused brain work. To crunch numbers, deal with spreadsheets, prepare tax returns and legal briefs, to create marketing plans, and to write business plans.
Sure, you can (theoretically) work for longer than that. But the quality of the work nosedives. When you make a lot of decisions, decision fatigue sets in. The quality of your decision-making also nosedives.
So no, refusing to work 10-12 hours a day doesn’t make you lazy. It makes you smart. And it helps you focus on the real priorities in your business. Once you decide that you’re going to work only certain hours, you don’t have time to faff around.
You figure out what’s going to move your business forward and you turn your attention to those things. That’s what makes you productive, and you can work fewer hours with better results.
To be more productive, you need a mindset shift
Our culture supposedly rewards the grind. But if that’s the case, then why are all the people desperately working two jobs still so poor?
Hustling and grinding keeps people focused on the hustle, not on what’s happening in the world. This is bad for two reasons: one, you don’t see the beauty that our planet provides and all the goodness that we still have.
Two, you don’t pay attention to laws and lawmakers who are actively trying to make the lives of the 99% worse in order to serve the capital god.
It’s simply not the case that working all hours either gives you better results or builds your character. It leaves you exhausted, trying to buy things that alleviate your fatigue. These hours are what leads to burnout.
So if you’re in business to help people, as many entrepreneurs are (especially women), grinding for too many hours for too long means you’ll have less of an impact. And ultimately help fewer people.
This is the mindset shift. Looking long-term to what more hours gets you, which is not Valhalla and could be a trip to the doctor, and choosing to work differently even though it goes against the grain.
When you’re mindful about your priorities and what’s necessary for physical, mental, and emotional health, you can accomplish more without burning out. Which means in the long run you get to serve more people and have more of an impact while enjoying life in addition to your business.
Believe it or not, productivity and beauty co-exist
Once you’ve shifted away from believing that the hustle and grind makes you a better and richer person, you can think about how you want your life to be. How you’re going to derive meaning from it or what your purpose is.
You’ll have time to enjoy life. Enjoy the time you get to spend with loved ones – because neither you nor they will be around forever. Gaze in awe at all the stars in the sky. If you live near LA you’ll need to drive out to a dark park like Anza Borrego or Death Valley (maybe not in August) to really experience the majesty.
Indulge in favorite treats like reading a good book or swinging in the hammock on a beautiful summer day. Play adult soccer or softball and go for drinks or mocktails after practice. Take the dog and kids on a walk after dinner or play some hopscotch.
Read poetry. Write some bad poetry. (Did you think I’d forgotten about bad poetry?) You don’t have to publish it for all to see like I did. Creating art, no matter how “bad”, can bring you back in touch with your younger, more joyful and energetic self.
All of these things that don’t generate immediate income but do generate joy for you recharge your brain so you’re more productive the next day. In addition to boosting your physical, mental, and emotional health.
To quote John Keating as played by the late, great Robin Williams in the movie Dead Poets Society:
“We don't read and write poetry because it's cute. We read and write poetry because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”
Recap (tl;dr)
Current American workplace culture is based on myths that are not only false, but actively destructive to health and well-being. Instead of hustling and grinding all hours of the day, focus on the important tasks and leave yourself room for other things that bring you joy.
It can be hard to rebel against the pervasive culture, but that’s where I come in. If you want to be able to focus on your priorities and leave the grind behind, schedule your free consultation call to see how I can help.