Let’s say you have figured out some productive methods, and are now looking to increase your productivity. Cutting out something you enjoy doing should not be your first plan of action. Cutting it out completely should probably not be one of your plans of action at any time either. Things you enjoy doing recharge you, but thinking of them that way makes them sound like required activities. This takes away from their enjoyment.
What You Enjoy Is A Treasured Activity
Deleting what you most enjoy from your regular routine, or cutting back on it substantially, may work for a couple of days, but you will start to feel the lack of that which fits you best, like reading fiction books, or playing hockey, or playing the piano. Often times, we think the easiest solution to really get some traction on our goals is to cut back on what we enjoy, as that must be what is taking away from our energy, but this isn’t the case.
The cutbacks need to be on those habits that we don’t really enjoy, but are stuck doing. These are the habits that take away the most energy from us. They can seem like they are not so bad, and that we enjoy them somewhat, but you might notice that they are only enjoyable for the first minute or two, and are then mostly time-consuming after that. They don’t have a spark about them.
Protect The Time For It
What you enjoy doing needs to be allowed to be enjoyed. Once you see where your real enjoyment comes from, you want to make sure you maintain the time for and around it. Having your real source of enjoyment have its time cut in half due to poor planning can lead to the rest of your day feeling incomplete.
The things that we enjoy the most are those which give us the most fulfillment. On the other hand, items we label as enjoyable, which are only based on bad habits that we maintain, do not give us any. Those are what we should cut out.
The activity you get the most enjoyment from could be the key to your success, as continuing to do it can motivate you past your competition. For example, if running has been your regular enjoyable activity for many years, it is to your advantage to maintain it, and not let some other plan or distraction affect your time slot for it.
Let me know about your activity that you do to re-energize yourself, and which you may have done for a long time, in the comments, if one like that comes to mind.
{ 22 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Armen, I loved this post and I totally agree with what you said.
Hey Oscar.
Thanks about this. I also agree with what I said, and I think it is key that we don’t toss away or shorten those activities that are of special fulfillment. It is the wrong way to go about time creation. Thanks for the retweetage also.
Hey Armen,
I’m one sick puppy. I love sleeping in. I have to force myself not to do it because I know it’s a waste of time.
However, I see your point that one shouldn’t go overboard and cut all their enjoyment out of life for the sake of productivity.
Hey Gordie.
That one is a tough call. I was thinking more along the lines of sports, self-expression, or relationship habits. Sleeping in might be what this article represents for you, so that is reasonable.
On the other hand, there is some Chinese proverb that says that any man who wakes up before dawn 360 days of the year never fails to make their family rich, and I agree with that message fully.
Good call about realistic productivity.
How is sleeping unproductive, Gordie? So long as your waking hours are productive, sleep all you want. I do!
Ari has a point here. Maybe you are sleeping unproductively Gordie. Joke“
Good call though about how items that are labeled unproductive only are if they aren’t providing you with fulfillment and energy build-up. If they are, they are just fine.
Sleeping is not a waste of time! I love it too and I’m never giving it up. I sleep anywhere from 8-10 hours per day and am proud of it. Don’t give up your dreams (pun intended) Gordie!
Armen, good post. You don’t want to start cutting out the things you like to do. That will just end up in disaster
.
Hey Henri.
Nice support of sleeping Gordie over there. He’s probably sleeping right now. I am joking.
I can see that you appreciate your rest time. By combining that interest with early sleeping, it could still fit with the early wake-up like I pointed out in Gordie’s comment. Regardless, if that is a habit that gives you an advantage, it sure certainly be maintained, unless you try a different way that also gives you an advantage. Good call about disaster when removing them.
I agree – I try and now let productivity get in the way of having fun and doing what I enjoy. Somehow, I seem to be more productive when I think like this.
Hey Anthony.
This is a good thing. I have tried to put productivity above self-interest, but that only seems to work in the short-term, as self-interest runs our show, and productivity is a level below it.
I agree with your wise words Armen.
When you mentioned about how there are certain activities that may seem enjoyable on the surface, but deep down inside we really don’t enjoy them.
This made me think of the activities of the things that many people do not because they enjoy it, but because they do it to avoid feeling negative about other tasks. In a way, it allows them to escape from their problematic realities.
However, the problem is that many people confuse their passionate hobbies with mind-numbing hobbies. They may take (for example) video games as a sort of an enjoyment not because they enjoy it sincerely, but because it distracts them from their problems.
I’ve had this problem before and there were times when I enjoyed playing them, but the majority of the time it just felt like I was forcing myself to play them because I didn’t want to go back to my problems.
You’ve given great advice – the thing you enjoy the most might be the key to your success. However, we must consciously distinguish which are the things that we do in life that are for passionate joy, or for the escape of personal problems.
Many people work hard at their careers not because they enjoy it, but because it acts as a distraction for something else. And that is NEVER the way to live.
Thanks for this wise post Armen.
Steven
Hey Steven.
This is true about how deep down they aren’t enjoyable. I have done much to avoid feeling negative about something else, and then both didn’t go well. Running from something is terrible compared to understanding why you are running from it, and staying away from it on purpose.
Good call about passionate versus mind-numbing hobbies.
Video games can be enjoyable, but each person should see if they really are enjoying them.
I sure am glad to reiterate that point about the the thing we enjoy. That one thing we have been doing for years, and has become our fun habit, might be the energizer we have that no one else has, which gives us a unique way to set our routine. One example of this would be someone who likes drawing flowers, who can do that every day at a certain time and plan their other activities around it.
These are only wise words when Steven labels them as such~
Armen,
Great advice. Something that energizes makes up what is the same as living for the individual. It may even be the thing that causes others to appreciate that person.Great post thank you for your insight.
Vonzel
Hey Vonzel.
Thanks about that. It sure might be what causes others to appreciate them. Usually our quirks are the things people remember us by, because the rest is all the same as everyone else. I’m not giving up anything someone might see as quirky.
Totally agree Armen. One of the things I frealized is that to be more productive, I actually need to allocate time to do what I enjoy doing. Depriving yourself of what you enjoy may make you more productive in the short-term, but in the long-run it just makes you dread whatever it is you need to be doing. In the bigger picture, being able to integrate what you enjoy and your work is possibly the best way to reap the maximum rewards.
Hi Celes.
You’ve got this point down in that action. I like that you said it leads to dreading the required activity. No one wants that, so no one should head in that direction.
Good call about integration there. A lot of corporations might tell employees about synergy, while leaving out part #2 of the pairing, which is the enjoyment factor.
Thanks for this.
Twitter: aflourishinglif
December 22, 2009 at 3:17 am
A great reminder, Armen. Thanks! This post asks us to look at the big picture. What are we doing with our lives? What do we want our lives to be about? If we’re doing a lot of things we don’t enjoy, it might be time to make a shift in some area of life. I like to enjoy myself, whether I’m working or not. And I pay a lot of attention to balance. Enjoyable time away from work energizes all areas of my life.
Hi Gail.
Thanks for that. That big picture is only there for some of us that want to see it. Some like to only keep the small picture in view, and that can leave some results missing.
Good call about the enjoyable time energizing all areas of your life. It is like a big water fountain that we can either drink from, or leave untouched, and when we leave it untouched, we feel a bit dried out in the other things we do.
Twitter: bretthimself
December 22, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Awesome post. I seriously have nothing else to say but that.
Doing things you enjoy is WHY YOU LIVE, people! WAKE UP! Don’t cut it out of your life. That’s the part of life we enjoy the most!
Simple message, brilliant impact.
Hey Brett.
Thanks for that. It sure is why we live. Cutting it out is cutting out a piece of us, and that can’t healthy.
I yearn for impact.
Great article Armen. At first it may seem logical to cut out the things we enjoy in order to give us more time to raise productivity, but when you think about it, it’s kind of stupid. Why would we cut out the small things we enjoy in life? They are treasures like you say, that help bring us more peace in our mind and energy in order to help us stay sane for the rest of the day.
Hey Hulbert.
Thanks about the post. They are our treasures. Cut out your treasure, and suddenly everything else starts to look bland. This is why bringing back piano, running, reading, or whatever habit you once had can have such a big impact on your current functions.