I could not find a good stock image for this post. So I am going to go with a confused man as I am confused much of the time. I only say much of the time so as to be nice to myself.
I have mentioned on this site many times how I struggle with productivity. I have watched many YouTube videos talking of various techniques for being more productive. I have tried to implement some of them. However I keep coming back to the same problem. When am I done?
I have a big list of things I want to do. The joy of making a to do list is ticking things off. The problem is what is it that defines an item as done?
Reading is an item on my list. I can’t say something as simple as ‘Read a chapter’ as chapters vary wildly in size. The same is true of all things on the list. Do I strive for inbox zero? Can I say I am “done” with just deleting a couple of emails. As long as I work from the bottom to the top it will all get done sooner or later.
Do you know what the funny thing is? I am the only one who cares. I could delete my email address, sign off social media, abandon reading, writing, and spend all my free time watching TV. I don’t want to do that. I could though.
Trying to be productive is like wading through syrup. I have tried various apps, and good old fashioned paper. Each one has its pros and cons but none of them are perfect.
I know I have spoken about this before. I may even be saying some of the very same things here again. What I am doing for now is listing my tasks on Google Calendar. I avoided doing it this way before because my computer was very slow. Now I have a nippy Chromebook.
Will this work? Have I finally come up with the perfect way to be productive? Probably not. I work shifts so I cannot commit to one pattern of working or another. I cannot say “Saturday is my day off. I will work on my novel.” In the end all we can do is do our best. Which is kind of lame but it also happens to be true.
The great thing about the internet is the wealth of knowledge we can get. The bad thing about the internet is the wealth of confusion we can get. If you watch 10 different videos on productivity you are bound to get contradictory information. Which means that anything you do is probably okay on some level.
I do not know if this blog post is done. However I do seem to have reached a natural stopping point and maybe that is enough. See you next time.
I just wanted to say that I have checked this post. I really have. Unfortunately my particular combination of dyslexia and dyspraxia makes it really hard for me to spot typos. Please enjoy and I’ll try not to make too many errors.
Unstable Orbit 