Some Thoughts About Time Management Vs. Productivity

A few Saturdays ago, I spent the morning hanging out upstairs with the family. Then, I went to visit Papa Sorensen and play him a few songs I’ve been learning on the guitar. After that, I went to a surprise birthday party for one of my childhood best friends. Later, I took my brother Joey to a park so he could test out his RC boat on the pond.

All in all, it was a great day.

The problem was, I had planned to work on my kitchen cabinet painting project that day. So although I was spending time with people I love dearly, I had this little nagging voice in the back of my head like,

“You’re not supposed to be hanging out. You have a project to work on. What are you doing? Stop being lazy and get to work!”

But the thing is: I wasn’t even being lazy! It’s not like I was just sitting on my couch scrolling through Instagram on my phone. I was spending priceless time with people I love and making happy memories that I will treasure forever.

Welcome to my brain.

No matter what I spend my time doing, my brain always likes to poke me with a sharp stick and be like, “Yeah but you would have done more if you were a better person. You should have done more.” I think the only recent time my brain didn’t do this is the day I spent 11 hours painting my kitchen cabinets.

Even when I’m being so-called productive, like doing laundry or painting the freakin’ kitchen cabinets, there’s a voice in the back of my head being like, “What about the bathroom? What about the litter box? What about that basket of mail and stuff you need to file? When was the last time you watered your plants? Have you trimmed Chainsaw’s claws lately? There’s cat hair everywhere; you need to dust and sweep and mop right now before the world ends.”

All this noise makes it really difficult to relax and enjoy myself, even when I am doing something I love like sitting outside to read a new book or coloring in one of my elaborate coloring books or hanging out with my family.

My concept of “productivity” is so wack. Unless what I’m doing has some measurable, quantifiable, tangible result, I don’t think it’s productive. So I can spend time bonding with loved ones and creating valuable relationships with my siblings, but it doesn’t feel like I “did anything” because it’s not something I consider “productive.”

Which brings us back to that Saturday. I hung out with family and friends. And then, at the end of the day, I went down and painted my cabinets for a few hours. Because time management is so much more than being chores-productive.

When you can manage to hang out with dozens of people you love in a single day, you’ve got it made, my dude! Your laundry can wait. Your cabinets can wait. They’ll still be there tomorrow. But life is short, and your loved ones may not be here tomorrow — or you may not be here tomorrow!

Don’t use it as an excuse to be slovenly. Keep a house you are proud of. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that busyness or chores are the only way to make your time worth it. Any time spent doing a good thing is worth it — chores are not the only way to be productive.