Can being be more productive than doing?

For as long as I can remember, I was driven to get stuff done. My ultimate goal at the end of each day was how productive I was. I got huge satisfaction out of ticking things off my list, and even more if I achieved things I never even thought of. I was also hugely disappointed if I didn’t achieve everything and completely frustrated if the first thing on my list seemed to take all day.

I was hooked on doing!

I’m not sure why I’m using the past tense just now … actually I do. I’m pretending I’ve got over my addiction, but I don’t think I have. Not yet.

Here’s some context you might relate to. Growing up in the 80’s was a crazy time. There was booming consumerism, a war on drugs and an AIDs crisis, not to mention lots of big hair, neon and lycra! If it is possible to summarise 10 years into one sentence it was, a decade of excess, pop domination and optimism. This was also the decade when self-help became mainstream. With everyone drawn to personal success, ambition and wealth, it was hard not to be influenced by it in some way.

We can all appreciate our early years as our most impressionable. These were some of my early impressions.?

Today is no different for those highly influenced.?

“We receive countless messages every day telling us that every moment that we’re not getting something done is a moment wasted.” - Cortland Dahl PhD

I still believe I had good intentions. Until about 5 years ago I was constantly on the look-out for how I could eke out every minute of the day to reduce wasted time and increase my efficiency. This is probably what led and kept me in the IT industry, an industry born, sold and financially successful in selling automated-efficiency to the world. If I wanted to make the most of my life, what other way was there? Sitting in front of the TV all evening was obviously not going to get me anywhere.

I only recently started to appreciate that I was using the wrong metric to measure myself. I was using tick boxes, like a bucket list of achievements, as a measure of my life success. I was going for quantity over quality. Ironically, something I talked about a lot in my work but I just wasn’t applying it to myself.

One example I can share that hit home for me was when my daughter and I turned a cargo van into a camper. We both expected this to take 3 months, maybe 4. It ended up taking 6 and we only completed maybe 60%. We started in November and initially there was a real rush to get something done in time for the summer break. After the initial rush and back home in the new year I think we both realised that there was real satisfaction in the smallest of details. I remember a video taken of the beautiful curves made by the jigsaw in the plywood, needing to snugly fit into the body of the van. At one point we tried to rush through building the draws and it was a dogs breakfast (look it up). When we made a single draw with way more care, there was unbelievable delight in watching a box of wood slide quietly and effortlessly into place. It is something only a parent (of a wooden draw) can appreciate.

So I started to slow down. Today we’d say I was becoming more present, actively present. But what I noticed was I seemed to be achieving more. This was shocking! How can slowing down achieve more?

The clue was in my van vignette. When I was rushing to try and complete everything I didn’t notice (or care to notice) the mistakes, the rework or the mostly but not quite finished work. This was all added to the end of another list, adding to what I thought was more stuff getting done.?

Slowing down meant fewer mistakes, completing the tasks and unbelievably, overall taking less time. But my one “most excellent” reason (thanks Bill and Ted) for continuing to work this way was the amazing satisfaction it provides. Not in the completion but in the process. I wasn’t so much doing I was actively being. I wasn’t focused on the end, I was enjoying (in this case) the craftsmanship. Enjoying the moment and the ride.

You may have already heard this (so it could already be a cliche) but I love the reminder: We are human beings not human doings.

We need to understand what it feels like to be. This doesn’t mean sitting still or blindly meditating. We can be completely present in every moment (actually something extremely important when using a hand-held circular saw).

But I need to warn you, it may take a bit to transition from always doing to actively being. I suggest you try it in your own time and then spread it out from there. When you reflect at the end of the day I can be pretty confident you’ll be surprised by what you have achieved.

Enjoy,

Tim.