Taking Charge Of Your (Chaotic) Life, Toxic Productivity, and TV & Media News

Welcome to Potentially Focused! It's Tuesday morning, December 17th. As we get ever closer to the holidays, I hope your day is off to a good start! Today we... Take on toxic productivity, help you take charge of your life during periods of massive change (like now), and share some interesting media news you may have missed.

As many of you will hopefully be off celebrating the holiday season, disconnecting from the things you want to disconnect from and focusing on time with family and friends, this newsletter will not publish original material during the weeks of December 23rd and December 30th. Instead, we will share some of our favorite pieces from the past year in case you're looking for a break from your break.

I'll say more in our next original edition later this week, but thank you all for allowing me to share this newsletter with you. It's truly been one of the joys of the past year and your support is deeply appreciated.

Potentially Focused is a newsletter for busy people in the TV business (or not) who are curious. Everyone looking for a change. Anyone interested in new possibilities and potential. The stories we tell ourselves, the stories we tell others, and what makes us tick. Each edition shares at least one great piece of content on professional development and one centered on personal growth. It's useful information all right at your fingertips.

Please like, subscribe, and share with your most or least productive friend or co-worker. All are welcome here!

Thank you,

Marco

Here we go...

POTENTIALLY INTERESTING TV AND MEDIA NEWS

• With so much emphasis on the growing creator economy, it's a smart idea to understand and keep up to date on how to monetize social media. Doing my part to keep you informed, here's the latest on monetizing Snapchat (from Snapchat).
• And talking about monetizing, recently, speakers?at the World Congress of Science and Factual Producers urged producers to not be beholden to just (the admittedly) valuable greenlights from commissioners.?Quintus Studios founder and chief executive Gerrit Kemming ?said producers should instead “be brave” by investing in the ideas that they believe in and uploading them to AVoD platforms like YouTube.?That approach has worked out well for Quintus, but they have some advantages others don't, and it will be interesting to see how many other companies follow their lead.

• The iconic children's series Sesame Street is searching for a new home. Where will it go next? Amazon, Apple, and Disney, we're looking at you...
• And Bill Belichick, the most accomplished NFL coach of all time, recently shocked the sports world with his decision to take a college head coaching job. It's not really a media story unless we look at it from the point of view of Bill Belichick leaving his TV gig(s), but I do think we can take a few things away from his decision:

1. It's interesting to see someone on Belichick's level realize that the market for his services in the NFL was thin. A good reminder to us all to be honest about the state of things and our place in our industry.
2. Belichick took a college job just as the business of college football is changing in ways that make it much more similar to the NFL. A good example of the power of keeping up to date on the latest developments in your field.
3. Granted, both points are pretty basic, but also easily overlooked when you've got a life and career that keeps you busy. So, always take time to tend to your career.

Next up...

HOW TO BREAK OUT OF TOXIC PRODUCTIVITY

Toxic is never good.

Take positivity.

It's fantastic to look at things and be able to see the good, even when things are not perfect. It comes in part from an awareness of and gratitude for the things you have going for you as well as an understanding that others have greater struggles than your own.

Seeing the positive opens you up to new possibilities. But, taken too far it's self-defeating. Being endlessly upbeat in the face of clear problems is delusional.

More than that, it makes you a poor leader. It's hard to rally around someone who is determined not to acknowledge the very real challenges right in front of them.

And, it's damaging to yourself as well.

We must allow ourselves to feel authentically. Sometimes, this will mean feeling overwhelmed and yes, even very negative. The important thing is to acknowledge your own and others' feelings, whatever they may be.

Once you've done that, you're on the road to dealing with challenges in a more productive way and can move from the panic of negativity to realistic optimism. That's the realization that you have the power to make decisions, to act, and to potentially improve things. The feeling that with some work, consistent effort, and some luck things can change.

While not all of us may feel that being too positive is a widespread problem, I am guessing that many of you will agree that the drive to be productive and the focus on productivity above seemingly all else is a key feature of our culture.

And, taken too far, it becomes...

You guessed it, toxic.

Israa Nasir is a psychotherapist and founder of WellGuide, a digital community for mental health awareness. Her work centers around helping people redefine their relationship with productivity and achievement to lead more mindful, purpose-driven lives.

In this article, she shares five tips on how to think about productivity so that the obsession over being productive doesn't keep you from being successful.

And since you very productive people are busy being busy (and whatnot), summarized below are Nasir's key points:

1. Know the difference between healthy and toxic productivity.

On the surface, healthy and toxic productivity can both look like achieving goals, but their roots couldn’t be more different. Healthy productivity aligns with your values and allows you to work with intention and purpose without sacrificing your well-being. Toxic productivity pushes you to do more out of fear, shame, the need for external validation, or a drive to prove your worth—not out of genuine purpose.

Ultimately, the long-term effects of toxic productivity are harmful. Studies show that if you link your self-worth solely to productivity, you’re at a greater risk for mental health challenges like anxiety and depression because you’re constantly striving to meet self-imposed, impossible demands. By recognizing when productivity stops serving you and starts consuming you, you can shift to a healthier, more intentional way of working—one that enhances your life rather than depletes it.

2. Emotions play a role in productivity.

It’s easy to think of productivity as a purely logical process, but emotions like guilt, fear of failure, and the need for approval deeply influence productivity. Sometimes, we use productivity to cope with uncomfortable feelings. Other times, productivity habits or lack of them can trigger uncomfortable feelings.

Learning to regulate your emotions is crucial. This means learning to identify, understand, manage, and release difficult emotions. Emotional regulation isn’t just about feeling better. It enhances productivity. By helping you focus, make clearer decisions, and stay motivated through emotional awareness, you can begin asking yourself: Am I working from a place of purpose or fear?

This question is the key to creating sustainable productivity.

3. Toxic productivity often hides in daily habits.

Toxic productivity isn’t always obvious. It often lurks in small, seemingly harmless habits, such as working through lunch, checking emails at midnight, or staying glued to your phone for fear of missing something. These behaviors can snowball into a lifestyle that prioritizes doing over being, leading to feelings of disengagement and exhaustion.

You can transform toxic habits into nurturing ones. Instead of working nonstop, schedule genuine breaks, like a quick walk or a few minutes of mindful breathing. Research shows that taking short, regular breaks can boost productivity by up to 40 percent.

4. Busting myths that keep you trapped in toxic productivity.

Our culture is filled with productivity myths that can keep you stuck. For example, you might believe multitasking makes you more efficient, but research shows it can reduce efficiency by up to 40 percent. Then there’s the myth that busyness equals productivity or that doing more equates to more success. But that’s also far from true. Research shows that only 20 percent of daily tasks drive 80 percent of our results.

By reframing these myths, you start to see productivity as a personal, flexible practice, not a rigid checklist. You’re not bound by external definitions of success, achievement, or productivity. Be guided by your own sense of fulfillment.

5. Rest is essential.

In a society that glorifies the hustle, rest is often seen as something you earn only after checking off your to-do list. But rest is not a reward; it’s essential. Neuroscience research shows that the brain needs downtime to process information, form memories, and spark creativity. A study from the University of California found that people who took regular rest breaks were 26 percent more likely to experience breakthroughs in problem-solving compared to those who worked nonstop.

Rest isn’t just about physical recovery either. It’s also a mental reset for approaching tasks with fresh energy and creativity. By intentionally building rest into your day, such as setting aside quiet moments or practicing active rest through hobbies, rest becomes part of the productivity cycle. Embracing rest as a cornerstone of productivity means honoring your own rhythm, allowing you to approach each task with clarity, resilience, and purpose.

And finally, Nasir notes that re-imagining productivity means questioning cultural frameworks about achievement and self-worth. She says that toxic productivity is the quiet whisper urging you to always be in the next stage, closer to the conclusion.

But, she points out (and I wholeheartedly agree) living this way takes you out of the present. It keeps joy at a distance.

The bottom line is, despite whatever our culture pushes, the most optimized life is just not the happiest or most fulfilling life.

Speaking of life...

HOW TO TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR (CHAOTIC) LIFE

The last few years have been challenging. To note just a few things...

There was, of course, the pandemic. There's political polarization, which no matter what side you are on, creates stress and anxiety. And then there's economic and emotional strain in industries disrupted by technological advances, like the entertainment industry.

But whether you work in media or not, rapid and (sometimes) unexpected change can make life seem chaotic. It's easy to feel overwhelmed.

Thinking of those of you who work in TV, this Fast Company article seems especially appropriate to share now. In it, the author collects smart advice on how to manage the chaos you may be facing.

But, whether you work in TV or not, you're likely to experience huge change in your life as well and the article is full of good tips on how to navigate those changes.

Here's a handy summary...

A loss, divorce, illness, or other serious disruption can lead to upheaval, uncertainty, and a torrent of emotions that may make it difficult to function. When you’re also juggling a career, family, and other responsibilities, keeping obligations on track can seem daunting.

Author and TED speaker Bruce Feiler calls these extreme disruptors “lifequakes.” Most of us have roughly three dozen of those challenges across the course of a lifetime, he says.

He estimates that the average length of a lifequake is five years.

Feiler also estimates that we spend roughly half our adult lives in transition from such big events. So, he says, “If we’re going to go through these periods, we might as well try to do that—maybe not more efficiently—but more effectively."

Let go of linear thinking

Recognizing that you’re going through a lifequake and giving it a name “lets you walk a little steadier, gives you a language to reach out to a friend and ask for help,” Feiler says. “So, in some ways, step one is just to say, I’m not alone. Like half the country is going through a life transition at any time, and that means you or someone you live with is going through one right now. I’m going to get through it because other people have gotten through it.”

Life isn’t linear, he adds, so stop beating yourself up for expecting it to be so. Letting go of that linear expectation also lets you shed the pressure of being “off track” or “off schedule,” according to Feiler.

Lean into your coping tools

When you’re in the middle of a massive life event or loss, it’s good to dust off your self-care tools. Ground yourself by remembering the challenges you’ve faced before and overcome, suggests psychiatrist Gail Saltz. “Resilience is not about just having coping tools in the moment. It’s really about what you’ve gone through in the past and ended up on the other side."

Then, use the tools that have worked for you in the past to manage stress, anxiety, or other difficult emotions. These may include talking to a trusted friend, exercise, deep breathing, or progressive muscle relaxation—whatever works for you.

Career coach Corean Canty agrees. “The biggest thing is learning to give ourselves permission for radical self-care every day."

Embrace routines

During chaotic times, routines can be helpful, Canty notes. She calls them “sacred brackets.”

For example, how do you start and end your days? When you find routines that work for you, they can help you create a rhythm of care in your day.??

Start with your strengths

Feiler says that transitions have phases: The “long goodbye” is when you say “goodbye” to the way things used to be. You may mourn the past or use some ritual to mark the change.

(My sense is many in TV may be experiencing this right now)

The second phase is the “messy middle” where you’re shedding certain habits and experimenting with new ones.

The third is the “new beginning,” where you unveil your new self and update your life story.

(Updating your life story feels crucial to me. That personal storytelling helps ourselves makes sense of and feel in more control of our lives. The power of story, of belief, makes things and change possible.)

But, as you’re going through the transition, don’t feel like you need to enter each phase in order, Feiler notes. Instead, start where you’re strongest. “Everybody’s good at one of these phases, and everyone is bad at one of these phases." So, if you’re good at making lists and finding solutions, start tackling the messy middle. If you need some time to process what’s going on and deal with your emotions, start with the long goodbye. “Start with what you’re good at,” he says.

Don’t ignore your feelings

Throughout the process, it’s important to be aware of your feelings and not dismiss or “stuff” them, Saltz says. When you’re not aware of those feelings, you may deny what you need to get to a better place, such as reaching out for help or simply giving yourself a break.

“Often, when people are highly stressed or highly anxious, highly upset, they—for lack of a better term—‘turtle,’” says Saltz. “They don’t acknowledge and don’t reach out. They try to contain it and don’t want to tell people what’s going on—maybe even feeling a sense of shame about what’s going on. But that’s really the opposite of what would help you and help you to do well at work too.”

Conduct a meaning audit

When you’re in crisis mode, prioritizing what’s most important can feel impossible. Feiler suggests figuring out your “ABCs of meaning” to help you get clarity:

• A is agency: This is what you do, build, or create. For many of us, this relates to our work.
• B is belonging: This area includes relationships: family, friends, and larger communities.
• C is your cause: This is your calling or purpose—something greater than yourself in which you believe.

Each of these takes a portion of your time, focus, and energy. Feiler suggests this exercise:

Give yourself a score of 100 and divide what you put into agency, belonging, and cause.

The ratios will likely change over the course of your life, especially when a lifequake happens. Understanding that these shifts will happen can help you better weather them when they do, even if they’re out of alignment with where you want them to be.

Work on resilience infrastructure

Whether you’re dealing with a significant life event now or may have one in the future, Canty says it’s a good idea to think about how you can prepare for such times. As a former executive, she engages in scenario planning—thinking about various situations and what the solutions are if things go awry. In addition, she says that it’s important to think about how we build our own stress-management tools to help us make better decisions when we’re stressed and in fight-or-flight response, when we may not be thinking clearly.

Shed something

Feiler says these periods of transition often make us involuntarily shed something, such as a relationship or a way of being, for example, but they can also be an opportunity to shed something that we don’t like or which is holding us back.

“There’s probably some aspect of your personality or your habits or your way of living that you didn’t like,” he says. Use this time to change that too. Do something creative. Work on changing unhealthy habits.

As you’re emerging from this period of change and tumult, using your hands or body to make something new can lead to greater well-being—the idea that you can create a new self, too,” he says. That’s an idea that can help give us hope during dark times.

Smart advice all and in particular, I like the idea that a challenging time in your life may also allow you the clarity and moment to change things and behaviors that are holding you back.

Here's hoping there's nothing holding you back, but if there is, read the full article. It's a good road map for these challenging times.

AND, FINALLY FROM SOMEWHERE ON THE INTERNET...

Below is a handy reminder that what seems so daunting today, will likely seem much less so in the future.

THAT'S IT!

Today, we ... Broke out of toxic productivity and found ways to take control of our lives in the middle of disruptive life events.

And even shared insight on Snapchat, Muppets and Bill Belichick.

We'll be back on Thursday with another new edition packed with great information all for you. Until then, wishing you a productive and fun next few days.

Please let us know what you want more or less of. Please feel free to share information you’d like me to pass along to our readers. Also, always happy to feature guest contributors.

And of course, please like, subscribe, and share.

With deepest gratitude,

Marco