Is Productivity an Illusion?
By: Alex Lago
Tags: Work, Philosophy, Productivity, Self Improvement, Life

We all know the feeling. Working tirelessly and seeming like you are not getting anywhere.

Sometimes you feel like all your hard work is empty.

What is it that you want?

A better job? more education? Fame? Money?

All the things you do to build up to this seem fruitless — and for most people they are.

We spend the little amount of time we have in life digging up holes only to cover them.

That is because we can’t possibly get what a lot of us want from our efforts.

Maybe you want to be a professional athlete. Yes, there are many things you can do such as train, work hard, and eat right.

But what about all the other things that are out of your control?

You have to be born with a body that supports being a pro athlete, you have to hope you don't get any illnesses, and you have to hope that you are seen and recruited.

If any of these little things go wrong, despite you giving it your all, you will not be a pro athlete. And wait… most of these things are gasp… out of your control!

How can a person possibly be happy by attaching themselves to a goal that can disappear with fate’s snap of a finger?

The answer is that they can’t and they will always go crazy thinking this way.

For every millionaire who grinded and took risks toward their goal that made it to the top, there are countless others who did not succeed.

That is my issue with grind culture. All over social media, medium, and youtube, I always see instructional media on how to “win”. These people swear that there is a trick. But in reality, they don’t acknowledge that most of this is up to chance.

It's easy for us to see a millionaire who has “made it” and listen to what he or she has to say. They are the ones who have successfully taken the risks and worked hard — and I don't deny this. But they will hardly ever talk about the horrible nights or the non-linear twists of fate that got them to where they are.

They tend to say it was all them and their genius rather than some turn of circumstance.

But I am telling you, that just as easily as they gained their wealth, they can lose it.

What if they all of a sudden get sick, make a bad decision, or the market unexpectedly turns out of their favor?

So the wise thing to do in my opinion would be to base your happiness on what you can do. Yes, try your best and aim to get to where you want — but also know that a lot of this is out of your control.

Be happy with the fact that you gave it your all and base your happiness on things that are within your control.

We don't have control over many things that lead to success. But we do have control over how we treat people. We have the power to make others’ lives better and to positively affect people.

So be the best person you can be, and accept your fate with happiness. Not everyone was meant to be an athlete. You must not lie to yourself. Don’t be bitter that you can’t achieve something that is unreasonable. Be ok with how you were made and know your limitation and strengths.

Work with temperance in all you do and never be taken by fits of laziness or spurts of incessant work. Regardless of what you do, the cosmos are huge.

The little tasks we occupy ourselves with and swear are the main purpose of life are not very important and you shouldn't worry about them so much.

Depending on what you value, productivity is an illusion. If you value money, fame, and pride, you will always be digging a hole and covering it back up.

Instead value justly treating others, proper decision making, temperance in all you do, and strength to get through difficult situations.

This is the only way to be happy and make a true difference. If this is what you strive for, productivity won’t be an illusion.