How do we measure a day?

Meg Giordano

I would guess that most folks have noticed some form or other of discourse around the problem of ‘busyness.’ I’m particularly interested in the discussion around the difference between ‘busyness’ and ‘productivity.’ In general, people tend to use the distinction to say that ‘productivity’ is better/more healthy than mere ‘busyness.’ There are, naturally, a number of ways we can approach this issue, including whole professional fields and kinds of expertise, which I respect and value. What I have in mind here are the casual ways that average people approach this unfortunately common problem. Of the many possible approaches, there are two specific ones that have particularly captured my attention. My apologies to the ones I am not doing justice to here.

First, there is the approach represented by the interesting panoply of images you can find by Google-searching ‘people being busy’ and ‘people being productive.’ I found this extremely unscientific exercise fascinating. While there were some outliers, I found a remarkable trend. Both searches showed images of people with up to seven arms (I think I’m exaggerating – probably there were only six), doing a wild variety of things. The main difference between the ‘busy’ and the ‘productive’ people in those images was their facial expression: busy people had stressed faces, while productive people had happy faces. Another version of this same trend was that the ‘things being done’ in the busy images were drawn somewhat chaotically, either as if in motion or blurred, while the things in the productive images were drawn as clear and stable. Even the ‘things being done’ were happier in the images of the productive people! The message in this approach is clear: the difference between busy and productive is a matter of effectiveness. If you don’t want to be just spinning your wheels, there are people who can help you be better at using your resources (time, energy, etc.) so that you can actually accomplish things and do them well. That is reasonable enough, I guess. It certainly is a wonderful skill set to help people successfully get done the things they need to do, and I appreciate the contributions of the experts who help us in this way. But I can’t help noticing that, in my exercise/thought experiment, the productive people were still envisioned as having seven arms, doing seven things simultaneously – only they seemed terrifically happy about doing them. It seemed to suggest that if you manage your time and etc. well enough, you should still be able to do the superhuman, and be happy while doing it. My problem with this view is that, happy or not, I don’t actually have seven arms, or the time/energy equivalent. Burnout seems looming on the horizon, whether or not I’m smiling.

A second average-person approach I’ve noticed declares that such productivity – when understood as multitasking – is in fact an illusion. You can indeed only do one thing at a time, no matter how skilled or happy you are. In this approach, the skills to be cultivated are the skill of saying ‘no’ or ‘later’ to things, and the skill of being more fully present to the one thing at a time you are choosing to do. This seems reasonable as well. Do one thing, do it well, and then move on to the next. Serenity seems much more likely on this plan. My problem with this view, however, is that many people’s days don’t come at them in a way that can be organized into one task at a time. Life often comes at you a whole lot more relentlessly, and many things either won’t allow you to save them for later or aren’t safe to be left till later even if you have the choice. Dare I say, it is something of a position of privilege to be able to manage your busyness in this way.

What is to be done? Is there no serenity possible for those who live in a daily world of tasks not really of their own choosing?

My thought, certainly not unique to me, is that there is a difference between the set of tasks that we cannot help being in the midst of, and the measure by which we determine whether a day was ‘productive’ or not. I don’t think we often enough think about the power we have in this regard. We may indeed not feel ‘in charge of’ the busyness of our task list for the day, but we can be in charge of the ‘good things’ that we want to be present in our lives along the way. What is on that list? Maybe, remembering and using people’s names? I may be pressed by, struggle with, or even fail at certain tasks I need to face, but if I used ten people’s names while doing them, I can feel ‘productive’ at the end of the day if that was my ‘measure.’ What else might be on such a list? Being on time, as far as it is in my power? Letting people finish their sentences before I respond, or (the reverse) making sure I am clearly heard when I speak? Getting my steps in? Reaching out, however briefly, to a certain number of friends or family? Not texting while I’m walking? Learning five words of a new language, or listening to a song that is new to me? Setting out the things I will need ahead of time, so they are waiting for me when I need them? Driving peaceably, or even generously, toward other drivers? Using my influence to make sure everyone in the room is being heard, or paid attention to, appropriately? Wearing comfortable shoes/clothes? Not eating out of containers, but placing whatever I’m eating on a dish? Letting someone else feel right, clever, etc.? Tea and toast?

I’m sure there is some privilege in this list, too. Not everyone has access to these things in the same way. However, it seems to me that to whatever degree a person can have a say in how they will measure whether their day was ‘productive’ in some meaningful way, to that degree they can resist the exhausting pull of ‘busyness.’ And you don’t even need seven arms to do it!