Productivity and Purpose

I have become aware of an unwelcome visitor that has slunk alongside me on my transformational journey that has been really helpful to notice and name. We are surrounded in our society by a productivity culture that leads to a relentless push to keep going, get to the end, improve results, reach more people and make more money. We are bombarded with adverts to improve our health, our finances, our focus, our creativity, our results. Over time what happens is instead of offering genuine improvement and satisfaction, the opposite is true. We fall into the deadly potholes of comparison, people pleasing and self-worth issues. “There aren’t enough hours in the day!” can quickly lead to “I feel that I am not enough.”

Society’s definition of success which is based on achievement and accolade, numbers and money tempts us down the path to get to the end quicker and better than others. We are hamsters on a wheel feeling like we are going further – we are moving, we are producing, we are outputting – but are we really going anywhere? And at what cost?

The unwelcome visitor on the path turns succeeding at being the best version of myself into a deadly comparison. My journey companion has taken the world’s drive to succeed and placed it within my desire to grow. So the journey starts to take on the essence of lose/win/succeed/fail, rather than a dance with the divine as I walk along the path of life. It seems that even personal transformation and inner development can fall into the category of ‘do more, do more, do more.’ As I seek to improve, develop and grow I battle the demons called ‘Always room for improvement’ and ‘Never enough’.

Recent insight about the transformational journey is that transformation means change which means action which means energy’s used which means I GET TIRED. All the positive outcomes such as peace, freedom, clarity do require inner work which takes time, space and energy. Think about the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. The butterfly is beautiful yet the transformation comes at the cost of isolation and total loss of the previous form. While most people would agree it’s a positive change, we must recognise it is costly and requires a huge amount of energy.

More often than not, this drive to succeed comes from a sense that we are only valuable if we are producing. On a journey it is expected that you stop every now and then – firstly to tune in to your body, find out what it needs, and to rest and refuel. This is normal and expected when we set out on a significant hike, right? So why do we ignore the signals of our life’s journey and forget to take care of ourselves so well?

It is a balance of keeping going forward in my progress while not making the moving forward the only part of the journey. What about enjoying the surroundings? Looking up? Taking comfort and joy from my journey companions? Celebrating the distance already travelled? Developing hope and trust for the remaining journey?

Unless we connect with our purpose we will always be slaves to our productivity. Stand at the crossroads and ask yourself, ‘Why am I doing this?’ ‘What is my unique contribution?’ ‘Am I so focussed on the destination that I forget the joy in the journey?’ ‘What brings me joy?’ ‘How do I rest?’

I came across an article called ‘Demotivational Quotes’ which made me laugh out loud. The premise is that there is a wealth of motivational quotes, articles, courses, gurus and celebrities out there telling us how to be better at everything, successful and at the top of our game. It is sometimes very inspiring. It is mostly a little discouraging. And it is sometimes downright exhausting. How about this one? ‘Every dead body on Mt. Everest was once a highly motivated person, so…maybe calm down.’

It has become a cliché – ‘Relax. Breathe. Smell the roses’. But really whatever that looks like for you, do it. The journey with purpose is what makes our humanity come alive. Otherwise we are just robots on a production line.

I don’t know about you, and your thoughts of your own journey. Perhaps you long for a change but have become used to the familiar. Perhaps you are currently experiencing change that is overwhelming and unwelcome. Perhaps you feel like that hamster and want to get off the wheel. Let me encourage you that standing at the crossroads is a gift, however it looks and feels right now. Questions asked at the crossroads will be crucial to your future journey.

If you would like to explore this further in a coaching context please contact Anna at digdeepdreambig@gmail.com