Have Done List

In All Stitched Up! issue #303 (RC: Add link to HYS blog from ASU303), Clare pointed us in the direction of an article written by David Robson entitled ‘How to Escape the Productivity Trap’.

The article pointed out the often-forgotten fact that ‘we have a finite amount of time, yet we still strive to accomplish infinite goals’. David’s commentary then sought to answer the question, ‘why do we put this pressure on ourselves, and how can we stop?’

If you’re yet to read it, it’s a fascinating commentary that walks us through the idea that the average life span has but 4,000 weeks and whilst we seek to make the most of each of these weeks with the very best of intentions, this yearning often leads to feelings of anxiousness and stress. Usually moving us further away from the happiness and fulfillment we originally set out to find.

David quotes psychology writer Oliver Burkeman, author of ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ throughout the article who recognises that we innately miss the natural rhythms that were once used to govern our time and activities. Whilst he recognises that these are now much harder to enlist as we find ourselves governed by the clock, we can make small changes that will lead us in the right direction.

Oliver believes we’d do far better if we accepted ‘our limited capacity to achieve all that we would like in life’. He suggests the remedy for escaping the productivity trap many of us find ourselves caught in can be as simple as slowing down, limiting the number of goals we pursue at any one time and/or creating a ‘have done list’ that helps to reframe our thinking to what we’ve achieved from the ‘all we’re yet to get done’ we often focus on.

Whilst we must admit that slowing down and focusing on a limited number of goals feels difficult to implement immediately, a ‘have done list’ is absolutely something we can do.

We think it might just be worth the effort as we seek to move from the often stressful trap of productivity to a more blissful sense of achievement and fulfillment.