I love my recent productivity strategies. Compared to my previous strategies where I felt pressured to come up with something, being engaged in work has been liberating and calming.
However, some of my recent productivity strategies are unconventional. I play a few video games before going to work.
I have written before about my gaming habits. Video games have been a significant part of my life, and as an adult, I have argued that they are generally quite beneficial for creativity.
However, from a purely productivity standpoint, the downsides are all about productivity. That’s the reason for procrastination on tasks. The addictive nature of gaming can lead to a lack of self-control. It doesn’t generate anything immediate or concrete that we can point to.
And above all, it takes time. It is a commodity that we respect as valuable.
They have a point about that, as they are such things in games and many other activities we have in our lives. They waste our day and ruin a good buzz. And this reinforcement is what makes us stand up to something we all experience.
Regret and guilt. We feel like we are not fulfilled enough. Anxiety and second-guessing even.
I know I am wasting my time by not getting into work right away, but I want to test the relationship with the feeling I described. Does it actually work well by boldly doing nothing for a while? Or do I fall into my habits of wasting the whole day because “I don’t want to work” from months ago?
So far, it has been the former.
Of course, my productivity app has helped focus even more on that point and enjoy work more. However, what I have felt further validates my reasoning that those feelings we experience are the rhetoric of productivity that bursts forth being so helpful.