As we were returning from our hometown after Diwali, the fields seemed to stretch out forever (as one would expect from a road trip in northern India).
Looking at the fields my thoughts traced back to our fields back in our hometown. When we were still there, my Mumma had asked my grandmother why the fields weren’t looking as lush and healthy as they are shown to be.
She gave quite a sensible answer – They are lush, just not right now. The fields have just been harvested and are left fallow so that they regain their fertility and can yield just as much the next time around.
Looking at the fields for a whole lot of time (8 hours to be precise) just made me think about aimlessly.
I realized, “Heck when even the Earth can’t be productive 24x7x365, how and why do we expect ourselves to be on the run every second? Are we so much better than the complex system we live in?”
Brain-dump aside, the fields gave me a new perspective on life. You don’t have to be productive every second of your life. Just like how the Earth has downtime during which it is left fallow and given time to regain its fertility, you too need downtime to recharge your batteries and get ready for the next round of productivity.
When you try to be productive all the time, you are doing more harm than good. While you think you are being productive, it’s actually the opposite because working without a break decreases your efficiency.
Being on the go every second can cause you to drain out your energy and lead to burnout.
Simply put that time would be better utilized in the long term if you take a break instead of working.
That’s it for this time (I had to prepare for my exam so that’s all I could write about). Don’t worry though, next week I’ll continue a little more on this topic, so stay tuned😃
[…] that we have established that it’s not possible to be productive 24×7, it’s only appropriate to discuss in detail why you can’t be productive 24×7, why you need […]