On Productivity
Entry posted by Philip in productivity
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To the perfectionist, who I’ll never be.
I am at the gym, on a stationary bike, doing one of my HIIT workouts—the ones where you go intense for a brief period, followed by a moment of respite. I’m feeling low on energy today. Maybe it’s from work, or maybe it’s the change in weather, but whatever it is, I decide to take it easy. I come up with a strategy, inspired by a YouTube channel whose name escapes me at the moment. In the video, the creator talks about the importance of having both a lower and an upper limit: a lower limit for the days when you’re not quite feeling it, and an upper limit—not to stifle your motivation, but to pace yourself, so you can perform well tomorrow.
I like this idea,
so I decide to define my own lower limit. Eighty percent comes to mind, straight away. It’s a number that draws me in, somehow, in a way I can’t quite explain. Maybe it’s because, back in my academic years, 80% counted as high distinction—good enough to be proud of. So I decide to keep that number for my workout.
It won’t be twenty minutes of training today. No, today it will only be sixteen. And suddenly, life doesn’t seem so bad anymore. It’s not perfect, but I’ve long since abandoned that notion of perfectionism, traded it in for a good-enough life.
I might not have reached my potential today, but that’s okay. There’s always tomorrow, or the day after that. Today, sixteen minutes is enough.
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