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I like this philosophical approach to productivity. Because what is it all for, this endless striving to achieve, if not to bring joy to ourselves and others?
human joy is more important than raw productivity.
Productivity metrics are all statistical numbers and these metrics distort, oversimplify or bluntly, have other goals in mind than genuinely making us happy. Don‘t fall for the trap of the metric.
Instead focus on the joy of working on something, center the positive experience of actualizing yourself. Extend this into the teamwork sphere also. Get everyone appreciated and included.
That‘s a better mindset.
— Sevoris (Wörtergarten)
You know what, telling you about this approach to joy has just changed my personal trajectory. I’m writing this newsletter while in the middle of a 2-hour video co-working session but family has (unexpectedly, happily) come to visit, so I’m going to cut the session short to go and spend time with these wonderful people that I care about. There’s a time for work and a time for connection, and my gut is telling me that this moment will be better spent on the latter.
Right, back to it. Trading an hour of potential writing productivity for time with our gang was wonderful! I’m so glad I didn’t push through that extra hour even though there were other people around to take care of the social side of things, had I stayed in the work session.
Don‘t fall for the trap of the metric
Do you know what your productivity efforts are costing you? Why not take a moment to observe the time and attention you put into your work or solo hobbies, and consider how well it balances with what are ultimately your highest priorities.
My French language learning flashcards are back in Obsidian, and because I have a new language partner (two in total), I’ve made some new Drafts actions to place formatted flashcards into each partner’s folder. A tag for each language partner means I can practice each set separately with the Spaced Repetition plugin.
This is the action I use to create my cards in Drafts:
So for a flashcard from one of my sessions with Céline I’ll type this, into Drafts:
Side A of my flashcard in English
***
Side B of my flashcard in FrenchAnd the Drafts action will create a new file in the correct folder in my Obsidian vault, that looks like this:
#FrenchCéline 2023-07-19
Side A of my flashcard in English
***
Side B of my flashcard in FrenchIt’s true that I could do the same thing with the Templater plugin directly into Obsidian, but I prefer Drafts as the entry point as I find it easier, faster, and less distracting — especially on iOS.
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