Stoicism is an ancient philosophy, dating back to about 300 B.C.E. But ‘productivity’ is a relatively recent term used to describe the rate at which one does work, usually specifying how to effectively complete a high workload with maximum efficiency. The antagonist to productivity, ‘procrastination’, is a term that is discussed just as much as the term ‘productivity’, if not more. But, these are simply modern terms for classic problems. People have been delaying urgent and necessary tasks for centuries; we are certainly not the first. Luckily, Stoic philosophers knew how important this issue was and developed their own solutions to the problem. As you will soon discover, we all should be using this ancient wisdom to battle procrastination in our daily lives, as there are many testimonials to its effectiveness. To find a few great examples, The Daily Stoic Podcast is an excellent resource. I have no affiliation to this business; I just truly believe they are a great podcast with excellent insights on Stoicism. Ryan Holiday, the host of The Daily Stoic, frequently invites guests on the podcast to share their opinions and insights on the philosophy of Stoicism. If you are interested, check them out. Anyway, Stoicism is an excellent philosophy whose lessons can be implemented in modern society. In brief, a few Stoic principles should be implemented into our lives to allow for more productive freedom. Once you apply these principles into your life, you will find yourself with more time, energy, and overall happiness.
Your Time is More Important Than Your Money
A financially intelligent person does not spend a penny without reason. So, why would you treat your time any differently? Your time is very limited, although that idea is not a pleasant one. However, money is not nearly as limited as your time. Of course, it is limited to some degree, there are millions who struggle because they do not have enough money to sustain themselves and their family. However, you can allocate your time to accumulate more wealth; we cannot allocate our wealth to accumulate more time.
People always demand your time in some form. This typically appears in the form of useless meetings, ‘keeping up’ on social media, and constantly checking your email. These are frequent events in our daily lives and we throw around our time aimlessly in order to accomplish these seemingly productive tasks. But, if a stranger asked you for $20 every day on your way to work, you’d quickly change your morning commute. Treat these small tasks as that stranger. Each unnecessary task is that does not add value to your life in some way is usually a waste of time. Of course, this does not mean track every second of your life until you die. Rather, simply being conscious of where your time in the day is going is an excellent way to realize which tasks are in fact useless. A journal and a daily/weekly schedule will greatly assist in organizing your time optimally, along with allowing for self-reflection to ensure that the tasks you are completing are productive and adding value to your life.
Understand Your Bias to an Unlikeable Task
There are tasks in everyone’s lives that they hate doing. These tasks have haunted most of our lives since we were toddlers; despising the chores our parents delegated to us as children has evolved into loathing the task of filing our taxes every April in our adult lives. Instead of simply hating the task, take your thought process one step further. Rather than thinking, “I hate doing this”, extend this idea into, “Why do I hate doing this”. The reason for this could be that you are afraid of failure, the process of completing the task is frustrating, the task will take a long time, or anything else. Further analyze your thought process and truly dig into how your brain operates when confronted with this difficult task. Questions like the following are good starting points:
- Why Does This Task Scare Me?
- Why Do I Hate The Process of Completing This Task?
- Why Do I Feel Like Delaying This, Even Though it is Urgent?
- Why Would my Urge to Relax Trump the Result of Completing This Task
These questions are good starting points for challenging tasks. Typically, when an answer to one of these questions is found, a process is revealed that may make the task easier to complete next time. For example, somebody may think, “I hate filing my taxes”. With this method, this individual then thinks “I hate filing my taxes because it is boring and takes a lot of mental effort”. The person then automatically thinks of a remedy for this situation and tries to find a solution to their suffering. The thought process then follows, “While I file my taxes, I will listen to my favorite artist’s new album with candle burning nearby”. This solution resulted because this individual enjoys the relaxing scent from the candle, as it eases their mental strain. Additionally, the music helps distract the individual of their boredom. This process may seem obvious to some people, but there are many tasks that are not this simple to solve. Sometimes, there is an internal bias toward a task based on previous personal history, where this thought process can dig deep into the roots of a problem. Depending on the task to be completed, this process can yield a variety of positive results in one’s life.
A Task's Allocated Time Should be Equal to its Value
It is much easier to procrastinate on a big demanding task, rather than many small and simple tasks. According to Brain Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog, we should “begin work on a list of tasks, take a few moments to organize them by value and priority so you can be sure of working on your most important activities”. Generally, it is a good idea to be spending the most amount of our time on the most important tasks as early as possible. For example, many people enjoy early morning workouts or jogs as it gets them up and moving along with an early sense of accomplishment soon after you wake up. Sometimes, this task will be the most demanding task of the day, so knowing that the day can only get easier as time passes is a good motivational tool. To put into a metaphor, running downhill is far easier than running uphill. Treat your daily tasks in a similar manner by completing the most demanding and important tasks early in the day.
A method used for organizing these plans is known as the ABCDE method from Brian Tracy’s book, Eat That Frog. The ABCDE method is executed as follows:
'A' Tasks
Tasks are tasks that must be completed. This could vary greatly depending on your work and family life, but everyone has a few ‘A’ tasks that must be completed every day.
Tasks that should be completed. This includes meetings, replying to emails, and other tasks that are not top priority. These tasks should be done, but are not vital.
'B' Tasks
'C' Tasks
Tasks that make you happy. These are tasks that you want to do, but there are no negative repercussions if you do not do them.
Tasks that you can put off or delegate to someone else. The purpose of this is to give yourself more time to dedicate to “A” tasks
'D' Tasks
'E' Tasks
Tasks that you need to eliminate. If a task is placed in this category reasonably, there is no reason to feel as though it is important and it should be eliminated from your to-do list.
For the most part, your daily schedule should chronologically follow the list from ‘A’ tasks to ‘C’ tasks (and ‘D’ tasks if you have extra time). Following this order ensures high quality work for the tasks that are the most important to you.
Understand What You Are Doing and Why You Are Doing It
In Marcus Aurelius’, Meditations, the Stoic philosopher said, “If you seek tranquillity, do less.” What Aurelius meant by this is to do what is essential and eliminate the unnecessary frivolities. This simple idea provides results in two different forms, you do more of what is important with better results. Since the unnecessary work has been eliminated, you will feel happier, tranquil, and prepared for the important work to complete.
When working through a task, ask yourself, “What am I doing right now and why I am I doing this?” Some answers to these questions that indicate a positive habit are:
- "I am running because it keeps me fit and healthy"
- “I am journaling because it helps organise my thoughts and helps me practice mindfulness”
- “I am cleaning the bedroom because it makes me happy and calm to retire to a clean room”
- “I am practicing the guitar because it is a skill I have really wanted to learn, and I am enjoying myself in the process”
These answers are indicators that a habit is positive and should be maintained. However, if you struggle to answer these questions and you find yourself taking a significant amount of time to develop a reason for why you are doing a task, then ask yourself, “Is this necessary?” This question often leads into self-reflection and allows you to put your routine into perspective. If the answer to this question is no, eliminate the task immediately; this will give you a lot more time for productive work. Additionally, you will likely feel more tranquil once the task has been eliminated, further increasing your productivity by allowing yourself to focus more on a more important task. If you eliminate work that makes you feel busy but is not actually productive, the amount of time saved for truly important work is immense.
Control What You Can, Ignore What You Cannot
You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength
– Marcus Aurelius
In Meditations, Aurelius said “You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength,” This can be applied to productivity in a simple way: You cannot control that you have work to do, but you can control the quantity, efficiency, and quality of your work. Why would we settle for anything less? Well based on the previously mentioned principles, we settle for less because tasks appear too difficult or intimidating, we think we do not have enough time, or we do not see a purpose in completing the task. Most of the time, these thoughts circle our minds and perpetuate into an idea far beyond reality. In other words, a task may appear far more difficult in our minds than in actuality because we spent so long thinking about the suffering we will endure while completing the task, rather than actually completing it. This is an excellent way to encourage procrastination on important tasks and should be avoided at all costs. Hence, the knowledge that only a portion of your life is truly in control is essential for success in everyday life. This element of control in our lives is primarily dedicated to our time and our attention; controlling these two elements of your life consciously and effectively can greatly increase productivity long-term, in addition to happiness, mindfulness, and gratitude. The acknowledgement of events outside of your control is truly an excellent mental health and productivity remedy (perhaps one of the best remedies for the fast-paced, overwhelmed, and stressed society we live in).
Conclusion
The ancient philosophy, Stoicism, is obviously quite concurrent with modern problems with wise advice to assist us through these issues. Productivity, while still a relatively new term, has clearly been a heavily discussed topic since the age of the Stoics. Applying these principles will improve your productivity, tranquility, and overall happiness.
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I use WordPress 🙂
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