Productivity for People Who Think About God and Time

Time and productivity, oh how I love and don't love thinking about them, planning for them, "optimizing" them.

If used “wisely,” they promise fulfillment and a life well lived! And isn't that what we're after? (I mean, I do love a fresh new calendar, planner, colored pens and time blocks on my Google calendar, but that's not really what I'm after). 

I'm after a feeling, of course. A feeling that I'm on top of things: always doing the most important, the most impactful and the most meaningful things! I'm not behind and not stressed from rushing. Those aren't bad things. In fact they're good. We do want to be intentional about our lives. 

But what about time viewed through a spiritual lens. Does it even exist at all?  Eckhart Tolle talks about the "power of now" and how the present moment is really all there is. Most world religions tell us not to fool ourselves thinking we can control time.  

Consider this from the New Testament: 

“Look here, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we’re going to a certain town and stay there a year. We’ll do business there and make a profit.’ How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like morning fog, it’s here for a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, ‘If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.’”
James 4

So what are we, spiritually seeking, productivity loving people, supposed to do?

Well for one, I'm letting go of the hyper vigilance around tracking my time. I recently started using Toggl to track my time. And I love it! I do. I think reflecting on how we spend our time is insightful (and more on that later).

However, I think I can ease up a bit. Do I really need to track 15 minute or less activities I've coined “transition”? Those types of activities done during that basically include anything from walking in the door to getting to the next trackable thing, including bathroom breaks. (Yes, I have been doing that.)

But I'm not willing to let go enough to stop reading productivity books altogether.

My latest read is, Time Smart by Ashley Whillans, a Harvard professor. It’s not spiritual, it’s research based, but some of what she shares works in both worlds. And the point of her book is helping us get to feeling more Time Affluent vs. Time Poor. 

And here's an example: Savoring

The real key to savoring is to drop any association we make between an activity and being productive. For example, take a walk and don’t count your steps. Don’t track it as a workout or something to check off the good daily habits list. Just go do it - no judging. 
(Yikes, that sounds scary and, well, unproductive to me.)

BUT her point is and the research shows, that doing something like this actually makes us feel like we have more time, like we are Time Affluent. Even if it seems counterintuitive. 

And isn't that really what's behind our drive for productivity and using our time wisely? 
How do I feel more in control of my time?
How do I feel like I have more of it?
How do I feel less busy?

Maybe some of the things we do to feel productive actually make us feel more time poor. And maybe savoring, without measuring or judging, is one small way to bridge that gap.After all, letting go of measuring and judging aligns pretty closely with how God invites us to live.