Less work can result in greater productivity
Doing less and accomplishing more.
Last month, I injured my neck. Somehow.
It wasn't from running. I was shampooing (perhaps the world's least athletic activity?) and felt something pull near the occipital region of my skull. Something was out of place. My back and neck muscles tightened up, and I found myself dealing with streaking pain. Not good.
The following days were painful, and painfully unproductive. I couldn't focus on meaningful work. I sat straight up all day and night in a makeshift sofa station, surrounded by ibuprofen and carefully positioned pillows. It took me until perhaps the third day of this painful situation to acquiesce to the idea of non-productivity—I'm not proud of this.
That weekend I did the opposite of what I'd planned:
- Instead of completing a Webflow course and mapping a new information architecture for a personal site redesign, I did none of that and read a new book
- Instead of stressing about planning meals, picking up groceries, and cooking and cleaning—I ordered Peruvian on Doordash
- Eventually, I started regaining range of motion in my neck—but I still traded my typical housecleaning routine for Fortnite ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I embraced doing nothing—and I'm so glad I did. Here's the thing—without trying, I actually had an incredibly productive weekend. When I eventually refocused on the website work I'd planned, I came at it with a refreshed mind. This helped me realize that it was... completely unnecessary.
I didn't need to redesign my website. In fact, most of what I'd built on my current website was superfluous to the goal of the site. The goal is to communicate the things that I value, my creative techniques, and the things that I'm actively working on. The site didn't need fancy animation or a flashy rebuild. I didn't need to sink personal time into learning Webflow. I opened my laptop, and within 45mins, killed my previous website and stood up a super simple microsite using Notion and Super—here it is, if you're curious.
By taking a break, I ended up saving myself significant time and energy. I did less and accomplished more. It was a much-needed reminder about the importance of rest. This weekend I'm privileged to have three days off—I'll be cleaning, cooking, designing, reading... and I'll definitely spend some time doing nothing. Join me!
🔗 links+things
You may have noticed that I sprinkled links throughout the piece this week. Those are all things I've been learning about lately... did you find them interesting? I'd genuinely love to know if that's fun or annoying... would love your feedback—let me know 🤔
In the spirit of sharing my learning journey, here are some other resources that I learned from recently:
Brittany Levine Beckman
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See you next week! ✌🏼