You might think that being a high-academic achiever all your life only comes with benefits, right? You’re forever the teacher’s pet, school comes easy to you, and you never run out of motivation, right? Wrong.
If you check my search history on YouTube and Pinterest, you’ll certainly find a trend of “productive day in the life” and “productive” this and “productive” that. It’s an easy search for me and a motivator to get myself on track.
I won’t lie to you, sometimes I do love productivity culture. There’s a constant need to do more and to be motivated, but it’s not a sustainable practice to make a to-do list every single morning with 45 tasks that need to get done by the end of the day. It’s not healthy to try to convince yourself that you don’t need breaks.
Your body will make you take breaks, believe me. If you try to pack your schedule every day without any downtime, you will undoubtedly be too unmotivated to continue. Your body needs breaks, and you can only thrive when this downtime is established.
Productivity culture can span from cleaning your house to academic achievement. It’s expected in our culture of constant productivity that you use every moment in a way where something visual is achieved. Making sure your mental health is cared for is only valued when you can post about your filled journal page. No one cares if you skip a day because you didn’t find a reason to be grateful. You’re here to create a product for others to judge you upon.
It’s strange that no matter how hard you work, you always have something else you can be doing. Down time is frowned upon, and balance isn’t even in the equation.
Being a hard-working student is no longer a suggestion but is now a need. How are you supposed to get ahead if you don’t participate in every aspect of every group?
Honestly, it’s impossible to master a truly productive routine without balance of some kind. Taking time to rest your mind and your body is so important to your health.
Some of my favorite down time activities include reading, doing yoga, and cleaning. While the first two can of course be posted about, the whole point of down time is to find an activity that fills your cup back up. Cleaning may not seem like something that would bring your energy back up, but for me, I feel at my best when my space is clean and tidy. Making time for these little beneficial tasks will actually give you more positive results than before.
I, of course, will not be straying away from my comfort videos about how to be your most productive self, and the habits that work for other people. I still love to see how some people balance school and personal life, but I think there is some value in acknowledging that not every day will be your most productive one, and that it’s okay to take a day or two off. Oftentimes, your most productive and accomplished days are the ones where you put yourself first.