Why I Swore off Productivity During COVID (and why you should, too)
Like most Americans, I would consider myself a generally-productive person. I always get work done, turn things in on time, meet my commitments, and show up early (I’m an avid subscribed to the “Vince Lombardi Rule” that to be “on time” one must be 15 minutes early). I pride myself on being of one of those dependable types that just gets stuff done.
But something happened to me when we went into quarantine back in March and, like many others, I began to feel the effects of “pandemic brain”—that odd sort of mental fog that makes us increasingly agitated, and prone to irritability and an inhibited lack of clear-headedness. Simple tasks felt like summiting a mountain. My spiritual well had dried up to such an extent that I actually requested a day off of work to focus on my mental health (something, to my knowledge, I’ve never done before).
It was that mental health day, in which I spent time in stillness and contemplation in prayer that I felt the Holy Spirit convict me of an idol in my life (it’s amazing what God can actually speak to us when we’re willing to shut up and listen for his voice!).
That idol was productivity.
Some might say, “Productivity? There’s no way productivity can be an idol!”
But not only can it be an idol, it often is an idol. And not only that, but there is not a single shred of instance in all of the pages of Scripture where God calls us to be productive.
What he calls us to be…is fruitful.
Isn’t that the same thing? Hardly.
Pausing your task list to speak to a co-worker who is having a hard day is not productive, but it is fruitful.
Observing the Sabbath is not productive, but it is fruitful.
Spending time with your children is far from productive, but it is fruitful.
Going on a walk to pray is not productive, but it is fruitful.
And the list goes on.
I decided right then and there to make a seismic shift in how I structure and prioritize my time—how I live my life. Productivity focuses on getting things done right, fruitfulness focuses on getting the right things done. Productivity forces us to lead from a place of doing, fruitfulness requires that we lead from a place of being. I’ve determined that during this season of tremendous upheaval that I would exchange the yoke of productivity for the garment of fruitfulness, yielding my life to the Vinedresser and allowing him to cultivate within my spirit and character, quality fruit that can be pressed and, when aged properly, poured out for the sake of others.
It was not long after this prayerful encounter that I came across an old sermon from the late Dutch Catholic priest, Henri Nouwen (who, thanks to the teaching of my master’s mentor, Wilmer Villacorta at Fuller Seminary, has grown to be one of my favorite thinkers). In fact, the sermon is so old, it was preached the year I was born (a time that is ancient history according to my three girls)! In this short clip (posted below), Nouwen expounds upon this dichotomy between productivity (what he refers to as success and fruit). I encourage you take a moment and listen to his impassioned exposition.
Father, give us hearts that are attuned to the prompting of your Spirit. Help us to live fruitful lives, investing in your mission, in others, in family, and in friends. Give us hearts of holy resistance to Sabbath when the world says work so that we might bear good fruit. Glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end.
