I Didn’t Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt by Madeleine Dore is a relaxing read for anyone who feels the constant nag to be productive. If you wear “busyness” with a badge of honor this book is for you.
Pairs With: Chocolate Turtles and enjoying life at a slower pace. After all the tortoise wins the race.
Overview
I Didn’t Do the Thing Today by Madeleine Dore is a breath of fresh air. This book goes against all of the advice and tips we’ve been told around productivity and success. It is filled with so many insightful one-liners that will make you think, “Yeah! That is bogus! Why am I continuing to operate this way??”
Instead of being another book that tells you how to be better and more efficient, Dore argues that, instead, we should all just be as we are. By taking the pressure off ourselves to do more and be better, we will naturally do more and be better.
What Does Madeleine Dore Know?
Over the course of five years, Dore interviewed hundreds of successful people in hopes of finding the secret to productivity.
How did they fill their days?
What was the magic routine that kept them on track?
How were they able to do it all??
What Dore discovered, however, was that there is no secret productivity hack. It turns out that wildly successful people are just like the rest of us. No matter how regimented and scheduled they were, they too admitted, life happened.
Still, we often think, “If I could just get my routine right, I could get my life right.” So we wake up at 5 am, make our bed, go to the gym before 6 am, and eat the frog in hopes of getting the day, and therefore our lives, right.
The Perfect Routine
Dore goes on to suggest instead of highly scheduling our days we add LESS to our to-do lists and we enjoy whatever the day brings. We get rest when we need it, we randomly catch up with friends and we embrace the little things that would usually throw our day off schedule. Surprisingly, we may find we get more done! Not only are we no longer wasting time worrying about wasting time but we’re more fulfilled which helps keep us going!
Busy ⧣ Productive ⧣ Worthy
We have been taught to wear busy with a badge of honor because busy is profitable. Not only does it keep us working but it keeps us spending. Since we are so busy, we often pay for convenient ways to cheer ourselves up. We can notice if we’re wearing busy proudly if our response to, “How are you doing?” is, “Oh I’ve been so busy!”
But we often confuse being busy with being productive. For example, some of the “busiest” people I have worked with have been the ones who are just busy with telling everyone how busy they are. 😅
It makes sense they would feel the need to tell everyone how busy they are though because we’ve also been taught to tie our self-worth to our productivity. However, productivity is an awful measurement of self-worth. As Dore points out we will never feel worthy because there is ALWAYS more to be done.
Daily Expectations
Another great point Dore discusses is how high are expectations are for ourselves and our days. Often we discredit or ignore the work that goes into surviving. It takes effort and work to eat (and eat well), have clean clothes to wear, shower, keep a clean home, have gas in the car, etc. The list goes on and on with tasks we deem small and inconsequential. Yet, they are still tasks that add up and take time away from the ‘important’ items on your to-do list.
Dore explains that when we don’t count the work of living as work we get burnt out. When we overlook the limitations of the day, we get overwhelmed and set ourselves up for feeling poorly about our capabilities. When in reality our expectations were unachievable, to begin with.
Conclusion
There is no secret productivity hack. No routine or schedule that’s immune to life’s messiness and disorder. Instead, this book reminds us that we are, “not machines but human beings.” We can all learn to place more realistic expectations on ourselves and go with the unknown flow of life.
Have you read this one or a book that takes a similar approach to productivity? What did you think?? Let me know in the comments below!
P.S. If you liked this one, you may also enjoy Stillness is the Key by Ryan Holiday.
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