Bruce Kasanoff says being productive for productivity’s sake is self-defeating and can lead to neglect of the things that really matter in life.
The idea for this article came from the work of John Day, a cardiologist and author of The Longevity Plan.
In the early part of his book, Dr Day describes how years ago he was “eating trash” in between surgical procedures and hoping to make up for it by running marathons.
In that respect, he failed; his health was miserable.
“It wasn’t just what I ate; it was how I lived. I worked too many hours. I took too few vacation days,” he writes.
“I didn’t spend nearly enough time with my family.
“I spent a lot of time considering my productivity, and not much time contemplating my purpose. Life was a bit of a blur.”
He continued: “I was overweight, overworked, hypertensive, and had a cholesterol level much higher than it should have been.
“I was tired and stressed all the time.”
Dr Day has since radically improved his health and lifestyle.
He is interesting to me because he beautifully illustrates the difference between being productive against living in congruence with your purpose.
By most societal metrics, he was extremely successful.
He wrote that he had recently been named President of the Heart Rhythm Society, an international organisation of thousands of cardiologists in more than 70 countries.
“Over my 20-year career I’ve performed more than 6,000 catheter ablations and more than 3,000 pacemaker or defibrillator implantations.
“I’ve treated tens of thousands of patients.”
Productivity is about getting stuff done.
If you can move millions of tons of dirt from one side of a road to the other in record time, you are highly productive.
That’s no small feat, but is moving dirt enough to give you a rich and rewarding life?
Purpose is why you are moving the dirt, or taking any other concerted effort.
I live in the mountains, and have grown fond of asking people this simple question: Are you climbing the right mountain?
Your ‘mountain’ means the sum total of all the energy, focus and passion you bring to the world.
It includes not only your job, but also what you bring to your family, community and society.
It is ridiculously easy to spend decades climbing the wrong mountain, measuring the things that are easy to measure — income, promotions, possessions and output.
However, you can be largely ignoring the vastly more important things that are so challenging to measure.
Such as playing a ‘long game’ in which your health and fitness will be sufficient to give you decades longer to pursue your passions and make a positive impact.
Or modelling healthy behaviour for the people closest to you: Children, loved ones, and other community members.
Or making the people you say you love feel truly loved and cherished.
Are you proud beyond measure of your achievements and impact? Will you leave the world better off than you found it?
Climbing the wrong mountain feels like you are accomplishing something.
You can cite productivity statistics that make you feel good. You can chart your progress.
Yet what difference does any of this make if all your work and effort is leading you to the wrong peak.
Productivity alone does not validate a goal. Purpose, on the other hand, does.
When you know why you are working so hard, it is far easier to sustain effort towards a long-term goal.
I have nothing against productivity or tracking metrics, as long as you don’t skip the critical and challenging step of first understanding your purpose.
*Bruce Kasanoff is a ghostwriter for entrepreneurs. He is the author of How to Grow Your Career by Helping Others.
This article originally appeared at Forbes.com
