I Didn't Do the Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt

by Madeleine Dore

There is a fine line, I think, between ensuring that we don’t coast through our days or postpone our lives, but also that we don’t berate ourselves over how they unfold.

We don’t always live in the moment, but we can take care of the moments by noticing them, by not taking them for granted, by not diminishing them.

We are here just for a moment, so let’s not fritter away that time with harsh judgments about what we did or didn’t do.

carpe diem—it’s not to “seize” the day, but rather to “pluck” the day. If we return to the image of our days as fecund gardens, then in order to pluck the day, we first need to survey what is blossoming, what is ripe, what is ready to harvest. This looks different from day to day and season to season. We do not wish to dig it all up in a frenzy, but we should be careful in our selection, gently tending to a moment, careful not to crush or damage its stem or bruise the fruits of the day. In each day, even days like these, there is something for us to pick, something we can pop in a vase on the windowsill and enjoy. So you didn’t accomplish everything today. Maybe you didn’t accomplish anything at all. But is it really a wasted day? There are myriad things to select from the garden of the day—sometimes novel, sometimes difficult, sometimes ordinary. If we’re curious, if we’re kind, we can always find something to enjoy.

EVEN IF YOU DIDN’T DO THE THING TODAY, FIND SOMETHING TO ENJOY Enjoy the failures and mistakes—they’re a sign we’re trying. Enjoy the unknown—it’s where we discover something new. Enjoy the rest, the boredom, the empty moments—that’s where we find insight. Enjoy the busy, too—that’s where we can find momentum. Enjoy the rut—that’s where we can discover a new path. Enjoy the wobble—that’s where we find the variances that light us up. Enjoy the learning—it’s where we can never fail. Enjoy the limitations—it’s where we find awe and creativity. Enjoy the choices we make as well as the plans that change—they’re often the making of our lives. Enjoy the comparisons with another—it’s where we find our secret joy. Enjoy the questions—because life would be dreary if we had all the answers. Enjoy the doing—because the joy is in the doing, not the done. Enjoy the incomplete—because that means there’s more to come. Enjoy the moments—if we tend to them, if we get the good out of every bit of them, what a life we’ll have created.

I didn’t do the thing today. I didn’t lament how the hours unfolded. I didn’t worry about wasted time. I didn’t allow my expectations to spoil what I have. I didn’t compare myself to others. I didn’t dwell in the undone. I didn’t strive; I didn’t try to be perfect. And it mattered. Because in all that I didn’t do I found my own measure of a day.