āWe can endure lifeās tasks with disciplineāor welcome them with enjoyment.ā
From the āYou Are Hereā series on the Waking Up app:
- A concern with being productive can turn all too easily into a weird masochistic self punishment
- Beating yourself up all day like this isnāt even an especially good way to get things done
- We have too much of our sense of self worth wrapped up in our ability to get things done. You ought to be able to force yourself to do whatever it is you decide needs doing whenever you decide. And if you fail, then you are a horrible person
- Analogy about treating to do list about some guy minding his own business in a bar in a bad part of town
- Let enjoyment invite you into activity rather than having your to do list push you into productivity against your will
- This takes different type of discipline, a kind of courage to trust that If you were to relax your relentlessly exacting internal standards for yourself, for an hour or two, if you were to focus a bit more on enjoyment instead, that the sky wouldnāt fall in because, you know what? Itās not going to.