Is Being Productive a Waste of Time?
(About a 3-minute read)“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
[Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince]
Welcome back to Spiegelbild!
Throughout my career — whether navigating multi-stakeholder projects, leading high-stakes initiatives, or now building my business — I often stumble into the same reality roller-coaster situation.
It goes something like this: I’m tired. I want to stop. But I need to finish this. It’s only the beginning of the (… insert any day, week, or month here…), and I’m already behind. Taking a break will put me even more behind. If I tackle this tomorrow with fresh energy, it might go quicker? But then I’m procrastinating. I’m being weak. Surely, I can push for another hour. Gah, I really am exhausted.
Expensive
Recently, I had one of those days. I had big plans for my business, but by the afternoon, every task had taken longer than expected, and I wasn’t even close to the end of my list. I was drained — brain-fried.
Disappointed in myself, I felt like my output wasn’t nearly productive enough. And so, the roller coaster started again.
That got me thinking: What does productivity really mean? And who gets to define it?
Who Gets to Decide?
Is productivity about hours worked? Is it about quality — like developing a highly innovative concept? Maybe it’s a mix of both, plus a few hours of exercise, housekeeping, and socializing.
While reflecting on this, a quote from a book I read years ago came to mind:
“Whenever I think about my stupid empty life, I come to the conclusion that I’m just wasting my time, and I’m not the only one. […] And what does it mean to waste time anyway? If you waste time, is it lost forever?”
[Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being]
That question struck me then. It struck me again now: What does it mean to waste time? What is time well spent?
A common theme among my clients — leaders in high-stress, high-stakes environments — is their struggle with managing stress, setting boundaries, and sustaining energy. They seek strategies for resilience, emotional intelligence, and self-leadership. All in service of reducing overwhelm, staying mentally agile, and preventing burnout.
Maybe it’s time to rethink — or rehumanize — productivity.
The Art of Showing Up Daily
So, what is time wasted? And what is time well spent?
For me, the answer shifts day by day. Some days, I power through multiple tasks and feel accomplished. Other days, everything feels like molasses — slow, heavy, unrelenting.
What if we measured productivity not by output, but by commitment? A commitment to show up. To invest time. To put our best foot forward — knowing that what constitutes "best" will look different every day. And that’s okay. That’s human.
A Shift in Mindset
If we think of time as something we invest rather than spend, everything we dedicate it to — our work, our rest, our goals — becomes more meaningful.
Too often, we focus on short-term wins while losing sight of long-term viability. What seems productive today could cost us in the long run.
Take my scrambled day. I chose to stop working. I knew my energy was too low to be effective, and my gut told me not to push through. On the surface, it might have looked like time wasted. But the next day was highly productive. So was the day after. And the one after that.
By listening to my body and managing my energy, I stayed resilient and mentally sharp. That day, I didn’t invest time in my business — I invested it in recovery. And that made all the difference.
So, if what looks like wasted time today allows you to show up stronger tomorrow, next week, next year — it’s not wasted at all. It’s time well invested.
What About You?
How do you define a productive day? What do you consider time well invested? What shifts in mindset help you balance ambition with sustainability? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Connect here.