Category: “Personal Productivity”

You are in front of your computer, working on that boring report your boss asked you to do and, damn it, you need a break. So you decide to distract yourself for a few minutes by glancing at your Twitter timeline, or seeing the weekend photos your friends have posted on Facebook.

There are times when a project is choking you. It happens. If it comes to a professional project, normally you do everything possible to continue and make it come to fruition, either not to lose a business opportunity, or your job.

All of us procrastinate occasionally. Most times it is simply to delay a few minutes or a few hours on something we must do (“come on, 10 minutes more on Twitter and then I’ll get with it”, “This afternoon I’ll call him, now I do not feel like it”.) Other times it is more serious, because our unwillingness to undertake that task affects other people and generates problems.

I know; to be selfish does not seem a very appropriate advice at Christmas time. Besides, nobody likes to be tagged as being “egoist.” In its most common use, an egoistic person is a conceited person, too engrossed with his/her own interests to think about those of others.

The concept of productivity is being carried to an extreme that I don’t like at all. I agree that time is precious and we should not waste it. But I do not agree that we should lose our essence as human beings to not give a second up as lost.