Fruitfulness > Productivity
finding a more natural metaphor for doing things
I’m a recovering productivity obsessor.
The more I ruminate on my relationship with time (as part of my dissertation studies), the more I realize that productivity is a concept of capitalism. Even the word itself is rooted in product, a marketable item. In academia especially, the results of my work are not necessarily marketable—nor do I want them to be.
What I needed was a terminology that moved away from a capitalist worldview and yet acknowledged that it is still good to accomplish goals, to make things, to be proactive—particularly when other people are counting on you, like at work or in a service capacity. For instance, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, members receive service assignments in the form of “callings.” Right now, I lead the children’s Sunday classes, and those cheerful little bugs are relying on me to engage them in gospel learning. It’s still good to do things!
One day, I used my Morning Moodle to brainstorm alternative words to describe the work I do. I thought of nature-words, like generative with the root word of gene, creative, fertile, prolific, and vigorous. It strikes me that so many of these words are related to offspring or new life, the main thing that nature “produces.” But then I also thought about how it feels to experience Flow, the concept described in Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s work of being captivated by a task to the point of losing track of time. Flow also brings to mind the natural setting of rivers, streams, and other flowing waters.
These words are helpful, and I have incorporated them more into my workplace vocabulary: talking about vigor instead of rigor, thinking in seasons of fertility and fallowness. But lightning struck when I considered the nature-words that are present in scripture. That’s when I realized that the Lord frequently refers to fruit, trees, and gardens as metaphors for His work.
Since I hope that my own work contributes to the big picture of the Lord’s work, I started using the same terms and metaphors.
Instead of “I had a productive day,” I now say “I had a fruitful day.”
I talk about the fruits of my labors but also about the less visible, less tangible tasks such as weeding, planting seeds, and watering plants. I’m not always harvesting results, but I am always consistently working toward those results. I work in seasons without berating myself for fluctuations in energy and effort.
Cal Newport describes a similar mindset in his book Slow Productivity (though I think he could try an alternate title). He advocates for doing less but obsessing over the quality of the few things you do. Quality over quantity. Rather than having an orchard full of bland apples, pour your energy into one or two trees and then savor the sweetness of the fruit that they grow.
What other words could we use to talk about doing things without relying on capitalist vocabulary? What else can the natural world teach us?
This is lovely, Toni! That one name has my head spinning. Wow!