How to be Productive During COVID-19: The Age of the Diaper-Box Standing-Desk

...Or not. There is no right way to cope with this crazy time of COVID 19.

How you use this “extra” time (formerly spent at pointless work meetings or happy hour) is entirely up to you. Does it motivate you to workout more? Be more productive? Finally finish that side project? Does it help you to compartmentalize the pandemic? Does it ease your worry and fear to exercise more control over your own life as the rest of your life grinds to a halt? Awesome! Get your shit done! We are here, cheering you on!

Are you overwhelmed? Less motivated? Is your anxiety about what the future holds holding you back from being productive? Cool, that’s OKAY! You don’t have to ‘make the most’ of a global pandemic if you don’t bloody feel like it.

This mindset is an extension of America’s (and much of the world’s) hustle culture. Have you forgotten that every second of your existence must be commodified and striving towards self-improvement and profit?! But seriously, how are we supposed to pretend as if work and our self are the only things that matter during a global pandemic?

If you’re anything like me then you’re bouncing back and forth between these two reactions, with a healthy dose of underlying panic throughout. “Oh my god how am I supposed to pay for my apartment? Going back to school? Generally move ahead in life?” is either met with a grueling workout (thanks Shaun T), a quiet sit or yoga practice (just breathe bitch), or a small cry over one of the many hazy IPAs that my friend and I have stocked up on (the apocalypse calls for all the necessities).

The best thing we can do during this tough time is support each other. No productivity shaming! No annoyed virtual eye rolls at your work colleague who keeps posting about how many more hours in the day she has to work out now (WE GET IT BECKY YOU’VE LOST 4 LBS ALREADY). Or guilt that you seem to have gained each pound that Becky has lost during quarantine.

We don’t need to judge those who half-work from their couch. "But don’t forget, Sir Isaac Newton discovered calculus and William Shakespeare wrote “King Lear” while in quarantine due to the plague!" Productivity is power!

Shut up. That pressure to be productive is giving many people even more anxiety than is already induced by a scary and prolific virus claiming lives left and right. Plus, who else wishes calculus didn’t exist? That just me? Okay.

You know what’s even more important than how many projects you complete or how many you don’t? Your goddamn mental health and sanity. Oh yeah, that thing (don’t forget about me!).

Working from home is hard. And necessary. I’m not telling you it’s cool to totally slack off and not do any work. Our economy is already in the shitter, someone’s got to keep it afloat. Becky can’t do it alone. But finding smarter and “more productive” ways to work from home looks like taking breaks to play with your kids, stretching your lunch break to FaceTime a friend AS MUCH as it looks like creating a schedule every morning from your laptop stacked on your makeshift diaper-box-turned-standing-desk in your “home office.”

My advice to all of you would be this: use this time of COVID 19 to live more intentionally. How often in our daily lives do we just go through the motions? Every day I wake up, workout, go to work, happy hour, watch tv, go to bed. “Because that’s just what I do.” This scary time is forcing us to slow down and actually think about how we want to spend our time. I appreciate that. But let’s stop believing that one way is better than the other. Unless you’re spending your time stocking up on enough toilet paper for you and your cat for the next 5 years. If that’s the case then you’re an inconsiderate asshole. That’s all I have to say about that.

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Comment below and how you're keeping sane during these crazy times...