Sustainable Productivity during an Ongoing Crisis
Things are intense in Minneapolis right now! Please check out local writer Naomi Kritzer’s recommendations for how to help if you are outside Minnesota.
And a quick update to my last newsletter: I’ll now be donating all money I receive from Support & Accountability Community enrollments to organizations supporting immigrant communities in Minneapolis through the end of February. I’ve added a summer-only option; and the summer cowriting calls will now be three days per week. (For $100, you can get some summer writing support, and the money will go to organizations filling urgent community needs in Minneapolis.)
I wrote the first few paragraphs below back in the fall—and then added some additional thoughts based on the current situation in Minnesota.
I hesitated in using the phrase “sustainable productivity” to describe the primary focus of my group coaching programs and newsletter, because the word “productivity” can call to mind a mindset that doesn’t center people’s humanity.
People are not machines. It’s deeply problematic to think of productivity as trying to wring as much output from ourselves as possible.
I’ve seen comments by various people in recent years who are trying to shift away from using the word “productivity.” And I’ve also seen an uptick in the use of qualifiers that humanize the word: sustainable productivity, slow productivity, heart-focused productivity.*
I decided in the end to use one of these phrases, because I think that “sustainable productivity” can be a useful shorthand for the practices that help us do the work that we genuinely want to do but sometimes struggle to get done.
I think it’s essential to explain what I mean by “sustainable productivity.” And so I’ll share my sustainable productivity manifesto in my next newsletter (on Thursday).
But I’ll add a few thoughts now that stem from the current crisis in Minneapolis.
Our usual priorities may shift (or even be completely upended) in times of crisis or when our communities need urgent help. At the same time, no one person needs to do (or can do) everything.
I’ve been reminding myself—and friends have been reminding me—that it’s important to take care of ourselves, connect with people in our communities, and figure out a limited set of things we’ll do at a given moment, based both on broader needs and on our own capacities.
I’ve been blown away by all of the organizing that is happening all around Minneapolis and Minnesota—by the bravery and dedication of so many people.
And also, I’ve talked with people who have been putting some of their ordinary responsibilities on hold so they can put intense effort into protecting the community and helping neighbors. Their current efforts may be hard to sustain for the long haul.
I’ve gotten behind on my scheduled work in the stress of recent weeks. And so for the moment, I’m working to get caught up and holding off on devoting chunks of my usual workweek to volunteer efforts. Maybe I (and other people people like me) can step up some of our efforts in the community at the point that others need to scale back? I know (based on my own capacity) that I’ll still need to keep my efforts targeted: a particular weekly shift to pack emergency food boxes, particular days for doing ICE patrols by schools. (Of course, maybe the current crisis won’t drag on!)
I am excited about my Support and Accountability Community for Academic Writers, and would love to be able to channel payments from people enrolling in the community to local efforts in Minnesota to support our most vulnerable populations. (Even if ICE leaves Minnesota soon, various needs will be ongoing for a while.)
If you’d like to talk with me to see if the community would be a good fit for your needs, you can join the interest list and check the box saying you’d like me to contact you for a 10-minute call.
Take care, everyone!
* “Heart-centered productivity”—one of the phrases I mentioned at the start of this newsletter—is from Jocelyn Glei’s Hurry Slowly podcast.
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