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What if you're already on top of things? | Oliver Burkeman

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Apparently I struck a chord on Twitter the other day when I observed that many people (by which I meant me) seem to feel as if they start off each morning in a kind of "productivity debt", which they must struggle to pay off through the day, in hopes of reaching a zero balance by the time evening comes. Few things feel more basic to my experience of adulthood than this vague sense that I'm falling behind, and need to claw my way back up to some minimum standard of output. It's as if I need to justify my existence, by staying "on top of things", in order to stave off some ill-defined catastrophe that might otherwise come crashing down upon my head. It doesn't just apply to work tasks, either. In times like these, when (to use a little technical jargon) A Lot of Bad Shit is Going Down, it's equally easy to feel "in debt" when it comes to political activism, donating to charity, volunteering in your community, and so on – not to mention whether you’re being a good enough partner, parent,

--> What if you're already on top of things? | Oliver Burkeman top of page What if you're already on top of things? Apparently I struck a chord on Twitter the other day when I observed that many people (by which I meant me) seem to feel as if they start off each morning in a kind of "productivity debt", which they must struggle to pay off through the day, in hopes of reaching a zero balance by the time evening comes. Few things feel more basic to my experience of adulthood than this vague sense that I'm falling behind, and need to claw my way back up to some minimum standard of output. It's as

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