#62 Productive vs prolific

ByLukas
| | | |

Plants are productive when they’re fertile: capable of producing fruit or offspring.

Plants are only prolific when they actually produce fruit in abundance.

https://wikidiff.com/prolific/productive

When it comes to creativity, we humans are all productive in the sense that we are capable of creating.

Productivity tools and “hacks” can help to create more space in your day for that creative potential.

But you’re only prolific when you use that creative potential and actually create something in abundance. Like Picasso.

Without prolificacy, productivity is just an empty container – unfulfilling, unfulfilled potential.

What can you be prolific in? What do you want to create in large quantities? What’s important enough to you to start sculpting away, day by day?

Similar Posts

  • |

    #263 Stop, even if you could do more

    ByLukas

    Ernest Hemingway allegedly stopped his writing sessions in the middle of a sentence so he knew how to start his next session. He stopped writing, even if he could do more.

    Julia Cameron teaches to write precisely three pages of stream-of-consciousness journaling a day. Stop journaling, even if you could do more.

    I’ve gotten better results studying foreign languages 20 minutes a day for several months than rushing into a new language and studying it for 3 hours a day, then crashing and burning. I stop myself from learning, even if I could do more.

    Because burnout and overindulgence stifle progress, and in the long run, moderation leads to more.

  • |

    #292 The obstacle course hidden beneath your goals

    ByLukas

    If you think you know how to write a story but never do it, do you really know how to write a story?

    If you think you know how to do a yoga pose but never do it, do you really know how to do that yoga pose?

    If you think you know how to apologize for a mistake but never do it, do you really know how to apologize?

    If you know what you want to do but aren’t doing it, do you really know what you want?

    Because hidden beneath your goals and technical step-by-step instructions to accomplish them, there’s an obstacle course of personal context, personal beliefs, past experiences, and emotions.

    And these, you won’t discover in books or videos.

    These, you’ll encounter by doing.

    And these, you’ll conquer by doing.

  • |

    #97 Not loneliness. Solitude.

    ByLukas

    All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone

    Blaise Pascal, https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/19682-all-of-humanity-s-problems-stem-from-man-s-inability-to-sit

    We often equate sitting quietly in a room alone with loneliness: a word with a negative emotional charge.

    But sitting quietly in a room can also bring solitude: the simple state of being by yourself, without any negative connotation.

    Solitude can give relief of the pressure to be constantly “socializing” (through social media apps or in real life).

    Relief of the pressure to socialize can make space.

    Space you can use to hear the thoughts in your head and the feelings in your body.

    Thoughts and feelings that can tell you what’s truly important to you.

    And then you realize that what’s truly important to you is nothing new.

    It’s something you already knew, before you learned not to listen.

  • |

    #238 A path paved by Tiny Trust Builders

    ByLukas

    My actions affect my identity and beliefs.

    And my identity and beliefs affect which actions I take.

    So, to change, I must consciously take actions that divert from my established identity and beliefs, and do what you believe is impossible for yourself.

    Until it’s not impossible anymore.

    It’s not an easy road, my friend. It takes courage. Effort. Sometimes pain.

    Many times, it’s not worth it.

    But sometimes, there’s no other way.

    And in those moments, it’s good to know there’s always someone willing to show you a path, paved by Tiny Trust Builders, taking you wherever you want to go.

    Since you’re reading my letters, that someone could be me, my friend.

    Or anyone else you know.

    I guess all I want to say is: you’re not in this alone.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *