I like my coffee piping hot. But last week I noticed this: I re-heated my single cup of morning coffee six times because I kept getting distracted and it cooled off.
Six times. And it was only 8 ounces of coffee.
I didn’t really even notice the first couple times I stuck my mug in the microwave. But by the sixth time, it dawned on me: This is crazy behavior.
I kept allowing myself to be pulled away to reply to an email or toss a load of laundry in the dryer—rather than sit for a few undistracted minutes and actually enjoy my cup of coffee the way I like it.
My behavior wasn’t making pleasure a priority. Instead, my actions put productivity first.
Pleasure is a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment. And it’s core to self-care, self-kindness, and self-love.
Always putting productivity ahead of pleasure is a not-so-subtle form of self-sabotage. It’s anti-self-care.
It took that sixth trip to the kitchen to re-heat, but I finally did catch on that I was not making pleasure a priority.
Eventually the emails need to be answered and the clothes dried. But productivity shouldn’t always take priority over pleasure. Sometimes, yes. But not always.
Here’s your mini mission
Think of one pleasure in your life you keep sacrificing to productivity. Decide you’re going to put pleasure first.
Take a walk before you update your monthly budget. Read a chapter in that novel before you mop the floor. Savor your lunch before you tackle your expense report.
You have a right to pleasure. What pleasure will you prioritize over productivity today?
