Yes, there is such a thing as being too productive

Yes, there is such a thing as being too productiveYes, there is such a thing as being too productiveContrary to popular belief, thereissuch a thing as beingtoo productive.Follow Ladders on FlipboardFollow Ladders magazines on Flipboard covering Happiness, Productivity, Job Satisfaction, Neuroscience, and moreI like to think about this in two waysFirst, you are being too productive the moment that your input becomes disproportionate to youroutput.Lets use writing as an example.I know a good many writers who feelall sorts of productivesimply because of how many books theyre able to read in a day, week, month, or year.Now, lets say you are an incredibly productive reader. You are able to read pages and pages without effort. You are able to retain a significant amount of the material you consume. When it comes to reading, you are an absolute professional.The problem is, your Chief Aim, your GOAL, isnt to become a master reader (maybe thats a tangential goal, but its not your main goal). Your goal is to become a writer. And while reading is certainly an important part of writing, and become a professional writer, the moment your input becomes disproportionate to your output, you are no longer being productive. Because while you may be turning into an incredibly effective reader, there is a tipping point where more reading isnt going to move you any further along as a writer.So, the act can be productive, but unless the act is aligned with the GOAL, then it wouldnt be accurate to say your ACTIONS (as a whole) are productive.Thats the first example.The second example of being too productive is when your productivity has a disproportionate impact on your quality oflife.In order to achieve anything great in life, you will have to make sacrifices.It would be naive to think that you could achieve the highest levels of success (or productivity) without some compromise letting go of certain relationships, eating less healthfully, sleeping less, enduring high amounts of stre ss, etc. Whatever that compromise becomes is up to you, but somewhere, somehow, your drive toward your Chief Aim will cause you to have to ignore other aspects of your life.However, theres a tipping point here as well.The moment your drive puts you in the hospital, you know you have a problem. The moment your significant other sits you down and says, I cant keep seeing you like this, you know youve gone too far. The variables of life can bend, but at a certain point, they can and they will snap. And its up to you to figure out how far you can bend before you break.The art of being productive, then, is all about balancing the following variablesInput as it relates to output (you should be doing more than youre consuming)Productivity weighed against the sustainable aspects of your life (mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health)Driving the highest impact for the lowest amount of effort (prioritizing whats truly going to move the needle over what doesnt move the needle but feel s urgent)Finding this sweet spot is the reason why some people do incredible things with our universal 24-hour clock, and others do almost nothing.This article first appeared in Minutes Magazine.You might also enjoyNew neuroscience reveals 4 rituals that will make you happyStrangers know your social class in the first seven words you say, study finds10 lessons from Benjamin Franklins daily schedule that will double your productivityThe worst mistakes you can make in an interview, according to 12 CEOs10 habits of mentally strong people