how we spend our days

2021-09-21 · letter vlog · John · 3:44 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life (also: Personal life) · mode: Personal essay

Starting from Annie Dillard's line that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives, John argues that our choices about our days are limited by circumstances not our fault, and that by widening productivity beyond what the world recognizes, to include joy, thinking and being with those we love, he feels better about how he spends his days.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Annie Dillard: how we spend our days is how we spend our lives

★★ John's probably favorite book about writing is Annie Dillard's The Writing Life, with its observation that how we spend our days is how we spend our lives. (hedged) — 00:00:00

“how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives”
★★★ John separates a day's work from a life's work, but they are inseparable because lives are made of days: today's meetings, haircut and plumber call are his life's work too. — 00:00:00

00:00:29 — Limited choice: constraints of lived reality are not our fault

★★★ Trying to spend his days carefully, John meets an obstacle: aspirational capitalism says he has absolute choice, but even with immense professional privilege he has little choice in what he does with his days. — 00:00:29 · capitalism
★ John cannot go to space tomorrow, having an inner ear disorder and not being a billionaire, nor care for the sick in hospitals, lacking a nurse's training; he can't do almost everything. (playful) — 00:00:29
★★★ John says the constraints of our lived reality are generally not our fault, even if social and economic structures sometimes say they are, so our choice of how to spend our days is often limited. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Some choice: the haircut, the meetings, the World's Largest Ball of Paint

★★ Most people have at least some choice: John need not get a haircut today and could instead drive to the World's Largest Ball of Paint or call an elementary-school friend. — 00:01:27
★★ Because he wants his hair to look less and people are counting on him at his meetings, John will get the haircut and attend them: that is his day, and so much of his life. — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — George Raft's joke; economic versus personal productivity; Hank's line on joy

★★ John recalls George Raft's joke about losing his fortune (the rest he spent foolishly) and draws from it that work others see as productive use of his life is not what he experiences as productive. — 00:01:56
★ Adapting Raft's joke, John says he spends most of his hours idly daydreaming or driving his children to and from school, and the rest of his time he squanders. (playful) — 00:02:10
★★★ John often finds that what is economically or even socially productive is not what is deeply personally productive. — 00:02:26
★★ Yesterday John's most economically productive work was making a much-listened podcast and writing a bit of a book, but his most productive hour was driving his kid home from school, running errands and talking. — 00:02:26
★★★ Hank Green (quoted): John cites Hank, 'the great philosopher': you will always struggle with not feeling productive until you accept that your own joy can be something you produce. — 00:02:55 · Hank Green · first in: 2020-07-14, The ice we skate is getting pretty thin.

“you will always struggle with not feeling productive until you accept that your own joy can be something you produce”
★★★ John's mattering as a person is not contingent on his production, especially production the world recognizes; sometimes the most important work is merely thinking or being, above all being present for those he loves. — 00:02:55

00:03:24 — Expanding the definition of productivity; sign-off

★★★ When John expands his definition of productivity to include how he wants to spend his life, he feels better about how he spends his days. — 00:03:24

In the description and comments

★ In a comment John says he can't go to London tomorrow because COVID protocols at his kids' school would keep them out of school for two weeks. — creator comment

Threads in this video

restate · What is work for, and how much should people work? — John's mattering as a person is not contingent on his production, especially production the world recognizes; sometimes the most important work is merely thinking or being, above all being present for those he loves. (00:02:55)
restate · Do people get what they deserve, or do luck and privilege decide? — John says the constraints of our lived reality are generally not our fault, even if social and economic structures sometimes say they are, so our choice of how to spend our days is often limited. (00:00:58)

Mentioned

Central: productivity · The Writing Life

Also: Annie Dillard · capitalism · George Raft · joy · World's Largest Ball of Paint

Also centred on productivity: The Secret to my Productivity · what's wrong with taking the back streets? · I have been playing a small trick on you. · The Productivity Lie

← Previous: The Top 10 Micro-Photos of 2021 · Next → 11 Great Books You Probably Haven't Read