Challenging productivity culture

Challenging productivity culture: a pep talk, journaling prompts, & resources

Sweet friend, you’re worth so much more than your productivity.

Your work doesn’t determine your worth; you are inherently worthy.

You deserve all the things you need to thrive - community, care, love, financial security, health care, & so on - regardless of your ability to work under the constraints of late-stage capitalism.

You’re worth so much more than your productivity.

I know this can be really hard; I’ve struggled with divesting my self-worth from my productivity as well - but the process of detaching my work from my worth has been so helpful & healing.

To offer some support with this process, I created a few journaling prompts to help you imagine a life, your life, outside of & beyond productivity.

“Journaling prompts” in a pastel rainbow cursive font.

💖 What communities am I a part of?

🧡 What roles do I play in my communities & relationships?

💛 What are my core values? Why are these values important to me?

💚 What brings me joy, makes me laugh, &/or inspires me?

🩵 How would I introduce myself to someone new, describing what I do, without mentioning anything related to my work or career?

💜 How can I add more play into my life? What types of play feel good & generative to me? What play activities do I want to explore & experiment with?

💖 What impact do I want to have? What do I want my legacy to be?

🧡 How would my friends describe me?

💛 What activities and/or practices help me feel restored, relaxed, & even rejuvenated?

💚 What does my ideal day look like? What does my ideal week look like?

🩵 What do I contribute to the people and places I care about?

💜 How do I practice community care?

💖 What skills do I have already? What ones do I want to nurture?

🧡 What opportunities am I calling in? What ones do I want or need to say “no" to?

💛 How do I want to feel, on an ideal day?

Decorative border — A decorative border with pink & yellow squiggles.

I hope these journaling prompts are supportive for you in your journey.

I also have a recommended resource to check out, if you're interested in going deeper in rethinking productivity, dear one.

Recommended resource: the Tending Year

My dear friend & penpal Dr. Kate Henry is an independent scholar & productivity coach specializing in sustainable + well-being-oriented productivity AKA slow productivity. Her blog, the Tending Year, is a rich, expansive, & just like, incredible resource on rethinking productivity through the lens of slow living.

Kate also shares a lot of helpful information and resources via her Substack, Tending with Dr. Kate Henry, which is one of my favorite reads.

Personally, I’ve found her work especially supportive, deeply validating, & simply like, IMPORTANT as a disabled & chronically ill anti-capitalist babe.

What's your relationship with productivity like right now & what do you want it to be like? Let me know in the comments.

Until next time, sweet friend 💕