Perpetual Productivity

Is perpetual productivity desirable, or even possible?

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The Silicon Valley Dream

Let us say one day we invented a magical pill which had NO DOWNSIDES, but allowed you to ALWAYS BE ALERT (imagine a really good caffeine high — not too excited, but elevated), to NEVER BE TIRED (no more needing to sleep), would you take it?

I think intuitively most of us would say “no”. But let us say this product hit the market– it would sell insanely well.

Why do we want to become so productive?

Several reasons:

First of all, we Americans (and much of the modern world now) follow the philosophy of ‘utilitarianism’. The basic notion is this:

The more productive you are, the more virtuous you are.

And also:

The more productive you become, the richer you will become, and the happier you will become.

Taken to the ‘Protestant ethic’ notion:

Whenever you are NOT working, NOT making money, and NOT being productive, you are actively “sinning” and “wasting your life” (which God has given you). Therefore if you don’t want to go to hell, do not be lazy.

Is it possible to be perpetually productive?

My thought:

It is possible to be ‘perpetually productive’ in a 24-hour span, given that you have slept 8-12 hours the night before, and that you are physiologically (physical, muscular) in apex shape and fitness.

Productivity comes from the muscles

I believe that having the ability to be productive comes from your bones, muscles, sinews, and nerves. In short, I believe that productivity is a physiological phenomenon.

Hercules, a highly “productive” member of society.

Which means:

You cannot mentally ‘will’ yourself to become productive. No. Productivity happens when we have ample superfluous energy in our muscles and body, and we want to express that superfluous joy in our body!

Therefore in order to become more productive, we must first train our bodies (and allow our bodies to recover) to the apex and zenith.

Simple ideas

First of all, if you want to prepare yourself for ‘perpetual productivity’, you must prepare yourself a day in advance.

Simple suggestions:

The day before, stop drinking caffeine (any caffeine product) by 3pm.
For dinner [the night before], eat LOTS of fatty meat (pork ribs, beef ribs, steak, etc). Eat it with kimchi (aids in digestion) or raw kale (no dressing). Eat A TON, until you cannot eat any more. No carbs (no rice, potatoes, starches).
Strive to sleep by around ~10:30pm.

Then the next day (today) you can strive to maximize yourself and your personal productivity.

1. Strive to conquer today

The goal:

Maximize your power to conquer and crush today.

The goal is to literally ‘take it one day at a time’.

Start off the day to NOT allow yourself to become bombarded with external stimuli. This means when you first wake up, do NOT check your phone. Do NOT check email. Do NOT check social media, the news, and do NOT read books. Like Nietzsche says [paraphrasing]:

When you are fresh in the morning, why would you allow little hobgoblin foreign ideas enter your mind, and sully (dirty) your pure, clean, crisp fresh morning mind?

2. Only work on what you care about

I am certain about this:

When I work on something that I truly care for, I am 1000x more productive than when I work on “toilsome drudgery work” (aka, ‘busy work’, or ‘bullshit work’) which is superimposed upon me by someone else.

There are no such things as “more virtuous aims” or “more worthy” aims in the ultimate sense. Your task is to only work on things YOU care about. Let the rabble critique your aims all you want. If YOU dictate and determine your aims and tasks in life as great, grand, and worthy of you — they are!

3. Standing desk

My ghetto standing desk at home

If your productivity means you having to be on a laptop, I encourage you to use a ‘standing desk’. Even at home, I have made a ‘ghetto standing’ desk with the following:

On my kitchen counter, place a plastic box, and put my laptop on top of it.

It isn’t the optimal ‘ergonomic’ setting, but standing makes me 100x more productive than when I am sitting.

4. Walk more to become more productive

Even better– walking is king. If I could have some sort of optimal ‘walking device’, this would be best. I tried walking treadmills, which are too tricky for me. So far, walking while typing on a phone is actually quite effective, but dangerous (I almost slipped a few times, and almost stepped into potholes a few times).

“Trust no thought which doesn’t enter your mind while you are walking outdoors.” – Nietzsche

If your task is to think and produce knowledge, it seems, the more you walk, the more ‘productive’ you will become.

5. Coffee

This is obvious. When you wake up, have a strong cup of coffee (no cream, no sugar, no weird almond/coconut/oat substitutes). All killer, no filler.

Consuming coffee gives you an adrenaline response, which heightens your focus and concentration.

To best consume coffee in the morning, I have really enjoyed the ‘Clever Dripper’. It accompanies me and Cindy during all our travels and nomadic wanderings.

Another pro tip:

Buy black (no sugar) cold brew coffee, and just keep it in the fridge.

Then when you wake up, you can immediately get caffeinated. You can get good cold brew at the store, or you can even go to Starbucks and ask for a large cold brew (no water, no ice), and just keep it in your fridge.

Conclusion: The eternal return of creative productivity

Eternal Return to CREATIVE EVERYDAY

To everyday, perpetually pursue aims that you care about — for infinity — this seems the goal.

When I think of ‘productivity’, I think of creative productivity. Meaning, you produce much artwork. Artwork as manifested through writing, photos, videos, poems, etc. Anything which you consider your artwork is legitimate.

Then it means to take your day today (24 hour period of time), and live it to the maximal creative bliss. Then to repeat that, over and over again, as if you were to become 120-140 years old!

ERIC

ERIC KIM