As much as I want to brainwash myself into being a productivity machine…
Optimising my morning routine, tracking my habits, measuring every fucking minute for maximum efficiency, sometimes I just need to have a completely pointless conversation about whether or not hot dogs are sandwiches.
Or spend twenty minutes debating the physics of cartoon characters. Or get genuinely invested in whether that weird stain on the coffee shop ceiling looks more like a giraffe or Nebraska.
These bullshit, mundane conversations heavily stop me from procrastination. They hinge around some semblance of sanity maintenance.
The thing is. Your brain isn’t designed to be “on” all the time.
It needs moments of beautiful, purposeless meandering. It needs to discuss the relative merits of different pasta shapes or argue about which superhero would be the worst roommate.
The most productive thing you can do sometimes is be completely unproductive. Talk about nothing. Laugh at stupid shit. Let your mind wander into territory that serves no higher purpose than preventing you from losing your goddamn mind.
The person who never allows themselves mental downtime, who turns every conversation into a networking opportunity or a learning experience, burns out spectacularly…
Sometimes the most important discussion you’ll have all day is about why cereal counts as soup.
Embrace the meaningless. It helps keep your sanity at bay.
And yes, cereal is a soup and I will fight you over it.
Stephen Walker.