The 4-day workweek is all over the news this week. It seems some companies are experimenting with it to see the benefits.

I’ve done it before, and can confirm: it helps with focus, productivity and stress. It worked really well for me, nevertheless I’m wondering if we are only focusing on one part of what “working” means.

Productivity is beautiful, but it’s always the same story about how we can do more and more and more.
How we can squeeze more work, more efficiency, into our role.

I get it, I get the values for the companies and the rewards for the employees, but should we focus all of our attention on this?
When I read the book “Four thousand weeks” by Oliver Burkeman, one thing that stood out for me was how we try to adjust our daily life “to be more productive at work”.

I’m guilty of that, both in the past and now. I’m guilty of favoring work over life, of thinking that I should avoid experiences in life to be sure I can work at my very best, my 100%, my best productivity.
It’s this idea of performance that, while definitely useful, can be a little broken.

Should we really adjust only for performance?
What about creativity? Where do we place creativity in this grand design?
Creativity has different requirements, it happens when the brain can connect the dots, outside the daily chaos.

Lastly: What’s the end goal of productivity? We can go to 100%, but that’s pretty much it. What we, humans, can do differently is have new ideas that will improve productivity on other levels, innovations that will change the paradigm.
Those innovations are often born out of that creative state of mind, not that “Productive” state of mind.
By looking at things from a different angle, by stepping away, by taking a deep breath, we can be more “productive”, without being more productive while it happens.

These are 2 sides of the story, there might be a third one I’m not considering, but I guess the point is clear. 
Is productivity all we should aim for?