Does more free time equal increased productivity?

Productivity is a concept that is simultaneously chased and shunned by today’s young adults. What I mean by that is that it seems as though almost every person who I have ever interacted with craves more time. Whether it’s time to study calculus, practice catching a lacrosse ball with the stick in your left hand, or write a short story, everyone wants more of it. And although there seems to be a common assumption that more free time brings with it increased productivity, it may actually trigger the opposite effect.

It is not unusual for me to find myself buried neck-deep in activities and work that I should be completing but simply cannot find adequate amounts of time to do. Between sports, student government, newspaper, homework, SATs, and more, I often find myself wishing for more time in the day to do everything that needs to be done. Fortunately, the winter months in between field hockey and lacrosse seasons give me a little bit more time to breathe, allowing me to come home most days after school rather than staying for several more hours to participate in practices or games. And with my prayers for more time being answered, I naturally looked forward to all of the additional things that I would be able to accomplish with my extra hours of freedom. What I quickly discovered was that perhaps, despite popular belief, free time does not equate to increased productivity. In actuality, it often leads to decreased productivity.

Even in the fall days where my afternoons were jam-packed with tasks and assignments and obligations, I had a schedule. Every single day consisted of school until 2:10, practice until 5:15, shower until 5:30, homework until dinnertime, homework after dinnertime, and then sleep. It was a demanding routine that left little time for socializing and entertainment, but it was a routine nonetheless. Of course, there were some nights where I would work through dinner, letting the plate of pasta that my mom had brought to my bedroom door get cold while I mustered the eyelid strength to finish that last AP language rhetorical analysis. But the point is that I always muscled through. I always completed every last assignment in my planner because I felt that it was all part of the schedule. Only after I finished my work could I finally allow myself to crawl into bed and allow the dreamy land of free time and no stress to take over my thoughts.

Once that time slot between 2:10 and 5:15 opened up, I eagerly anticipated going home and getting all my homework and studying done in record time, leaving myself time to finally practice my field hockey drives out front and write up a few overdue blog posts. It didn’t take long for me to realize that it was much easier to spend the extra time eating chips and cookies and making my way through the dozens of missed television shows that had piled into my overflowing DVR over the past few months. Each day, I would sit down and tell myself that after a half hour of relaxation, I would begin my work. And 3 hours later I would groan and heave myself off of the couch, mourning the precious time that I had wasted.

And even after I finally did start my work, I would often find myself half-heartedly completing assignments and compromising one or two of them rather than thoroughly doing all of them. With no schedule to motivate me, I felt no sense of obligation or determination to do much of anything. And for the first time in my life, I could accurately label myself as lazy.

Maybe it was because the stresses of the first marking period had weighed heavily on my mental and emotional stability as an already fragile adolescent female. Or maybe it was a reinforcement of my newfound belief that most teenagers, and possibly most people in general, are inherently lazy. Or maybe it was really just because the television as of lately has been more enthralling than usual. Regardless of the cause, I had become lazy and upon comparing notes with many of my friends and peers, I discovered that they, too, had discovered the shocking truth: Free time diminishes productivity.

Of course, my theory is by no means always true. There are some people who are incredibly self-motivated and are able to complete everything that they need to do and want to do in a reasonable amount of time. But there are also many of us who are encouraged by a strict schedule, and who are thrown off when the previously unknown concept of free time becomes such a prevalent force in our everyday lives.

In the weeks since my recent discovery, I have attempted to stop my laziness in its tracks by creating more of a routine for myself. Everyday after school, I go to lacrosse workouts or the gym, get home, get a snack, shower, and do homework until dinner. I know that it seems astonishingly contrary to common sense that adding more activities will help you accomplish more, but logically it makes sense. When there is no time for lounging around, surfing the Internet, or watching TV, you won’t do it. And when you don’t do it at all, you won’t find yourself glued to the screen or the couch for hours on end, wasting away valuable time that you will regret later on.

For anyone else who feels like laziness has taken over their lives, I recommend taking out time that would be spent on things that hinder productivity and replacing them with things that will fill your schedule enough to create time later for completing the things you really need to get done. It is still unclear to me if the laziness epidemic is preventable, but I do know that it is definitely treatable.