There was an HN article posted 6 months ago (maybe?) from an ivy-league study (Harvard I want to say...) that found the difference between productive people and unproductive people which seems to suggest the opposite of this blog post.
The study found that people who focus on the future and the work that needs to get done, tend to get more done, be more productive and subsequently were more successful.
The people that focused primarily on what had been done experienced a false sense of "completion" and had a tendency to stop working or take longer breaks between tasks.
FWIW, I do see this compulsion of focusing on "tomorrow" (defined as 'whatever is next') in successful people, but I also see very little appreciation for the "Now" or what they have accomplished.
I have tried to balance my moments of compulsion about tomorrow/next/more/bigger/do-it! with taking stock of the life I am leading from time to time and enjoying it. I am happier as a result and am capable of enjoying beautiful life-moments that would have previously been impossible for me to experience without anxiety.
Personal Aside: My wife and I went to Bora Bora years ago as part of a bigger trip to NZ. The total serene beauty of Bora Bora almost drove me insane. I wanted to try and paddle one of the kayaks back home at the time because my ego-driven mind was completely dominating my thoughts. I didn't see some of the world's clearest water or beautiful sand, I only saw "No high speed internet", "No IDE", "No code" and "No progress" which, at the time, meant the world was going to steam-roll me and I was going to fail miserably.
After getting home I knew I had to do something about that way of thinking. I knew the only thing that was waiting for me at the end of THAT path was a life of stress, ulcers, pain and the inability to deal with change or an occasional life-sized curveball with any sort of control.
Happiness is my default state now. I wasn't even trying to accomplish that... it is a side effect of very little work, just an awareness of what my thoughts are doing.
The study found that people who focus on the future and the work that needs to get done, tend to get more done, be more productive and subsequently were more successful.
The people that focused primarily on what had been done experienced a false sense of "completion" and had a tendency to stop working or take longer breaks between tasks.
FWIW, I do see this compulsion of focusing on "tomorrow" (defined as 'whatever is next') in successful people, but I also see very little appreciation for the "Now" or what they have accomplished.
I have tried to balance my moments of compulsion about tomorrow/next/more/bigger/do-it! with taking stock of the life I am leading from time to time and enjoying it. I am happier as a result and am capable of enjoying beautiful life-moments that would have previously been impossible for me to experience without anxiety.
Personal Aside: My wife and I went to Bora Bora years ago as part of a bigger trip to NZ. The total serene beauty of Bora Bora almost drove me insane. I wanted to try and paddle one of the kayaks back home at the time because my ego-driven mind was completely dominating my thoughts. I didn't see some of the world's clearest water or beautiful sand, I only saw "No high speed internet", "No IDE", "No code" and "No progress" which, at the time, meant the world was going to steam-roll me and I was going to fail miserably.
After getting home I knew I had to do something about that way of thinking. I knew the only thing that was waiting for me at the end of THAT path was a life of stress, ulcers, pain and the inability to deal with change or an occasional life-sized curveball with any sort of control.
Happiness is my default state now. I wasn't even trying to accomplish that... it is a side effect of very little work, just an awareness of what my thoughts are doing.