The Taylor Swift Method of Pandemic Productivity
Creativity is a continuum
Taylor Swift’s pandemic productivity — two albums, folklore and evermore; two cinematic videos for the songs “cardigan” and “willow”; a “concert film” — is enough to make us mere mortals feel inadequate. I mean, doesn’t even non-pandemic-era T. Swift make us all feel inadequate?
Yes, as many have pointed out, she makes music for a living, has a lot of support and resources, isn’t dealing with children or online schooling, and, right, is Taylor Swift. That said, I do think we can all take a little something from her high-octane Doing Stuff During Covid energy. “Being productive” is never only about some definitive end product; it’s about the “being” more than anything. Don’t get hung up on what you want to produce. It’s about how you want to be.
It helps to mentally disconnect from the end result. That’s true in writing, in sports, in investing, in everything. The point is to play, to make, to be. And the funny thing is, adopting that attitude will make your end product better.
