Consider these contrasts: productivity vs. connectivity, output vs. sharing, toil vs. service.

I am a product of an American society that promotes productivity above most or all things. We are measured by how much we put out and by the second or third order effects of our productivity: money, fame, or some easily observable social metric. I've been conditioned to work very hard almost all the time -- to have an output that may somehow prove my worth to the world around me.

The notion and its associated societal conditioning are deeply flawed. I contrast it with the European cultures -- particularly French or Spanish-leaning cultures -- that "work to live" while those in the US "live to work." I imagine that coming to the end of our lives and seeing that most of it was spent in toil may leave us in an existential crisis, provided that the toil was in service to being "productive" rather than some meaningful pursuit that is in service to mankind.

At this point in my life, I know I will be working hard for many more years. Work is indeed something I like to do. I think of myself as a German Shepherd -- I'm a working dog that loves to serve, so give me something to do please. In earlier years, I considered the toil of work and rejected it in favor of no work -- and that didn't go so well for me. I felt aimless and frustrated. I actually found that I needed work, not for the money but for the psychological benefits of it.

I still find that productivity for productivity's sake is vapid. If the product of my work is not connective, it is not rewarding. My product must connect with someone else, it must serve the needs of someone else in order to be fully actualized and provide psychological and spiritual benefit to the producer. My output lacks meaning -- but when I am sharing my work, when my art hits the ears of a listener and affects them, it creates a bridge between me and another human. When I toil, that labor acquires meaning when it serves something greater than itself or myself. That meaning is like a warm ball of light that sits in our heart.

I choose connectivity over productivity.