EDITION 26/03: Cigars against “productivity” - smoke instead of to-do tyranny

At some point, you look at your to-do list and realise that it's no longer a list. That is a threat. Colour-coded, slick, passive-aggressive, she tells you: „You're not enough. But we could work on that.“

And outside they're running around, the productivity priests. Calendars like Tetris on caffeine. „Three calls, two deadlines, yoga on the side.“ Yoga on the side. Of course.

That's where the cigar comes in.

The cigar, man!

Not as laziness. As a counterculture.

A cigar is not efficient. It is slow, wilful and cannot be rushed. You can't multitask it. If you try, it gets hot, bitter, offended. It demands presence - and that's almost radical these days.

Productivity has become a religion: Getting up early, deep work, 17 apps that tell you that you don't exist without them, and a morning routine at 05:30 while you scream inside.

The cigar does not go along with this.

It is an interruption that says: „Sit down. Pull. Stop treating yourself like a project.“

You don't switch off. You are switching back. Away from the optimisation algorithm, towards being human.

The to-do list remains. But it shrinks. Suddenly it's just: „Ah yes, tasks.“ And not: „Your value is attached to an email.“

You are not necessarily more productive after 15 minutes.

But clearer.

And clarity is real efficiency - only without the burnout soundtrack.

The world continues to hunt.

But you with a cigar.

With a cigar, man!

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Picture credits

• Cover: ChatGPT: „Draw an abstract picture representing March. Without text.“