All work and all play

When I do something, I usually think of it as either work: something useful, something that creates value, helps people, or causes me to be closer to my goals, or play: something enjoyable, something that lifts my mood, brings me happiness and helps to restore my energy and motivation. In an ideal situation, I can do things that are both work and play, but one thing I've learned is that it's unrealistic to expect that all the time. Even for things you really care about, there are some parts that are all work and no play.

But there's a much more dangerous category of activity, which is no work and no play. These are things that you thought were going to be useful work, but slowly turned into useless work. Or things that were fun, but slowly stop being fun and eventually just become big time sinks. At that point, you're usually doing a no-work-no-play activity out of obligation or habit, often without really considering why you're doing it.

Pruning those activities out is a surprisingly liberating experience.