You can see below my calendar for the month of September 2021. Marked with circles, are the Jewish Holidays we had in this month: Rosh HaShana (the Jewish New Year), Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Simchat Torah. The red circles are the days I did not work (including Shabbat), and the orange circles are the days I have worked only partially.

As you can observe, this month had very few regular work days, and as such we could say that it was not very “productive”. But all these forced vacations helped me to boost my energy levels. I’m feeling now much better than I was a month ago. I can now resume my routine with a fresh mind and many good memories of celebrations with my family and friends.

Thus our definition of a “productive day” should be expanded to include also the days in which we were able to increase considerably our energy levels. You can have a productive day when you complete a task, or you can have a productive day when you achieve some goal, but you certainly can also have a productive day dedicated to rest and fun.

Happy New Year!