# Chapter 92

*Presence is far more intricate and rewarding an art than productivity.*/Ours is a culture that measures our worth as human beings by our efficiency, our earnings, our ability to perform this or that. The cult of productivity has its place, but worshipping at its altar daily robs us of the very capacity for joy and wonder that makes life worth living — for, as , “how we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”/ [Annie Dillard memorably put it](https://www.brainpickings.org/2013/06/07/annie-dillard-the-writing-life-1/) Maria Popova

People ask me “how to be the person that I want others to be” to quote from the previous chapter. BE that person, is the answer. If you want someone to reach out, then you reach out. If you want someone to be in your corner, then you be in their corner. If you want someone to listen to you, then you be the one who listens. And the gems will respond in kind. Capish? Probably not.

Then pay attention to what Popova said above as she quoted Anne Dillard, if you want great friends then you have to BE a great friend. Unfortunately most of us are all consumed with doing more, not being more. Stop burning all your bandwidth on efficiency, earnings and performing or producing. You have to be more than a machine. I just took four glorious days off fishing with one of my buddies. Four days off!! Work to live don’t live to work! Be altogether here now in this very moment. Its more difficult than it sounds. Its more rewarding than you believe. Its actually the purpose of living. So get living!