Productivity isn’t about how busy or efficient you are—it’s about how much you accomplish.
– Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project
Take it from a die-hard busy bee: the difference between being busy and actually accomplishing what you set out to—in a day, a week, a lifetime—can be significant.
Oh, the things I can get done in a day! It would make a real bee’s head spin.
For me, the problem isn’t getting stuff done—no, no. My problem is getting the right things done, at the right time.
Then I stumbled upon Chris Bailey’s book, The Productivity Project; Accomplishing More by Managing Your Time, Attention, and Energy.
Boy oh boy, did I ever learn a lot! The book helped me transform my work-day—how much I accomplish, as well as the quality of my work.
“What separates the most productive people from everyone else is that they make course corrections every week to gradually get better at everything they do.”
– Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project
By implementing a few small changes over several months (keeping what worked and tossing what didn’t), I began to accomplish more…in significantly less time.
“Productivity isn’t about doing more, faster – it’s about doing the right things, deliberately and with intention.”
– Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project
If you are pondering your productivity, you may find this zinger of a question, by author Chris Bailey, of use (I certainly did):
“I think the best way to measure productivity is to ask yourself a very simple question at the end of every day: Did I get done what I intended to?”
A simple question, yes—but not a comfortable one, if the answer is no…again. Because frankly, it does get rather tiresome (literally) to work harder and harder and still not be able to answer YES to this question at the end of the day: Did I get done what I intended to?
For me, when the answer was no, as it often was, I had to ask myself: why NOT?
Was I not prioritizing and setting clear goals for the day? Or was it because, despite my best intentions, I allowed myself to get swallowed up, again, by the daily tsunami of e-mails? Or was I getting sucked into the bottomless black hole of social media? Had I spent yet another entire precious day in front of one computer or another, desperately trying to get caught up…and still not have managed to get done what I really WANTED to get done?
“By controlling how much time you spend on a task,” explains Bailey, “you control how much energy and attention you spend on it.”
This is where my trusty timer really started to come in handy. To tackle e-mail, I began to set aside two to three work sessions a week when I can go to town on e-mails and social media—for a pre-determined amount of time. I get the most important tasks done first and when the timer goes off, so does my computer.
When it comes to e-mail, Bailey has this brilliant advice to offer: “Don’t check your e-mail unless you have enough time, focus, and energy to respond to whatever might come in.”
Feel free to read that sentence again. For me, it was a game-changer.
I realized I had been wasting an unbelievable amount of time by “just taking a quick look” at my e-mails, then flagging them as unread—then going back to answer them later on. Not only was I doubling my work-load, I was wasting precious time and energy dealing with e-mail (sort of) instead of DOING the most important tasks that needed to get done.
I also learned to accept that e-mail, like housework and gardening, is not something I will likely ever be fully caught up on. And that’s okay.
As Chris Bailey suggests: “When you are on your deathbed, you’re going to look back with satisfaction at the cool and meaningful things you’ve accomplished, not that you stayed on top of your e-mail.”
Interestingly, however, thanks to The Productivity Project, I would have to say that the one change I have made over the past few years that has led to an exponential increase in my productivity is this: PLAN TO DO LESS IN A DAY.
Now, it may seem counter-productive to tackle less in a day—so as to accomplish more. But it works. Here’s why:
“By simplifying how much you take on, you create more attentional space around your high-return activities, so you can focus on them more deeply.”
– Chris Bailey, The Productivity Project
By deliberately choosing to do less tasks in a day, I find I get more quality work accomplished because I’m not negatively impacting the task I am working on—by worrying about all the other tasks that still lie ahead in the day.
Productivity is highly subjective and intensely personal. What works for one person may not work for another…and not everyone, of course, is interested in becoming more productive.
Truth to be told, what motivated me to pick up the book in the first place was the simple fact that the older I get, the less time I want to spend sitting in front of a computer!
But since I do still want to get my projects accomplished (before I’m 90), I am constantly on the hunt for ways in which I can be more productive in the time I do put in.
If you, too, are on the lookout for ideas on ways to increase your productivity, I highly recommend reading The Productivity Project.
In the meantime, here are 5 takeaway tips from the book that you may find of use:
- Productivity isn’t about how busy or efficient you are—it’s about how much you accomplish.
- Rearranging your day around when you have the most energy is one simple way to work smarter instead of just harder.
- Work on your highest-impact tasks when you are able to bring the most energy and focus to them.
- By controlling how much time you spend on a task, you control how much energy and attention you spend on it.
- By simplifying how much you take on, you create more attentional space around your high-return activities, so you can focus on them more deeply.
Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s time for me to leave my hive for the day…my timer just went off.
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Previously Published on Pink Gazelle
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