Are you feeling disorganised and if all you need to manage in life is getting on top of you? If so then I have a warning for you. You might search online and unearth a plethora of different tips, advice, systems and templates – all designed to help you be more organised and productive. But, here is my warning……productivity is not an end in itself.
Productivity is not an end in itself. Have you ever thought about this? Has ‘productivity’ become the focus for you?
How it started….
Productivity as a word is taken from the world of manufacturing. The idea is that your factory ‘produces’ something. The more you produce and the quicker you do it means you have a ‘better’ factory. Hence – productivity. And so spawns an idea in manufacturing to try and produce more and more products in less and less time.
The idea really begins with Adam Smith – who showed the world that when workers specialised on a production line, the whole process was far more efficient. It was more productive. Henry Ford picks this up and runs with it, using the basic idea to produce a complex product without requiring the same level of expertise on the part of the worker. Thus Ford is able to outstrip all expectations on how quickly cars can be mass produced.
And so, the whole manufacturing industry gets changed.
But none of this helps your average knowledge worker. None of this helps you.
Enter David Allen. Others too, but lets focus on him.
David creates a systemised approach to office work. He provides a simple methodology and set of practices to vastly improve the effectiveness of the average knowledge worker.
But – one simple point. How did all of this start? The goal was to increase ‘output’. The goal was to be able to get more done and still maintain the quality of the work. The core of this approach was to improve a person’s ability to track and organise vast quantities of work and information.
How its going….
For many, this is still the goal and the focus. But there is a problem.
The idea of productivity has become something of an end in itself. There is a whole realm of this thing we called ‘productivity’ now. The focus is no longer on the work you have to do but on ‘productivity’ itself.
This is why you have people like me who publish blog posts and YouTube videos and podcasts on the subject. It’s why people read and watch them. This is why Thomas Frank was able to generate $100,000 worth of Notion template sales in a single month. It’s why someone like Ali Abdaal is able to rake in millions every year, just from content on productivity.
‘Productivity’ has become the focus.
What this means in practice
How much time do you spend each and every day organising your stuff?
What about the time you spend tweaking your system, trying out new ideas and methods?
How about reviewing it all – daily, weekly, monthly, yearly?
And then – how many times have you switched apps in the past few months? How many apps do you use?
Has the idea of being productive, started to matter far more than what you are actually producing?
These are all good questions to ask. Productivity is not an end in itself. Productivity, is a means to be more effective in your work and life.
I have a theory.
We all know about the little dopamine hit that you get from completing a task. It’s why some task managers add a little noise to the app when hit that check box. A little boost for the dopamine reward. It’s addictive.
Here is my theory. We get the same kind of dopamine reward from organising something into a neat little home. It might not be as significant, but the cost is a lot less. So, you get a reward for moving a task or a note into the correct folder and smothering it in a plethora of tags in just the same way as you would get from actually doing the task. But the cost is less so the overall net benefit feels greater.
Your productivity system is now delivering those addictive little rewards for you just for maintaining and tweaking it. AND, it delivers more than actually doing the work does because the effort to reward ratio is far superior.
And it is addictive.
So, organising, maintaining, tweaking and tinkering with your productivity system becomes an end in and of itself.
But it gets worse…..
That is the bedrock here. But it gets worse. Productivity is not an end in and of itself. This is true. But of course for some, it is. And they make millions from it.
Think about your average productivity content creator. For them, productivity is an end in and of itself. They devise systems and build templates etc etc all about being more productive and in their case – that is the end goal. That is their work.
Here is an interesting fact. I know plenty of people who use every single productivity tool under the sun in their real work and life. ToDoist, Tick Tick, Evernote Asana, ClickUp, OneNote, To Do, Trello. You name it, I know someone who uses it. All except Notion. The only people I know who use Notion are Notion content creators, Notion Consultants or Notion Template creators. To be fair, some of them do other stuff and I know there are real people that use Notion. But I find it interesting I don’t know of any.
The point is, all the people we look to for advice on ‘productivity’, for a lot of them productivity is an end in and of itself. At least that is how it seems.
And then there are the app developers. Their primary mission is to get you to spend as much time using their tool as they can. Enter an armada of features and updates.
But, here is the point.
Whilst organising, tweaking and developing your system often makes us feel much more productive, by definition we cannot be productive if we are not producing any output. This could be in the form of actual work done or tasks/jobs completed, or by being present and spending quality time with family and friends.
How to fix it – Simple Productivity & Effective Systems
Productivity is not an end in and of itself. The best system in the world is one that quickly and easily organises your work in the simplest way that works for your and then gets out of your way. That means that the system that will work for you should be entirely driven and determined by the work you do and the life you lead.
Person A ….
….has a vast multitude of small tasks to attend each and every day. Hardly any projects and very few appointments. For this person, a simple to do list approach is going to be most effective. They won’t need any kind of complex project management or calendar blocking system. In a very simple example, all they really need to decide when they will do something and how urgent or important it is can be the deciding factor on that.
Person B ….
….has a small number of tasks each week, some of which will take 10-20 hours. For example, a Pastor/Minister preparing a sermon each week. In addition, they have a lot of appointments and relatively small number of admin tasks. Person B will live in their calendar. Most of their time is spent on appointments and big, intensive focussed work. On top of that, that might need some kind of notes management and a relatively basic to do list.
Person C….
….manages multiple complex projects involving many different people and needs to take a lead in organising and managing their team in attacking all this. A very different kettle of fish.
The best productivity system that you can have is starts by asking the question – What is my work? What is going on in my life? What is it that I actually need to organising and manage? Then, it utilises the simplest and least time consuming way possible to log, track, organise and manage it all and then to focus you.
So – rather than ask the questions starting with the system or worse yet, the app. Start by asking about your work and life.
Productivity is not an end in itself. Therefore the ideal is that your system would not require all that much time and effort to maintain. And it is far better that you get on with your work and be present in life, than have a neat and perfectly orgasnised system. The best systems and tools, get out of your way.
