3 Years of Obsessive Productivity. 3 Lessons

For the last 3years I’ve been obsessed with productivity.

Two things were behind my obsession – the perpetual feeling of being behind my peers, and the misguided belief doing more was the answer. I read countless books on productivity, from NTY Best Sellers by David Allen and Cal Newport to niche publications by Kelly Exeter. YouTube productivity porn became my entertainment. But what I discovered wasn’t what I was expecting – I was optimising for more, and more lead to more stress.

What I needed was to optimise for more flow and less stress. I needed to optimise for a sustainable mindful form of productivity.

No Grind No Gain – The Broken Default Settings of Work

Our default settings around work are backward.

They’re rooted in the belief work is synonymous with the grind. Too often we don’t make the distinction between what forms challenging meaningful work vs what makes hard-work –  a fundamental dislike for the process.

For a long time, I subscribed to that same belief – the belief the grind was necessary. Until I looked up and recognised it wasn’t working. Not only was my progress slow, but I resembled a cross between a desk-tethered version of The Grinch and the preverbal hamster on the wheel.

I was sprinting, grinding and cranky. I needed a different approach.

Before Productivity

What’s interesting is before delving into productivity, I saw two distinct paths.

I saw a path of progress and a path of perpetual behind-ness. My logic was flawed in that it assumed chronic stress and overwhelm were the only routes to success – facets that simply came with the territory of a “striver”. Like many others I normalised Sunday Scaries, nervous Mondays and beer infused weekends designed to “forget about work”.

I was grinding and numbing, until I started to see the makings of an alternate path.

A Third Path

It was this third path where I learned the default settings could be changed.

I discovered studies around positive psychology and books on workflows and focus. I discovered productivity goes beyond a set of checklists and KPIs, and approached with a mindful mindset, it can hold the keys to enjoying the process of work. I discovered what nobody had ever taught me – how to work

And while work remains challenging, I can vouch firmly we don’t have to walk through it with a constant anxiety – a former reality of mine.

There are tools we can call upon. And more impactfully, mindsets we can take on board to make our experience better.

Three Lessons

Productivity practiced mindfully has taught me a lot. But these are the three biggest lessons that serve as the guiding star to stay on this path.

1.     You get to choose your vision of productivity, and a mindful intentional vision has a positive ripple effect on all aspects of life

Most of us will spend close to 2000hrs a year working.

That’s enough time for a Boeing 747 to fly the circumference of the earth 40times. How we experience those hours affects our health, our families and more. This journey needs to be fuelled by more than nicotine, caffeine and an inbox of anxiety.

And without a doubt there are bigger societal and organisation questions around managing overload and redefining work.

But on a personal level, when we start to navigate our work with more intention – optimised for a mindful and holistic approach – other facets of our lives improve.

We get closer to presence with our friends and family. We embrace experiences outside of work without the doing-more sword of Damocles hanging over us.

2.     Productivity done right offers a route to clarity and alignment

When you’re grinding and sprinting in reaction to multiple forces, seeing what matters becomes that bit harder.

An intentional mindset around work – where we align our time with our goals and systemise progress alongside rest and reflection - showed me stillness and calm can be reached within our work.

And when we’re calm we’re clear. And that clarity at the very least lead to vitality and better questions around alignment with our values.

3.     Productivity done right fuels the process of growth

Before productivity I placed value on events for my happiness.

A lot of us do this. “I’ll be happy when I get that promotion.” “Happy when I reach that many subscribers” or any other objective measure. The problem with putting all focus on the end – the event – is we lose sight of the very thing necessary to get us there. The process.

As Scott Adams put it -

Goal-oriented people exist in a state of continuous pre-success failure at best, and permanent failure at worst if things never work out. Systems people succeed every time they apply their systems, in the sense that they did what they intended to do.

Put differently, if you focus on building joy into the process, you succeed every day.

A Friend’s Question

A few years ago when I started this journey, a friend asked me why I want to be more productive.

The answer back then was well-meaning but flawed. It was routed in the belief that more was better. Today that answer is different. Productivity is about calm and stillness as we navigate the days that make up or lives.

It’s about the positive ripple effect we can experience.