RETHINK PRODUCTIVITY

And Take Back Your Time.

Productivity is not a hack; it’s not about doing more with less time. Productivity is about being effective, and there’s a system for that. 

Think of productivity as a support system that creates the basis for a fast response. The challenge is that a fast response usually falls back on instinct and reaction based on learned behaviors. Therefore, we get stuck doing what we have always done –and it renders us unproductive if our job is to solve problems. Especially for leaders and managers, it’s how we get stuck fixing potholes instead of what’s causing them and solving problems faster in the future. 

We live in a fix-it mentality. We can even see that with our habits and our relationship with ourselves. We want to lose weight, so we go on a diet, but we don’t make the effort to learn how to change our eating habits and choices. We see that with change, where we take too long to let go of old ways of working and instead stick to what we know and save time for now, but become less agile for the future. 

In the name of short-term speed, we waste long-term time.

HOW DO WE MEASURE PRODUCTIVITY?

Productivity is like building a house. We think a house is being built when the walls go up, and the lights are on, but the infrastructure makes a house function, and like self-care, it’s a support system that unlocks our potential and starts with the invisible, your mindset. 

We must start with planning what we need to function well in the house and draw up a blueprint that includes the rooms, how the flow works through the house, and where essentials like kitchen and bathrooms best make sense. That leads us to the plumbing and the electrical plan. 

In the next step, we break ground and dig, pour the foundation, add insulation, and run the lines for water, heat, and electricity. Then, we start building the framework to hold the roof and support the walls. Without a strategy, there is no house. Without a solid foundation, where we pause to consider the essentials and the basics, we will forever fix the house to keep it from leaking and run extension cords to get the energy we need to function. 

Daily, we leak energy and fix it with shortcuts instead of making it part of our schedule to reset and recover. We use short-term fixes like coffee to keep our focus and attention instead of a pause to give our brain some space and grace to think better. We push through meetings only not to be able to listen because our minds are somewhere else, and instead of pausing to reclaim agency over our thoughts, we go numb, stop caring, and lose time not listening. 

DESIGN YOUR HOUSE TO WORK BETTER FOR YOU

We humans are like a house. The better we use our energy, the more effective we are, and just like any energy source out there, we need to consider the regeneration of our internal energy source, too. 

Without thoughtful planning, there is no productivity because productivity is not about doing it faster; it’s about doing what matters first—learning to cut the noise and prioritize the important. Doing what matters instead of the urgent. 

That means putting a support system in place, putting aside the distractions of urgency, and noticing the potholes that hijack our attention so we can choose what to do about it instead of reacting. 

To take back our time, we need to have a clear idea of where we're headed. This means understanding what we want to achieve, what success looks like, why it matters, and who it matters to. By doing so, we can make thoughtful decisions along the way, navigate changes, and avoid the obstacles that drain our energy and focus, leading us to feel overwhelmed and unproductive. Instead, we can be aware, adaptable, and agile which is crucial for being effective.

A simple way to stay focused is to pause for just a moment and ask, what do I need right now so that I can… and then add in the challenge in front of you. I do this before every single meeting to make sure I am present, peaceful, and powerful. 

Make your blueprint for your house and ask yourself what you need to build it. 

Hint… you will not know yet, and that’s ok; just start with the basics. Like any house, you will learn more about how to make it work better for you once you start living in it with curious attention to what you might need. 

So, let’s do 2024 differently. Let’s take back our time by unlocking the power of pausing. 

Let’s pause more so that we can think, engage, and act with care, discernment, and grace.