Productivity is a word I used to obsess over.

I devoured endless books, blogs, listicles, infographics, and webinars in search of the best tools to make me more productive and focused. 

I ultimately achieved my goal. I became ruthlessly organized and focused, building a system David Allen would be proud of.

I learned to direct my attention to where it needed to be and cut out distractions. I was a paragon of productive proclivity!  

mission accomplished?

I was so passionate and dedicated to this quest that I started teaching workshops to local nonprofits, helping them manage their resources in their lean and hectic environments.

I dreamed of becoming a productivity consultant (though I had no idea how to get there or what that looked like). I was more productive, but I was also highly dissatisfied.

the productivity problem

The problem was that I became very efficient at doing work I didn’t enjoy and never stopped to figure out why I was doing it.

Talk about counter-productive! My job then didn’t fulfill or challenge me, so I thought becoming more productive would improve things (spoiler: it didn’t). I was putting all my eggs in the wrong basket.

I learned productivity isn’t a panacea for job dissatisfaction. Nor is it a way to squeeze every last drop of effort from people.

reprogramming the productivity paradigm

Through this lens, productivity is a passionless, mechanical, transactional perspective that treats humans as units of production without considering meaning, impact, or fulfillment.

Productivity, like minimalism, has been homogenized into countless aforementioned books, blogs, listicles, webinars, and infographics that echo the same generic rhetoric.

They’re filled with rigid systems, complicated flow charts, and bland sound bites that sound wise but fail to address the deeper issue at play. Why do you want to be more productive? Why do you want to do more work? 

Me? I’d rather do less work but have that work be more impactful and satisfying.

I prefer to do the things that fulfill and recharge me and spend much less time doing banal administrative tasks like checking email or struggling to pay attention in meetings in which I have no stake.

Productivity moving forward

Today, I view productivity as a way of organizing your resources so that you’re freed up mentally and physically to spend them pursuing things that are meaningful to you and impact the rest of the world.

This way, productivity becomes a conduit for deeper work – not a trend influencers and “gurus” use to make money.