The word productivity is a killer when you truly think about it. It’s one of those words that had its place in time but has for whatever reason stuck around.
As the world evolves it becomes one of those words that has lost its meaning. A lot of the stuff that we do to thrive doesn’t require us to be more productive.
The words that you’re reading right now don’t require me to be super productive to get them on the screen. I simply have to do it. The books you want to read don’t require you to be productive. The notes you want to take. The things you want to learn.
Being productive works well when you’re doing physical labor.
- Did you plant all of the seeds today? Yes? Then you were productive.
- Did you get half of the shed built? Yes? Then you were productive.
- Did you write that paper? Kind of? Well, ummm, maybe you were productive?
Productive seems to take on two meanings in the world that we live in today and the work that we do.
- Did you do anything today? If you can’t answer yes to this then you’re automatically not productive by society’s standards.
- Did you make progress on something worthwhile? If you can’t answer yes then again, you’re not productive.
But what happens if your brain is fried and you just need to spend a day at the park admiring nature? What if you need to spend time with friends for a bit to recharge?
These activities allow you to jump back into the race the next day so because they helped in your productivity doesn’t that make those activities productive?
Is Productivity Just a Feeling?
What if we accomplish a lot but feel like we got nothing done? If you’re working on building a business and the business doesn’t find success through the things that you did today does that make it an unproductive day because you feel down?
What if you get to spend time with the person you love and there is no greater feeling in the world that you can think of? Do you feel unproductive afterward?
I bring these questions up not to test you but to make you think about what is productivity to you because when I see the productivity gurus on YouTube everything they do seems unrealistic.
It comes from this place where you can turn yourself into a machine that is solely focused on a singular task. It ignores the concept of life yourself.
But it’s not all bad. What if we simply looked at productivity through the lens of specific timeframes?
The hour that I sit down to write down these thoughts, it shouldn’t matter if I finish or not. I’m not even sure it should matter if I make progress on the screen. What matters is that feeling I get when the hour is up.
Did I get the most out of that hour? Do I feel better leaving that hour than I did entering it?
Sometimes this might be determined by output. Other times it won’t. If I feel like I have to get this done in the hour and I don’t, then I might feel that the hour wasn’t productive. Or if I only get a little done then maybe it was kind of productive.
But what happens if I write 1,300 words that never get published and yet those words lead me to a new epiphany? I guarantee you that I will feel productive. I will feel like I got something out of it.
And maybe that’s how we can look at productivity.
The idea is that you get something out of whatever you put. Is there some meaning to the output once the input is done?
If I spend an hour with my wife on the couch watching TV then there are two ways this can play out:
- We sit on our phones not talking with the TV being used as background noise.
- We watch the television, ask questions, make jokes, and interact with each other.
The first one I won’t leave the scenario feeling more productive. I won’t feel better. It was just a space of time where there was nothing.
And those times are fine when you intend to have those times, but if I’m going to spend time with my wife then I want it to be time with her. That means #2 leaves me with a feeling of being productive.
Productivity Is Defined by the Goals We Set
I think the simplest way to look at productivity is by the goals we set for those periods. When I sat down to write this the goal was to have something completed.
But it’s not binary. If I do finish it then that’s great, but if I don’t that doesn’t mean I can’t be productive in some way.
As long as there is progress toward the goal then I consider it productive. Is it always as productive as I want it to be? Of course not, but that’s why we study productivity. To understand why things happen and whether or not we need to improve upon them.
I can tell you right now that I feel productive writing this. I’ve made progress toward the goal. Will I finish? I don’t know because I’m not finished now.
One of my kids could come barging in the door or my wife could call me down to help her with something. These things will pull me away from my writing but that’s okay.
I’ve made progress toward a goal. I was productive.
There is Grace and Then There is Laziness
But we must also be careful. You should give yourself grace and not believe that every time you do something you have to work at peak optimization. Sometimes you will and sometimes you won’t.
And then there are times you do nothing at all. I don’t just mean physically, but mentally either.
We have those moments and they are fine, but if those moments become the norm when you intend to get something done that’s when the problems creep in. Just be mindful if you’re giving yourself grace or you’re repeatedly being lazy.
But I don’t think you’re lazy. Sometimes we need to recharge and sometimes we simply don’t have a game plan.