Why should we be productive?

It’s a simple question, but not so easy to answer. Why be productive?

It’s not something people naturally sit down and really think about. Our lives are jammed with things to do, and things to achieve, and we work through them the best way we can.

And there lies part of the answer, “the best way we can”. We use processes that we’ve always used, or if we’re brave, maybe a little trial and error to see if there might be a better way. For most things we do, we don’t have a manual of instructions showing us how to do it, we just do it. And for life as a whole there is no manual either, we find our way as we go along. Each of our lives are different and our job roles are all different so there isn’t one answer for everyone and everything.

Let’s flip the big question on its head. What is it to be unproductive?

For me, it’s doing things inefficiently and not being effective. It’s not having focus, and having that feeling of being out of control. It’s doing more than is good in the long term for our brains, bodies, and relationships.

Multitasking is seen by many as a badge of honour, being able to juggle everything coming their way. Unfortunately, science has proved that it’s a very inefficient way of working. We spread ourselves too thin, doing unnecessary tasks, doing things half as well as we’d like, taking longer over a task due to it getting fragmented.

We become reactive rather than proactive. It can be stressful, unrewarding, and never ending

So why be productive, what benefits can it bring us?

It brings us clarity in our work and in our lives. Being calm and able to choose the right thing to do in the right moment. And being comfortable about all of the things that you are not doing right now.

It’s spending more time on the big impact stuff, that’s going to bring most value to you, the company, and to your life. It’s not letting systems and others fully control your actions, it’s about making great human friendly choices, to get where you want to be.

We have more control over our work and lives than we realise. We can design our days, our “personal workflow”, to make us successful and to be happy in our lives…….if of course we choose to.