Need a little more time?
I am a productivity poster child.
I have a lot of self-discipline. I love to organize, I love to plan, and I love to take action. I've read A LOT of productivity books.
I've been color coding my planner since the 90s. (I would lay in bed and study the Day Timer catalog...)
I used efficiency and productivity as a strategy to get me through a challenging high school. And I took speed reading classes as an undergrad at Harvard...so that I could read even more.
I am more than a little embarrassed to admit all the things I have tried in the name of productivity.
It was at times good spirited and at time desperately pathetic.
I hope you get that I am not bragging ...
I am telling you all of this because I am a very credible witness when I tell you that more time is not the solution.
Now don't get me wrong, there are strategies that make a difference at the margins. But ONLY at the margins. Many of these I have shared with you before...and I still read and try new ones that I really, really like.
Having tested the upper limits of efficiency as a strategy many times - academically, professionally, and personally - I can promise you that productivity is not the golden ticket.
Now, for all you ops managers out there...I'm not objecting to efficiency as a concept.
I'm not even objecting to personal productivity as an important skill. I was fortunate to pick up these skills early on, and master them. I delight in sharing them with others.
But I often see already productive and efficient people hoping and praying that a little more organization will solve chronic stress, dissatisfaction, and overwhelm.
But being more efficient will not fix:
Your professional dissatisfaction
Your performance (except marginally)
Your mid-life crisis
Your work-life balance
Your drama
Your stress or overwhelm
Being more efficient will not even get you (much) more time.
If any of this has got you curious...I'd love for you to read a great excerpt from a book by Oliver Burkeman that appeared in the Wall Street Journal.
(If you can't read the article without paying, email me and I'll send you a PDF).
And, if you want to talk more about productivity (just for fun!) or true and good solutions to some of those problem areas above...reach out.
I'd love to talk.
Hugs,
Marijke Ocean