My Productivity Manifesto
Becoming more productive! Isn’t that what many are striving for? Get more sh*t done in less time! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Yes, sure, but how?
A posting on LinkedIn inspired me to write up a little manifesto for how I think this can be accomplished.
In that posting Martin Dilger started by saying
Consistency is my super power.
and that immediately resonated with me. Like him I have vivid memories of how a book almost wrote itself because I just sat down every day and added a few pages and illustrations to the manuscript.
Or reading a book. That’s where I keep struggling. I’d like to read more books. There are so many great books out there; I have already more in my digital library than I can possibly read. Nassim Taleb calls this an antilibrary. And it’s not a sign of a crazyness, e.g. bibliomania, but affection and curiosity, i.e. bibliophilia. In Japanese there even is a word for this: tsundoku (積ん読) :
Tsundoku […] is about a desire to read the books one purchases… but never actually doing it.
With each book I acquire I truly think: “Wow, this is so great! I’m going to read it real soon. Just let me finish the books I already started…” But of course, for every book I manage to finish, there are 10 I have downloaded in the meantime… It’s futile…
Hence I dream of becoming a “more productive reader”, i.e. to manage reading more books (even if I still will be unable to catch up with my ever growing library).
But how to accomplish that?
As Martin says in his posting: consistency is the key.
Or more colloquially:
Just do it! And keep doing it!
Yes, it’s actually as simple as that. Whatever you want to achieve: Start at it and then never stop until you have reached your goal.
Simple, but not easy. I know first hand!
That’s why I think some more elaboration is needed. There are common pitfalls and misunderstandings associated with productivity that better be addressed.
Let me do that in the style of the Agile Manifesto from the software industry with a number of “values”. Each value contrasts a common notion with one that seems more beneficial with regard to what’s to be achieved. That means: Even though in the following the items on the right are not without significance, in my opinion the items on the left are far more decisive for productivity.
validation over enthusiasm
commitment over motivation
routine over completion
process over deadline
consistency over responsiveness
progress over value
Let’s look at each of the values in turn more closely:
Validation over enthusiasm
Don’t spent your time on a personal whim.
It all starts with the question of whether you should invest time into a project at all. You might feel full of energy, you are already envisioning a future when it’s all done. But then… is it really, really worthwhile to spend your precious time on it? There are so many other things vying for your attention. Why focus on this one?
So, before you actually start investing into a particular task, validate its value. Sit for it for a minute and compare it to other interesting/important tasks. Ask friends, family, colleagues, customers what they think about it.
Don’t get carried away by your initial enthusiasm. It might lead you down a less worthy path - and you might end up falling prey to the sunk cost fallacy.
Commitment over motivation
Don’t let success depend on a fleeting emotion.
Once you decide to really invest time into a project, you have to prepare for a future when your enthusiasm is dwindling. You’re (hopefully) highly motivated at the beginning, but motivation is not stable. It’s an emotional state prone to wax and wane. It’s under attack from many sides. Even from within the project: if things aren’t going as expected, if you have to fight a (temporary) uphill battle, motivation might sink. You might want to throw in the towel.
To protect yourself from this you need to take precautions. You really need to commit yourself to the task. Commitment is not motivation!
Motivation is a great feeling, but you don’t have it under your control.
Commitment is under your control.
Commitment means: You consciously set aside time in your calendar for your project.
This is very important! Because in your calendar you are confronted with all the other commitments you already entered. Is there really time for a new one? When can you start with it? How much time can you allot to it each day, week, month? For how long?
Only if you are able to answer these questions and reserve enough time for a task in your calendar, you’re truly committed.
Without such commitment any project is prone to be pushed aside by new tasks coming up for which you feel equal (initial) enthusiasm or even urgency. If you’re interested in results, that must not happen.
Productivity is about results, i.e. finishing what you started. It’s not about starting ever more and more tasks.
Routine over completion
Don’t let a far away goal distract you from the work to be done right now.
Productivity is of little concern to you for small tasks. You just do them. You’ll find time “in the cracks” of your work.
No, productivity is a big concern with big tasks. Tasks that take longer than just one sitting. They are not accomplished with one time slot you allocated to them in your calendar. They take several; very likely you don’t even know how many time slots of 1, 2, 4 hours you’ll need for them.
That’s why it’s so hard seeing these projects through. For long completion seems always beyond the horizon. You cannot see it - and still have to go on.
This is where routine helps. When things get tough, motivation dwindles, you don’t want to be burdened with the recurring decisions when to continue with the work on it. Each time you have to decide when to allocate the next time slot for a project in your calendar the risk for procrastination increases. Each time progress depends on yet another decision there is a risk for you to say no to it and yes to something else which comes along with more motivation and/or urgency.
So, do yourself a favor and minimize the number of decisions you have to make: set up a routine for working on your task.
Find an interval for your attention to the task. Set up regular time slots, e.g. 1 hour each day or 4 hours each week on Tuesday and Thursday. At least plan ahead a number of time slots, e.g. tomorrow at 10:00 for 1 hour, next Monday at 9:00 for 2 hours, then Thursday 1 hour at 14:00, plus Friday 2 hours at 9:00 etc.
The more regular the time slots, the more help you get from your body, too. It will get used to the rhythm and help carry through the work that needs to be done.
Every important project benefits from building a habit around it.
Once you establish a habit and make working on a project a routine, you will find satisfaction more in the present than in the future. Completion will become less important - because in the end it will be inevitable.
Process over deadline
Don’t bog yourself down with anxiety if you will make it.
Many project come with a deadline you cannot do much about, but sometimes it’s just self-imposed. That can be a source of motivation and focus - but more often it’s instilling anxiety sooner or later.
To see a project through without drowning in stress you really must take precautions to not let that happen. You have to fight the risk of fear, anxiety, and all that’s usually following in its wake (conflicts, errors, unreliability) from day one on!
How do you do that? By trusting the process!
When you wake up at night in cold sweat asking yourself “Will I make the deadline?” focus on your process.
Your process is your routine of working on the project. Your process is planning ahead whatever time slots are needed. But most of all:
Your process is doing the work when its time slot is coming up in your calendar.
Really, this is your core competency: to sit down and do what your calendar is telling you is due now. Whatever that is, just do it.
If you don’t like what’s in your calendar, then do a better job at planning. That’s why validation and commitment are so important. Be sure you really want to invest into a project and you really have the time for it.
But once that’s been decided, allot the necessary time for it - and then stick to your plan.
For how long should you plan ahead? That depends on the kind of tasks your facing and the overall job you’re doing. But most often there is no need to just plan once all the time slots you need for a project. And it’s probably even impossible.
So, plan for a while, work for a while, then plan again…
But trust this process! Don’t fret over the deadline. Just be sure to adjust the amount of time you plan to invest into a project with regard to the deadline. Once that’s been done, do what’s in your calendar.
Consistency over responsiveness
Don’t succumb to the lure of immediate gratification.
When the spirit is low, frustration has set in, motivation is dwindling and another task presents itself as so much more urgent… then do not succumb to switching!
Switching between tasks, starting new projects before others are finished is a ver slippery slope!
It might seem gratifying at first if you switch. You make somebody happy by telling them “I started to work on it…” or you make yourself happy (“This more fun…”) - but this won’t last. Trust me. It’s like a kick for a junky.
And in the end other people’s gratefulness will turn into dissatisfaction with you. Because what you did for them you’re doing for others too: You put their project you so quickly started on hold for yet another more urgent, more fun project. That way nothing really gets finished. Ever. At least not on time.
Being responsive to changing situations is of course important in general. But it’s not the most important trait you should show in your work.
First comes consistency. Do your work as planned. Keep on it. Push through. And:
Finish first!
Prioritize finishing over starting. Because value is created only by finishing. Until you finish a project you’ve only invested effort without any return. Unfinished projects are… a waste of time.
Be reliable in what you do. Show consistency in achieving results. Be aware that this might create conflict (at first) with other who are used to their requests being taken care of (aka being started on) right away.
In the end, though, this kind of approach to work is only creating chaos and waste. Don’t succumb to the lure of responsiveness! Don’t seek immediate gratification from a “Thank you for taking care of it right away!” Look for the long term satisfaction of “I admire how reliable you are! I really feel I can rely on you for delivering results as promised.”
Sure, you cannot detach from the world. You need to be responsive - within reason. Hence, make that part of your plan. Allot time in your schedule to attend to urgent matters.
Don’t be surprised by surprising developments in your environment. Surprises are so little surprising that you should not let derail your plans.
Progress over value
Don’t try to please too early too often, not yourself, not others.
When the finishing line is in the far distance, when you don’t know how long it will take to final completion, to the realization of the ultimate value of a project… then don’t focus on it.
Like with the deadline avoid falling into anxiety over a final result. Sure, it’s important; it’s the reason you entered into a project in the first place. However, if only the final result can make you happy, that will take a toll on your motivation.
Instead break down the ultimate value into partial values. Define a set of complementary results which all make up the final result. Then draw up a plan in which order you want to achieve those partial results.
Set up milestones to represent partial results which have a value to you. Maybe you gain an insight, maybe some important preparation is finished… A partial result signals to you: “I made progress!” With a partial result you are measurably closer to the finish line. It’s something to celebrate.
Define increments to represent partial results which have a value to your stakeholders (for most gratification: customers). Whenever you produce something which others can relate to, in which they can see value, which might even be useful to them already before you deliver the ultimate value, you’ll receive appreciation and gratefulness. It’s something to celebrate even more.
Consistency and routine are about taking steps towards the finish line. In and of themselves they don’t provide you with a measure of how far you have come, though. That’s why you should charge them as often as possible with value.
Make a step really count! Make it obvious how it contributes to the overall result. That way you measure your progress and keep your energy high. At the end of the day you can’t just say “I followed the process.” - which is of course a good thing -, but you also can say “I made progress!”
Progress is about the many small values you can create, not the big and ultimate value, not the value which way ordered from you. Keep your eye on your progress and you’ll be fine with the deadline and the value.
Summary
Productivity is a result of working systematically. It’s not a matter of the next shiny new digital, AI enhanced too. No, it requires a certain mindset.
I tried to condense this mindset into the values of my productivity manifesto. Yes, I strongly believe that’s all you need. Train yourself to value the items on the left side more than those on the right side.
At least for now, since there is a common imbalance. In the end it’s about balance. No side should be neglected. But that’s for later. First things first.
Enjoy the fruits of increased productivity: less stress, more satisfaction, more appreciation.