5 Myths about Productivity BUSTED

I recorded a session on productivity for a writer’s conference the other day, and it was very interesting. I forgot to mention a couple of caveats going in, and the host was upset – maybe even offended – by some of my suggestions. And I could tell he’s one of those people who champions disruption – except apparently when it comes to disrupting things for the sake of productivity.

The two caveats

I try to remember to start off with these two caveats, but uh… sometimes I forget. Or maybe I thought people who are really trying to be more productive would think about some of the suggestions and not get offended by them. Ha, wrong! Anyway:

1. People haaaaaate some of my suggestions

There are ways people have been working for years and years, and when I suggest that those ways aren’t productive people sometimes get upset. Look, if you’re not productive now or you’re not as productive as you can be, doing the same thing you’re doing now is NOT going to make you more productive. You WILL need to change some things if you want to be more productive.

You might end up deciding that you’d rather do things the same way, even if that makes you less productive. That’s your choice, but you do have to be aware that not changing things is not going to give you a better result.

2. You can’t be perfectly productive all the time

The key to productivity is in your brain and working the way your brain wants to work. (Please note that the way human brains want to work is not necessarily the way the culture is designed for us to work, or how your boss wants you to work.) Managing your energy, time, and priorities is what’s going to make you more productive.

HOWEVER. You are not going to e able to get it right every single day. For example, I know that my best time for focused work (like this here writin’) is about 9:30 to 1:30. Am I writing this during that time? No. Do I occasionally schedule non-focused work (meetings, appointments) during that time? Absolutely. Life happens. 

I also think it’s tougher to get it right if you work for someone else, because management may be juggling different types of people. You have to go to meetings during focus time, or you’re required to answer emails when they come in. (This is one of the absolute worst things you can do for productivity, by the way. Miss me with that “it has to be done” stuff - for the vast majority of people, all you need is an autoresponder that says I got your email and will return it within X hours.)

So, you’ll have an ideal schedule to make the most of your productivity, but it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be able to adhere to it every single day. Just figure out what your best day looks like for you to accomplish the important things, and try to do it most days. That’s really the best you can ask for.

Myth: all you need is the “right” software application

I mean, if you’re currently running reports with spreadsheets or – even worse! – with a calculator and pencil, yes, getting the right software is going to give you a huge boost in productivity. Automating tasks that don’t need human intervention goes a long way, if you haven’t currently taken care of that.

But once you have software in place, you’re not going to get a big bang for the buck by switching from one app to the other. CRM systems all do the same thing, no matter who owns the company or developed the software. Same with bulk emailers, social media schedulers, accounting systems, word processors, spreadsheets, and project management apps. 

Some are more intuitive than others in each group and costs usually differ slightly. But, for example,  if you're using Asana and you switch to Trello or Notion, you’re not going to see a huge boost in productivity. Even though (IMHO anyway) they’re more intuitive than Asana is.

Myth: productivity is about getting stuff done

Poor dead horse, I continue to beat it: productivity is NOT the same as being busy.

It’s about accomplishing the things that will move you forward, in business or otherwise. So many people tell me they put things on their to-do list just to cross them off. If it’s that easy to cross off, then it’s probably not a main priority and you just wasted your time putting it on your to-do list, doing it, and crossing it off. (I did warn you that people hate some of the stuff I have to say!)

In other words, you need priorities to be productive. A 273-item to-do list is not productive. Too many things to do is overwhelming, and that’s why you end up putting stupid stuff on your list just so you can cross it off. 

Some of those items probably are worth doing, but you still can’t get to them all at once. Accept that you’ll end up doing them eventually, but not right away, and focus on the more urgent items that will make a difference. You can get maybe 3-5 top priorities done each day, so examine the ones that are worth it and put those on your daily to-do list.

And some of those items shouldn’t be on your list at all – either they’re not even worth doing or they’re not worth doing by you. 

Myth: you do your best work cramming it in every day

This myth came out of the conference session that I did, because the host told me that he loved writing and didn’t mind 14-hour days. To that, I have two things to say:

1. What do your friends and family think about your workaholism? Maybe they’re cool with it, or maybe they’d like to see you more often than occasionally on the weekends. If you have young kids, I can pretty much guarantee they’re not as cool with you never being with them as you are. Older kids and spouses, well, YMMV (your mileage may vary), ha ha.

2. You’re not being as creative or productive as you could be if you did the “unproductive productivity” stuff I talk about. When you’re constantly doing things and driving your brain to do, you lose out on creativity. 

Your brain needs downtime to process things and make connections, which is how you end up being creative. When you continue thinking linearly and you force your brain to keep doing it, you end up with linear results. And if you’re a business owner, you know that your solutions need to be creative and different from what's out there if you want your business to be sustainable.

Myth: you get more done when you do a bunch of stuff at once (multi-tasking)

First, let me define “multitasking” - a friend of mine thinks this means wearing a lot of hats, as every entrepreneur must do. However, multitasking refers to doing multiple things at the same time. Which, by the way, is impossible. 

Your brain just switches back and forth very fast so you think you’re multitasking but all you’re really doing is wearing your brain out. That doesn't make you more productive. (More about the subject here.)

Myth: being a team player is productive

To be clear, there are times when you need to be with colleagues and help each other out: brainstorming, getting support, team-building, consulting. But there are other times when you need to close your office door and turn off all notifications: when you are engaging in a cognitively demanding task, or as I like to call it, “thinky work”.

 If you’re doing tax returns or writing or developing a strategy or thinking through a marketing campaign, you’re so much more productive by focusing on the task at hand. Just the one task, and complete it (if you can – sometimes you need multiple sessions to solve a problem.)

When you’re interrupted it can take over 20 minutes for you to get back on task. How much time are you wasting with interruptions? It doesn't matter if you get interrupted while you’re doing emails or admin or other work that doesn’t require your concentration. 

If you work for someone else, see if you can negotiate a time during the day (preferably when you’re best able to do focused work according to your sleep chronotype) when you can work undisturbed. That’s your best chance at getting work done.

Dropping everything to help someone else out interferes with accomplishing your “thinky work”. Set yourself some boundaries so you can get your own work done, and outside of those boundaries you can help others and allow them to interrupt you. 

Hate this advice? Well… it’s your choice to avoid setting boundaries or to be productive. As I said, for some tasks it really doesn’t matter. But when you’re trying to get hard work done you need to minimize distractions as much as possible (and yes that includes email…)

Recap:

If you want to be more productive you need to do some things differently from the way you’re doing them now. More productive ways of working may go against what you’ve been taught, but it’s your choice if you want to go with the flow or be more productive.