To Be More Productive You Need to Be Brave

Busy is not productive - it’s more of an ego stroke than anything else (as you know if you’ve been reading me for a while!) If you prefer the “satisfaction” of being busy … and putting items on your to-do list just so you can check them off… and if you like the status quo, then you’re not ready to max out on your productivity. 

You also know (if you've been reading my stuff, and of course you have, why wouldn’t you?) that the modern work environment is not designed for productivity and performance. 

Consider all the companies that are rescinding the right to work from home. If workers still meet their goals while working at home, what’s the point? Management needs to see their butts in seats for at least 8 hours, but that’s not improving productivity. That’s management refusing to let go of the old ways. 

Even though there is no science or evidence behind a 40-hour week, management and owners cling to it like it’s some kind of guarantee that people only do the work properly if they hit the minimum magic 40 number. In reality, life doesn’t work like that, and most business owners know that on some level… and yet. 

And yet.

It feels like going out on a limb when you do something different from what everyone else is doing, like managing by results instead of the time people are at their desks. There are exceptions for those who are in retail or hospitality where the measurement really is in hours worked. But if you think about it logically, for most businesses built on brainpower, measuring results and not time stamps is what will propel your business forward.

Interruptions prevent productivity 

On average it takes about 23 minutes to get back to where you were after being interrupted.

Notifications, especially email notifications, are about as anti-productive as anything that can be cooked up. Noises, pop-ups, and vibrations force you to take your attention off what you’re doing. Every time an email comes through, if notifications are enabled, you’re wasting more than a third of an hour.

Yet how many of you insist that emails must be answered right away? I know we were all trained that way. Does that mean it’s true? For most people and businesses, no. A simple automated email that acknowledges receipt will suffice. 

This is a hard stop for many people I talk to. Even though very few businesses absolutely must answer them right away. The fear of what will happen prevents you from even trying it out. 

I’ve also had people tell me that they have to answer their phones right away (if they’re in a job like real estate) because if they don’t answer right away, someone else will get the listing. Here’s my question: what do you do when you’re on the phone with an existing prospect trying to close the sale and someone else calls or emails you?

Do you put your current caller on hold and pick up the other line (or email) right away to let them know you need to call them back? Or do you wait until you’ve finished with the current client to call them back? If you email them back to let them know that you’ll return their call when you get off the phone, then couldn’t you just send an autoresponder that would do the same thing?

I always tell my clients to let their clients know that they’re changing their email policy so people know ahead of time that the response time will change. And still, so many resist doing this very simple tool to be more productive. You have to be brave to try it out.

The myth of multitasking

I’ve written about this myth many times (check one article out here), but you don’t have to take my word for it. Look up any piece of (legitimate) scientific research and they’ll all tell you the same thing: there is no such thing. Your mind switches back and forth very quickly between tasks, so while you believe that you’re multitasking, you’re not. 

The research also shows that multitasking is tiring for the brain. You know you get more accomplished when your brain’s fresh as opposed to all tired out. So why would you waste your time multitasking, especially when it’s unimportant things like status updates or administrative tasks? 

The answer is that corporate America has made it a badge of honor to multitask (or at least look like you are.) So you have to be brave to turn away from the status quo to get tasks accomplished one at a time. 

Bravery

American society is basically anti-productive and fetishizes being busy, staying at the desk for hours, answering emails immediately, and being in the middle of ten projects at a time. This is the status quo. 

Oh, and if you want to be more productive, someone is happy to sell you some software. Get productive without spending more $$? Why, that’s unAmerican!

So when you actually get productive, when you start working with your brain instead of against it so you can accomplish your goals and have a life full of joy and impact, you’re contradicting messages from society and corporate America. 

I get it, not everyone wants to do that, and that’s fine. You might decide that opting out of the status quo just isn’t for you. Totally okay, just recognize the tradeoff.

Want to be brave? I can help you, at least when it comes to working with your brain for a powerful boost in productivity.

Want to stick with the status quo? I can’t help you, but you will find productivity tips and tricks online that will probably help you around the margins. 

Recap:

You can be busy, or you can be brave. If you choose to work with your brain, you might have to give up on society’s gratification to do it. 

Transformative change of any kind requires bravery.