GETTING THINGS DONE
THE BASICS OF PRODUCTIVITY
Sometimes the reason that people fail to be productive, is because they misinterpret what productivity actually is. Good Mornings is all about building the best foundations 1% per day and the key in building the best foundation is to completely understand what you are building.
So here are the basics of productivity that not many people know.
WHAT ACTUALLY IS PRODUCTIVITY?
Productivity is the state or quality of being productive, and being productive is ‘achieving a significant amount or result’. These are the literal definitions but a lot of people have interpreted productivity as a pure output measure. This needs completely reframing if you are ever going to build the foundations for productivity.
Productivity is actually the very difficult art of making the most of the time that you have, to create meaning and joy.
Working on things that are meaningful can be anything from completing a task, finishing a chore, or even………. laying on the sofa watching movies. Contrary to popular belief productivity isn’t based on what you are actually achieving, it is based on utilising your time to make yourself as happy as you can be.
When you feel unproductive it’s because there is something that you want to do, but you have distracted yourself with something that is an easy distraction that doesn’t bring meaning to your day.
KNOW WHAT YOU NEED TO GET DONE
In order to build a foundation of productivity, you need to know what you actually want to get done. When we see productivity as utilising your time to make yourself as happy as you can be, you start to build a framework to figure out what you want to get done. We set goals in the first instance to feed into the ‘significant amount or result’ we want to get done. So a lot of what we see as time spent productively will be time spent working on your goals. If you have been through our goal-setting course or content, you will know that the reason to set goals is to increase your happiness. By working on your goals, you are utilising your time wisely to get to a future state of additional happiness. This helps you understand what you actually want to get done and what ‘results’ you want.
KNOW WHAT BRINGS YOU JOY
When we build our productivity processes and foundations we base it around what brings us joy. Just as our goals are feeding into a future state of more happiness, we also want to understand what brings us joy. This means we can use our time in meaningful ways to bring joy to our lives (incredibly productive)
Understanding what brings you joy is not always as easy as it sounds. Very few people know what actually brings them joy, or may feel ashamed about what they enjoy as it may be viewed as ‘a waste of time’. The only waste of time we have is using time that you would rather be doing something that makes you happy, on something which removes you from your happiness.
For some, joy is laying on the sofa, eating chocolate biscuits, and watching Selling Sunset. Doing this is therefore a productive use of your time. Whilst using traditional references of productivity this may seem like an unproductive afternoon – if this is where you find your bliss it is the most productive use of your time.
Wasted time is the time where you are not experiencing joy or working towards the future state of being even happier. Separate what you find wasteful and what you find joyful and recognise time spent bringing yourself joy is productive
DON'T VALUE ECONOMIC OUTPUT OVER EXPERIENCE OUTPUT
People think that economic output and productivity are intrinsically linked. There is a common misconception that you have to be earning money, or contributing to the accumulation of money to be productive. Don’t overlook the value of working towards experiences within productivity or even the experience as the productive output itself.
ADD ONE TASK TO YOUR DAY
We have morning routines because it gives us the best foundation to grow daily. In our morning routines we have our ongoing to-do list, but every day we chose one thing. That 1% incremental change. By writing down just one thing you want to do with your day, and then completing that one thing, regardless of how many other things you may achieve – that one thing a day is an incredibly productive use of your time.
