Reaching your potential: What is productivity?

How does your perception of productivity compare with its definition?

Abstract

Following my previous thought-pieces, I thought how could we make the concepts discussed practical and see the use of them in our day-to-day life. The first insight we will look at is productivity.

A common mistake made by many people is in their perception of productivity; the idea that using/maximising the time you have available = productivity.

While in some cases this may be true, what is lacking in most situations is the direction that comes with productivity. For example, we often acknowledge that not every opportunity around us is for us, such as, clubs and societies, events, and other things outside of our focus. The reason for rejecting, dismissing, or just having it low on our priority list is because we know our time can be used elsewhere.

However, there are less obvious things that drain a significant amount of our time. This can lie in our habits and the order in which we do things. To put this into perspective, if you understand how your energy levels vary throughout the day, you can choose to build habits or routines to maximise your productivity.

On the other hand, when you are most energised, it would be a waste to exert that energy into chores for example. A way we can limit distractions and impulsive decisions is by planning out our day, ensuring we remain consistent in our sense of direction. However, not every element needs to be planned, in addition, planning can be as simple as knowing how much time you are going to spend on a task or what your focus is for a day, depending on what works for you.

What productivity is, common misconceptions around productivity, and direction are points that I will discuss in this newsletter which aims to be informative and trigger self-reflection.

Discussion

Growing up, being productive or productivity were not words you would hear often. However, when it did become an important part in choosing between opportunities and how I led my days, it was a word that I associated with action and I thought about it and used the word increasingly.

In reality, I had never checked the meaning of productivity until writing this.

Is the definition really important?

Productivity looks different for everyone as our contexts are different, hence a definition wouldn’t mean much. It would never have the same impact as what we believe it looks like in practice. For me, I assumed the meaning and what productivity looked like as I gained interest in it.

Now when searching for the meaning of productivity, I got a plethora of results.

Photo by SpaceX on Unsplash

I found various definitions, with no two being the same. Some had emphasis on ‘doing a lot’ or maximising with the time you have available. Looking at this, I recognised parallels in my initial perception of productivity. Doing as much as you can with the time you have.

By adopting this idea as a mindset, it could be tiring or motivating, part of a scope on how you feel when the day ends. You may think, of course you would not feel 100% every day, but at least you get lots of work done or do what you need to do, however, this does not factor rest.

Thankfully, this was not a lifestyle I embodied at all; that idea of productivity has no balance to it. However, some may view productivity like this, which only leads to losing time on things that really matter outside of work/study, like your relationships with people, and not only this, but leaving yourself with no time to reflect.

Hence, my first understanding of productivity revolved around how you used you time efficiently, but designated time that I have planned for specific things. This is where making a timetable was essential in allowing a balance with how I study my subjects, which made sure I remained well rounded and studied productively.

This still left plenty of time for other things and made sure I was not enticed with the definition of productivity I discussed above, which could easily be misconstrued into living like a robot.

As I said before, I had never checked the meaning of productivity, and an element in which I see the potentially dangerous definition given above is with employers. That concept of productivity can quickly become toxic as they may breed a work culture which is productivity at all costs and mind over matter. Simply, this means employees may be pushed to work at unsustainable levels in which they eventually become extremely demotivated, unwell, or worse.

This view meanders with the economic definition of productivity which has a stark focus on output and the efficiency of economic agents, which does not take into consideration that you are human.

This is an important point because this mirrors how some people willingly embody this mindset and place unnecessary pressure upon themselves. I believe that definition of productivity should be taken with a pinch of salt, as it is infused with the idea of time being a tool just for output.

Alternatively, the Cambridge Dictionary defined productive as “producing a good or useful result”. I found it interesting that instead of focusing on how time is used, this definition looked at the outcome of doing something.

Often, we use productive as a definitive word; either we are productive or not. What we sometimes fail to realise is that productivity is more so a measure, even outside of economic terminology. Compared to the general consensus, I think this definition introduces an additional element. You may argue the definition is vaguer, where others may see it as less stark and accepting. In my opinion, being productive is a combination of the Cambridge definition and the definitions referring to maximisation.

I find maximising time is more associated with how we feel after we complete a task, as we know it is impossible to use every second ‘productively’. Depending on the scale of the task at hand, this feeling could be a huge sense of relief, or just facilitate us to focus on something of a higher priority.

However, first things first, you must understand why you are working on something and what you are working towards. Alongside this, the key point of direction determines whether you believe the task you have completed has produced a ‘good or useful result’.

Personally, I would place more emphasis on useful as this can be easily overlooked when talking about productivity.

You can be extremely unproductive even if you spend every second of your day on a multitude of things.

Besides this, many people have misconceptions on productivity meaning you are busy. However, if you are ‘busy’ in something not related to you achieving your goal, that is procrastination.

Despite this, I am against the idea of associating your use of time in non-work related activities with procrastination, due to its negative connotations. For example, some could term exercise as procrastination, as it does not directly help them achieve their work-related goals. I personally think you cannot spend your whole day on work and study, rather you should allocate time to work-related tasks and use that time productively - but people are different. 🤷🏾‍♂️

However, even if you are inadvertently filling your time doing things that are not necessarily important, especially before doing what is your upmost priority, that is also procrastination.

Therefore, when you do have time for yourself:

Productivity is about how you use time, procrastination determines how much time you have in the first place.

Conclusion

Essentially, the theme of defining, in this case what productivity means to you, is the starting point to being productive. To maximise your potential, you must understand how to be productive in striving to achieve something.

A caveat to this is analysis paralysis. This means doing nothing because you do not know what to do next. But to avoid this, remain focused on what your direction is and how this affects where you want to be. Then decide what a productive use of your time looks like.

Just keep it simple.

Limit distractions and have a plan.

P.S.

Are you motivated to be productive? How does it feel when you are productive?