Productivity

Articles: Productivity

To Be More Productive, Produce Something

In recent years there has been an explosion of websites dedicated to tips, tricks and methods for being more productive. Every day my Twitter stream fills up with articles titled “5 Ways To…” and “7 Simple Steps For…” and “The [Insert Famous Person] Guide To…” [I resisted the urge to title this post "The 1 Easy Way To Be More Productive".]

The problem is that, while many of these articles contain elements of solid advice, they all feed the insatiable hunger we have for the killer app. The golden key. The one-size-fits-all system that will forever change how we do our work and enable us to unleash hell on our next project. We simply need to know the five steps and then the world will be ours. (By the way, I’m writing this with one finger pointed squarely in my own chest.)

The problem is that many of us are in love with the idea of being productive more than we really want to produce.

The real killer app? It’s understanding that the root word of the adjective productive is a verb: produce. What we’re really after is to produce something, not to feel productive. The something we produce might be bad. Really bad, actually. Or it might be great. But at the end of the day no one really cares how you produced it, they only care that there is something there to see, hear or poke.

A carpenter can know all of the best practices and tips and tricks for making things out of wood, but real learning only comes through splinters and mistakes. Knowledge means nothing without practice of craft. A manager can read every best-selling book about how to lead people, but that’s useless until there are emotions and real risk involved. It’s clinical. Sterile, even. (And yes, I’d rather you make something valuable today than read a single word of my book. I wrote it to inspire action.)

The problem is that many of us are in love with the idea of being productive more than we really want to produce.

The only job of the artist is to produce something. To make the ineffable tangible. How the artist does this is between the artist and the wind. No one needs to know.

So if you (me, or anyone) want to be more productive today, the best way to do so is to begin each day with a single question:

What will I produce today?

At the end of the day, what will exist that didn’t before? What will I bring into the world? What questions will I answer, problems will I solve, rock will I move? The delta is what matters. What changed about the world today because I existed?

Yes, read tips and advice articles and take value from them. That’s fine. (I do too.) But remember that at the end of your life, no one will care how many productivity hacks and tips you know. All that will stand – as a monument to your life’s work – is what you actually produce.

Four Ways To Re-claim Your Creative Energy

Productivity

If you’re like most creative people, you probably have a number of projects on your plate right now. You probably also have a number of projects twirling around in your head that you’d like to get around to – someday. The weight of all that’s undone can feel oppressive and make you feel like you’re under-performing.

But doing everything at once obviously isn’t the answer either. If you try to tackle too much at any given time, you’re likely to wind up in burnout mode, and you certainly won’t be equipped to bring your best to whatever other important work you’re doing.

When was the last time you purposefully pruned your life (and project list) so that you had the time, focus and energy you needed for your most important work? Doing this on a regular basis is difficult, because each pruned idea and project feels like you’re abandoning a child, but this kind of ruthless dedication to energy management is what’s required in order to sustain over the long-term.

Here are four quick questions to help evaluate a project for potential prune-ability:

Is this something I could do better later? Excitement about a project does not equate to present viability. Scott Belsky talks about the project plateau, which is what happens when a project is abandoned once a new and exciting comes along. We need to develop a filter for the timeliness of our ideas so that we’re not bouncing from project to project and abusing our energy.

Is this something that could be folded into another project? With a little effort, we can often fold our new ideas into existing projects. Not everything belongs on your project list under a separate heading. Ask yourself how this idea applies to other efforts already under way.

Is this an idea for someone else? Sometimes others are far better equipped to execute your idea than you are. Don’t be stingy. Share generously and don’t be afraid to offer up ideas to others if they’re in a better position to see them through. The world needs ideas that are well executed, not ideas parked in notebooks.

What’s my true motive for wanting to do this project? We can be compelled to do things for many reasons, some of which may not be the best or most healthy. Are you striving to make something great, or for the recognition that will come from your work? Are you genuinely curious, or do you just want to appear so? Identifying the projects on your list that truly resonate with your deeper motivation can help you determine which should find a place on your task list.

Take a few moments to peruse your project list and filter it through the questions above. See if you can’t find some room to maneuver good, but not timely projects onto a someday maybe list or shuffle them off to other more capable hands.

Being intentional about managing energy is one of the most important practices that creative pros can implement. Prune relentless, execute flawlessly.

How about you? Do you have any methods for managing your creative energy?

Re-Factoring: A Smart Way to Refine and Conquer Whitespace

Productivity

Whitespace, the empty space at the beginning of a project, is blank and barren. It possess no borders. Left unchecked, such a shapeless environment can be disorienting. It’s a total whiteout for your mind.

Fortunately, this very feature of whitespace yields a massive clue to how and conquer it: re-factor it into a unit with borders.

Think of it like a puzzle. A puzzle can have 10 pieces or a million, but they all have borders. Smart puzzle masters start conquering a puzzle by structuring the border. They work from the outside in. Why is this helpful? Because it quarantines off a manageable piece of the whitespace universe. Then, within that defined space, you can begin to carve out your focused idea.

Let’s explore how you might proceed from the edges on in.
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Turning Time Sinks Into Time Warps

Productivity

Turn time wasters into time warps

Have you ever reached the end of your day and found that your biggest priorities were largely untouched? How can it be that no matter how many lists we make and how many times we review our priorities, time continues to slip through our hands? Often the source of these time sinks is a lack of diligence at a few critical moments throughout the day. These “Time Sinks” can cause us to lose heart, feel lazy and generally lose our productive momentum.

Contrary to popular belief, all time is not created equal. A moment can seem like an hour, and an hour can be fleeting. By turning these Time Sinks into Time Warp moments, we can set ourselves up for greater daily productivity. (more…)

Quarter-Turns: How Clever Creatives Know What to Do Next

Productivity

Editor’s Note: Today’s feature is a guest article by Scott McDowell.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years helping organizations deal with strategic planning. For a group without a crystal clear purpose, it can be a painful, unsexy process. And thanks to the pace of change, economic uncertainties and the democratization of distribution channels, planning beyond six months out, critics say, is a fool’s game.

But as a creative individual you’re immune to all that. Your ability to adapt is one of your biggest assets. Your tolerance for mini-failures and your determination to continue to create no matter what girds you against the perils of planning. In fact, for creatives, Personal Strategic Planning is more useful than ever, strengthened by your knack for making small tweaks in the moment.
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Balance Is A Function Of Focus

Productivity

I recently began a new workout routine. I was looking for something that I could do daily, and that I could take with me on the road and do in my hotel room. I’m learning (quickly) how much I’ve allowed my physical intelligence to wane due to the frantic, intense demands of life over the past several years. I’ve spent time on the treadmill, in the weight room, playing basketball, etc., but as this new workout has forced me to use every muscle in my body, I’ve learned (via the aches and pains) how many of them I’ve thoroughly neglected.

The most challenging exercises for me are not the “just push yourself and grunt through it” kind, it’s the “stand there and hold a pose as your muscles scream for relief” kind. Many of these require good posture and balance, neither of which are in my wheelhouse.

Finding Balance…

As I stood struggling to gain my sense of balance for a stretching exercise, the instructor on the DVD suddenly shouted “FOCUS! FIND YOUR CENTER!” I quickly realized that my mind had been racing in ten different directions as I was struggling to stay on my feet.

“Did I reply to that e-mail?”
“Do we have a post queued up for later today?”
“Why do my legs hurt so much?”
…

All of these side thoughts were silenced by the instructor’s command to focus. I snapped back to where I was, felt my body struggling, re-affirmed what I was trying to do (stay centered and balanced), and something amazing happened. I stabilized. I was balanced. Nothing had changed physically. I was still standing on one foot, arm outstretched, feeling the burn. But I was suddenly – because of a simple change of focus – perfectly poised and balanced.

It’s amazing – truly – that a simple change in focus could have that much power over my entire body’s ability to stay balanced. By clarifying my thoughts and eliminating distractions I changed my entire ability to engage in the exercise. (It still hurt, by the way.)

And Finding Balance…

I hear many creatives lamenting their inability to find a sense of balance in their life. This usually means that they feel overwhelmed by the volume of expectations in their work, and the pressure to produce is a specter that haunts them even when technically “off the clock”. (This is the value-versus-time tension described in chapter two of The Accidental Creative.) The weight of all that’s still undone feels oppressive and clouds everything else in their life.

But what if a shift in focus could change all of that? I’ve experienced frequently that defining the work to be done, truly clarifying objectives, and gaining a better sense of focus around ongoing expectations brings an immediate sense of balance to people and teams. The simple (but difficult) choice to truly focus on what’s in front of you rather than allowing everything “out there” to weigh you down brings an immediate sense of clarity of priorities.

Here are a few ways to apply this focus-shift:

Define your work. Do each of your projects have associated challenges? A challenge is a simple, non-complex question that defines what you’re really trying to do. I frequently find that a frantic sense of imbalance often stems from a lack of definition of objectives.

Commit to being single-minded. When you’re working on something, commit to that thing. Don’t bounce back and forth from task to task, priority to priority. Stay in the moment until it’s time to break and do something else. There is no such thing as true multi-tasking. You will probably end up doing both tasks less effectively.

Have dedicated time for centering. Block off several minutes a few times during your day to remind yourself of what you’re really trying to accomplish, and to re-define your work and expectations as needed. Don’t simply drift through your day following the plans you made yesterday or last week. Re-direct and re-define as needed, and find your center.

If you want to find a sense of balance, it begins with a commitment to the proper mindset. Take some time to center, simplify and define and you may find the stress dissolving and a sense of focused intensity in its place.

How about you? Do you have techniques for finding a sense of balance in your life and work?