True Productivity

Dear friend,

A practical thought:

What is ‘true‘ productivity? And how can we achieve it?

Productivity

Cindy walking

To be ‘productive’ means to produce much. In my eyes, production (creating new things) is good. The opposite of production (degeneration) is bad.

What is NOT really productive?

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The problem in modern society– there is a lot of ‘pseudo-work’ (busy work) which is superimposed upon us.

I remember as a child, the thing I hated the most was having “busy work” loaded unto my shoulders. As a child, I had a personal motivation to be efficient in finishing my classroom-work effectively– because the quicker I could finish my class work, I could do what I really wanted to do — like chat with my classmates, draw pictures, or play video games. Yet, when I finished my class work quickly, instead of getting applauded and rewarded (teachers leaving me alone), I would actually get punished by being given more busywork!

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I still remember this vividly — this felt like the ultimate injustice/bullshit. What incentive would I have to be effective with my work — knowing that if I performed at a higher level — only to be given more bullshit work?

Pseudo-work in modern offices

teeth

To me, my personal hell is being stuck inside an office (9-5), and being forced to do shit I don’t want to do.

I still remember– when I got my first 9-5 office-tech job out of college, I tried really really hard to be as effective and productive with my work, to get all my shit done as quickly and efficiently as possible. After a few months of hard work, I was able to get my 8-hour workday done in about 3 hours.

glass breaking

I then had 5 hours of “free time” during my workday. Initially, I tried to get more (interesting) responsibilities, in order to hopefully do more fun-interesting work, and to get a promotion-salary increase. But nobody knew what to do with me — so I was just burdened with more busywork. Thus, what I started to do was:

Pretend like I was working (when I really wasn’t) — so I wouldn’t get punished with busy-work.

jean michel basquais

I have fond memories of going on long pointless walks around the office, chatting with co-workers, or playing intense ping-pong matches in the “meeting” room.

Which makes me realize:

Modern work must incentivize effectiveness, productivity– and we must be REWARDED for getting more shit done in less time!

True productivity

Art

I don’t think that answering a lot of emails, ticking things off your to-do list, or doing logistical work is really meaningful-effective work.

I consider “true” productivity as:

Maximizing your production of your #1 strength/skill/talent.

For example, if your main strength is blogging– your “true work” is blogging. The more you blog, write, and produce articles, videos, and internet information — the better!

If your main strength is making photos, your “true work” is making more photos! Thus, your “true productivity” is to just PRODUCE MORE photos!

The difficult thing is this:

Knowing what work we do is very impactful, and being able to focus on that.

And perhaps even more important:

NOT doing (avoiding) doing busy-work.

What is your archimedes lever?

Modern museum Stanford

How do you maximize your leverage-strength in life? Easy:

Figure out what your archimedes lever is in life, and then focus on exploiting-doing that.

An ‘archimedes lever‘ is your #1 strength in life. Figure out what your primary strength is, and focus on maximizing your strength, rather than trying to “improve” your “weaknesses”.

museum art Cindy

I don’t believe that we should be “balanced” (in the traditional sense). For example, if you’re not good at organizing things, or if you’re not good at planning stuff (my weaknesses) — don’t worry about it. Hire someone else to help you with what you are weak at, and focus your personal energy, time, and efforts in doing what you are really really good and strong at.

But what if I don’t know what my strength is?

There is no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ answer here. You dictate for yourself what your strength is.

I recommend to just write about it — meditate and journal for yourself. I think figuring out your strength in life is a combination of reminding yourself:

What your passions were as a child.
What kind of work you enjoy doing (which others perceive as difficult, but is very easy for you).
What others have told you what you are “talented” in.

Don’t fake humble. If you think you are great and dope at something, say it loud and proud, and just do it!

Conclusion

Ultimately for yourself —

Focus on producing things which you find personally-meaningful, impactful, or important.

If something is important to you, and others say that it is a “waste of time” or that your work is “unimportant” — ignore them. Give them the cold shoulder, and focus on your own inner-heat!

Create your own future,
ERIC

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