What's better than productivity?

Hello there, long time no see!

2 months after I restarted writing on Linked In I’m finally returning to the newsletter as well. The goal is to turn it into the cornerstone of my content creation – this is where I will be sharing the most insights, reflections, and hopefully overall value.

I really appreciate you stuck around. Now, onward to this week’s edition!

The ambivalence of “productivity”

How do you feel about the term “productivity”?

Do you associate it with suffocating rules that make you feel anxious and block your creativity?

Or with pointless, over-engineered tools & processes that only masquerade as work, while delaying you from the important stuff?

Or do you actually see it as something that helps you get work done?

If you belong to the third group, amazing! We’re on the same page here.

But if you belong to either of the other two, let me explain why I see productivity not only as a tool for getting stuff done but also for living a more meaningful life.

Our need to contribute

You see, as primates, we’re highly social – we want to be connected to others, to something greater than ourselves. And we want to feel that we’re making an important contribution to them.

This means that we need to “work” – to use our time for creating something that others will find valuable.

And because it’s not us but others who determine what’s valuable, just having the intention of making something valuable is not enough – you do in fact need to deliver.

How productivity impacts meaning

From this, it’s clear that your work has a direct impact on how much meaning you feel in your life.

However, our core work resources – time, energy, and attention (TEA) – are limited. Without allocating them thoughtfully, you can’t expect the results you’re after. And with present-day demands on your TEA being so numerous (and often intentionally addictive), not spilling a large part of the TEA on these distractions is a serious challenge.

And managing your TEA is what productivity is all about:

• If you’re not setting goals and reflecting on your progress, your performance suffers… and so does your contribution.

• If you haven’t built the systems that help you execute on your goals, your performance suffers… and so does your contribution.

• If you haven’t trained your mind to help instead of undermining you… you get it.

And if you’re not meaningfully contributing to others, the meaning you feel in life is diminished.

How productivity impacts non-work

Now, you might say that some of the most meaningful activities are not work – it’s spending time with your family & friends, learning, cultivating hobbies, or travelling and seeing new places.

You’re right, but there are still 2 ways how your productivity impacts non-work activities.

First, constantly being behind with work leads to neglecting your relationships. Feeling stressed out and overwhelmed leads to a lack of presence and appreciation for the people you’re with and the places you’re at. Not making progress on your goals leads to feelings of guilt and low self-esteem. In other words, if your work systems are bad, your non-work areas suffer as well.

Second, productivity is not about just producing more, faster. That may be the outcome if you so choose, but the proper foundation for productivity is self-awareness & intentionality.

Let’s unpack why with the two extreme approaches to work-life balance: maximizing output and maximizing enjoyment.

Productivity & maximizing output

There are a lot of people on social media who promote hardcore discipline, working 25/8, out-working and out-suffering anyone. And they’re right – unlocking such a level of effort is extremely valuable…

IF

…you’re doing it for the right reasons.

If not and you’re working yourself like a slave in an unconscious pursuit of of external validation, you won't like the results.

Power, money, and status are potent motivators, made even more tempting in a society that values individual achievement over community.

But many high achievers have found that chasing these goals only feels meaningful before you reach them.

As the actor Jim Carrey said:

However, power, money, and status ARE useful. They extend your agency, your ability to create impact – they’re the tools for reaching your goals.

Only when they become goals in themselves do you get stuck in a meaningless loop. As we’ve established, meaning comes from your contribution to others, not to your ego.

But if you’re coming from a place of self-awareness and choose to work hard in the service of something higher, you can actually enjoy both the grind and the tools it unlocks.

And if hardcore discipline isn’t your thing and you want to instead enjoy life?

Well, being more self-aware and intentional helps with that too.

Productivity & maximizing enjoyment

If you really want to enjoy life, it’s important to be able to turn off you work mode and not feel guilty about unfinished tasks.

For that, you need to learn how not to overcommit while still getting the important stuff done – in other words, you need to be able to prioritize properly.

But to do that, you need to know several things:

• What are the goals you’re working towards?

• What are all the tasks you can currently work on that will help you get there?

• What’s your weekly work tempo?

  • How much time & energy are you able to allocate to work daily & weekly?

  • How much work (i.e. amount * scope of tasks) are you able to get done with that?

When you know all this and you know that it’s important for you to spend time away from work as well, you can make much more realistic estimates of what you can do each week. That helps you with creating manageable to-do lists for each day and with declining any commitments you would struggle to keep. (And in the cases where you see you won’t be able to follow through with a commitment, you can at least renegotiate it in advance to minimize the consequences for the other party and avoid loss of trust.)

With that, you’re able to finish your daily work early enough and to enjoy yourself guilt-free (because you’re not breaking any commitments) and stress-free (because you know you did everything that needed to be done).

A better term for TEA management

From the above, you see that despite its name, productivity is not necessarily about producing more. But language does matter, so the term we use for methods of organizing our time, energy, and attention should reflect that we’re not just cogs in a machine.

It should point to the importance of reflecting on one’s values and goals, and taking responsibility for charting the best course towards them.

It should remind us that we’re at our best when we voluntarily choose to contribute to something greater than ourselves.

So far, the best term I’ve found is intentionality.